Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
4 8 2024
God tells us in Genesis 1: 14–15. how He made the sun, moon, and stars when he created the universe. “Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. When God said, let there be lights, the word for lights (HAOWER) literally means light things. The reason this word is so significant is that the God of Israel wants people to know that these lights are only things and not deities.
He is the only God, and the lights are his instruments, used for his purposes.
For example, God used the stars as a sign and season, announcing the birth of Jesus. The wise men from the East used the star Cyrus to guide them to him. God announced Christ first in the skies, and so he will announce the second coming. Jesus himself spoke about the way God would use the signs in the heavens to signal and time events. For example, in the gospel of Luke Jesus prophesied his own return in
Luke 21:25–28 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars: and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea, and the waves roaring: men’s heart failing them from fear and the expectations of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heaven will be shaken. Then they will see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now, when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your head because your redemption draws near”.
Apart from Jesus’s return, every part of that prophecy has been fulfilled or is in the process of being fulfilled as the conditions of the earth continue to worsen. We have all seen amazing and miraculous signs in the sun, moon, and stars just as Jesus said we would just before his return.
Please let me be clear. I believe we’re living in the last days prior to the return of Jesus. But no one knows exactly when that date will occur. But as we look at these signs and symptoms, we need to be as ready as possible. (Are you… really?)
In 2017 the US experienced two major natural events within a single week. On Monday, August 21, a total solar eclipse crossed over the US in a band that spans the entire contiguous nation, passing from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast. This astrological phenomenon had not happened for 99 years, although it will occur again today April 8, 2024. When that event takes place, the eclipse will mark an X over the US. Historically, Jewish tradition considers solar eclipses to be warnings to the world and lunar eclipses to be warnings to Israel. Consequently, Jews have kept both a lunar and solar calendar. Given that tradition, are these two crossing eclipses a warning for the world? I believe they very well could be.
Let me take you to the year 1918. The last full Continental eclipse of this type occurred on June 8, 1918. World War I began on July 28, 1914. The US declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. We arrived in France the summer of 1918. The total eclipse occurred on June 8 and cut across the entire continental US.
In the autumn of 1918, the Americans had brought the Allies closer to victory. But over the next two years, the Spanish flu affected one out of every five people in the world. It reached around the globe, ultimately affecting 28% of Americans. at the end of the epidemic, approximately 675,000 people died from the flu in the US. In Europe, half of our soldiers died from the flu, not combat. The flu killed 43,000 American military personnel. They say the flu killed more people than the war itself, as many as 40 million. Was the 1918 eclipse a sign of things to come? Some people believe that it was. Before 1918 the last time a solar eclipse spanned the entire US was on November 30, 1776. We don’t need to be reminded of the significance of that. On August 25, 2017, only five days after the eclipse, Hurricane Harvey made landfall along the Texas coast near Rockport and Port Aransas. Interesting, it was reported to make land fall at Corpus Christi. That name is derived from a Latin term that means “body of Cjhrist”. But it missed that city. (another sign? I don’t know)
The next solar eclipse will cross the US a mir seven years after 2017 … today, April 8, 2024. Its crossing point will literally mark an X over the US. It will last between four and seven minutes. Interestingly, the exact point of the crossing will be in the same little village of Makanda, Illinois on “Salem Road”.
(Salem was also the name of the location where Abraham met Melchizedek and the current city of Jerusalem. The name Jerusalem comes from the combination of the prefix Jerusalem (‘city of”) and the noun Salem. (“peace”). And now Salem pops up again. Melchizedek is believed to have been the king of Jerusalem. Salem, of which he is said to be king, is very probably Jerusalem. Psalm 76:2 refers to Salem in a way that implies that it is synonymous with Jerusalem, and the reference in Genesis 14:17 to “the King’s Valley” further confirms this identification.
This area of Southern Illinois was once called “Little Egypt”. The small town of McCann is known by the nickname “Star of Egypt”. Incidentally, this was also the crossing path for the 2017 eclipse. The “Star of Egypt” has a long history in Egyptian mythology and has been identified as the star Cyrus. Throughout Christian history, Cyrus has often been identified as the star the wise men observed on their travels to see the newborn king Jesus in Bethlehem. This connection is, of course hypothetical. But is it interesting that the “Star of Egypt” may have heralded the first coming of the Messiah and the 2024 eclipse will cross directly over the “Star of Egypt?
Perhaps all of these connections are coincidences, but how many coincidences signify something is happening that has never happened before? Eclipses rarely cross in the exact same location, except this one will. Right before the full totality of the eclipse, the sun will look like a diamond wedding ring in the sky. I do not know if the escalating events in Israel and the world surrounding this tiny nation or if this eclipse is heralding the second coming of the Lord,
but I am praying and paying very, very close attention and I pray that you are too.
Do not be like the Virgins who were waiting for the bridegroom
but had to leave to refill the oil in their lamps.
Excerpts are taken from Jimmy Evans book Tipping Point the end is near. Pgs 69 -77
Turn your eyes upon Jesus lauren daigle
