Dear Refiner's Fire...

Do you believe that there will be any significance to the tetrads coming in coming few years? Especially since the lunar eclipses fall on or before or after YHWH's Holy Days? In times past there have been tetrads that coincided with the Holy Days and something significant happened such as Israel becoming a state in 1948.

Our Response...

Yes...by now many - if not most - have heard or read something about the "tetrad" or the "four blood red moons." The upcoming "tetrad" of four, consecutive total lunar eclipses is nothing to be concerned about. Yes, they are rare, but they do not mean "something is going to happen" - yet so many are jumping on the "OMIGOSH!" bandwagon, without doing any real research or seeking out professionals or sources who know something about astronomy.

It is pure sensationalism for people to announce, the "Coming 4 Blood Moons!" In a total eclipse the moon is in the earth's shadow and always turns some shade of "orange" or "peach". Only if the atmosphere is especially full of aerosols and particulates, is the total eclipse a very dark shade of red - which could be described as "blood red". The problem is, you cannot predict ahead of time how bright or how dark a total eclipse will be, or what shade of orange/red it will be. So hyping this as "Coming 4 Blood Moons!" is just that - HYPE.

Second, these same people suggest: "Whenever there is a tetrad, something happens". Not true! Many will say, for example, that the 6-Day war in Israel happened in during the 1967-68 tetrad. So? The Total eclipses were 24 April 1967, 18 Oct 1967, 13 April 1968, and 6 Oct 1968 - and NONE of them were visible from Israel! (More on visibility in a minute). The 6-Day war was 5-10 June 1967. No eclipse.

Many will also say "Israel became a state during a tetrad". Not true. The first total eclipse in that particular tetrad was 13 April 1949 - was not even visible from Israel. Israel became a state on 15 May 1948, a year before the eclipse. And on that date the moon was only nearing 1st quarter. Right after Israel became a state was the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Its dates were 15 May 1948 to 10 Mar 1949 - still before the tetrad.

Concerning visibility from Israel during "tetrads":

So we would argue that only ONE total lunar eclipse in all these 12 total eclipses since 1949 could have had any significance because only one (2 April 1950) was seen from Israel. Please feel free to verify this via your own research!

Why are we putting importance on the visibility of eclipses from Israel? Because if an astronomical event is to have significance, it must be sanctified from Israel. Think about it. There have been total lunar eclipses for thousands of years. All the astronomical events had to be visible from Israel, or they knew nothing about the event! No one could place significance on a total eclipse they did not see, and did not even know happened! Why would YHWH say in Genesis 1:14 that the sun, moon, stars were for "signs" if His people in the Land did not (or could not) SEE the sign?

Here is just one example of many, of a SIGNIFICANT astronomical event to illustrate:

Air Force Lt. Col. (Ret.) William J. Welker, a physicist and amateur astronomer, while researching important Biblical dates, discovered the following during his independent research to determine the date of the nativity:

Welker wrote: "On the night of Sep 13th, 5 BCE, there was a well placed total Lunar Eclipse. By 'well placed', I mean that the moon rose that night, well before Jupiter, and was of course, nearly full. The eclipse began at about 8:30 PM, with the moon 35 degrees high – perfectly placed from Jerusalem to see the entire eclipse."

A total lunar eclipse marked the birth- fully visible to all of Israel! Now that's a sign!