God Loves you Whether you Like it or not!
Be the reason someone smiles today. :-)
What's Happening @ FMCSunday, April 21
Goshen College Parables will present program for morning service No Meetings this week At FMC
Thanks to all that gave at the Blood Mobile this past week.
Quick Links:
Search our site:
Come and join us!
Sunday Worship: 9:00 AM (Sunday School following) You are welcome to join us on Sunday, or stop in for a chat! We want to meet you! |
Sermons on YouTubeFollow link above to our church page on YouTube
On the Journey...
Monthly Insight From Pastor Philip Yoder April 2024 The Great Eclipse Is Coming!
Written By Pastor Phil Yoder The great Eclipse has come and gone, but oh, the buzz and the anticipation of this great event! The media talked about it for months, and then covered it from every angle. People came from around the world to see the spectacle. Niagara Falls, New York, was expecting a million visitors on this day alone. We were warned that there would be traffic jams, as people crowd into the path of the total eclipse, hoping to witness the 3 minutes the sun went hiding behind the moon. We were warned there could be potential food shortages at restaurants and grocery stores from the masses of people crowding into the small line of the eclipse. If you were worried that it may be cloudy, and you might miss this great event, you could book a flight that went above the clouds, a flight that took off and landed at the same place, the only purpose was to get up above the clouds to see the eclipse unhindered. The schools in Garrett County, Maryland, the county where I grew up and attended school, dismissed school three hours early on Monday. I am not sure why. Were they expecting darkness to cover the county at the very time school normally dismissed? Or was it so the students could go home to get a better view of the eclipse? In all this buzz about the eclipse, Doomsday prophets suddenly emerged, warning us that the eclipse will pass over 7 towns in America named Nineveh, and then over Jonah, Texas. Now they are connecting this eclipse to the prophet Jonah’s warning of imminent destruction. They are convinced that there was a solar eclipse as Jonah preached judgment and doom over Nineveh. And it was this sign in the sky that brought the Ninevites to repent in fear. According to these “prophets,” there is a bit of good news in the midst of all this doom and looming judgment. The good news is that the eclipse also supposedly passed over Rapture, Indiana. Although, I must say, I am having trouble locating Rapture, Indiana on my map. Maybe there’s a reason it was called “Rapture.” Enough of all the hoopla over this eclipse. It is a natural phenomenon that happens from time to time. The marvelous thing is that God put celestial beings in orbit, and they never stray from their ordained orbits. That is the great sign, the sign of a Creator, which many will ignore. However, there is another great eclipse taking place right now, which is garnering almost no attention. And it is this eclipse that causes me grave concerns. It is this eclipse that true prophets should be proclaiming from the rooftops! It is an eclipse that is not just a spectator event that draws hoards with their cameras and eclipse glasses, it is an eclipse of infinitely greater significance than the event on April 8. It is a Spiritual Eclipse, in which the Son is being blocked from public view, and the great tragedy of this eclipse, is that absence of the light of the Son is scarcely noticed. This is the eclipse that should leave us shaking in our boots! For when the light of the Son is no longer present, there is no guidance to help us find our way through the spiritual darkness of the world, a profound darkness that plagues our world today. |