| (Copyright 06-18-2025) by Gary C. Miller (Pocahontas, Arkansas) |
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| Wormwood (Copyright 06-18-2025) by Gary C. Miller (Pocahontas, Arkansas) “In 1968 at the MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] a plan was designed to deal with the possibility of a giant meteor on a collision course with earth. This plan is named ‘Project Icarius’.”  This quote is from the movie “Meteor” (American International, 1979; starring Sean Connery). The theme of the movie centers on the possibility of a giant meteor colliding with earth. “Project Icarius” was the result of scientists’ astute awareness that the earth is simply a “sitting duck”, cosmically speaking, for any stray asteroid-sized meteor heading our way. A meteor hurling at a cometary speed of around 108,000 miles per hour and colliding with earth could cause widespread devastation! To counter such an eventuality, the movie depicted a cluster of nuclear-tipped rockets called Hercules, designed to attack this unwanted invader, breaking it into smaller chunks. These smaller parts then mostly burn up entering the earth’s atmosphere. What is the likelihood of such an occurrence? Is such a cosmic encounter in the offing? We should not hastily dismiss the idea. For in 1937, the asteroid Hermes came within 194,000 miles of earth (Advertisement for the movie “Meteor”). This is much closer than our moon’s mean orbital radius of 240,000 miles! Hermes came inside the orbit of the moon! On June 30, 1908, a meteor-calculated at forty-thousand tons-fell in the Tunguska River region of Central Siberia-at 60 degrees 56 minutes north latitude and 101 degrees 57 minutes east longitude (Worlds In Collision, Immanuel Velikovsky, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, N.Y.; 1950, p. 41). The radioactive scars are there today (Stranger Than Science, Frank Edwards, Ace Books Inc., New York, 1959; pp. 220-224). Something similar-but on a larger scale-could happen again! The Bible says it WILL! The earth will again “capture” an asteroid-like meteor via their mutual gravitational attraction! It will be a “collision encounter” with target earth! A Fire on the Moon The earth-moon system had direct hits by huge meteors many times in the past. The pock-marked surface of the moon is mute testimony to this fact! The huge four-fifths mile wide Barringer Meteorite Crater (better known as Meteor Crater) southwest of Winslow, Arizona is a 600 feet deep meteoric wound from the past! Emperor Maximilian and his court saw a stone fall from the sky in Ensisheim, Alsace, on November 7, 1492 (Velikovsky, p. 41). Scientists believe the famed “Bays” of North and South Carolina, and Northern Georgia were formed long ago by a huge flaming mass blazing across the Midwest grazing the Blue Ridge Mountains at 150,000 miles per hour plowing into the earth devastating thousands of square miles! (Stranger Than Science, Edwards, p. 89). The larger of these bays average 2200 feet across. Their most remarkable feature is their parallelism. According to Melton and Schriever (1933) of the University of Oklahoma, the bays are the result of a “meteoric shower or colliding comet.” (see F. A. Melton and W. Schriever, “The Carolina Bays-Are They Meteorite Scars?” Journal of Geology, XLI (1933)). A gigantic meteoric collision with the moon was even observed from the earth! In the year 1178 A.D. five monks of Canterbury reported seeing a fire on the moon. The monk Gervase of Canterbury, who was keeping the chronicles of the cathedral and monastery, recorded this remarkable astronomical observation: “This year [1178 AD], on the Sunday before the birthday of St. John the Baptist [June 18], after sunset when the moon was first visible a marvelous sign appeared to some five or more men who were sitting there facing the moon. For the new moon was bright, and, in the usual manner of new moons, extending its horns to the east; and behold! suddenly the upper horn split in two. And from the middle of this division a flaming torch sprang up, casting fire, coals, and sparks a long distance…After these transformations, the moon from horn to horn-that is, for its whole length-became blackish…” (The Search for Solution, Horace Freeland Judson; Holt, Rinehart, and Winston; New York, 1980, pp. 166-167) In 1976, 798 years later, planetary scientist Jack Hartung compared this record with data from the lunar orbiter, the Apollo moon missions, and the Soviet Lunik 3 (1959 moon probe). He decided a huge new crater, Giordano Bruno, photographed by Lunik 3, may have been the result of what was apparently the meteor