Bread Upon The Waters Ministry
July 30, 2006
presenting news and commentary relevant to
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"That was then, this is now!"
"A Mountain Burning With Fire" Update
Dear Reader,
In the last few months, the subject of asteroid collisions, as in my "A Mountain Burning With Fire" page, has been very much on my mind.
This has also been true of Second Prophecy generally, especially in view of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and the present fighting in Lebanon. Frankly, it looks as though a Third World War could start at any time, and it seems possible that the long-and-oft-predicted invasion of Israel could happen soon. Israel definitely seems to be provoking such an invasion. Here I am going to 'go out on a limb' with what I say, but...
I don't think so.
In not thinking so, I am considering present events in the light of two relevant passages of Scripture. The first is Matthew 24:6
"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come."The point I see in this verse is that the Great Tribulation will not begin with anything of the nature of a conventional war. On the contrary, the beginning will be as described in I Thessalonians 5:1-3,
1 Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,
2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
3 While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
The verses above, and a number of other New Testament references speak of the Great Tribulation beginning with a sudden, unexpected catastrophe. One such passage is Luke 17:26-29
26 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 "It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.
29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
As you can clearly see, Jesus described situations wherein everything seemed to be normal and alright, and then suddenly and without warning, total disaster!In reference to this, though, Jesus also, by the context of Matthew 24:21-22, implied that the Great Tribulation, overall, will be worse. It must be noted that in Matthew 24:37-39, Jesus also used the comparison with the time of of Noah. Therefore, we have concrete Scriptural support for two propositions:
1. The Great Tribulation, overall, will be worse than the Flood was globally, and worse than the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was locally.
2. The Great Tribulation will begin as a complete surprise. It must be noted, though, that there are verses that suggest that there may be a very brief warning. If there is, it will come when it is much, much too late to do anything about it.
Therefore, I believe that the present conflict in the Middle East will, as the saying goes, "blow over", in the sense of a passing storm.
However, I am more convinced than ever that I am correct in my contention that the Great Tribulation will begin with an asteroid collision. Here's why:I first noticed that Revelation 8:8 seems to describe an asteroid collision away back in the spring of 1971. I immediately started telling other people about my discovery. At first, I met with nothing but incredulity. Though few people really argued against it, no one affirmed what I thought. It was to be around 15 years before I learned of another Christian who had independently noticed the possibility, and then the person didn't believe it.
"That was then. This is now."
There are at least tens of thousands people from all kinds of backgrounds who have looked at Revelation 8:8 and the context and seen an asteroid collision, or collisions. This includes people of all faiths, even Jews, and scholars who are not believers in anything.
For example, while doing a Web search recently, I found the following page: "The Bang of an Asteroid and the Whimper for Global Warming" (pdf document-Acrobat Reader required). The page is an abstract of a much longer paper that compares the economic hazards of asteroid collisions with the economic hazards of global warming. The paper mentions my name and quotes my "A Mountain Burning With Fire" page as a reference. The author, Craig S. Marxsen, a professor of economics at the University of Nebraska, also mentions several other Christians who have published similar ideas on the Web.
He laments that an asteroid collision could catch us unprepared, and says, in so many words, that much more should be done to hopefully prevent such catastrophes than is being done. He says, in so many words, that we probably could stop a collision from happening if we were prepared to do so. Yet he ends his paper on a negative note, doubting that enough will ever be done. That's what I think, too.
But that isn't all.
Go to Google, and do an advanced "All of these words" search with the words "asteroid, Bible, prophecy". You will be amazed, nay, astonished, by what you will find.
I am not saying that the people who created all those pages agree with my scenario. Most, by far, do not. The point is, though, that most of them have looked at the Book of Revelation, chapter 8, and other similar references, and have generally seen what I see.
Off line, there is a book in print called, "Rain of Iron and Ice: The very real threat of comet and asteroid bombardment" (The book is available at Amazon.com) by John S. Lewis. The author is actually Dr. John S. Lewis. He is co-director of the NASA Space Engineering Research Center at the University of Arizona.
In the first chapter of the book, Lewis quotes Revelation 8:7-11. Then, making reference to Revelation 9:1-2, he says...
(The above is part of a scanned page.)
The bottom line is this: I am no longer alone in my understanding of Revelation 8:6-12 & 9:1-2, though I have legitimate claim to having been a pioneer of this view of the passage. Neither is what I say a crackpot idea. Rather, I am in good company. My basic conclusions, far from being irrational, are obvious to anyone that reads the passages and who is knowledgeable about asteroid and comet collisions.
That is to say, basically, the words, "something like a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea" in Revelation 8:8 are an excellent literal description of an asteroid collision, the impact occurring in one of the oceans. With the words he had, John could not have said it better.
Therefore, in reference to the present situation in the Middle East: if the present conflict does "blow over", and it looks like we are entering an era of world peace, then know that the beginning of the Tribulation is at hand.
Thank God, there is still time, but how much?
Jesus REALLY is coming soon. BE READY!!!
