The blood moon that appeared in the night sky Tuesday morning (April 15th) was actually the first of the tetrad.
A tetrad is what NASA confirms as the unveiling of four blood moons withing a span of 18 months.
While the second blood moon will arrive on Oct. 8, 2014, the third and fourth will appear April 4th and September 28th of next year. These dates revolve around Passover and the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles.
The Washington Post reported that lunar eclipses normally occur about twice a year, making these blood moon sightings a bit unusual.
This discovery has caused Christians to speculate whether the return of Jesus is near.
Many books focusing on the blood moon tetrad have quoted the Joel 2:31 Bible verse saying, "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord."
Out of all the books centered on the blood moon tetrad, the one that is gaining the most attention is the New York Times best-seller "Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change" by infamous Texas pastor John Hagee.
In the book, the pastor states that during the four blood moons a Rapture will take place where Christians will be sent to Heaven, Israel will fight in a war called the Armageddon, and Jesus will come back to Earth.
However, for those who believe Hagee's religious theory, this doesn't necessarily mean that the end is coming within the next 18 months.
NASA suggests that eight more sets of tetrads will come before the year of 2100.
In addition, the reason why astronomers say this current tetrad is so unique is because it will be viewable throughout most of the United States.
Not all religious leaders agree with Hagee's beliefs. Minnesota pastor Greg Boyd thinks it is all a bunch of nonsense.
"You have an entire population buying into this stuff so no congregation is immune to this," Boyd said. "It can strike fear into people, which is so unnecessary and wrong."
Oklahoma City pastor Sam Storms suggested that people like Hagee are shifting theological facts.
"We need to stop giving into some of these sensationalist speculations," he said. "Maybe Christians are more gullible. One has to twist the data to make it appear as if these are the fulfillment of some biblical prophecy."
What do you believe?