impact seen by the monks. Other scientists confirmed Bruno could have been formed at about the time of the Canterbury sighting. Laser measurements of lunar motions also showed some wobbles in the moon’s rotation which “…are only explicable by a recent impact…” such as the collision which created Bruno (The Search for Solutions, Judson, pp. 166-168). A direct hit created a crater 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) across on the lunar landscape in 1178 A.D. Hermes came close to earth in 1937. Meteor showers are common sights about August 12 (the “Perseids”), October 20 (the “Orionids”), November 10 (the “Taurids”), and the flurry known as the “Geminids” about December 10 each year. “…and the stars shall fall from heaven…(Matt. 24:29).” Poetic metaphor or meteors falling? Velikovsky In 1950 a bold hypothesis was presented in the pages of the book, Worlds in Collision written by Immanuel Velikovsky (Doubleday & Company Inc.; Garden City, New York). The controversy he sparked continues to this day. Notice how he summarizes his conjecture: “Harmony or stability in the celestial and terrestrial spheres is the point of departure of the present-day concept of the world as expressed in the celestial mechanics of Newton and the theory of evolution of Darwin. If these two men of science are sacrosanct, this book is heresy. However, modern physics, of atoms and of the quantum theory, describes DRAMATIC CHANGES in the microcosm- the atom-the prototype of the solar system; a theory, then, that envisages not dissimilar events in the macrosogm-the solar system-brings the modern concepts of physics to the velestial sphere (Worlds in Collision, Velikovsky, preface, p. vii).” [Emphasis mine] Velikovsky developed a kind of “kinetic theory of the cosmos” somewhat akin to the kinetic theory of gases in which collisions between molecules account for temperature and pressure. In his scheme, planets, comets, and asteroids collide in the cosmic interplay of natural order. Planetary-scale collisions are no surprise in such a scenario: “In the middle of the second millennium before the present era, as I intend to show, the earth underwent one of the greatest catastrophes in its history. A celestial body that only shortly before had become a member of the solar system-a new comet-came very close to the earth. The account of this catastrophe can be reconstructed from evidence supplied by a large number of documents.” (Velikovsky, p. 48) This thesis forms the basis on which scores of references are netted together. An earth passing through the throes of continental upheavals caused by celestial collisions fills Velikovsky’s book. The gradualism, or principle of uniformity, of Darwin is replaced by mighty sudden changes in climate and geography. East and west are reversed by rotational change (pp. 105-120). The uniformity theory that only gradual changes in the past account for present circumstances, first advocated by Hutton (1795) and later by Larmarck (1800) was raised to the level of a scientific law by Charles Leyell. Charles Darwin used Leyell’s principle as the basis of his theory of evolution. (Earth in Upheavel, Immanuel Velikovsky, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, N.Y.; 1955, p. 23-26). The uniformity doctrine is at a loss to explain the obvious sudden demise of mammoths in Siberia, for example. Of the many unearthed, one found in Beresovka, Siberia, eight hundred miles west of Bering Strait even had its eyeballs intact (Earth in Upheavel, Velikovsky, pp. 227-229): “A fractured hip and fore limb, a great mass of clotted blood in the chest, and unswallowed grass between the clenched teeth, all point to the violence and suddenness of its passing.” (R. S. Lull, Organic Evolution, [revised ed.; 1929], p.376).” The earth and its inhabitants have obviously met with violent discontinuities on a scale hard for us to imagine today. Amid the quiet of long centuries of geological calm which have followed, many have come to believe in a future equally serene. But what does the Book of books tell us about what’s ahead and why? Where are we headed cosmically? Or what is headed toward us? The Bible has much to say on this vital matter! The placating religion of unrepentance will not help in the troublous times ahead! The Bible Speaks The prophecies of coming geological cataclysms are found in many scriptures. The highly graphic details of these prophecies are often masked by many as “spiritual symbols” with no real-world meaning nor as depicting honest-to-goodness actual events. But make no mistake about it, the Bible forcefully and plainly shows what cataclysms will AGAIN happen to this earth to punish the sinful iniquitous people who live on it! Notice! “And I will punish the world for their evils, and the wicked for their iniquity…(Isa. 13:11).” “Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place [“…will be shaken out of its place…” RSV, Good News Bible; Strong’s 7493, ‘shaken’ means “undulate”], in the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger (Isa. 13:13, KJV).” Now that is specific and cataclysmic! Moving the earth “out of her place” is an orbital change-an event not witnessed since this prophecy was given! It is therefore yet to occur! Imagine, if you can, the magnitude of the force necessary to move a mass the size of the earth out of its orbit! Forces great enough to do that would certainly “…lay waste the earth and make it desolate,…and…twist its surface [“…turneth it upside down…” KJV] and scatter its inhabitants (Isa. 24:1; RSV).” Yahweh is not kidding around! These are real events! And He says He is going to do it because of the wickedness of those dwelling on the earth. Staggering Earth Mighty forces will stagger the earth as it hurls through space at over 66,600 miles per hour: “The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard,…and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall and not rise again (Isa. 24:19,20).” A drunk goes along an irregular path. The direction of his walk changes as he teeters side-to-side. Yahweh says the earth’s motion is destined to become just like the staggering trek of a drunk! The earth’s rotation will also speed up! Notice what Amos recorded: “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Master Yahweh, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon…(Amos 8:9).” If the sun sets at noon time, it must spin on its axis twice as fast as it does now! What awesome mind-boggling times are ahead! These are sure prophecies, which help us easily understand why Yahshua himself proclaimed: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Matt. 24:21-22).” Do you grasp the full impact of these prophecies? Do they give you pause? Think about it! The earth will be wobbling out of control and headed for total disaster! All flesh will be in danger of extinction!!! Unless Yahweh intervenes at that time and quick, the final gasps of the whole human race will come at once, the aspirations of the great and small will end together, millennia of human effort in the arts, the sciences, and industry will be little more than vestigial rubble! Suddenly the earth will verge on repeating a former beginning-back to Genesis 1:2: “The earth was formless and desolate (NJB).” “I looked to the earth-it was a formless waste; to the heavens, and their light had gone. I looked to the mountains-they were quaking and all the hills rocking to and fro. I looked-there was no one at all, the very birds of heaven had fled. I looked-the fruitful land was a desert, all its towns in ruins before Yahweh, before his burning anger. For this, the earth will go into mourning and the heavens above grow dark, For I have spoken, I have decided, I shall not change my mind or go back on it (Jer. 4:23-26,28 NJB).” Ominous times are ahead! They will happen for Yahweh will have had it with iniquity, transgressions, and sins! Will Earth Survive? Unless there truly is a great Creator who is involved in the affairs of mankind, one who is ready to snatch us from the brink of oblivion, this planet (Gr. “wandering star”) in a solar system of an average-sized star is destined to become a lifeless cinder. It would wonder through space with a past but no future-a noble experiment that failed! Will the earth and some remnant of the population survive? Yes! There is hope! Notice! “…but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Matt. 24:22).” Just short of total annihilation as “…a firebrand plucked out of the burning:…(Amos 4:11).”, Yahweh will stop what would otherwise be the death knell of us all! “Yes, Yahweh has said this, ‘The whole country (“…whole earth…” Good News Bible) will be laid waste, though I shall not annihilate it completely (Jer. 4:27 NJB).” Why? For the elect’s sake! For the sake of those who have made their “…calling and election sure (2 Pet. 1:10).” by obedience to Yahweh’s holy and perfect law. For the sake of those very elect who are not deceived (“to seduce” Mark 13:22) by the great signs and wonders of the false Messiahs and false prophets (Matt 24:24), a remnant will survive! Just as Sodom and Gomorrah would have been spared for the sake of a few righteous saints (“…ten’s sake…” Gen. 18:32), the earth-though tossed, battered, and