A rare supermoon lunar eclipse will occur for the first time since 1982. The cosmic event will take place on the night of Sept. 27 when two periodic events — supermoons and lunar eclipses — will converge at the same time, making for a rare coincidence.

Luke 21:25 – “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;

There will be an extra special show in the night sky this month when a rare supermoon lunar eclipse will occur for the first time since 1982. The cosmic event will take place on the night of Sept. 27 when two periodic events -- supermoons and lunar eclipses -- will happen at the same time, making for a rare coincidence.

A supermoon occurs when a full moon happens when it is at the closest point in its elliptical orbit around Earth, making the full moon appear up to 14% larger and brighter than usual. A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into Earth's shadow, often turning a blood red color. The partial lunar eclipse is set to begin at 9:07 p.m. ET and will be visible to most people in the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, according to EarthSky.org. The total lunar eclipse begins at 11:11 p.m. ET. You won't want to miss this event. The next supermoon lunar eclipse won't come around until 2033. Source

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck near Grand Coulee Dam, the largest U.S. hydropower facility, in northeastern Washington state on Tuesday, prompting an immediate inspection of the facility but leaving no visible damage, a spokeswoman said.

Operation of the Columbia River dam, which supplies electricity to 11 Western states, was not disrupted by the tremor, according to the spokeswoman, Lynne Brougher of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the agency that runs the dam.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake was centered about 25 miles (40 km) north of the dam near the town of Nespelem in heart of the sprawling Coleville Indian Reservation, an area ravaged by a major wildfire in recent days.

Weak to light shaking was felt over a wide region, but there were no immediate reports of damage of injuries. Earthquakes of that magnitude are not uncommon in seismically active Washington state, but Tuesday's 4.2 tremor was the first to strike this close to the dam "in quite a while," Brougher said. "Oh, it got our attention. Everybody felt it," she said, adding that the trembling went on for roughly 30 seconds. She said it would take several hours for dam officials to complete their inspection of the mammoth facility. Grand Coulee stands 5-1/2 stories tall, is 500 feet (152 meters) thick at its base, and stretches nearly a mile (1.6 km)across the Columbia River to form Lake Roosevelt, which provides drinking water and irrigation supplies for communities and farms in the region. The dam includes three major hydroelectric power-generating plants and a pump-generating plant that average a combined 21 billion kilowatt hours of electrical output a year. It also controls stream flow for flood management, fish migration and recreation downstream.

The original dam structure was completed in 1941, with additions made in the 1960s and '70s. Source

Is September 2015 going to be one of the most important months in modern American history? When I issued my first ever “red alert” for the last six months of 2015 back in June, I was particularly concerned with the months of September through December, and not just for economic reasons.  All of the Intel that I have received is absolutely screaming that big trouble is ahead.  So enjoy these last few days of relative peace and quiet.  I mean that sincerely.  In fact, that is exactly what I have been doing – over the past week I have not posted many articles because I was spending time with family, friends and preparing for the national call to prayer on September 18th and 19th.   But now as we enter the chaotic month of September 2015 I have a feeling that there is going to be plenty for me to write about.

At this time last month, I declared that we were entering “the pivotal month of August 2015“, and that is exactly what it turned out to be.  August was the worst month overall for stocks in three years, and it was the worst month of August for U.S. financial markets in 17 years.

Throughout history, there have only been 11 times when the S&P 500 has declined by more than five percent during the month of August.  When that has happened, the stock market has almost always fallen in September as well…

September is the only month in which the S&P 500 fell more frequently than it rose. What’s more, in the 11 times that the S&P 500 fell by more than 5 percent in August, it declined in 80 percent of the subsequent Septembers, and fell an average of nearly 4 percent.

Last week, there was a rally after the initial crash.  I warned that this would happen in advance, and we have seen a similar pattern play out during almost every market collapse throughout history.  The following comes from John Hussman…

As I noted early this year (see A Better Lesson than “This Time Is Different”), market crashes “have tended to unfold after the market has already lost 10-14% and the recovery from that low fails.” Prior pre-crash bounces have generally been in the 6-7% range, which is what we observed last week, so I certainly don’t see that bounce as having removed any of our concerns. We remain extremely alert to the prospect for much more extended market losses.

So how far could stocks eventually fall? Hussmann is projecting that we could ultimately see the market decline by more than 50 percent…

We fully expect a 40-55% market loss over the completion of the present market cycle. Such a loss would only bring valuations to levels that have been historically run-of-the-mill.

