X Marks the Spot, Or So The Prophecy Pundits Say . . .

According to Jonathan Brentner at Rapture Ready, the recent solar eclipse is the harbinger of God’s coming judgment upon America. The judgment will come about for two reasons, Brentner writes. One is the moral decay in America, specifically among the politicians. This includes the pressure Biden has put on Israel to back off the pursuit of Hamas. Any nation which does not support Israel will be cursed, based upon a bad misreading of Genesis 12:3. The second reason he offers is that such events are signs of the coming seven-year tribulation.

Of course, there is great moral decline—especially of late. We all see it. Yes politicians are corrupt—when has that not been the case? Yes, there are difficult decisions facing the American president in regard to Israel and Hamas (and Iran). But what does the eclipse have to do with any of this? Well, says Brentner, it has happened before:

Brentner writes,

The first solar eclipse occurred on June 16, 1806, with the second completing the X on September 17, 1811. The intersection happened over the New Madrid fault area, which includes an area from Cairo in southern Illinois to nearby New Madrid, MO.

On December 16, 1811, just three months after the second solar eclipse, a series of devastating earthquakes struck along the New Madrid fault line. The following quote comes from the New Madrid, MO, website:

The New Madrid earthquakes were the biggest earthquakes in American history. They occurred in the central Mississippi Valley but were felt as far away as New York City, Boston, Montreal, and Washington D.C. President James Madison and his wife Dolly felt them in the White House. Church bells rang in Boston. From December 16, 1811, through March of 1812, there were over 2,000 earthquakes in the central Midwest and between 6,000-10,000 earthquakes in the Bootheel of Missouri,where New Madrid is located near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

In the known history of the world, no other earthquakes have lasted so long or produced so much evidence of damage as the New Madrid earthquakes. Three of the earthquakes are on the list of America’s top earthquakes: the first one on December 16, 1811, a magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter scale; the second on January 23, 1812, at 7.8; and the third on February 7, 1812, at as much as 8.8 magnitude.

Could the upcoming completion of an X across the U.S. midsection by the April 8, 2024 eclipse point to another catastrophe in the months afterward?

Is he predicting massive earthquakes? Yes. But that is a safe bet, since future earthquakes are inevitable. Some 1,712 earthquakes with magnitude of five or more were recorded worldwide in 2023. Notice however, that he hedges his bets because the massive earthquakes may come “months afterward.” This gives him an out lest anyone like me question his methods and conclusions. As the old saying goes, a broken clock gets the time right twice a day.

But the propensity to play prophet arises from the same wearisome attempt to tie wars, anything to do with Israel, and natural disasters to the dispensational view of the approaching seven year tribulation and the rapture. And so when a few months go by, and Christ has not returned, or California has not fallen into the sea (as many no doubt are hoping), what will Mr. Brentner do then? My guess is the prophecy pundits will shamelessly use the same template again when the inevitable significant event makes national news.

I’ve watched the prophecy pundits do this for much of my adult life. When they get it wrong, do they repent? Do they re-think their eschatology? No, they just retrench and blissfully keep on going. This stuff sells books, and gets clicks. Thankfully, people tend to be forgiving and have short memories. No one will remember this bad prediction the next time he makes another.

And so we remind them yet again of Peter’s caution that these sort of speculative predictions have a serious unintended consequence—they create the very scoffers Peter warns about (2 Peter 3:3-4). And didn’t Jesus make it perfectly clear that no one knows the day or the hour of our Lord’s return (Matthew 24:36)? Oh, they’ll say they merely are warning, not predicting, but in their hands that is a distinction without a difference.

Yes, Jesus will return to raise the dead, judge the world, and usher in a new heaven and earth. So instead of using the current-event calculus they use, we nevertheless join with them and offer the simple prayer, “Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus”