I had
previously written "Signs From Above," and its
follow-up article, "Signs From Above - Another Look"
several years ago, both of which examined what we
might expect to see in the skies in the days
preceding the end of history as we know it. In
writing to Terry James about the increase of
meteoric activity (which follows later in this
article), he suggested it might be a good time to
have yet another look at where we are now regarding
this topic. First, let's get a look at the overall
summary from Jesus' Olivet Discourse and see how
this all fits in:
Luke 21:9-11 But
when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not
terrified: for these things must first come to pass;
but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto
them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in
divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and
fearful sights and great signs shall there be from
heaven.
One has only
to watch the news or read the papers to discover
that everything mentioned here sounds eerily and
troublingly familiar, as we shall now see.
Most of the last century saw single-digit counts,
with only a few years posting double-digit numbers,
of which the 1990's are an indication. Also, from a
high of 202 in 2011, the following year had only
slightly over half as many, and as of this writing
(end of May 2013), this year has had less than 60.
Nevertheless, the numbers are a clear indication
that the very thing Jesus said would happen
regarding earthquakes in the last days seems to well
under way.
The second
occurrences Jesus mentioned deal was strife among
nations, something a fact of every day life.
The Twentieth Century saw more casualties due to
armed conflict than any of those which preceded it
and with the advent of weapons capable of killing on
unbelievable scales, plus the increase of genuinely
evil people who show no reluctance to use such
weapons of mass destruction given the opportunity
makes this part of the Discourse already a prophecy
beginning to be fulfilled with the likelihood of
escalation.
Third, we are
seeing famines and pestilences growing, also with no
indication of relief across the planet. As conflict
increases, populations grow, and the Earth's climate
appears to be unquestionably changing, all of the
conditions to make these things worse are also
already in play.
This
brings us to the fourth part of the prophecy -
fearful sights in the heavens themselves. So far, it
would seem that this part of the prophecy has so far
not reached the dramatic proportions of the others.
But, is this about to change? Are the "signs in the
heavens" already beginning to appear?
This is what we'll examine now.
To begin, it's important to note that the Bible uses
the term "heaven" in three different contexts, a few
examples of which we will look at now.
First, there is:
Genesis 1:14-18 And
God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of
the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let
them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,
and years: And let them be for lights in the
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the
earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights;
the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser
light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And
God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give
light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and
over the night, and to divide the light from the
darkness: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 15:3-5 And Abram said, Behold, to
me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my
house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the
LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine
heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own
bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth
abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell
the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he
said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
Here the term "heaven" is used in describing the
vastness of intergalactic space and the galaxies,
stars, planets - everything in our physical universe
Next, we have:
Genesis 1:6 And God said, Let there be a
firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it
divide the waters from the waters. And God made the
firmament, and divided the waters which were under
the firmament from the waters which were above the
firmament: and it was so. And God called the
firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning
were the second day.
Genesis 1:20
And God said, Let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and
fowl may fly above the earth in the open firmament
of heaven.
In these
references, "heaven" is used to refer to anything
contained within the Earth's atmosphere.
Finally, there are these:
2 Corinthians
12:2-4 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen
years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or
whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God
knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out
of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that
he was caught up into paradise, and heard
unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man
to utter.
Likewise,
Jesus does the same here:
Luke 10:17 And
the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord,
even the devils are subject unto us through thy
name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as
lightning fall from heaven.
In this passage the apostle Paul is clearly
describing heaven as the place where God dwells.
So, when Jesus spoke of signs
from heaven, why shouldn't we believe they should
appear in all three realms of it? Again, let's look
at "heaven" in the order presented above, namely
outer space, our own atmosphere, and in the place
which is God's home. (I would recommend that you
read my previous two articles for more details which
I mentioned in the opening.)
Outer
Space
The Sun
The object with the biggest long-term effect on
Earth is obviously the sun itself. That it has
provided a stable source of warmth and light for
over 4.5 billion years (though the "6000 year old
creation" folks will no doubt take issue with
me here about that!), is a marvel in itself. Many of
the stars in the cosmos are either too short-lived
or unstable to provide the kind of environment in
which life came to flourish and be sustained. Even
so, our relatively even-tempered star is subject to
an eleven year cycle of activity, the reasons for
which are still not fully understood. During the
peaks of these cycles, the incidences of sunspots,
flares, and coronal mass ejections in which huge
volumes of electrically and magnetically charged
gases are discharged into space can directly impact
our planet.
The northern
and southern lights are produced by the interaction
of this charged gas (called "plasma," a fourth state
of matter beyond the usual three of solid, liquid
and gas) on Earth's magnetic field. Severe outbursts
can and have disrupted electrical and communications
systems, our civilization becoming more vulnerable
directly in proportion to its expansion and
dependence of its technology.
