Christian Answers for the New Age

Eclipse of 2024

On April 8 of this year, 2024, there is a total eclipse of the sun. A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun. This is a natural, cyclical event.

But when anything like this happens, there are  numerous non-Christian and, more sadly, Christian sources, that begin to give predictions, usually composed of warnings. They typically do this by connecting past eclipses to events that occurred after those eclipses, and then extrapolating that into the forthcoming event. Or they read meanings into the eclipse, the path and timing of the eclipse, and other factors.

Eclipse in 2017

There was a solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, and I did three Facebook posts on it (links given at end). This is from one of the 2017 Facebook posts, “More Folly at Signs in the Skies:”

I think we’ll see more “predictions” with this, especially since the 2024 eclipse with make a diagonal line across the U.S. the other way, forming an X more or less with this one. It’s a temptation of the flesh to try to find or see a meaning in it, but of course, there is none. But if one wants to find meaning in something, they will.

So now it is 2024 and the would-be prophets and predictors have already started in with dire warnings. This includes seeing Hebrew letters, meaningful numbers, the names of cities, and more all tied into the eclipse event.

Those in the prediction camp who know that the path of this eclipse will make a diagonal line across the U.S. the opposite way of the one in 2017 have made much of that. But the path of every eclipse produces a path in the form of a line somewhere. When one looks at the paths of eclipses, it is all a criss-cross of lines.

Disasters? Hebrew Letters? Cities Named Nineveh?

Some have pointed out that in the 2017 eclipse, there were natural disasters, a mass shooting (at the outdoor concert in Las Vegas), the first year of a presidency, and so forth. Well, so what? Pick a year – any year – and I will show you natural disasters, important political events, mass shootings (there were quite a few in 2023, some very close together), economic crises, health crises, and more. Stuff is always happening! It is called life. I can think of several other years that I would consider much more momentous than 2017.

One article talked about the path of this year’s eclipse intersecting with the path of the 2017 eclipse and making figures like some of the Hebrew letters. Of course, one can turn any pattern into anything if one has that aim. It is like looking for images in the clouds. (I am not posting links to any articles that promote this ludicrous and unbiblical thinking). All this is supposedly a sign of earthquakes, economic collapse, God’s judgment, or Jesus coming back.

Some Christian sites and videos are pointing to these factors about the eclipse and claiming a meaning for each one:

1. The eclipse will pass over several cities named Salem and several named Nineveh. (“Salem” is usually short for Jerusalem).
2. The solar eclipse from 2017 makes an X with the one in 2024
3. The intersection of both paths is an area of Illinois known as Little Egypt.
4. Correlations are made with an eclipse of 763 BC that passed over the original Nineveh when Jonah was there urging the city to repent, and the eclipse caused them to repent. (I do not know if this data about the eclipse in 763 is accurate or not).

Response

Reading a meaning into a natural event or into creation is called DIVINATION. If you wonder what God has to say about it, look it up on a Bible site where  you can put a word in the search box.

This is a NATUAL event, not a supernatural one. Yes, it will be spectacular to see and can cause us to wonder at God’s creation. But it is a natural event just like the sun rising, only it’s a less frequent one. Infrequency does not mean it has a meaning. A full solar eclipse happens somewhere on earth about every 18 months. It is rather common. It is natural. It means nothing beyond the fact that it is something to enjoy or find of interest as part of God’s creation.

If God wanted to signal judgment, it seems rather silly that he would use a natural event like an eclipse when he could rain down fire instead as he did on Sodom and Gomorrah. There is no ambiguity with that, and it is hardly a natural event. In fact, signs of God’s judgment are predicted for the future with events such as stars falling from the sky and other celestial events.

It is not true that 8 cities named Nineveh will experience a total eclipse:

Will the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse entirely obscure the sun for eight North American towns named Nineveh, as claimed in a video on TikTok? No, that’s not true: Only two of the eight places named Nineveh mentioned in the video — Nineveh, Indiana, and Nineveh, Ohio — will experience a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. The other six places called Nineveh listed in the video are located outside the projected 115-mile-wide path of the moon’s shadow and will experience a partial solar eclipse like every other town in the contiguous United States.

Even if it were passing over 8 cities named Nineveh, it still means nothing. The only logical conclusion is that there are a lot of cities named Nineveh in the Unites States (like other cities found in many states such as Springfield, Franklin, Bristol, and others).

Stating that the eclipse caused Nineveh to repent goes against Scripture:

Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Jonah 3:4-6

Nothing is said in the text about an eclipse; it is clear that it was Jonah’s message from God that caused repentance.

Since divination is pagan, and that is what is going on here, it is no surprise that it undermines the Bible.

Divination

Divination is an occult practice. Reading a meaning into creation where there is none is the same practice as done by a psychic, astrologer, tarot card reader, or crystal ball gazer. So Christians doing this or believing in these predictions and “signs” are participating in something God has denounced and forbidden. It is not only unbiblical, it is anti-biblical.

Earthquakes and economic collapses (depending on how you define “collapse”) happen a lot, so it is not hard to predict them. It is like saying there will be a conflict with a foreign government next year. Or there will be problems on Wall Street. Or there will be crisis in the Middle East. Or there will an elected official caught in a scandal. Or….you get the idea.

As stated before, eclipses are natural events, not supernatural, and should be of interest only on that level, and appreciated as part of God’s creation. But there is no meaning to it. It is pagan societies who have given great meaning, usually a bad one, to solar eclipses, thinking that the sun was being swallowed or destroyed. This is blatant superstition and connected to belief in false gods (who are demons).

Christians who take part in these eclipse based interpretations and warnings by posting them or sharing others’ warnings should be rebuked by their church leaders. It is agreement with an occult practice to teach others that an eclipse has a meaning, or to promote such a belief. Ironically, those using hidden meanings that they dredge up from this eclipse to warn of evil, they themselves are indulging in evil with this divinatory method.

Some point to Luke 21:25 to try to justify either the Eclipse interpretations or say we should interpret signs in the sky.

“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Luke 21:25-27

And as God states:

“Thus says the Lord:

‘Learn not the way of the nations,

nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens

because the nations are dismayed at them….'” Jeremiah 10:2

CANA Facebook posts on the 2017 eclipse are here, here, and here.

What about the star that led the Magi?

Probably it was a supernatural star since it rested or stood over the dwelling of Jesus, which no heavenly body can do without hanging a few yards above it! See CANA article on the Magi.

First published on CANA site February/March 2024

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