shaken to its foundations-and a remnant of its population will be spared for the sake of the few righteous living at that time! Deceived Billions Perish But billions will perish, because they believed the lies of false prophets! Will you be deceived? Are you now being deceived by false messengers? How can you KNOW whether a messenger is false or true and whether you are being deceived or not? Here’s how! “To the Law and to the Testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isa. 8:20).” The Law Isaiah refers to is the Torah Law, found in the first five books of the “Old” Testament. Regardless of what else they may say or do, if messengers are not “lawmen” upholding all of Yahweh’s eternal law, there is no light of truth in them! This does not mean just ten or so commandments (about 1.6 % of the Torah law), but the entire Torah! The Bible is emphatic about this point! The Testimony is specifically the Ten Commandments written on two tables of stone: Ex. 31:18; 32:15; 34:29; 40:20, etc. Those who palm off the mystery religion of Babylon, the Babylonian new moons, the sunset-to-sunset day of Babylon, counterfeit holy days, who teach disobedience to about 98 % of the Torah Law, who teach others to break Yahweh’s Holy weekly Sabbath which is set aside from dawn-to-dark each Saturday (not sunset-to-sunset Friday to Saturday–that’s adding to the law); these are false teachers and will be cast into the lake of fire where the beast and false prophets are thrown-if they do not repent (Rev. 20:10,15)! Editor’s Note: The bible teaches a sunset-to-sunset day throughout and this applies to all the holy days as well plus the Saturday Sabbath which are all to be kept from sunset to sunset. Laura Lee Many break the laws of Yahweh with a “good attitude”; with a giving and outgoing disposition; with such a “saintly” demeanor one would think they must have the ‘divine’ spark; with the camaraderie and approval of their special group of friends; while practicing their own form of religious beliefs; while in meditation and prayer to some deity. They do all this in vain! “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man [to Him it seems right but not according to Scripture], but the end thereof are the ways of death (Prv. 14:12).” If the action is not according to Yahweh’s perfect law, it is sin!! Notice the apostle Paul’s terse summary: “For I bear them record, that they have a zeal [They are intense and dedicated.] of Yahweh, but not according to knowledge (“…it is misguided.” NJB). For they being ignorant of Yahweh’s righteousness, and going about to Establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to Yahweh’s righteousness (Rom. 10:2,3 KJV).” That is strong medicine! The plain fact is we have to know just what true righteousness is before we can actually submit to Yahweh’s righteousness!! So, if we are ignorant of what Yahweh’s law says, we simply cannot be and are not now converted and accepted by Yahweh! That is the hard fact of the matter! For to what rules are we to be converted? To some “feeling in our heart” or to a change in emotional response or amplified feeling of piety? Your heart is not a guide to righteousness! It is desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9)! Editor’s Note: Scripture is our guide. We are not in agreement with the authors’ very strange religious practices and beliefs, many of which are not found in scripture. Laura Lee No! We must change and keep the specific, clear, Law of Yahweh! The law found in the first five books of Scripture-the so called Law of Moses, the books he wrote! Do not be deceived by those iniquitous false teachers in sheep’s clothing who profane and ignore that law! They are simply leading you down the primrose path to destruction!! Think about the effects of sin. Sin is what will bring global devastation and death to nearly a whole world population approaching 5 billion!! What a price to pay in human life and property! Yahweh says it will come, because men will not repent. They will not lay aside their vain traditions, the “teachings of the church”: “But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Matt. 15:9).” Men will do anything but repent! Men must quit committing actions which bring death and destruction! Notice how stiffnecked and rebellious the wicked become. Even after a third of the population (about 1.7 billion) has been killed notice what happens: “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils…neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts (Rev. 9:20,21).” Unbelievable but true!! New Earth Orbit? The drastic perturbations in the earth’s orbital