WORLDS IN COLLISION!
Awesome New Peril to Earth?
PLANET “X”
and
Is a huge
object in outer space headed for a collision with
planet
earth? Will a giant planet, asteroid, or
comet strike
the earth
in the next ten years, bringing
catastrophe, disaster
and
cataclysm? Has such an event happened in
the remote
past – in
dim antiquity? What caused Noah’s
Flood? The
Exodus
cataclysm? The
more to
global polarity changes, ancient traditions of the
sun setting
in the east, and continental shifts than modern
science
begins to expect? Here’s the
mind-boggling truth –
a new look
at a “rogue planet”, and “intruder” from space –
“Planet X”
-- and what the Bible says about massive heavenly
encounters
of the catastrophic kind!
William
F. Dankenbring
The word “catastrophe” literally
means “the stars are falling,” or “falling stars.” It bespeaks an awesome time of destruction
and disaster on a massive scale and originally meant a time when the “stars”
fell to earth.
Scientists believe that massive asteroids have crashed into the earth in distant times, leading to awesome shifts in the earth’s poles, climactic changes, ice ages, and the destruction of enormous amounts of life and living creatures, including the dinosaurs.
Is there some truth to these beliefs
and theories?
On
Jupiter is 2 1/2 times as big as all
the other planets of the solar system put together, and could contain within
its bulk 1,300 planets the size of earth.
The celestial fireworks amazed scientists and astronomers, as modern man
saw for the first time the awesome results of the impact of a comet from space
when colliding with a planet in our solar system.
If such an asteroid or comet struck
the earth, David Morrison of the
Science News related that
there are some 200 or so objects within the inner solar system which pass
closer to the earth than the moon. Said Science
News: "Astronomers know relatively little about these
roughly 200 odd-shaped bodies, called near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), which range
from 40 kilometers to 10 meters in length.
A few thousand more of these NEAs -- some with the potential to crash
into our planet -- may await discovery.
But scientists have only recently begun efforts to obtain close-up
images of these rocky bodies. Indeed,
even their origin remains a matter of debate" (Science News, vol.145,
February 5, 1994, "Rocky Relics:
Getting the lowdown on near-Earth asteroids," p.88).
NEAs represent only a very small fraction of the million or
so asteroids 1 kilometer or more in diameter which are believed to orbit within
the inner solar system. Most of them
orbit within the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars, giving impetus to the
theory that there was once a planet which orbited in that region, which at some
point in primeval time eons ago was destroyed in some supra-cosmic interstellar
encounter. But the Near-Earth asteroids
discovered so far may represent only a small fraction of the true number which
could collide someday with the earth.
Said Science News:
"The NEAs so far detected may represent
just the tip of the iceberg. Astronomers
estimate
that there exist 5,000 to 10,000 near-Earth objects with diameters of 0.5
kilometers
or larger. These objects come in three
classes: Amors, Apollos, and
Atens. Amors cross the orbit of Mars and approach
that of Earth, and 10 percent
of
them cross Earth's path over the course of a few hundred to a few thousand
years.
Apollos
cross Earth's orbit, and a few even come closer than the moon. Atens, for
most
of their orbit, lie closer to the sun than the Earth does, but may intersect
Earth's
path at their farthest point from the sun" (ibid.).
Could such asteroids pose a danger
to planet earth? The pock-marked,
cratered surface of the moon suggests that asteroids have hit that body
repeatedly, creating impact craters clearly visible with telescopes. Similar craters, many of them since
ameliorated by erosion, vegetation growth, and geological changes, exist on
earth, showing interstellar collisions have occurred between asteroids, comets,
and our own planet.
The origin of NEAs remains a puzzle
to scientists. However, it is known that
the influence of gravitation of the earth, as well as other planets in the
solar system, can hurl asteroids or other objects out of the inner solar
system, and that on the other hand such objects can collide with planets
causing craters, destruction, and holocaust.
In 1984, Jack L. Wisdom of MIT
calculated that the gravitational influence of Jupiter may remove some
asteroids from the known asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars and hurl them
into orbits which could ultimately bring them into orbits near the earth. Within the main asteroid belt are regions
known as "
The orbits of many NEAs suggest that
they originated from somewhere within the main belt of asteroids. Furthermore, visible-light spectra indicate
that these NEAs have a composition similar to that of asteroids in the main
belt. Other NEAs may have originated as
comets. Near the end of its life-time,
after passing through the solar system thousands of times, a comet may have
expelled most of its gases forming the customary cometary tail. Over time, it may develop a crust of dust
over its frozen nucleus. Thus a
"dead comet" would also fit the definition of a NEA, or Near-Earth
Asteroid.
They Come from Outer Space
Science News points out that an estimated 2,000 asteroids over a
kilometer in diameter (roughly six tenths of a mile) follow paths that cross
the orbit of the earth. Asks Science
News:
"Are any of
these rocky missiles headed on a collision course with our planet?
"The
impact, equivalent to the destructive power of 10,000 megatons of TNT, would
dramatically
disrupt life on our planet. Some
scientists calculate that a 1-km-wide
asteroid
would deposit enough dust in the atmosphere to create a 'nuclear winter,'
blocking
sunlight and triggering widespread crop failure and starvation. The climate
might
be altered for years" (ibid., p.90).
In the January 6 issue of Nature,
Says Peter J.T. Leonard, at the
Has the earth encountered such celestial phenomena in the past? The fact is, the surface of the earth records a series of catastrophic events, which could and in some cases were definitely related to cosmic encounters of a terrible kind.
The Bible itself speaks of such
events. The Scriptures record in a
matter of fact way the terrible destruction caused to all life on earth due to
a global flood – commonly referred to as ‘Noah’s Flood” (Genesis 6-8). What caused such a tremendous cataclysm? Of course, God Himself intervened, we are
told, because of the mounting SINS of mankind.
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence. So God looked upon the earth,
and indeed it was corrupt” (Gen.6:11-12).
God saved only Noah and his family, and creatures of every species,
aboard the
The next great cataclysm
occurred 2247 B.C., when the Tower of
Babel was destroyed in a heavenly blast (Gen.11:1-9). Ancient history records that when the tower
was destroyed, there were great seismic changes in the earth, and the
continents themselves were divided – driven apart by great geological forces –
perhaps due to an encounter with a massive heavenly object and its
gravitational pull. A man of that time
was named “Peleg,” which means “division,” because “in his days the earth
[itself] was divided” (Gen.10:25).
A third tremendous cataclysm which
affected the entire planet occurred in 1491 B.C., when God sent ten devastating
plagues upon ancient Egypt, and then led His people through the towering
columns of the Red Sea in a mighty deliverance (Exodus 7-15). What great forces would cause an entire sea
to rise up in towering walls of water, preparing a dry walkway for the children
of Israel from shore to shore?
Forty years later, another tremendous interstellar event occurred. As Joshua fought the Canaanites in a final climactic battle, we read:
“And it
happened, as they fled before Israel, and were on the descent of Beth
Horon,
that the LORD cast down LARGE HAILSTONES FROM HEAVEN
On
them as far as Akezah, and they died.
There were more who died from the
HAILSTONES
than
the children of Israel killed with the sword” (Joshua 10:11).
It was at this time that Joshua stood before the Lord, and
commanded the sun to stand still, and the moon, till the people had revenge on
their enemies. The Word of God relates:
“So the sun
stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for
about
a whole day. And there has been no day
like it, before it or after it, that the
LORD
heeded the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel” (v.13-14).
These pulse-pounding events HAPPENED! They are not figments of mere human
imagination or make-believe stories invented by ancient myth-makers or story
tellers. God intervened for His people,
Israel! The heavens themselves fought
for Israel! Huge bolides, meteorites,
and chunks of rock and debris from outer space smashed into their enemies,
pulverizing them. The earth itself
stopped in its diurnal rotation, and shuddered to a halt, causing the sun to
appear to stand still in the sky, and the moon also.
What great force caused such
events? Could the Most High God have
used a huge comet, or a planet on a strange trajectory through the solar
system, to cause the earth’s rotation to be interrupted for the space of a day? Could that huge body – perhaps a planet-sized
object on a long elliptical orbit around the sun have come so close to the
earth that electrical discharges and gravitational pulls and magnetic forces
interacted, producing these awesome effects?
Was that huge body accompanied by thousands of chunks of interstellar
debris – rocks and chunks of ice from outer space – which then fell on the
enemies of Israel?
