The IM Saturday Brunch: August 19, 2017 (Joel 2:31 Edition)

Posted byChaplainmikePosted inSaturday Brunch

THE INTERNET MONK SATURDAY BRUNCH

”It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.”

The sun will be turned to darkness…before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

• Joel 2:31

• • •

As if the news over the past couple of weeks hasn’t been apocalyptic enough, this coming Monday will provide a solar eclipse to further darken the land. This will be one of those rare solar eclipses that will be viewable all across North America.

By now, I’m sure the path is well-known to you.

Over the course of history and still today, there have been many theories, myths, superstitions, and predictions put forward regarding the meaning and significance of solar eclipses. Here are a few:

This article talks about the possible appearance of the famous Lizard Man during the eclipse, or perhaps “Moss Man, a 6-to-8-foot tall species with no neck and large, blazing-red eyes.” Also:

Re-emerging once again is the theory the planet Nibiru will collide with earth and destroy us all shortly after the eclipse. This belief, promoted by Christian numerologist and doomsayer David Meade, is based on numerology (the number 33) and biblical passages. Put simply, Meade believes Earth’s destruction will occur on Sept. 23, 33 days after the eclipse.

Oh, and one more:

Some in Kentucky, meanwhile, tie the eclipse to the extraterrestrial. Monday marks 62 years to the day when some say locals engaged in a Cowboys & Aliens-style battle with Galactic outsiders.

Early on the morning of Aug. 21, 1955, a man saw a bright object shoot across the Kentucky sky before the aliens crashed a party at a farmhouse. The aliens — with large heads and eyes, long arms and claw-like hands — caused partygoers to fire at the creatures with rifles and shotguns.

It’s remembered as the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter, which influenced the making of E.T. the Extra Terrestrial.

http://WDRB.images.worldnow.com/interface/js/WNVideo.js?rnd=16635007;hostDomain=www.wdrb.com;playerWidth=630;playerHeight=355;isShowIcon=true;clipId=13607018;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News;advertisingZone=;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=overlayWDRB 41 Louisville News

• • •

Then there’s this article, that describes myths from around the world and across time about eclipses. For example

Many cultures explain eclipses, both solar and lunar, as a time when demons or animals consume the sun or the moon, said Krupp.

“The Vikings saw a pair of sky wolves chasing the sun or the moon,” said the Griffith Observatory astronomer. “When one of the wolves caught either of the shining orbs, an eclipse would result. In Vietnam, a frog or a toad [eats] the moon or the sun,” Krupp added, while people of the Kwakiutl tribe on the western coast of Canada believe that the mouth of heaven consumes the sun or the moon during an eclipse. In fact, the earliest word for eclipse in Chinese, shih, means “to eat,” he said.

• • •

Ever wondered how people who think the earth is flat explain a solar eclipse? This article will tell you that…

Some believe the sun and the moon are simply holograms projected in the sky, to convince the masses that we are part of the universe which we are led to believe we are in.

• • •

This article explores 8 theories about the eclipse based on a prediction of Nostradamus, which says: “When the eclipse of the Sun will then be, The monster will be seen in full day: Quite otherwise will one interpret it, High price unguarded: none will have foreseen it.”

What do people make of this? The solar eclipse and the monster it will reveal could indicate, according to these prognosticators:

  • Putin will be revealed as the Antichrist.
  • Putin will launch a missile attack against the U.S. and start WWIII.
  • Genghis Khan’s tomb will be found and he will be “reborn.”
  • An asteroid will collide with earth, causing a tidal wave.
  • Aliens will invade earth.
  • A mysterious planet will hit earth and wipe out all of humanity.
  • It will be the beginning of one of the 10 plagues in the Bible.
  • Destruction will continue until 2024 – or the second solar eclipse.

• • •

Evangelicals have certainly put forward their theories, as in this article, in which Anne Graham Lotz says:

A few years ago I was teaching through the book of Joel when the ancient words of his prophecy came up off the page. I knew with hair-raising certainty that God’s severe judgment was coming on America! I have taught Joel several times since.  Each time has served to confirm with deep conviction that God is warning America of impending disaster and destruction.

In light of Ezekiel 33:1-6 that commands a watchman to be faithful to warn others of the danger coming against the land, I feel compelled to issue the warning once again. The warning is triggered by the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, nicknamed America’s Eclipse. For the first time in almost 100 years, a total solar eclipse will be seen from coast to coast in our nation.  People are preparing to mark this significant event with viewing parties at exclusive prime sites. The celebratory nature regarding the eclipse brings to my mind the Babylonian King Belshazzar who threw a drunken feast the night the Medes and Persians crept under the city gate.  While Belshazzar and his friends partied, they were oblivious to the impending danger.  Belshazzar wound up dead the next day, and the Babylonian empire was destroyed.