motion will threaten all life. The earth will apparently pass closer to the sun and be scorched with intense heat: “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun…And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of Elohim, which has power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory (Rev. 16.8,9).” Although this verse could mean enhanced fusion reactions occurring within the sun itself, it seems likely the scorching effect will result from the earth moving closer to the sun. This is especially true in light of the other references clearly showing orbital changes in the earth’s motion. Of course, both could be contributing factors. How hot will it be at the time Yahweh intervenes to save the world from destruction? Very! Notice! “Then the moonlight will be bright as sunlight and sunlight itself be seven times brighter-like the light of seven days in one-on the day Yahweh dresses his people’s wound and heals the scars of the blows they have received (Isa. 30:26, NJB).” A sevenfold increase in the sun’s light striking the earth is life-threatening if Yahweh does not quickly correct the situation! If this increase is due solely to a closer approach to the sun, then the new orbit can be determined. The earth moves in an elliptical path around the sun. It is closest to the sun (about 91,400,000 miles) on January third or fourth (depending on leap year). It is furthest from the sun (about 94,400,000 miles) on July third or fourth. Using these facts, the assumption that this is caused by the earth moving closer to the sun, and what is called the “inverse square law” of illumination, yields a new earth orbit about 35,900,000 miles from the sun at its furthest point (aphelion) and 34,700,000 miles at its closest point (perihelion). This places the earth in the vicinity of the inner planet Mercury which averages about 36,000,000 miles from the sun! The earth year would then closely match Mercury’s at about 88 days instead of our present 365.25 days! This more nearly circular orbit is intolerable for life on earth! Space probes have given photographic evidence of no life on Mercury as it is constantly seared by the sun on its light side at temperatures of about 800 degrees F (Fahrenheit)! Earth temperatures could easily reach 700 to 800 degrees F! What would such heat do to the polar ice caps? Would the oceans boil? Would the rivers dry up? Of course! “I [Yahweh] have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools (Isa. 42:14,15).” Yahweh speaks of drying up pools and laying bare river beds amid cataclysmic upheaval of “ravaging” (Isa. 42:15 NJB) mountains and hills (Jer. 4:23,24). “And except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved…(Matt. 24:22).” Get the picture? How Will Destruction Come? Awesome terrifying tribulation is on its way to planet earth! But how will Yahweh bring about His prophesied global decimation and orbital change of the earth? Will mankind blast the world into oblivion with nuclear weapons? Or will it be blasted there by a cosmic visitor or visitors in an awesome encounter unlike anything since the world was created? The sixth and seventh seals of Revelation hold the key to these questions! A Huge Body Eclipses the Sun Yahshua opens the sixth seal: “…and, lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood (Rev. 6:12).” [See also Joel 2:31] This is a vivid description of what would happen if a huge body other than the moon passed between the earth and the sun causing a total solar eclipse. The moon’s disk becomes black-not blood red-in a total eclipse of the sun. To produce a total eclipse, the body could be as large as the moon or larger! Truly the scenario given in verses 12-14 has all the markings of a close encounter with an asteroid or planetary-sized meteor. Notice that a great earthquake is activated. The gravitational pull of a giant body would be great enough to activate such a quake. This giant body does not directly hit the earth but passes close by partially breaking up in a rain of meteors on the earth. Notice verse 13: “And the stars of Heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind (Rev. 6:13).” These secondary meteors could themselves weigh tons! A massive size (asteroid to planetary scale) and near miss of a giant meteor is further indicated by the gravitational perturbation the earth receives. The gravitational coupling between the earth and such a visitor is indicated to be great enough that: “…every mountain and island were moved out of their places (Rev. 6:14).” Notice, every mountain and every island is moved!! A global catastrophe! What awesome