Immanuel Velikovsky, in his
history-making, epochal book Worlds in Collision, written in 1950, gives
the historical evidence that a giant comet appeared in the sky during the time
of the Exodus. The ancients feared this
blood-red apparition. Wrote Velikovsky:
“One of the
places of the heavenly combat between elementary forces of nature -- as narrated
by Apollodorus and Strabo – was on the way from Egypt to Syria. Accord- ing
to Herodotus, the final act of the fight between Zeus and Typhon took place at
Lake Serbon
on the coastal route from Egypt to Palestine.
On the way from Egypt to Pales- tine
the Israelites, after a night of terror and strong east wind, witnessed the
upheaval of
the day of the Passage. . . . [T]he spell-bound Israelites saw the upheaval of nature: darkness, hurricane,
mountains of water, fire and smoke, recorded in the Greek legend as
the circumstances in which the battle of Zeus with the dragon Typhon was fought. In the same pit of the sea lie the pharaoh and his hosts. Up to now I have identified Rahab-Typhon as a comet. But if Typhon lies on the bottom of the sea, is he not the pharaoh? This would mean that in the legend of Typhon two elements were welded together: the pharaoh, who perished in the catastrophe, and the outrageous rebel against Zeus, the lord of the sky.
“In Pliny's Natural History, the ninety-first
section of the second book reads: ‘A terrible comet was seen by the
people of Ethiopia and Egypt, to which Typhon, the king of that period,
gave his name; it had a fiery appearance and was twisted like a coil, and it
was very grim to behold: it was not really a star so much as what might be
called a ball of fire.’”
Velikovsky continues:
“The visit of a disastrous comet, so many times
referred to in this book, is told in plain words, not in disguise. However, I
must find support for my assumption that
the comet of the days of King Typhon was the comet of the days of the
Exodus.
“I investigated the writings of the old
chronographers, and in Cometographia of
Hevelius (1668) I found references to the works of Calvisius, Helvicus, Herlicius, and Rockenbach, all of whom used
manuscripts for the most part and not printed sources, as they lived only a little over one
century after the invention of movable characters and the printing press. Hevelius wrote ( in Latin ): ‘In the year of
the world 2453 (1495 B.C.), according to certain authorities, a
comet was seen in Syria, Babylonia, India, in the sign Jo, in the form of a
disc, at the very time when
the Israelites were on their march
from Egypt to the Promised Land. So Rocken-
bach. The Exodus of the Israelites is placed by
Calvisius in the year of the world
2453, or 1495 B.C.’
“I was fortunate enough to locate one copy of Rockenbach's De
cometis tractatus novus methodicus in the United
States. This book was published in
Wittenberg
in 1602. Its author was professor of Greek, mathematics, and law, and
dean of
philosophy at Frankfort. He wrote his book using old sources which he
did not
name: ‘ex pro-batissimis & antiquissimis veterum
scriptoribus’ (from the most
trust-worthy and the most ancient of the early
writers). As a result of his diligent
gathering of ancient material, he made the following
entry: ‘In the year of the world
two thousand four hundred and fifty-three -- as many
trustworthy authors, on the
basis of many conjectures, have determined -- a comet appeared which
Pliny
also mentioned in his second book. It was
fiery, of irregular circular form, with a
wrapped head; it was in the shape of a globe and was
of terrible aspect. It is said
that King Typhon ruled at that time in Egypt. . . .
Certain [authorities] assert that
the comet was seen in Syria, Babylonia, India, in
the sign of Capricorn, in the form
of a disc, at the time when the children of Israel
advanced from Egypt toward the
Promised Land, led on their way by the pillar of
cloud during the day and by the
pillar of fire at night.’
“Rockenbach did not draw any conclusion on the
relation of the comet of the days
of Exodus to the natural phenomena of that time. His
intent was only to fix the date
of the comet of Typhon.
“Among the early authors, Lydus, Servius (who quotes
Avienus), and Hephaestion,
Junctinus, in addition to Pliny, mention the Typhon
comet. It is depicted as an immense
globe ( globus immodicus ) of fire, also as a sickle, which is a
description
of a globe illuminated by the sun, and close enough
to be observed thus. Its movement
was slow, its
path was close to the sun. Its color was bloody: ‘It was not of fiery, but
of bloody redness.’ It caused destruction ‘in rising
and setting.’ Servius writes that this
comet caused many plagues, evils, and hunger.
