Eclipse 2024

Matt Miles & Ryan Cox • May 8, 2024

Eclipse 2024

On the fourth day of history, God established a covenantally-controlled governance of which we witness each and every day, confirming the dependability of His eternal Word. The steadfastness of His covenant can even be occasionally beheld through wondrous displays of His definitive and miraculous engineering. Such was the case with the April 8th eclipse.


When God said, “Let there be light” on Day 1, there was light. There was enough light brought forth from God’s glory and eternal power[1] to energize and operate the entire cosmos for however long He has decreed. Hence, the Hebrew word for “light” on Day 1 (Genesis 1:3-5) is owr. It means “source light”, declaring the true source of light and life is our Creator God.[2] It was this light He separated on the first day, setting our planet into its rotation, establishing the 24-hour day-night cycle. It was this light by which He sustained the newly created plant life on Day 3. And it was this light He took and created something very special on Day 4.


On Day 4 of the first week ever, God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens”, and God made the greater light for our daytime, the lesser light for our nighttime, and all other phenomena filling the cosmos (Genesis 1:14-18). The Hebrew word used on Day 4 for light is ma’owr, which means holder or container of light. God used a small drop of His glory and created our perfect Sun. He also created the moon and every cosmic creation we can behold through a telescope.


So precise is His engineering of the universe, He directly tied Jesus and His Kingdom to the covenant He made with day and night."2This is what the LORD says, He who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it – the LORD is His name… 20‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, 21then My covenant with David My servant may also be broken so that he will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne'" (Jeremiah 33:2, 20-21). That covenant was established on Day 1 in Genesis 1:4-5,[3] and we behold God’s faithfulness at sunrise and sunset every single day.


Occasionally we are also blessed to witness further testimony to the awesome works of our God. The Sun’s diameter is 400 times larger than the Moon’s diameter. The Sun is also 400 times farther away from Earth. Therefore, because of these precise sizes and distances, the Moon appears to be nearly the same size in the sky as the Sun, meaning it can perfectly block out the Sun’s light when it passes directly between the Sun and Earth. The result is called a solar eclipse.[4] To our knowledge, these perfectly designed variables that have been perfectly engineered and implemented are found only in this one place in the entire universe. 


It is possible that in the perfect creation, Earth was perfectly straight/vertical on its rotational axis and both the Earth and Moon revolved perfectly flat on the ecliptic plane (the orbital path around the Sun). If so, then Earth would experience a solar eclipse every 30 days at each new moon. Put another way, every month would begin with a solar eclipse at the equator. However, Earth is not perfectly vertical on its axis (currently 23.44° to the ecliptic plane), and the Moon is not perfectly aligned with Earth anymore (5.145° to the ecliptic plane). According to Dr. John Baumgardner (Ph.D. in geophysics from UCLA) and his Catastrophic Plate Tectonics model, the impact of the Flood altered the orbital planes to their present state.[5] As a consequence, Earth now experiences total solar eclipses about every 18 months.


On October 14, 2023 in Phoenix, AZ at an event hosted by the Institute for Creation Research, the CTF team recorded an annular eclipse with one of the ministry telescopes. In an annular eclipse, the Moon is at its apogee (farthest distance) of around 252,000 miles away. At this distance, it appears too small to block out the entire Sun, so totality is not achieved.

But on April 8, 2024, totality was achieved for those in parts of North America to behold. CTF sent teams to two different locations: 1. Cody McDaniel family’s home in southeastern Oklahoma and 2. Mark McDaniel family's home in southern Illinois. For millions of people, God’s marvelous, miraculous engineering was visible.


Our Illinois team was treated to the best conditions. Amanda Cox (CTF Book & Resource Manager) was able to capture the stepped image you see below.

The Oklahoma team dealt with clouds on and off all day. They were able to capture before and after eclipse photos as well as video. Please enjoy a few shots that also captured sunspots from Bob Dugas (CTF Vice President). Unfortunately, a minute before totality clouds moved in and obscured their view until the final 4 seconds, and they were unable to document totality from their location.

We need to thank our more than gracious hosts, Cody & Melissa McDaniel for welcoming us into your home on very short notice (actually only hours). Your hospitality was overwhelming and an extreme blessing. Also gracious thanks goes out to Mark & Rhonda McDaniel as hospitality is often expected from family but never taken for granted. It is always a blessing to experience the Lord through our brothers and sisters in this great family. Please join us in thanking the Lord for these hosts that are truly His servants with all they have, openly sharing with those that have need. And to all of our supporters, Thank You for making it possible for our team to be able to capture these wonderful aspects of creation and to share with others the Lord’s awesome handiwork!


[1] Romans 1:20; see also Luke 9:32 & Acts 7:55.

[2] Job 33:30 & Psalm 56:13.

[3] This one of many reasons why the days of Genesis 1 are 24-hour, covenantally-controlled days. See also:

“What a Day” by Matt Miles and “Does ‘Day’ mean ‘Day’?” by Ryan Cox on The Scroll at creationtruth.com/thescroll

[4] Unlocking Eclipses, by the Institute for Creation Research, 2023, p. 27, available at creationtruth.com/store

[5] Dr. John Baumgardner, “Catastrophic Plate Tectonics”, April 7, 2012, beginning at 48:54 in the video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbagD5bOsoo&list=PLAdKzOzCc6WI2hzzrmlc5xMLTlXoDLfg4&index=2

See also: https://www.socalsem.edu/noahs-flood-the-key-to-correct-interpretation-of-earth-history/.


September/October 2025 Printed Newsletter

October 2, 2025
Ichthyosaur pic

Flooded Marine Reptile

By Matt Miles • October 2, 2025
The Flood during Noah’s day was a devastating judgement against the sin and wickedness of the time. Most people focus on what the Lord did as He saved the eight people and animals on the Ark. Yet while they were being saved, the Flood destroyed the earth and left behind some remarkable things. Geology around the globe shows water burial of plants and animals. Many of the animal remains show signs of drowning and then burial. One particular reptile that shows this is the Ichthyosaurus. From what we can understand, water was her home for everything in life, even giving birth to live young. This well designed creature may even help us trust the Word of God when it comes to the history of the Flood. In our Mobile Museum of Earth History we exhibit a research replica of an ichthyosaur called Stenopterygius quadriscissus . She is from Holzmaden, Germany and is one example of hundreds that have been found in the area. The reason we can so confidently state this fossil is a “her,” when we rarely know for sure about fossil animals, is because she is pregnant. She has three babies present with her remains: one under her tail, one in or near the birth canal, and one still inside. Our fossil is in situ, which means the fossil remains in the rock matrix it was buried in. So, the presence of momma and babies are how they were buried and not articulated in some manner after excavation. This is important to show the rapid, watery burial that must have taken place to lock this scene in the fossil record. The Flood trapped organisms all over the world in different life positions. Sometimes the fossils left behind have shown eating, hunting, sleeping, swimming, nesting, or drowning. When it comes to ichthyosaurs around the planet, there is a significant number of females that seem to be pregnant. They have been found in the fossil record on at least four continents. A fair assumption would be that Ichthyosaurs had a certain time of year they mated and gave birth to young, much like sea turtles today that nest from late spring to late fall depending on the region around the world. So it should come as no surprise that we find pregnant ichthyosaurs all around the world as the Flood lasted an entire year. It would have buried the females that were pregnant near their location of habitat.  Evolutionists maintain that ichthyosaurs lived tens to hundreds of million years ago and each of the mothers found in the fossil record just died while giving birth. This is difficult to support in a millions magnitude time scale. That would mean every time a disaster happened, millions of years apart, the right conditions existed to quickly bury ichthyosaurs that just so happened to be pregnant. It just might take some “faith” to trust that “miracle” would happen over and over again through eons of time. Or you can have faith that the Word of God’s history is correct with a judgement of man’s sin bringing global devastation through the Flood during Noah’s 600th year of life. The Word of God is trustworthy, with even the fossil record showing us glimpses of historical evidence in support of our faith. I’m so thankful we don’t need blind faith to trust our salvation! Blessings.
Furnace

Our God Whom We Serve Is Able

By Ryan Cox • October 2, 2025
14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? 15 …if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:14-18 In the 6th century BC, three young men stood up for their faith in the one true God, for which someone attempted to kill them. Today, in the 21st century AD, one young man was gunned down for his faith in the one true God. And sadly, Charlie Kirk is not the only one. According to The Esther Project, martyrdom for the cause of Christ is commonplace around the world ( theestherproject.com/statistics ). On average: 322 Christians are killed monthly. 214 churches or Christian properties are destroyed monthly. 772 forms of violence (beatings, kidnappings, etc.) against Christians are committed monthly. 100,000 to 160,000 Christians are killed annually in the 21st century. 1.093 million Christians were martyred between 2000 and 2010. And more than 70 million Christians are believed to have been martyred since the 1st century, with more than half killed in the 20th century alone under communist and fascist governments. And how should Christians respond? Peter wrote, “ if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God in this name ” (I Peter 4:16). Jesus took this a step further; He told us, “ …love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ” (Matthew 5:44). Now, as Shawn Grant, minister at Kissimmee Christian Church, FL, preached on the Sunday following the assassination, th at may not be what you want to hear right now, but that is what Jesus has told us we must do. Why? So the world will see the difference Jesus makes! The night of and the days after the assassination, businesses did not have to board up their stores. Police and soldiers did not have to be deployed. There were no riots, no property damages, no police spat upon – only tears, prayers, and a witness to the world that Jesus is the answer. So noticeable is this to the world, there were more international press requests for the Charlie Kirk memorial service than are requested for Super Bowls. Within seven days of his death, Kirk’s ministry Turning Point USA had received over 54,000 campus chapter requests. And most importantly, scores of videos of young people considering or even deciding to give their lives to Jesus have been posted to social media platforms. 
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