power!! Such a worldwide cataclysm is unmistakable evidence of the presence of an externally perturbing force or forces! We only read of forces of that magnitude. This verse describes the earth’s actual experience of such enormous forces! Gravitational coupling between the two bodies would combine with the conservation of angular momentum of such a system to twist and wrench the earth’s surface (recall Isa. 24.1) like never before (see again Matt. 24:21)!! The earth’s rotation would speed up (Amos 8:9)! It would rotate more rapidly (wobble) reeling back and forth (Isa. 24:19, 20)! Its orbit would be shifted (Isa. 13:13). The effect of the orbit shift could take sometime to tell, but the gradual global warming would become evident (see previous discussion on new orbit)! Velikovsky will hardly seem the radical theorist he once was as millions watch in stark terror as this unbelievably spin-chilling drama unfolds before their very eyes and TV cameras!!! Yahweh deals in reality, in inexorable natural law, in cause and effect! Not the muddled heresy of religions where nothing is definite nor hard fact, but everyone does “what is right for him” where all worship “in their own way!” We live in a universe of Law that governs all actions of matter and spirit!! That spiritual Law, i.e. the law which governs spirit-is the Torah Law-the first five books of the Bible! The fearsome terrible “…great day of his [Yahweh’s] wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand (Rev. 6:17)?”! The Dreaded Seventh Seal But Yahweh is not through with the wicked who have arrogantly spurned His command to repent and scoffed at those He has sent to warn of the coming calamities: “..I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease…(Isa. 13:11).” Notice how the next cosmic encounters unfold! Shortly after Yahshua opens the seventh seal, heaven is silent about half an hour. The opening of the seventh seal unleashes additional colossal worldwide devastation. The earth is already reeling wildly and-in all likelihood-in a changing or new orbit as a result of its previous bashing when the sixth seal was opened! Seven angels each prepare to sound a trumpet signaling the start of tumultuous events (Rev. 8:1, 2). First Angel Sounds “The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire [see Ex. 9:24] mixed with blood, which fell on the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up (Rev. 8:7 RSV).” This account, too, bears the marks of a massive meteor shower perhaps due to the partial break up of yet another or several meteors passing close to earth. The result is a global inferno burning one-third of everything which is inflammable at these temperatures (whatever the degrees will be), charring the grass, and causing worldwide forest fires raging out of control until a third of all timber is consumed! The mixture of hail and fire is identical to that found in Exodus 9:24 where the devastation of Egypt is described. Velikovsky (Worlds in Collision) points out that the Exodus account of hail and fire together must certainly exclude hail of ice. He notes the hail was “stones of ‘borad’ or meteorites of stone rather than frozen water. The Revelation account mixing hail and fire to burn trees and grass would certainly appear to exclude hail of ice in this case also. More likely, then, is meteorites of stone. The sense of the Greek word “chalaza” here rendered ‘hail’ (taking into account its roots) appears to be “a frightening thing that is lowered into a void” (see Strong’s Gr. 5464, 5465, 5400, and 5399). A massive shower of stone meteorites would be a frightening thing filling the void above the earth’s surface. Second Angel Sounds “And the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire was thrown into the sea…(Rev. 8:8 RSV).” Here is an unmistakable description of a direct collision with a giant meteorite the size of a great mountain! Not just a mountain, but a great mountain! Not a near miss this time! The meteor could be as large as Mount Everest! How much damage could a mass that size do? Could it not add somewhat to the orbital woes of an apparently already reeling earth? Could it not help rock it to and fro and twist its surface?! Although tiny compared to the one of the sixth seal, it could nonetheless cause tremendous damage. This giant meteorite hits the sea. Just what sea is not named, but it is a sea where a large number of ships are gathered (v. 9). Are they gathered there for war, and destroyed, filling a third of the sea with the blood of thousands of men prepared for battle? Walls of water will inundate the shore line and coastal cities of that