“To discover what were the
manuscript sources of Abraham Rockenbach that led
him to the same conclusion
at which we have arrived, namely, that the Typhon
comet appeared in the time
of the Exodus, is a task not yet accomplished. Servius
says that more information
about the calamities caused by this comet is to be found
in the writings of the Roman
astrologer Campester and in the works of the Egyptian
astrologer Petosiris. It is possible that copies of works of some
authors containing
citations from the writings
of these ancient astrologers, preserved in the libraries of
Europe, were Rockenbach's manuscnpt sources.
Immanuel Velikovsky’s sleuthening paid off. He goes on describing the fear and anxiety that the comet of the Exodus – Typhon – held for the ancient historians:
“Campester, as quoted by
Lydus, was certain that should the comet Typhon
again meet the earth, a
four day encounter would suffice to destroy the world.
This implies also that the
first encounter with the comet Typhon brought the
earth to the brink of
destruction.
“But even without this
somber prognostication of Campester, we have a very
imposing and quite
inexhaustible array of references to Typhon and its
destructive action against
the world: almost every Greek author referred to it.
The real nature of Typhon
being that of a comet, as explained by Pliny and
others, all references to
the disasters caused by Typhon must be understood
as descriptions of
natural catastrophes in which the earth and the comet
were involved. As is known, Pallas of the
Greeks was another name for
Typhon; also Seth of the Egyptians was an equivalent of
Typhon. Thus the
number of re£erences to the
comet Typhon can be enlarged by references to
Pallas and Seth.
“It was not only Abraham
Rockenbach who synchronized the appearance of the
comet Typhon with the Exodus
of the Israelites £rom Egypt. Looking for authors
who might have done likewise,
I found that Samuel Bochart, a scholarly writer
of the seventeenth century,
in his book Hierozoicon, has a passage in which
he maintains that the
plagues of the days of the Exodus resemble the calamities
that Typhon brought in his
train, and that therefore ‘the flight of Typhon is the
Exodus of Moses from
Egypt.’ In this he actually follows the
passage transmitted
by Plutarch. But since Typhon, according to Pliny and
others, was a comet,
Samuel Bochart was close to
the conclusions at which we arrive, traveling
along another route.”
What happened when this powerful comet came near the earth? Says Velikovsky:
“A phenomenon of great
significance took place. The head of the comet did not
crash into the earth, but
exchanged major electrical discharges with it. A tremendous spark
sprang forth at the moment of the nearest approach of the comet, when the waters were heaped at
their highest above the surface of the earth and before they fell down, followed
by a rain of debris torn from the very body and tail of the comet” (Worlds in Collision,Immanuel
Velikovsky, 1950, pages 81-85).
Velikovsky’s
enormous research proves beyond doubt that the events surrounding the Exodus of
the children of Israel out of Egypt were colossal in nature, stupendous in
scope, and truly a miraculous deliverance.
That incredible event – the rescuing of some 3-5 million people from
abject servitude – was accompanied by strange phenomena in the heavens,
including the appearance of a massive comet, a “doomsday star.” Very likely, as Velikovsky shows in Worlds
in Collision, this star or comet or rogue planet, was involved in the
incredible destruction which befell the greatest country in the world at that
time.
An ancient
Egyptian papyrus, the Papyrus Ipuwer, bears striking testimony
confirming the “plagues” which befell Egypt at that time (A. H. Gardiner, Admonitions
of an Egyptian Sage from a hieratic papyrus in Leiden, 1909). It states, “The river is blood” (compare with
Exodus 7:20), confirming that the waters of the Nile became as blood. “Plague is throughout the land, blood is
everywhere,” Ipuwer wrote. He also
declared, “Trees are destroyed,” “No fruit, no herbs are found,” “Grain has
perished on every side.” The land of
Egypt was turned into a wasteland (compare Exo.9:25).
In the
papyrus Ipuwer it also states, “the land turns round as does a potter’s wheel,”
and, “The earth turned upside down.” In
the Ermitage papyrus (Leningrad, 116b recto) it refers to a cataclysm that
turns the “land upside down; happens that which never (yet) had happened.”
Similarly,
the papyrus Harris speaks of a colossal upheaval when “the south becomes north,
and the earth turns over” (Worlds in Collision, p.107). These are not mere figurative statements, but
declarations of a great catastrophe which befell the world in the middle of the
second millennium before Christ!
Egyptian
records speak of the western sun, called Harakhte, which “riseth in the west”
(Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, III, sec. 18). Putting the evidence together, apparently the
earth’s poles changed, north became south, and consequently the sun rose in the
“west” for a time.
