Jim Staley claims solar eclipse will release sixth seal of Revelation, is God’s warning to America

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Monday, April 08, 2024

Reformed Passion for Truth ministry leader Pastor Jim Staley, who pleaded guilty to defrauding elderly victims of millions of dollars in an investment scam in 2015, says he believes Monday’s total solar eclipse is a warning from God to America and is connected to the release of the sixth seal of the book of Revelation in the Bible.

“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 said in a recent YouTube video that has already garnered nearly 4 million views.

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 eclipse, from the time the moon first begins to block part of the sun until the event is over, is expected to last about 1 hour and 40 minutes in the Pacific Northwest to about 2 hours and 40 minutes near the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

Many people are expected to watch the eclipse, but Staley urged the public not to treat the event as “just another novelty in the sky.”

“He's warning America that our light will go dark if we do not turn from our wicked ways,” Staley said.

“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 said.

A look at Staley’s almanac.com source shows the listed solar eclipses were the most notable, not that there have only been eight.

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 war will 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 added.

“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.”

Staley describes his Passion For Truth ministry as “devoted to doing Bible things in Bible ways” and said that God wants the Church to turn back to the Bible before it’s too late.

“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 said.

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 broadcast that 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 said.

“It is not true. The eclipse doesn't mean any of these things.”

In 2015, elderly victims and their relatives lashed out at Staley, as he was sentenced to seven years in federal prison and forced to pay $3.3 million in restitution to the investors he defrauded in an investment scam.

Staley pleaded guilty in April 2015 to four counts of fraud and confessed that he cheated others in the investment scam, from which he made $570,000.

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 his ministry’s website, Staley says the five years he spent in federal prison deepened his faith and helped him better understand 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 explains.

“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.”