As anticipation builds for the upcoming total solar eclipse on Monday, social media platforms have become abuzz with speculation about the potential spiritual significance of this phenomenon.
With the eclipse's path of totality primarily traversing the United States, many individuals have drawn connections between this event and recent occurrences, such as the earthquake in New Jersey and the celebration of Easter.
During the weekend, social media was inundated with conspiracy theories taking these natural events as signs of the end times.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican congresswoman, tweeted: "God is sending America strong signs to repent”
"Earthquakes and eclipses and many more things to come."
Other X user wrote: "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places and famines. These are the beginnings of birth pains,", citing Mark 13:8.
"The end times are near," they warned.
However, many church leaders have come out to debunk these conspiracy theories. Rev Richard Arnhols, a retired pastor from New Jersey, said these are simply natural events.
He wrote: "While these things are mentioned in the Gospels and the Book of Revelation (apocalypse), they are natural phenomena which occur with some regularity in different parts of the world, more likely due to the shifting nature of the tectonic plates of a rotating planet in the universe, or global warming at least in part due our over-polluting the atmosphere.”
Rev Dr Ian Paul, author of several books on the book of Revelation, told Premier Christian News that although he understands these cosmic events can be “very disconcerting,” the conspiracy theories that grow alongside them are “actually nonsense”.
He said: “The best way to test a conspiracy theory is actually simply to take it serious and ask the questions, and you suddenly find that everything falls apart. For example, Americans are claiming that the path of total darkness of totality is going through eight towns in America called Nineveh. Therefore, this is the sign of Nineveh which is calling God's repentance. And of course, the reality is, it's not true. Number one, just look at the fact, it's not true. Number two, the message of Jonah was not calling the universe to repentance. So you know, not only they got the eclipse wrong, they've also got the Bible wrong. And most of these things flourish when people don't know their Bibles.”