Could such
a thing have occurred? Even Plato wrote
of the prodigy! He declared, “I mean the
change in the rising and setting of the sun and the other heavenly bodies, how
in those times they used to set in the quarter where they now rise, and used to
rise where they now set” Plato, The Statesman, p.49, 53).
The
reversal of the sun was discussed by many ancient Greek authors, including a
historical drama by Sophocles -- “Zeus .
. . changed the course of the sun, causing it to rise in the east and not in
the west.” Euripides wrote, “the sun . .
. turned backward” due to the wrath of Zeus (World’s in Collision, p.110).
Seneca
described what the feeling of people was when these awesome events
occurred. He wrote in Thyestes, of
people seeing such events, and asking fearfully, “Have we of all mankind been
deemed deserving that heaven, its poles uptorn, should overwhelm us? In our time, has the last day come?”
There are
numerous references to the reversal of the sun’s movement from east to west to
west to east in ancient sources, including China, Mexico, Syria, and the
Eskimos in Greenland who told missionaries that the earth turned over. Bellamy, in Moons, Myths and Man, asserts,
“The Chinese say that it is only since a new order of things has come about
that the stars move from east to west.”
A poem found in the Ugarit was found dedicated to the goddess Anat who
“massacred the population of the Levant” and “exchanged the two dawns and the
position of the stars” (C. Virolleaud, Mission de Ras Shamra, quoted by
Velikovsky, op cit, page 112).
The
ancient Indians of Mexico called the sun that moved eastward Teotl Lixco. They symbolized the changing direction of the
sun’s travel as a celestial ball game accompanied by earthquakes and upheavals
on the earth. The flip-flopping of the
earth, north becoming south, would also explain the star chart in the ancient
Egyptian tomb of Senmut, which pictures the stellar constellations of the
northern sky as being in the southern sky.
This may be what early Mexican Indians described as “driving away of the
four hundred southern stars” (Seler, Gesammelte Abhandlungen, quoted in Worlds
in Collision, p.113). Seler was
perplexed by the ancient Mexican statement that the sun moved from west to
east, but wrote that it “must be understood literally”!
Tractate Sanhedrin of the Talmud also speaks of this
epochal event. We read in the Gemara,
regarding Genesis 7:10 – “And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters
of the flood were upon the earth” – that this was a very eventful period. Says the Gemara, “After seven – during
the period of the flood, the Holy One, blessed be He, changed the natural order
that had been established during the seven days of creation, so that the sun
rose in the west, and set in the east” (Tractate Sanhedrin 108b).
Writes Velikovsky, “The Talmud and other ancient rabbinical
sources tell of great disturbances in the solar movement at the time of the
Exodus and the Passage of the Sea and the Lawgiving. In old Midrashim it is repeatedly narrated
that four times the sun was forced out of its course in the few weeks between
the day of the Exodus and the day of the Lawgiving” (p.116).
According
to Egyptian annals, the sun rose in the west, then in the east, once again in
the west, and again in the east, where it rises today.
Is another reversal coming in our time? Will the earth once again “turn over,” have
its poles reversed, and undergo massive tectonic upheavals and paroxysms in our
“end of days,” before or at the return of the Messiah? When the Messiah returns, He will “restore
all things” as they were in the beginning (Acts 3:19-21).
Biblical Prophecy Enters the
Picture
Immanuel Velikovsky’s trail-blazing
research into ancient history has proven that there was a great comet
associated with the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt. The heavenly visitor may have played a cosmic
game of “ping pong” with the planets of the inner solar system. Orbits may have been interrupted, altered,
awesome events and prodigies took place.
Many of these events were recorded in Scripture – mountains leaping like
lambs, and little hills like rams, volcanoes flowing lava at the presence of
the “Lord.”
Will such events happen once again –
in OUR lifetime?
Bible
prophecy replies with an astounding “CERTAINLY SO!”
Scientists and astronomers cannot
predict the future, or tell us when a “visitor” from outer space like a massive
comet will once again bring havoc and ruin to the earth, and play a part in the
end-time deliverance of the people of God.
Despite the guessing game of scientists, however, we have "a more
sure word of prophecy" which tells us that within the next 10 years the
chances of the earth being "nailed" by a cosmic encounter with a
comet or asteroid is virtually 100 per cent!
