{"id":13517,"date":"2025-08-11T16:09:55","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T20:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=13517"},"modified":"2025-08-11T16:09:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T20:09:55","slug":"apocalypse-now-sea-of-galilee-turns-blood-red","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/08\/apocalypse-now-sea-of-galilee-turns-blood-red.html","title":{"rendered":"Apocalypse Now? Sea of Galilee Turns Blood Red"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Left: Shiran Unger \/ Israel Nature and Parks Authority | Right: Public Domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a scene ripped from the pages of Exodus, the Sea of Galilee has turned blood red. It serves as an ominous sign to some locals, given the account in Exodus 7 when Moses turns the Nile to blood as a sign of God\u2019s judgment upon Egypt, marking the first of ten plagues to strike. Locals referred to the blooming red spots in the sea as a \u201cbad omen.\u201d The plague also gets a reference in Revelation 16:3 as an end-time omen. In Revelation, the apostle John is witnessing seven angels who are pouring out vials of God\u2019s wrath upon the earth. The third vial results in the rivers and fountains of the earth being turned into blood.<\/p>\n

A video on TikTok<\/a> claims that bodies of water throughout the world have \u201cmysteriously\u201d turned blood red, including in areas such as Iran, Russia, Peru, and Argentina. \u201cSea turns blood red and now water burst from mountain in Oman. Prophecies unfolding in the middle east,\u201d wrote one person on X<\/a>. \u201cSo Israel has had Locusts and now the Sea of Galilee is turning \u2018Red,\u2019\u201d wrote another user. Locusts were another plague that was visited upon Egypt as a sign of God\u2019s judgment. The Sea of Galilee also has biblical importance as being the site where Jesus walked on water according to Matthew 14.<\/p>\n

Scientists, however, are offering a more natural explanation. Israel\u2019s Water Ministry<\/a> has stated the red color is a result of green algae Botryococcus braunii growing in the water. The color results from an accumulation of a natural pigment the green algae produces after strong sunlight exposure. According to the Ministry, the pigment is non-toxic and the water is safe to swim in despite its off-putting appearance. It also noted that there had not been any reports of allergic reactions to the algae in the past. The water has turned red in the past due to the algae, which some scientists have tried to say could explain how Moses turned the water to blood in Exodus. The account in Exodus does note, however, that the fish died in the river as a result of it turning to blood, which has not yet been reported in the case of the Sea of Galilee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a scene ripped from the pages of Exodus, the Sea of Galilee has turned blood red. It serves as an ominous sign to some locals, given the account in Exodus 7 when Moses turns the Nile to blood as a sign of God\u2019s judgment upon Egypt, marking the first of ten plagues to strike.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":13520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nApocalypse Now? Sea of Galilee Turns Blood Red<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Sea of Galilee has mysteriously turned blood red, stirring biblical prophecy talk as scientists point to algae bloom as the cause.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/08\/apocalypse-now-sea-of-galilee-turns-blood-red.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Apocalypse Now? 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