sea and wreak havoc inland along the coast! Huge clouds of steam will explode when it hits the water, seething anything within acres of ground zero! As it races earthward at around 100,000 miles per hour plus, air friction will disintegrate its leading surface into burning cinders flying behind it. Thousands of spectators will see this awesome sight! Those watching will not think this is just some “spiritual symbol” for a Biblical “type” of some sort! They will know somebody means business! The thesis of Velikovsky will suddenly be much easier to believe! The truth is Yahweh is that somebody who means business about sin and repentance!! And He says, “For I have spoken, I have decided, I shall not change my mind or go back on it (Jer. 4:28).”! He has obviously decided on a specific target for this one! Third Angel Sounds: WORMWOOD “The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the fountains of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood… (Rev. 8:10 RSV).” Here, again, is a direct hit of the earth by a huge meteorite glowing hot as it burns through the atmosphere at around 100,000 miles per hour! It is interesting that Yahweh describes Wormwood as a star but not the other meteors previously discussed. The word “star” here is the Greek, ‘asteer’, which is in the sense of a star “as strown over the sky.” This implies the object appears at one stage of the saga, as one of the stars which dot the night sky, but it falls to the earth. Wormwood is not one of the so-called “fixed” stars of the constellations. They are light years away, and many would dwarf our sun. The nearest star is Alpha Centauri about 4.4 light years away, while the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, is 8.7 light years from earth (The World Almanac, 1972 edition, Luman H. Long, editor; Newspaper Enterprise Association, New York, p. 227). Wormwood will apparently appear first as a point of light like the stars and planets, hence the term “star.” This “star”-like the others-has no luminous tail or flowing ‘hair’ (Greek, “kome”-hair, from which comes the Greek word “kometes”-comet; see I Cor. 11:15) as do comets. Therefore, we can safely assume Wormwood will not be a comet. The bitter-tasting dark-green oily wormwood deposit the meteor leaves in the rivers and springs along with the bloody seas caused by the previous meteor, are reminiscent of the plagues of Egypt when that wicked nation was punished for its sins (Ex. 9:27)! Wormwood (“Apsinthus”-Phillips translation) will probably be visible weeks in advance of its impact with the earth. The staggering fiery collision will shock the earth with multiple craters and a spray of oily residue which gets into the water systems of many springs and rivers fed by those springs. It obviously breaks up over a wide area in order to fall upon a third part of the rivers! This collision could also add a slight component to the unstable motion of the earth, and even possibly to its orbit as well! This meteor is also designed for a specific target-centuries in advance! Wormwood and Orion? The constellation in which Wormwood first appears is difficult to judge. A plausible-but highly speculative-choice is the constellation Eridanus, beginning just below the feet of the constellation Orion at the star Rigel in the zodical sign of Taurus. E. W. Bullinger (Kegel Publications, (The Witness of the Stars Grand Rapids, MI; p. 129) denotes the meaning of ridanus as “The River of Wrath Breaking Forth for His [Yahshua’s] Enemies.” Many men (the enemies of Yahshua) die from drinking the bitter water of the rivers polluted by Wormwood (Rev. 8:11). Each polluted river is truly a “river of wrath” polluted by this fiery scourge from heaven. Bullinger finds in Greek myths the association of this “river of the Judge” with FIRE and concludes it was originally so (p. 130). He relates the following from Greek fables associated with Eridanus: “…something went wrong with the chariot of the sun, [Allusion to the sun ‘moving closer’ to the earth due to earth’s orbital change?] and a universal conflagration was threatened. In the trouble, ‘Phaeton’ (probably a reference to the star ‘Pheat’) was killed and hurled into this river…The whole earth suffered from such a burning heat that great disasters ensued (The Witness of the Stars p. 130).” [Emphasis mine] Here we find in the lore a star hurled into a river causing great heat and disasters to the whole earth! Amazingly similar to the saga of Wormwood! It should be pointed out that the naming of the stars and their associated stories is admitted by scholars to be of extremely ancient date. Richard