In 1859, as a matter of record, a huge coronal mass
ejection struck Earth electrifying telegraph lines
and producing auroral displays that could be seen
even in the southern states of America. A repeat of
such an event today could very well send us back
into the early 1800's technologically, interrupting
our communications and electrical grids - and maybe
for a very long time at that.
This year (2013), is supposed to be a Solar Maximum
but much to my surprise, as of mid-year, except for
a few outbursts, the sun has been strangely
well-behaved. Whether this continues or not remains
to be seen. Perhaps a lull where none is expected is
a kind of sign in itself.
The
Moon
It
has been long known that the moon is the prime
controller of our ocean tides, the sun to a lesser
degree. Barring some incredibly huge impact on it
which could alter its orbit or destroy it, it would
seem that it will continue as it has since its
formation in the dim past. This is not to minimize
or discount the references to the "moon becoming as
blood," something regularly seen during lunar
eclipses and even more commonly when it is low in
the sky when the atmosphere is full or water vapor
or pollution, be it natural or artificial. The
common factor here is that the atmosphere is
responsible for these effects, not the moon itself.
Nevertheless, there is always the possibility of the
unexpected.
Asteroid, Comet, and Meteoric Activity
On
February 15, 2013 the asteroid DA 2101 passed only
17,000 miles from us. Now that sounds like a pretty
large distance but when we consider that many of our
weather and communications satellites orbit at some
22,300 miles up, this perspective changes. This
object was believed to be 45 meters (147 feet) in
diameter and weighing 130,000 metric tons (143,000
standard tons). Had it struck intact on land it
could have created a crater approximately 10 to 20
times its diameter, depending on the angle and
velocity at the time of impact.
Interestingly, on that very same day a giant meteor
exploded over the skies of Russia, the shock waves
breaking the windows in buildings below its path. On
March 22, 2013 a very bright meteor was visible over
much of the east coast of the United States -
something I personally witnessed.
Earlier this year,
Comet Panstarrs put on a sky show and in the fall,
Comet ISON may create a truly spectacular display if
it survives its 800,000 mile grazing pass around the
sun. (Again, this is not much distance at all,
astronomically speaking. Mercury is 36 million miles
from the sun, Earth 93 million.)
The question which
we might consider is, is this a precursor of things
to come and do we have some data to support such a
possiblity already? There is at least one indication
that the incidence of meteoric activity is already
under way. Below is some are the counts from the
American Meteor Society. To get listed, the meteor
has to be a particularly bright one, magnitude of
negative 4 (-4) or brighter.
To explain how the
magnitude system works, every object in the sky
which emits light, like a star or meteor burning up
in the atmosphere, or reflects it, like a planet or
the moon, can be rated in terms of brightness. The
lower the value of the number, the brighter the
object. The planet Venus shines at magnitude -4, the
brightest star in the sky beside the sun (which is
-27) is Sirius at -1.49. Our pole star Polaris is
+2.02. Each magnitude is 2.512 times different from
the next. In other words, a magnitude 2 star is
2.512 times brighter as a magnitude 3. A difference
of five magnitudes represents a 100-fold difference
in brightness (2.512 multiplied by itself five
times = 100).
So, to be
considered, the bright meteor (fireball) must be at
least as bright as Venus. According to the numbers
below from the American Meteor Society which was
founded in 1911, there has been a significant
upswing in these reports:
1124 Events in 2013
(as of May 21, 2013)
2134 Events in 2012
1631
Events in 2011
952 Events in 2010
728 Events
in 2008
590 Events in 2007
517 Events in 2006
464 Events in 2005
The
Bible itself appears to report an actual asteroid
(think of it as a really big meteor, if you like)
impact occurring during the seven year Tribulation,
and one need only look at the moon to see that such
impacts over the course of time are very numerous
indeed. What we read below is an amazingly accurate
description of what could be this very thing:
Revelation 8:8-9 And the second angel
sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning
with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part
of the sea became blood; And the third part of the
creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died;
and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
This one seems to impact
the ocean, no doubt creating a tsunami of
frightening proportions, perhaps the very thing that
will destroy a third of ocean-going vessels on it.
Accompanying this is an entire third of the sea
somehow becoming contaminated enough to kill a third
of the live living in it.
What follows seems totally different:
Revelation 8:10-11 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; 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.
As
described in a previous article, this has the
characteristics of a nuclear device being detonated,
probably over land, burning like a star and
contaminating fresh water. This is totally
consistent with an H-bomb which derives its power by
nuclear fusion, just as do main sequence stars such
as our own sun, and produces radioactive fallout
contaminating those areas where it settles -
including the water. As Terry James once informed
me, the Ukranian word "Chornobyl" ("Chernobyl"
in Russian) means "Wormwood!" I very much believe
Jesus was being that specific when he revealed what
was to come to John, the full meaning of it now
becoming clear in our nuclear age.
