Passion for Truth ministry leader Pastor Jim Staley, who pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding elderly victims out of millions of dollars in an investment scam back in 2015, recently stated his belief that the total eclipse on Monday could be a warning sign from God to the United States and could potentially be connected to the breaking of the sixth seal mentioned in the book of Revelation.
“Americans have deep spiritual beliefs that total solar eclipses are either very bad omens and or bring a time of transition and rebirth. Throughout the Bible we see solar and lunar eclipses connected to events that surround major turning points on the timeline of mankind with most having to do with the end of time,” Staley went on to say in a YouTube video which has already pulled in a whopping 4 million views. That’s insane engagement.
The Christian Post reported, “Monday’s eclipse will be the first total solar eclipse viewable over the U.S. mainland since Aug. 21, 2017, according to the Weather Channel.”
The entire eclipse, which is considered to start the moment the moon starts to block out the sun until the completion of the event, will last about an hour and forty minutes in the Pacific Northwest and 2 hours and 40 minutes close to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
While there will be millions of folks watching the cosmic event unfold, Staley informed the public in his video not to treat it as “just another novelty in the sky.”
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“He’s warning America that our light will go dark if we do not turn from our wicked ways,” Staley remarked.
Regardless of whether or not you believe Staley’s prediction, the fact remains that our nation has fallen far from its moral foundation. The founders said that only a moral people can be free, and we certainly can’t consider ourselves that anymore. How many children die each and every day through the bloodshed of abortion? How many are abused in public schools and groomed for sexual sin through the normalization of sexual deviancy such as homosexuality and transgenderism?
“So why do I believe it’s a warning? Not only does the Bible connect eclipses to judgment and End Times events but just take a look at what happened in history when these type of solar events happen. When I did a short research of past total solar eclipses that only went through American soil, I was shocked to discover that, according to almanac.com, there were only eight total solar eclipses that have happened over the United States since the founding in 1776 and Incredibly all of these are connected to war and pestilence,” Staley explained in the video.
Staley further claimed that a solar eclipse in the 1700s ushered in the Revolutionary War and other wars. He also said an X created across the U.S. by the span of the eclipse in 2017 and the one expected on Monday will tell the world where the Gog and Magog warwill start.
“In the 1800s that was the time of the Civil War and during the 1970s we had the Vietnam War. There is a consistent pattern for thousands of years of total eclipses bringing war and very bad omens. One of the last times that these two eclipses formed an X over the United States was in 1806 and 1811. Three months after the second eclipse on December 16, 1811, was the largest earthquake in the history of the mainland United States, causing the Mississippi River to flow backwards and was so powerful it rang the Liberty Bell,” he continued.
Staley then said, “Over 1,300 miles away on the East Coast coincidentally, six months later the infamous War of 1812 began. Scientists say that if the same earthquake would happen today, it would send a giant Earth wave 200 miles in every direction, leveling every building along its path.”
He then explained that his Passion For Truth ministry was dedicated to “doing Bible things in Bible ways,” pointing out that God wants the Church to make a return to the Word of God before time is up.
“If you’re like me, your heart will be pounding at the end of this video. It’s time for the Church to WAKE UP and start returning to doing Bible things in Bible ways before it’s too late! If there was EVER a time to pay attention, the time is NOW,” he commented.
Responding to what he calls a wave of End Times channels he described as “the usual suspects” connecting Monday’s eclipse to End Times prophecy, Pastor Chris Rosebrough, who leads Kongsvinger Lutheran Church in Oslo, Minnesota, said in a his Fighting for the Faith broadcastthat the claims aren’t true.
“There’s an eclipse coming up on April 8th in the United States, 2024. And we’re going to put this out there. There’s a lot of channels that are kind of like the usual suspects. Prophecy channels and charismatic leaders and things like this that are all claiming that the 2024 eclipse, that God is speaking a message of doom over the United States as a result of this eclipse,” he countered. “It is not true. The eclipse doesn’t mean any of these things.”
Keep in mind that Staley was raked over the coals back in 2015 by elderly victims and members of their families for the investment scam he pulled and ended up spending a total of seven years behind bars and was forced to pay $3.3 million in restitution to those he scammed. The man pleaded guilty to the charges against him in April 2015. Staley ended up pocketing $570,000 from those he cheated.
The pastor’s elderly victims, some of whom were slipping into dementia when he preyed on them, said they trusted him because he professed his Christian faith and family values, only to discover that he’s a “disgusting and sickening criminal.”
On Staley’s ministry website, he claims his time in prison helped to make him a better person and gave him a deeper understanding of his faith and Scripture.
“The new ‘higher learning facility’ (prison) would be just the place that would be used to remake, remold, and release a new, fresh wind in Jim that is very tangibly felt today,” the ministry states.
“Remarkably, due to a shared faith, Jim and his former federal judge share a unique friendship post-prison and from time to time still go out to lunch to debrief on what God has been doing in Jim’s life and ministry.
“Despite the adversity he faced, Pastor Staley’s faith has only deepened, amplifying his dedication to serving the body of Christ and uniquely equipping him in ways that would have otherwise been impossible. He specializes in breaking down the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures and how they connect to New Testament concepts in a way that’s easy for the masses to understand.”
I think what this means is that you should take anything this dude says with a pretty sizable chunk — more like a boulder — of salt. It’s not wise to take theological counsel or cues from someone who spent time in prison for essentially breaking the commandment against lying.
But hey, that’s just my take.