• • •

What are your eclipse plans?

Where will you be?

Will you be viewing or photographing the eclipse?

How many of you will be in a place where a total eclipse will be viewable?

• • •

Here’s a solar eclipse playlist of 30 songs from NPR, including this classic from one of rock’s greatest albums:

91 thoughts on “The IM Saturday Brunch: August 19, 2017 (Joel 2:31 Edition)”

  3. I live in the 90% zone. Got my eclipse glasses and everything. I actually have family within a few hours’ drive in the total eclipse zone, and I thought about paying them a visit tomorrow, but I decided I didn’t want to deal with the mob scene it’s apparently become over there.

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  13. I have a bad eye — peripheral vision only. And I really don’t want to further jeopardize it, or my functioning eye. I’ll have to get information secondhand, I’m afraid.

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  14. “If that dragon were voiced by John DeLancie, I would cheerfully pay good money to see it.”

    My Little Pony, episodes with Discord. John DeLancie is the Voice Actor for the dragon.

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  15. Make sure it’s one of the plant-eating ones. Even if the velociraptors from “Jurassic Park” were really only the size of a chicken, you wouldn’t want to make one mad at you.

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  16. If history repeats itself, I’m so going to get me a dinosaur.

    (from one of my favorite T-shirt sitings)

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  18. I can try to dig them up; probably about 2 years ago one of the research firms did an anlysis using modern tools, etc…and the computers indicated the very low threshold due to the smoke problem. Don’t recall off hand what the agency/firm was.

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  20. We’re both retired and the current forecast is for sunny weather, so we’ll pack some snacks and go find a parking lot in a clear area from which the sun is visible. My husband dug out a couple of pairs of welders’ goggles, then bought #14 lenses for them, so we can watch safely. I remember a solar eclipse when I was a teenager, but we haven’t been in the right part of the country since to see another. We’ll only see about 80% of the sun eclipsed, but it should be interesting.

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  23. ” a tall skinny dragon made of mismatched animal parts with a voice like John DeLancie.”

    If that dragon were voiced by John DeLancie, I would cheerfully pay good money to see it. Ivanka Trump and the Governor of Kentucky, not so much.

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  24. Whoops! Didn’t watch the Bob Seger video before I posted it! Sorry for it’s inappropriateness. The song itself is not inappropriate. But I should’ve looked before I leaped on the Youtube posting. Once again, apologies.

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  25. Agreed. I gave up on the collapse narrative some time ago. I prefer your term “loud fade.” The year 2030 or so seems about right.

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  26. I experienced a blimp eclipse once. Walking back from campus during grad school before a big sporting event, I suddenly found my totally sunny day blocked out by a softly humming cloud. Wondering precisely which vial or trumpet it might be – the locust thingies came to mind — I was relieved to discover that it was only that of Goodyear.

    I want a blimp too, for what it’s worth.

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  28. Yes, the weapons-loving USA, from handguns to nukes and back again. But cooler heads seem to be prevailing in the Korean crisis. It’s grimly ironic that Kim’s head seems to be cooler than the POTUS’s.

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  29. Also sadly – the best recent reports are that we “only” need to nuke ~8 metropolitan regions to render the majority of the planet non-viable. It won’t be the nukes so much as the fire and then the smoke & ash from that fire. A nuke lit burning of a modern city will involved the burning of hundreds of millions of tons of ASPHALT; the result of which will blacken regions more than a thousand miles downwind with toxic ash. And then will come the cold. Bump the 8 cities to 12 and outside the equatorial zones will be a world of ice for a decade; which includes nearly all the world’s agricultural zones. A “small scale” nuclear exchange is enough to end the world as we know it.

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  30. I’m also in the 80% area. Husband is retired; school starts that day in our town, so I don’t anticipate being called to work just yet. (I bet the teachers will have something ready for the students to be able to watch.) Husband will set up his spotting scope (half of a pair of binoculars) so that we can watch the eclipse projected inversely onto a dark background. Large, clear image, no need to spend money on special glasses. We watched the transit of Venus this way a few years ago. Back in the early ’90s when there was an eclipse, I made a pinhole viewer so my children and I could watch – worked fine.

    I immediately thought of “You’re So Vain” – glad it’s on the playlist. I think it’s timely; I know it wasn’t written about DJT, but that makes the irony all the more pointed.

    Dana

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  31. Your welcome, glad to help. Such that it is help; there is always still US[A], which is a powerful nation-state in a perilous condition.

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  33. You missed her on national TV where she told us all that God had revealed to here that the second coming was going to happen before she died?