Perhaps aerial warfare in general might also be
legitimately included as "signs in the heavens" in
its own right - which leads us right into our next
subject.
The
Atmosphere
The carnage delivered by huge tornadoes such as the
monster storm which destroyed Moore, Oklahoma,
savage and unique storms like Sandy are becoming all
the norm. Hardly a day goes by without some extreme
and catastrophic weather making the news even in the
United States alone. Globally, the situation is the
same with huge typhoons, cyclones, extremes of
drought, flooding, heat and cold occurring in
frequency and ferocity as never before since such
records have been kept. Surely all of these must be
accounted for as further "signs" in the heavens,
based on the three-fold use of the term in the
Bible.
If global warming is a
fact, which I personally believe it is due to the
evidence available, then part of the explanation may
lie there. It is well known that hurricanes derived
their energy from warm ocean water. It therefore
makes perfect sense that if the water is warmed
more, the storms will become more numerous and
intense. Furthermore, the ocean is responsible for
virtually all the weather on our planet besides
this. Upset its temperature balance and there is no
telling what the long-term and large scale effects
may also produce - things totally unexpected. Now we
can honestly debate about what global warming's
primary cause is or whether we can do anything about
it. But to dismiss it out of hand just flies in the
face of the evidence, in my opinion.
God's
Home
The question here now becomes one of whether events
in what we normally think of "Heaven" can affect
things in our universe, our world. Let's see if we
can find some clues from the Bible:
Luke 2:8-14 And there were in the same
country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping
watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel
of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the
Lord shone round about them: and they were sore
afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for,
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people. For unto you is born this
day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ
the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye
shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God,
and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good will toward men.
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Revelation 12:7-12 And there was war
in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the
dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And
prevailed not; neither was their place found any
more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out,
that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which
deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the
earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I
heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come
salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God,
and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our
brethren is cast down, which accused them before our
God day and night. And they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the
death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that
dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth
and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you,
having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath
but a short time.
In
the first passage, we have a "theophany" wherein the
shepherds get to see just a brief glimpse while
standing in the fields of the magnificent realm of
God. In the second, Paul appears to suggest that
what we see here on Earth is essentially only the
tip of the iceberg as to what is really going on in
the spiritual realm beyond our senses, in particular
the war between the spiritual forces of good and
evil already ongoing. Finally, the Revelation
passage shows Satan finally and permanently being
denied access to Heaven, marooned on the Earth,
probably for the last three and a half years of the
seven year Tribulation.
As one reads the Book of Revelation it appears that
the line between the spirit realm and Earth will
become increasingly blurred. It may already be
happening in the accounts of supposed UFO
activity and alleged alien contacts. The Bible does
often indicate the existence of intelligent beings
other than human beings - even contact between them
and us. God, of course, is the supreme example, as
are his angels. Yet the Bible also reveals Satan and
those who rebelled against God, who were allowed to
invade our universe and Earth by the disobedience of
Adam and Eve in the dim past. There are no mentions
at all of extraterrestrial intelligences originating
on any other planet but our own of which I am aware,
nor have any of our SETI progams after over half a
century of effort detected any uncontestable
evidence of their existence. However the widespread
appearance and acceptance of aliens from outer space
might make this a prime area which the devil is
proabably already exploiting to deceive and mislead
people.
If I'm right,
expect to see more dramatic "alien encounters" to
occur as the days go by -but don't believe these to
be the "real deal" because neither the Bible nor
science backs them up.
Conclusion
It
seems apparent that all the signs are on an
increase, though those in the heavens have so far
lagged behind the others. I believe they will soon
catch up. It also appears that the Bible indicates
that events on Earth do not operate in a vacuum. The
battle between good and evil, God and Satan
intensifies daily, bringing our planet inexorably to
the Battle of Armageddon and the magnificent return
of Jesus himself to rule for 1000 years. Following
this Millennium, Satan will try one last attempt to
seize power, be defeated totally and eternally. All
his followers, both human and angelic will be
consigned to the lake of fire they so richly deserve
for the hell they have brought to creation ever
since the Fall. At that time the most glorious
heavenly sign of all time will be seen when the New
Jerusalem descends onto a New Earth in a New
Universe where all vestiges of sin will forever be
gone.
The hope for
believers is that before the worst of the Last Days
descends on this planet, we all experience this
magnificent sign from above, just for us, as Paul
related:
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 For the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with
the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these
words.
Until then, we need
keep our spiritual armor intact, stay steadfast in
God's Word and, by all means,
KEEP LOOKING UP!!!