Eclipses are such rare and spectacular sights that it’s no wonder ancient people might have thought the world was ending. You didn’t have to be a neolithic shaman to appreciate that the sun was the source of life and light and if it it appeared that something big in the sky was taking a big bite out of it, the end of the world might be at hand. Thanks to modern astronomy we know better and can predict the details of eclipses right down to the millisecond. But the ancient anxiety remains—and there are always those unscrupulous grifters happy to cash in:
“See, the day of the LORD is coming — a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger — to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it,” the Book of Isaiah says. “The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.” Begley’s YouTube channel links to a PayPal account to submit donations, as does his website. Begley’s site also advertises a live show called “The Coming Apocalypse,” which runs on World Harvest Television and its local stations around the country.
What’s surprising is that we’re not seeing a lot more of this.
Eclipse 2017, which is happening on Monday, Aug. 21, will be a unique and memorable experience for millions of Americans. Today’s kids will recount their memories of it for decades to come. But it’s also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for “end of the world” scammers to frighten some quick cash out of their nervous followers. And we’ve seen over and over again how gullible some people can be.
It’s important to remember that we’re in
way more danger from shoddy eclipse glasses and legions of motorists looking up when barreling down the road through clogged highways and country roads than we are from supernatural beasts or wayward planets eating the sun.