The apostle Peter writes, "We
have also a more sure [certain] word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye
take heed" (II Pet.1:19). The
prophet Amos also wrote, "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he
revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). The Jewish Tanakh has this verse,
"Indeed, my Lord GOD does nothing without having revealed His purpose to
His servants the prophets."
Believe it or not, God HAS revealed
that a massive meteor or asteroid or comet is going to strike the planet earth
– probably within the next decade! According
to the prophecies of the Bible, God gave mankind about 6,000 years in which to
rule himself, under the influence of Satan the devil -- a period of time
patterned after the first six days of the week.
This six thousand years will be followed by a "millennial
Sabbath" lasting 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4). Since the final "day" of this
"week" is 1,000 years long, the previous "six days" would
equal 6,000 years!
Peter himself pointed out this
truth. He wrote, "But beloved, be
not ignorant of this one thing [one thing which millions and billions of people
are ignorant of, today!], that ONE DAY is with the Lord as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as ONE DAY" (II Pet.3:8). This same truth is alluded to in the Old
Testament Scriptures. We read in the
Psalms, "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when
it is past, and as a watch in the night" (Psalm 90:4).
"SIGNS
in the Sun, Moon, and Stars"
During the time just preceding His
return, and the Armageddon holocaust, Jesus Christ foretold: "But in those days, after that
tribulation, the sun shall be darkened [dust in the atmosphere blotting out the
light from the sun], and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars
[asteroids, meteorites, comets -- heavenly bodies from among the "stars"]
shall fall, and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken" (Mark
13:24-25). Jesus said these conditions
would occur just before His return, before the END of man's 6,000 year's of
rule of planet earth were expired (see Matt.24:1-3).
The apostle Luke adds, quoting
Christ as saying, "And there shall be SIGNS in the sun, and in the moon,
and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity
[confusion, madness]; the sea and the waves roaring [tremendous weather upsets,
as we have already begun to experience these past few years!]; men's hearts
failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on
the earth: for the powers of heaven
shall be shaken" (Luke 21:25-26).
The prophet Haggai was inspired of
God to write, "For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little
while, and I will SHAKE THE HEAVENS, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry
land: And I will shake all nations, and
the desire of all nations [the much-awaited Messiah!] shall come: and I will fill this house [the end-time
Temple of God, which the Jews are even now prepared to rebuild in Jerusalem!]
with glory, saith the LORD of hosts" (Haggai 2:6-7).
Speaking of the orogenies and
upheavals and massive maelstroms which are prophesied in the Scriptures to
occur during the “last days,” the prophet Isaiah wrote:
“For the windows
from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
The
earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken
exceedingly,
the
earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut; its
transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will
fall and not rise again” (Isaiah 24:18-20).
What could cause even the earth to wobble and shake and
reel and change its orbit, at least temporarily? A cosmic encounter with another celestial
body – such as a huge comet, planet, or asteroid of huge proportions!
The prophet Amos predicted that in
the ‘end time” a strange event would occur:
“And it shall
come to pass in that day, says the Lord GOD, that I will make the SUN
GO
DOWN AT NOON, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight” (Amos 8:9).
Joel also predicted strange anomalies in the heavens:
“And I will show
wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
Blood and fire and pillars
of
smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood, before
the
coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD” (Joel 2:30-31).
Nahum also declares:
“The LORD has
His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His
feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it
dry, and dries up all the rivers
.
. . The mountains quake before Him, the hills melt, and the earth HEAVES [or, burns] at His presence, yes, the world and all who dwell
in it” (Nahum 1:3-5).
Habakkuk points out that even the incredible prodigy of Joshua’s “Long Day” will once again be repeated in similar fashion:
“The mountains
saw You and trembled; the overflowing of the water passed by. The
deep
uttered its voice, and lifted its hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in
their
habitation; at the light of Your arrows they went, at the shining of Your
glittering
spear”
(Habakkuk 3:10-11).
The awesome events soon to come upon
this earth scientists and astronomers will be at a loss to explain. It will stretch, break, and overwhelm all
their most cherished theories. The
apostle John wrote in the book of Revelation, God's final
"revelation" of the things which are soon to occur or "shortly come to pass" (see
Rev.1:1). The coming impact of cosmic
collisions with debris and comets and objects from outer space are depicted in
the book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament. We read: