On August 21, 2017, all of North America was able to see a partial eclipse of the sun, with a total eclipse occurring from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina.  It passed through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and South Carolina.  The next total solar eclipse in the United States will happen on April 8, 2024, stretching from southern Texas to northern Maine, barely missing Tennessee.  There was also be a total lunar eclipse on January 20 or 21 of 2019 in the United States.  Both solar and lunar total eclipses create periods of total darkness.

“Words from Above” in the Bible talk about darkness in Matthew 6, which is part of the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus talks in verses 22 and 23 about the eye.  In verse 22, He says that if the eye is “single”, our whole body will be full of light.  What He means by “single” is that it is “healthy”, and that light can enter into the body through it, not like when a person might have cataracts or some other disease of the eye.  In verse 23, He says that if the eye is “evil”, or “unhealthy”, the body is full of darkness, or totally blind.  In verse 24, Jesus says that people “can’t serve two masters, for either they will hate the one and love the other, or else hold to the one and despise the other”.

So, one type of darkness is of the eyes, and Jesus cured this problem in a man who had been blind from birth.  There was quite a controversy over this, as far as the religious authorities of the day were concerned, because Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath Day.  He had made clay from His own spittle and dirt from the earth, and they considered this working on the Sabbath, which was strictly prohibited by their religious laws.  They went  to the man and his parents to ask how his blindness was cured, but all the man would say was that once he was blind but after the miracle he could see.

The other type of blindness is the blindness of the mind, and the Bible specifically says that it is the devil who is responsible for this blindness.  His purpose in blinding the mind is to prevent people from believing the truth of the Word of God.  He knows that the truth of the Word of God has the ability to convince people to turn their lives over to the Lord, and receive His gift of salvation and eternal life.  So, the darkness of the mind no longer exists.

Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.