Hinckley Allen points out in, (Dover Publications Inc., 1963; Introduction, p. 9): “…these myths [of the star’s names and their associated stories], old as the present forms of some of them may be, are but modern and trivial when one goes back into the dim past to their probable fountainhead… where the recent study of mythology discovers their origin in serious connection with the most ancient of earthly religions, long antedating Moses…” [Emphasis mine] But who named the stars? Who may have written these ancient stories in the constellations of the heavens? Let the psalmist and prophet together answer: “He [Yahweh] telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names (Psa. 147:4 KJV).” “Lift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names…(Isa. 40:26 KJV).” Perhaps there are numerous records Yahweh has written in the stars preserved there for the end time. Fourth Angel Sounds “The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night (Rev. 8:12).” Tis vivid description of the partial blackening of the sun and moon is consistent with the previous events. Cosmic collisions with foreign celestial bodies dished out an unprecedented tribulation of “cosmic billiards” with the earth reeling and whirling wildly into a new orbit. What is depicted this time? Given the context of fiery encounters already, it appears certain what we see here is a partial exlipse of the sun and moon! Here again, a body (or bodies) passes between the earth and the sun (see above discussion of Rev. 6:12-14), but this time causes only a partial eclipse of the sun! Additionally, either the same body continues on to move inside the orbit of the moon, or another mass does so, until the moon also is eclipsed! Further terrestrial gyrations could be expected from interactions with these bodies, although the Biblical record gives no details. It is therefore likely, that these bodies are much smaller and-passing some thousands of miles away-cause little gravitational perturbation. The fact that they produce only partial eclipses could mean they are relatively small. The last part of verse 12 appears at first as a change of the earth’s rotation, but the Phillips Translation clarifies it: “…so that light by day and light by night were both diminished by a third-part.” And as The Living Bible says: “…so that the daylight was dimmed by a third, and the nighttime darkness deepened.” This is exactly what would result if the sun and moon are both partially eclipsed. This encounter seems to signify a parting gesture as the curtain falls on this phase of the drama of “…the great day of HIS wrath…” The obvious lack of damage done makes it appear more ceremonial than effectual. Perhaps the earth has now moved out of the path of a cluster of massive cosmic debris, and only trailing smaller bodies are crossing its orbital plane. The end of a definite phase is shown in the eagle’s announcement-verse 13. The eagle places the next three trumpets in a triad. Each is classified as a “woe.” This is a different class of events from the first three trumpets which-together with the sixth seal, form a group of celestial collisions of either direct hits or near misses. Conclusion Our planet has collided with huge meteors many times throughout its history, often with devastating results. The Bible plainly says it will happen again, but on a scale unparalleled since the beginning! These prophesied global cataclysms are found in part, in the book of prophecy with seven seals recorded in the book of Revelations. The prophecies of the Old Testament give more detail of those same earth-shaking events. An incredibly tumultuous future lies ahead for the earth and all of us who dwell here! Man’s debt of sin is about to come due and will drive this planet to the absolute brink of total annihilation! But it will not come in an all-out nuclear war of man-against-man. It will come in an all-out confrontation of man-against-the cosmos! This is the battle man cannot win! Man cannot win in the battle against his own sins! They will bury him! We have to have help! Just short of global extinction of all life, Yahshua the Messiah will save some of us from ourselves. He is the only one that can. He was appointed to that task by his Father. Yahweh help us to repent of breaking His holy and righteous Law! “He that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Master Yahshua (Rev. 22:20).” ——————————————————————————————————- Reprinted with permission from: International Congregation of Yahweh http://www.icyahweh.org/ ——————————————————————————————————- |
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