2017 Great American Eclipse as seen from Oregon (Mander)
On August 21, 2017 a total solar-eclipse known as the ‘Great American Eclipse’ traveled across the U.S. in a west to east arc.
The eclipse arc –called the ‘path of totality’– started at Salem, Oregon and exited at South Carolina. Carbondale, Illinois had the longest time in shadow at 2 minutes and 41 seconds, while Nashville, Tennessee was the only major city with substantial time in totality at over 2 minutes. The eclipse path was 70-miles wide, traveled through 14 states, and was only visible to the continental U.S.
There are a lot of interesting facts about the 2017 eclipse, including:
- The 2017 eclipse is thought to be the most viewed in history.
- The 2017 total solar eclipse was the first to visit just the U.S. since the nation’s founding in 1776.
- It started in the 33rd state – Oregon.
- The first city in the eclipse path was Salem, Oregon, which is named after Jerusalem.
- The eclipse began in Oregon at the exact moment of sunset in Jerusalem.
- The eclipse was 40 days before Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement.
Seven years after the Great American Eclipse of 2017 we would see a second Great American Eclipse that occurred in 2024. On April 8, 2024 a total solar eclipse once again swept across the U.S., this time passing through Texas and moving upwards through the north east exiting at Maine.
This eclipse was even more dramatic than the 2017 eclipse, because the path of totality resulted in darkness ranging from 3 minutes and 22 seconds on the Maine coast to 4 minutes and 27 seconds in the southwest part of Texas.
In 2017, Steve Cioccolanti of Discover Ministries pointed out some astonishing facts about these eclipses.
Pastor Cioccolanti pointed out that the last time a total solar eclipse crossed the U.S. was 100 years ago on June 8, 1918 – which was the year of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that left 675,000 Americans dead. The death toll worldwide was estimated at 50 million (1918 Pandemic (H1N1 virus)). Steve actually remarked in 2017 that given this, we might be facing a coming pandemic—which is perhaps prophetic given the 2019 outbreak of the coronavirus.
But Steve pointed out something else as well. If you overlay the two eclipse paths, you see that not only do they intersect –but they intersect directly over the New Madrid Seismic Zone.
Video: Is the USA in the Bible? Great American Eclipses of 2017 & 2024 – Real End Time Signs?
Here is the plot of the 2017 and 2024 eclipses that shows the intersection point:
The New Madrid Seismic Zone is a major fault line located where the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers meet, dividing the land into three regions. Between December 1811 and March 1812 this area recorded some of the most powerful earthquakes in U.S. history. Three historic earthquakes occurred that were estimated to be magnitude 7.0 to 8.0. The February 7, 1812 earthquake caused witnesses to record that the Mississippi River ran backwards for several hours.
If we overlay the paths of the solar eclipses of 2017 and 2024, we see an intersection at the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers – centered near the town of Carbondale, Illinois, which was also the town that was longest in shadow in 2017. In another oddity, this area is nicknamed ‘Little Egypt’. This area of the town of Carbondale is directly over the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Earthquakes like those of the 1800s would devastate the region today, and given sufficient magnitude might even permanently alter the physical landscape of the U.S.
In the Bible we see the darkening of the sun and moon as potential warnings regarding times and seasons. Rabbi Yehuda Shurpin, editor of Chabad.org, states: “An eclipse is not caused by sin. Rather, it is an indication of a trying time, a time when there is a natural predisposition for sin, and for strict judgment of that sin”.
In the seven years that spanned 2017 to 2024, we witnessed a series of national and global events that were marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, which fell squarely in the middle of this time.
Looking back on videos like that of Steve Cioccolanti, it is worth considering what might have occurred. It may be that the two Great American Eclipses did indeed serve as marker events for this seven-year period, with the intersection of the eclipse paths over the New Madrid Fault in 2024 serving as a possible warning—one that in the end did not come true.
With the unrelenting events of this seven-year eclipse period now behind us, the image of these eclipse paths crossing over a major U.S. fault line will also be something that fades from memory. And in the end, we may never know if we were spared a final catastrophe in the year of the second Great American Eclipse.
But it is possible that we received a moment of grace.
One of the odd coincidences regarding this seven-year period is that it began with the swearing in of Donald Trump to the office of President in 2017, which was then followed by the first of the Great American Eclipses in August of that year.
In 2024 we would then see his astonishing victory in the Presidential election, which followed the second Great American Eclipse that occurred in April. And with his second term, we would see a dramatic change in direction regarding the course of the nation. To many, this appeared to be a lifting of the darkness that had so thoroughly engulfed the nation, and leaves many believing that God had indeed shown us mercy.
Because we should remember that we have been living in a time marked by a long running national rebellion against God, that was marked by the appearance of harbingers…and a modern-day Elijah.
Next – Chapter 6: A Modern Day Elijah