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  34. Trip interruption insurance. Don’t laugh. I bet the credit card call centers are busy Monday afternoon and evening.

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  35. Hmmm… still doesn’t look like a collapse to me. The numbers still look like a slow and steady decline. I anticipate no notable defection from the current kerfuffles; none of this is really unprecedented, if it really repelled people it would have already done so.

    The Evangelical block, at current trends [assuming they continue as-is], looks to me like a viable power block up into the 2030s at least.

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  38. P.P.P.S. A “GSD” from the comment thread at TWW:

    A quick story. A pastor friend of mine got a question on Facebook from a man who was concerned about the Rapture. This man was honestly worried his little doggie, who he was going to leave in the house while he went to watch the eclipse. If the Rapture happened during the eclipse, which he considered a distinct possibility, what would happen to his doggie?

    “Fear is the mind killer.”

    Now I’ve gotta run. There’s a series of model railroad open house tours in my area.

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  39. P.P.S. Ivanka TRUMP and the Governor of Kentucky will be there, too.
    Outside Hopkinsville with the NASA setup.
    (No mention of any other CELEBRITIES…)

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  41. P.S. And the scalpers are charging $1000 a piece for Eclipse Glasses.

    “I’m Done… I’m Done…”

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  44. What got me was the synchronicity. Eclipse mania going on during LIttle Green Men Days on the anniversary of “UFO Goblins vs Shotguns” in Edgar Cayce’s home town.

    You could NOT make this up. All that’s missing is an appearance by Mothman or a tall skinny dragon made of mismatched animal parts with a voice like John DeLancie.

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  45. I’ll take your word for it, since I trust that you only speak whereof you know. And I’ll consider your reply an answer to my prayer, since it has quieted a gnawing anxiety I’d had over this issue. Thanks.

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  46. > by no means remote possibility that India and China

    Nah, India is one of the sanest nations on Earth; at the end of the day they are Pragmatic. During their escalation with Pakistan corporate leaders from Wipro, IBM, and other went to the government of India with a message: “Cool it, or we pull out.” The situation rapidly deescalated; and many credible people cite that chastising as the primary cause.

    China has a similar situation; they live on export-trade; if that market collapses they will have complete economic melt-down – a fact their PTBs are keenly aware of. China is now operating rail lines throughout the Indian subcontinent, across the middle-east, and all the way to Spain [yes, Spain!]. They’ve spent tens of billions of dollars OWNING high capacity trade-n-exchange routes everywhere they can reach [*1]. They’ control the transit of freight all over; Nepal, Laos, etc… They aren’t going to nuke anybody.

    IMO, it is OUR government that lives within the strongest of all reality distortion fields. The rhetoric vs. policy vs. facts-on-the-ground are dangerously uncorrelated.

    [*1] Like the USA *SHOULD* be doing.

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  47. I wish I owned a blimp. To look down as the strange darkness descends and then rescinds from the landscape/city-scape. That would be cool.

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  50. I agree with Tom aka V, whatever slight respect (and I use that word loosely) I still had, slight at best, is gone. I’m not a theologian, I don’t pretend or play one anywhere, but SERIOUSLY? This is part of our wonderful creation that God gives us daily. Why are we not, as believers, simply enjoying this? It’s cool, we’re alive to see it, etc. however,
    on that note *sigh* we won’t see it here SoCal. Who still listens to her after statements/teaching like that?

    It’s embarrassing…for her and Christendom.

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  52. Aside from the issue of the Korean crisis, we should also be aware of and praying about the by no means remote possibility that India and China, two countries with nuclear arsenals, may soon be engaged in armed conflict with each other in the Himalayas.

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  55. I live in the 80% area. Depending upon the clouds, I will either be at the park where the local astronomy club will have telescopes or at another park where I can get a decent walk (and maybe bird watching).

    If rain, stay inside and continue to job hunt.

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  59. the only darkening of the sun I fear would be a nuclear winter where some among us have ‘survived’ only to perish slowly . . . . . I am haunted by those words ‘if we have nukes, why can’t we use them?’

    as for the natural eclipse, how wonderful for those in the direct path . . . . I hope they enjoy the experience of being able to personally witness this phenomenon in all its glory

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  61. I’ll be working inside at my job during the eclipse. I don’t live or work in the Path of Totality.

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  62. At some point, we might not be in the 21st century anymore, and it will be no good for us because everything will have happened already.

    Good thing history repeats itself.

    Then again …

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  65. I’m in Charleston, dead in the path of this particular optical phenomena. A gentleman in the cigar lounge last evening tried to convince me that the danger from an eclipse exceeded that of the normal sun, because the corona has a different frequency than an un-blocked sun. Hillarity ensued.

