MINORITY Christian groups have predicted the world will end later this month when, they say, a ‘blood moon’ will cause an apocalyptic meteor strike.

Scientists state that a ‘blood moon’ will occur on September 28 as the moon passes into the shadow of the earth cast by the Sun (a lunar eclipse) it appears copper red in colour.

This will be the fourth ‘blood moon’ since April 15 last year and Christians, in particular minority American groups, say it will bring about global destruction.

The ‘blood moon’ is the fourth and final eclipse in a tetrad — four consecutive total lunar eclipses, each separated by six lunar months — which fulfils biblical prophecy of the apocalypse.

media_camera NASA deny any evidence of a meteor that may impact on Earth. Picture: Supplied

When promoting his 2013 book Four Blood Moons, Cornerstone Church founder John Hagee, of San Antonio, Texas, said that the tetrad was a signal being sent by God.

“The coming four blood moons points to a world-shaking event that will happen between April 2014 and October 2015,” he said.

Hagee, whose book was the ninth biggest seller in the US in March last year, and El Shaddai Ministries’ Pastor Mark Blitz claim that the blood moon on September 28 heralds the end of the world and the second coming

They, and others, cite passages from the Bible to justify their fears.

Joel 2:31 states: “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”

Acts 2:20: “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.”

Revelation 6:12: “(...) and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood”.

media_camera The doomsayers say that the end of the world and a second coming is predicted in the Bible.

Biltz and Hagee noted that previous tetrads in history, subsequently refuted, had coincided with noteworthy, tragic and triumphant events in Jewish history.

Despite the lack of evidence to back up their claims and speculation on social media growing, NASA has felt the need to respond.

“NASA knows of no asteroid or comet currently on a collision course with Earth, so the probability of a major collision is quite small,” said a NASA spokesman in comments reported by Yahoo News.

“In fact, as best as we can tell, no large object is likely to strike the Earth any time in the next several hundred years.”

NASA uses an automated collision monitoring system called Sentry that continually scans an “asteroid catalogue” for the possibility of an impact.

Blood Moon Eclipse media_camera An hour before ... the lunar eclipse began in California, USA. Picture: AP/Nick Ut 1 of 27 media_camera The moon is seen ... as it heads into a total lunar eclipse in Miami, Florida. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP 2 of 27 media_camera The moon is seen ... as it heads into a total lunar eclipse in Miami, Florida. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP 3 of 27 media_camera The moon is seen ... as it heads into a total lunar eclipse in Miami, Florida. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP 4 of 27 nav_small_close Want to see more?( 23 more photos in collection )Continue to full gallery nav_small_left nav_small_right

Originally published as ‘Blood Moon’ to cause end of world