What is ‘Rapture Day’ and what does it have to do with the solar eclipse?

The end of the world always seems to be right around the corner. By now, many of us have already lived through several supposed world ending scenarios — and now we can add another to the list.

There are some out there that believe the solar eclipse on Monday April 8th marks the beginning of the Rapture. But what exactly do people mean when referring to the Rapture? And what about this particular solar eclipse has led people to believe it is a sign of it?

What is Rapture Day?

The Rapture is an idea that exists amongst certain groups of Christians. Not all Christians subscribe to this belief, and even those who do have differing ideas as to what exactly happens on the Rapture. But anyway, the gist is that this particular day is an end-time event in which all Christian believers will arise — including deceased believers, who will rise from their graves and join the living — and once this happens, they will all ascend like Jesus did and join the lord. The Left Behind film series is set after the Rapture, the latest one was directed by, and stars everyone’s favorite alt-right misogynist: Kevin Sorbo.

The Rapture is mostly a fundamentalist Christian view, and if it is going to happen, it’s unlikely we’ll know exactly when. 1 Corinthians 15:50-54 describes what it will be like, allegedly it will all happen very fast, “in the twinkling of an eye.’ So could the Rapture actually be real? Who’s to say? Is it happening during today’s solar eclipse? Probably not, but hey, if I’m wrong there won’t be any believers on earth to say “told you so.”

What does the Rapture have to do with the solar eclipse?

Believers who have been keeping a close eye on astronomical events think they may have noticed something about this particular eclipse that signifies the Rapture. This also relates to the last solar eclipse to occur over North America, which happened in 2017.

First of all, you might notice that the intersecting paths of the 2017 and the 2024 eclipse literally form a cross. But the fact that they happened seven years apart is significant as well, as the number seven is a holy number.

The evidence isn’t exactly compelling

Solar eclipses happen all the time, there have been 13 over different parts of the US since they started being recorded in 1778 — and according to an article from CBS News, this one is no different from the last 12. Plus, there have been literally hundreds more in different parts of the globe. As for the cross —well, a cross is a pretty easy shape to make by accident, in fact, it would be weird if the paths didn’t form crosses from time to time. And lastly, the seven years between the two events, if we’re nitpicking, it’s not really seven years as the last one happened on August 7th, so it’s actually been six years and eight months.