What Saith the Scripture?
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Wormwood: Asteroid of Judgment
"And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters
became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter"
(Revelation 8:11).
by Tom Stewart
3-5-2000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker, along with fellow comet hunter
David Levy, watched through their telescopes for six days-- between July 16th and
22nd 1994-- as the 21 major fragments of their jointly discovered comet Shoemaker-Levy
9 battered the planet Jupiter. "The Heavens declare the glory of God; and the
firmament sheweth His handywork" (Psalm 19:1). Described by some observers as
a "string of glowing pearls", the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet fragmented as
a result of a near collision with Jupiter in July 1992, and was calculated "to
unleash an energy equivalent to several million megatons of TNT each during their
[1994] plunge into Jupiter's atmosphere" (from Britannica CD 99, "Book
of the Year (1995): Astronomy: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: A Spectacular Good-bye").
"God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God"
(62:11). Further, this event most "likely attracted more observations than any
other astronomical event in history" (Britannica CD 99). Shoemaker-Levy 9, along
with the entertainment media, has recently fueled the public's interest in the collision
of astronomical bodies. "10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a Great
Star from Heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the
rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; 11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood:
and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters,
because they were made bitter" (Revelation 8:10-11).
The New Testament Greek word for "star" is aster, as in asteroid.
Providentially, the not-too-distant occurrence of the 3rd Trumpet Judgment (Revelation
8:10-11) of the Tribulation Week, places Wormwood-- the Asteroid of Judgment-- in
prophetic focus. Apsinthos, the Greek word for "Wormwood", means
undrinkable. "Therefore thus saith the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel; Behold,
I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to
drink" (Jeremiah 9:15). The Apocalypse of the LORD Jesus Christ prophetically
discloses what appears to be the Earth being struck by an asteroid, with the result
that the "third part of the rivers" and the "fountains of waters"
(Revelation 8:10) became "wormwood" (8:11). The aftermath will be that
"many men [will die] of the waters", and specifically, "because they
were made bitter" (8:11). Man's injustice or lack of Godly judgment will provoke
the Almighty to perform this monumental deed "when the transgressors are come
to the full" (Daniel 8:23); but, the "judgments of the LORD are true and
righteous altogether" (Psalm 19:9).
It has become scientifically more acceptable to investigate and discuss the possibility
of the Earth's collision with a Near Earth Object (NEO). "The Earth orbits in
a cosmic shooting gallery, subject to occasional random hits by comets and asteroids.
Impacts by objects a mile or more across can devastate the planet's environment.
The Spaceguard Survey is used as a first step in identifying and tracking potentially
threatening objects" (from the NASA Ames Space Science Division's website on
"Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards"). In 1931, the first Earth-crossing
asteroid was discovered. Luis Alvarez, in 1980, proposed that a NEO impacted the
Earth-- probably on the Yucatan Peninsula-- causing a global pall of dust that resulted
in the mass extinction of lifeforms on Earth, in particular, the dinosaurs. Coupled
with the "close passage of asteroid 1989FC- with zero warning time - [it] helped
[to] stimulate broad interest and concern in this potential threat to civilization
and even to the survival of humanity" (from the American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics Position Paper (1995): "Responding to the Potential Threat
of a Near-Earth-Object Impact").
Christianity's Creationism has attempted to account for the geological and ecological
history of the planet in the Water Vapour Canopy Theory, that a canopy of water vapor
enveloped the planet above the atmosphere from the time of the Creation-- "7
And God made the firmament [i.e., atmosphere], and divided the waters which were
under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven [i.e., the atmosphere]" (Genesis 1:7-8)--
until the time of Noah's Flood, when "all the fountains of the great deep [were]
broken up, and the windows of Heaven were opened" (7:11). Perhaps, the impact
of an asteroid or comet-- initially, upon the Canopy, and secondarily, upon the planet
itself-- was the modus operandi employed by the LORD God to trigger the unprecedented
rainfall of "forty days and forty nights" (7:4). Thus, the mass extinction
of the dinosaurs, which were not evidently included onboard Noah's ark, would be
indirectly the result of the brief catastrophism of an NEO impact, and not from evolution's
uniformitarianism. "The world by [its] wisdom knew not God" (1Corinthians
1:21).
On September 26th 1990, the United States House of Representatives, in its NASA Multiyear
Authorization Act of 1990, stated: "The Committee believes that it is imperative
that the detection rate of Earth-orbit-crossing asteroids must be increased substantially,
and that the means to destroy or alter the orbits of asteroids when they threaten
collision should be defined and agreed upon internationally." Accordingly, the
secular world is unwittingly being prepared by the Almighty for their rendezvous
with Wormwood, the Asteroid of Judgment (Revelation 8:11). "Surely the wrath
of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain" (Psalm
76:10). But, if the Earth has been significantly struck by an NEO projectile at the
time of Noah's Flood-- about 4,348 years ago (as of 2000 AD)-- the probability that
an asteroid would not be prevented from impacting the Earth by the shielding of our
Jupiter neighbor, would be in the hands of the Living God to work out His purpose
of judgment to an Unbelieving and Stiffnecked World. "9 The LORD is not slack
concerning His Promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But
the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the
Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that
all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all
holy conversation and Godliness" (2Peter 3:9-11).
Maranatha!
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