The 2024 eclipse and the rapture
ST. LOUIS – With the eclipse approaching next month, there has been an uptick in internet posts about the historic event. There are some people claiming that the eclipse will trigger the rapture. This isn’t the first time that topic has made the rounds on social media.
Several online videos have asserted that the Aug. 21, 2017, eclipse, which traveled across America, intersected seven cities named Salem, supposedly echoing God’s proclamation of “peace” seven times.
Fast forward seven years to April 8, 2024, and another eclipse is poised to cross America, this time affecting seven cities dubbed Nineveh. Allegedly, these two paths will converge over a place named “Rapture.”
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However, the fact-checking site Lead Stories reveals that only two towns named Nineveh will experience a total eclipse, while the other six will witness a partial one. According to Eclipse2024.org, the ‘X’ where the 2017 and 2024 eclipses cross is in Carbondale, Illinois.
Within any religion, there are factions with different beliefs. Yet, it’s crucial to note that the term rapture is absent from the New Testament. The exact timing of Christ’s return remains unknown, as stated in Mark 13:32-33:
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.”
The concept of the rapture emerged in the 1830s, introduced by John Nelson Darby to his church, later known as The Plymouth Brethren.
Its dissemination within Christian circles surged, further popularized by the “Left Behind” series, which sold over 80 million copies, cementing its theology in Christian culture.
While the St. Louis Archdiocese declined to comment on the eclipse, they reiterated that the rapture isn’t a tenet of Catholic teaching. Similarly, Judaism does not endorse the concept of rapture.
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