I seriously need to stop scrolling my social media.
Over the last few days, I have been getting an overdose of self-titled “prophets” who are proclaiming that God has told them something about the upcoming solar eclipse on Monday. They each have their own special insider information about it from God or from some revelation from Bible verses.
Please...make it stop!
I have experienced my share of exposure to end-times prophecies in my lifetime. Growing up in church, I have just about seen and heard them all.
As a young child I remember my mother proclaiming that the Lord was coming back when she saw some fire in the night sky in Valdosta, Georgia in 1970. It was - in fact - the result of the explosion of Apollo 13.
There was also a time in the 70s when the Christian movie “A Thief in the Night” about the rapture made its rounds which scared people into thinking the end was here.
It was not.
In my lifetime alone, there have been many prophets who have come and gone with their outlandish claims about the coming end times. Today’s social media makes it even easier for them to make their claims.
Even I fell for the Y2K hype during the late 1990s and we see how that went.
I do believe we are approaching the end times, but we can’t fall for these crazy things people are saying about natural events. Some of these things may be a sign of some sort but I don’t believe they are the sign these prophets want to sell you.
Here’s what the Message translation says about the end times when the disciples asked him about signs in Matthew 24:
Jesus said, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities, claiming, ‘I am Christ, the Messiah.’ They will deceive a lot of people. When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. This is nothing compared to what is coming. They are going to throw you to the wolves and kill you, everyone hating you because you carry my name. And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other’s throat, everyone hating each other. In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people. For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in—nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes.
The solar eclipse is not THE end times, but I think you can agree by reading the passage above that we have more than enough signs to know we are already there.
Some have claimed that the eclipse seven years ago and the one to occur on Monday creates an "X" mark on the United States in which prophets allege some significance. Also, the fact that the eclipse will pass over seven cities named "Nineveh" which was a Biblical city in the Book of Jonah which was called to repent or be destroyed. The number "7" also gets the prophets wrangled up on that.
If these prophets are so good about these "numbers" they should try to play the lottery.
Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.
What is going to be interesting to see is when the eclipse passes and these prophecies turn out to be false, how many will go back on their social media pages and repent? I venture to say NONE of them will or they will move the goalpost and seek to re-interpret the meanings of their prophecies.
Aside from these quacks, I do believe that Jesus will be returning. Will it be on Monday or some 40 days after Monday? No one really knows. The Bible even tells us that. (Matthew 24:36)
Don't let these TikTok prophets rattle you. The best thing we can do is to always be ready. Keep calm and trust that God is in control. We don't have to understand it and God isn't going to give us any insider information. When the time comes, and God decides to send a sign we will know it. You won't need to get it from social media.