One thing that could accelerate stock market losses this time around is the fact that people have been borrowing lots and lots of money to buy stocks.  That works when the stock market just keeps going up, but once the market turns the margin calls can lead to panic selling on a massive scale.  The following comes from a recent piece by Wolf Richter in which he describes some of the chaos that we have already been witnessing…

Energy stocks and bonds crashed, even those of some large companies like Chesapeake. Some have reached zero. All kinds of other stocks and bonds have gotten eviscerated over the past few months, even tech darlings like Twitter or biotech giant Biogen. Portfolios with a focus on the wrong momentum stocks took a very serious hit. And margin calls went out. The Journal: Some lenders, including Bank of America Corp., are issuing margin calls to clients after the global market drubbing of the past week, forcing investors to choose between either putting up more money or selling some of the securities underlying the loans. Other banks too sent out margin calls, including U.S. Trust, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo, according to the Journal. With margin calls mucking up the scenario, spooked investors are trying to lower their leverage before they’re forced to, and the boom in securities-based lending appears to be over. And the wealth units of the banks that gorged on these loans are likely to see their profits dented. If that continues, a much crummier thing happens: margin balances reverse. And the last two times they did after a majestic record-breaking spike, the stock market crashed.

For some more technical reasons why another wave to the downside is coming, see an excellent article entitled “RED ALERT for 2nd CRASH DOWNWAVE…” by Clive P. Maund that you can find right here. Full Report

The box office underwent a religious conversion this weekend as Christian crowds flocked to War Room, lifting the low-budget salute to prayer above the Zac Efron drama We Are Your Friends and the Owen Wilson thriller No Escape.

Filmed for a mere $3 million and distributed by Sony's Affirm division, War Room more than tripled its production budget in a single weekend, picking up $11 million from 1,135 locations. That also easily topped projections that had it debuting in the $4 million to $5 million range, although in retrospect those estimates were overly conservative given that advance ticket sales were unusually strong.

 "These are the kind of outlier events that happen and wake everyone up to the fact that faith-based audiences are passionate and looking for content," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak.

The film is the latest faith-based hit from director Alex Kendrick and his brother, writing and producing partner Stephen Kendrick, the pair behind Fireproof and Courageous. It marks the biggest debut of their careers.

"There is so much love for this film," said Rory Bruer, Sony's distribution chief. "It starts with the Kendricks. They're visionaries in this genre."

Despite the success of the "War Room," "Straight Outta Compton" topped charts for a third consecutive weekend, becoming the first film to manage that feat since "Jurassic World." The rap biopic about the early days of N.W.A. pulled in an impressive $13.2 million, pushing its domestic total to $134.1 million. It is now the highest-grossing musical biopic, trumping the Johnny Cash drama "Walk the Line" and its $119.5 million domestic haul.

War Room reaffirms the potency of faith-based crowds, ranking along previous hits such as God's Not Dead and Heaven is for Real, but aside from its success, there was very little to celebrate.

The month of August sputtered to a close as the trio of new releases failed to inject much life into ticket sales. The overall box office was down more than 20 percent from the year-ago period when Guardians of the Galaxy was still drawing big crowds. That comparison is problematic, however, given that Labor Day fell during that period and the holiday has been pushed back a week this year.

No Escape, a thriller about an American family ensnared in a violent political coup in a nameless Asian country, finished in fourth place with $8.2 million from 3,355 locations. It has earned $10.2 million since debuting on Wednesday. The Weinstein Company paid just under $5 million for rights to the film, which was criticized in by some critics for being retrograde in its depiction of a developing country's culture and politics. Full Report

The “blood moon phenomenon” has been the talk of the Christian world in 2014 and 2015, as four lunar eclipse tetrads all occurring on biblical holy days occur within 18 months, the last of which happens Sept. 28 on the Feast of Tabernacles. But now a scholarly Orthodox rabbi from Brooklyn affirms this series of blood moons is serious spiritual business, because each one brings the world closer to the advent of the messiah. “Each one of these is a messianic advancement,” says Rabbi Mendel Kessin. “There are incredible events that predate the messiah.”

Kessin says that normal lunar eclipses, that give the appearance of the moon turning blood red, signal bad news for Israel and the Jewish people. However, he says, those that occur on biblical holy days – such as Passover and Sukkot or Tabernacles – represent good news for them.

 Kessin also points out that the next blood moons will occur just two weeks after the end of the Shemitah year – or Sabbath year when debts are released and the land rests, according to the Bible. Kessin says rabbinic teachings suggest the messiah will come in the year following the Shemitah year.

Rabbi Mendel Kessin If you think Kessin sounds like some Hebraic roots Christian teachers, like Pastor Mark Biltz, who discovered the blood moon phenomenon in 2008 and authored the bestselling book, “Blood Moons,” and wrote a documentary movie of the same name, and messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, the New York Times bestselling author of “The Harbinger” and “The Mystery of the Shemitah,” you’re not alone.

The Sabbath-observing Biltz highlighted Kessin’s teachings from his Tacoma, Washington, pulpit Saturday. Biltz has linked historical blood moons tetrads with historical events such as the expulsion of the Jews from Spain beginning in 1492, the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948 and Israel’s capture of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War in 1967.

Kessin, who holds has a Ph.D. in psychology from Fordham University and is a noted lecturer on Jewish philosophy in the U.S., Canada, South Africa and Israel, also sees significance in the recent U.S. deal with Iran over nuclear weapons.

 There is an 800-year-old rabbinic commentary known as Yalkut Shimoni, which he translates: “Paras (Persia-Iran) will be the dread of humanity. The world’s leaders will be frustrated in their futile efforts to save what they can, but to no avail. The people of Israel will also be petrified by the impending danger. And HaShem (God) will say to us, ‘Why are you afraid? All of this I have done in order to bring you the awaited redemption. And this redemption will not be like the redemption from Egypt, which was followed by suffering. This redemption will be absolute, followed with peace.’”

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A Texas man gave his boyfriend a proposal to remember when he got down on one knee in front of the entire congregation at their local Methodist Church – receiving a standing ovation in the process. Trevor Harper, 36, and Davis Covin, 30, who live in Austin, have been dating since 2006 and have been proud and active members of the First United Methodist Church of Austin for the past two years. Mr Harper said the support they have received has been a huge blessing to their relationship, especially as a gay couple in Texas. 'That church has been, for us, really the first time we have really been able to live out loud as a couple,' he told BuzzFeed News.

So when Mr Harper decided he wanted to propose, he knew he wanted to do it in front of their church family. 

He explained on YouTube that he and his boyfriend had been invited to share their faith story in front of their congregation, and he knew that would be the perfect time to pop the question.

Mr Harper admitted, however, that Mr Covin doesn’t really like attention, so he was a little overwhelmed at the public nature of the proposal - luckily, he accepted.

'I knew going into this that I was pushing it,' Mr Harper said with a laugh. Their church immediately got to their feet and gave them a standing ovation.

Mr Harper said that he began planning the proposal a few months ago with the help of his pastor, Reverend John Wright. 

He said they thought it was an especially good idea because although Mr Harper and Mr Covin would love to get married in their church, they aren’t allowed. 

The United Methodist Church forbids same-sex ceremonies from being conducted in Methodist churches or by Methodist ministers.

Mr Harper said that Rev Wright thought the proposal would be a beautiful way to honor their relationship if they can’t get married at the church.

'He agreed that was a great way to let us have that moment in a place that we love,' he said.

Now, Mr Harper is sharing his proposal and story with the hopes that other people may realize that not all churches or religions will shun you because of who you love.

'Your lifestyle, your sexuality, your choices, who you love — they don’t define your right to search out the faith that makes you feel whole,' he said.

He added: 'You can’t let your sexuality define your right to walk a spiritual walk.'

The couple is also hoping that by the time they plan to get married in 2016, they will be allowed to marry in their church. 'We would love to walk down that aisle,' Mr Harper said.

Read more at Dailymail.co.uk

On Tuesday evening, we asked what would happen if emerging markets joined China in dumping US Treasurys. For months we’ve documented the PBoC’s liquidation of its vast stack of US paper. Back in July for instance, we noted that China had dumped a record $143 billion in US Treasurys in three months via Belgium, leaving Goldman speechless for once. 

We followed all of this up this week by noting that thanks to the new FX regime (which, in theory anyway, should have required less intervention), China has likely sold somewhere on the order of $100 billion in US Treasurys in the past two weeks alone in open FX ops to steady the yuan. Put simply, as part of China's devaluation and subsequent attempts to contain said devaluation, China has been purging an epic amount of Treasurys. 

But even as the cat was out of the bag for Zero Hedge readers and even as, to mix colorful escape metaphors, the genie has been out of the bottle since mid-August for China which, thanks to a steadfast refusal to just float the yuan and be done with it, will have to continue selling USTs by the hundreds of billions, the world at large was slow to wake up to what China’s FX interventions actually implied until Wednesday when two things happened: i) Bloomberg, citing fixed income desks in New York, noted "substantial selling pressure" in long-term USTs emanating from somebody in the "Far East", and ii) Bill Gross asked, in a tweet, if China was selling Treasurys.

Sure enough, on Thursday we got confirmation of what we’ve been detailing exhaustively for months. Here’s Bloomberg:

China has cut its holdings of U.S. Treasuries this month to raise dollars needed to support the yuan in the wake of a shock devaluation two weeks ago, according to people familiar with the matter.

Channels for such transactions include China selling directly, as well as through agents in Belgium and Switzerland, said one of the people, who declined to be identified as the information isn’t public. China has communicated with U.S. authorities about the sales,said another person. They didn’t reveal the size of the disposals.

The latest available Treasury data and estimates by strategists suggest that China controls $1.48 trillion of U.S. government debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That includes about $200 billion held through Belgium, which Nomura Holdings Inc. says is home to Chinese custodial accounts.

The PBOC has sold at least $106 billion of reserve assets in the last two weeks, including Treasuries, according to an estimate from Societe Generale SA. The figure was based on the bank’s calculation of how much liquidity will be added to China’s financial system through Tuesday’s reduction of interest rates and lenders’ reserve-requirement ratios. The assumption is that the central bank aims to replenish the funds it drained when it bought yuan to stabilize the currency.

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