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  66. Oh, and speaking of music to watch the eclipse by, check out Tycho’s music, especially their “Dive” album…

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  67. This is for ChrisS

    Unwieldy comments
    it was foretold by sages
    it was ever thus

    For the rest of you,
    “Goodnight”
    Susan

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  68. Will be watching the eclipse from just south of Altanta, GA, so about 90% coverage, sans glasses, so glancing will be askew. Anyways, these “prophets” of doom should find another hobby outside of always trying to fit ‘Murica into God’s end times scenarios.

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  69. “The solar eclipse and the monster it will reveal could indicate, according to these prognosticators:”

    My take: the solar eclipse heralds the return of the Cubs to the playoffs. The Cubs winning the World Series last year heralded the arrival of the Orange One; if they win again this year, universal destruction on the order of the Last Great Time War is in the works.

    Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

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  71. I will be watching the eclipse, which will be 82% here, in a lawn chair on the roof of my office building, eating hot wings and fries.

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  72. > Why so much fear??

    Pretty much the nut of everything about Evangelicalism right there.
    And it isn’t just normal fear – it is a Fear Fetish; a delight in finding things to be afraid of, sometimes it seems the more absurd the better.

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  74. I actually had *some* respect for Anne Graham Lotz — until reading that clip from her talk. What makes Evangelicals so insanely stupid when it comes to exegesis, or I should say, their eisegesis where everything the Prophets said to Israel just have to apply to 21st century ‘Murica?? Why so much fear??

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  75. I would like to be on the links during the 2 hours or so of the Eclipse in my part of the world. Where I am, the sun should be 90 per cent eclipsed. I want to know; will it be to dark to play golf? Will I be able to find my mis-hit drives?

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  78. HUG, love you lots, BUT….

    remember the song. ‘the sun will come out tomorrow’ from Annie”.

    It will, I promise you. Would I lie to you?

    I also quote from Charlie Brown, “Good Grief”.

    Let us lie on our dog kennels and slumber.

    Close your eyes and it will pass.

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  81. At least one commenter at Wartburg Watch has relatives in Hopkinsville, right on the eclipse path. And things are getting decidedly WEIRD.

    Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
    Hometown of famous Forties psychic Edgar Cayce.
    Location of “Goblins vs Shotguns” in classic early UFOlogy.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly%E2%80%93Hopkinsville_encounter

    Right in the path of Monday’s solar eclipse, on the exact 62nd anniversary of the UFO goblin shootout that put the town on the map. And the two days before the eclipse (i.e. this weekend) are the town’s annual “Little Green Men Days” festival.

    And things just keep getting crazier & crazier. According to our spy at TWW, between the eclipse and Little Green Men Days, thousands upon thousands of looky-loos have flooded into town, jamming all roads leading in for between 3 and 30 miles around. The one big park in town is overflowing with squatters, the cops have to get around on four-wheel ATVs through the fields and woods, and all town personnel are on duty round-the-clock trying to keep everything from falling apart.

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  82. OK ChrisS.

    I challenge you, as I did Chaplain Mike, How do we as voting members of the world community create a better and more organised world.

    Disregarding for a moment our Christian bent on the situation at large,

    Even our immediate local government elections are causing angst in the local community we have so many. far too many people putting their hands up to review and renew our local problems, slash and burn I call it.

    Democracy is a thing to be handled gently, kid gloves not fire to solve problems.

    The fury works its way up from Community to State to Federal problems in our country and no one benefits in the long run.

    Have a great Saturday.

    Susan

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  85. Chaplain Mike,
    from where do you get your topics for Saturdays?
    Disturbing the sleep of the Antipoden Imonkers who are wondering about out own political situation.

    We might be a small country but we go through Prime Ministers like quick breakfasts.
    The current problem at present being who of our parliamentary members are real Australians?
    Being born here does not automatically qualify you if your parents had some tenuous link to another country.

    Sigh!

    II dread turning on the TV or opening the newspaper. Who is challenging the government today and why??

    I am sure none of this hits the US media but in the small population of Aust it is important we have stable government, much as you wish for it in the US.

    Happy and peaceful weekend to all,

    Susan

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  86. Stupidly stumbled into it. Now that I hold rank I hereby dub you First Mate! We will ride herd over this thing for the next few hours before it gets completely unwieldy and out of our hands!

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  87. This comment repeated, how did that happen?

    Whatever, ChrisS, you know I care,

    Blessings,
    Susan

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  88. How can you possibly be first??!!
    I wait with bated breath and still miss it.

    Now I will read the post. Grr.

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  89. How can you possibly be first??!!
    I wait with bated breath and still miss it.

    Now I will read the post. Grr.

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