The threat from space:NASA & the Bible Say "Pray"

                                                          Gingin Observatory/Tonello

This illustration shows the asteroid 2012DA14 flying safely by Earth, as seen by the Gingin Observatory in Australia around the time of its closest approach on Feb. 15, 2013. At this time, the asteroid was about 17,150 miles above Earth's surface.

When asked what should we do if we found out today that planet Earth would be struck by a large asteroid in just three weeks, a NASA official answered “Pray!”

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 the “Science, Space & Technology Committee” of the House of Representatives held a congressional hearing.  The hearing was titled “Threats from Space: A Review of US Government Efforts to track and mitigate Asteroids and Meteors.”  Prompted by the meteor that unexpectedly  struck Russia on February 15, 2013 and asteroid 2012- DA14 passing very close to the Earth on the same day, the committee asked NASA, Air Force and White House officials our options for dealing with the threat from meteors, asteroids and comets.  Speaking of the two cosmic events of February 15, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) said these events “… serve as evidence that we live in an active solar system with potentially hazardous objects passing through our neighborhood with surprising frequency.”

Congressman Bill Posey (R-Florida) asked NASA Chief Charles Bolden what NASA would do if a large asteroid headed on a collision course with Earth was discovered today with only three weeks before impact.  Space agency Chief Bolden said, “The answer to you is ‘if it’s coming in three weeks, pray.”’   

“Pray!”  Many people including the reporters from major TV networks were surprised to hear this choice of words from the Space Agency chief.  Interestingly, the Bible also says to pray in response to impending cosmic bombardment.  In Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 Jesus speaks of the end times tribulation period and tells how “the stars shall fall from heaven (Matthew 24:29 and Mark 13:25).” In Luke 21:36 Jesus then says, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may … escape all these things that shall come to pass….”  The bombardment from stars (luminous bodies such as comets, asteroids or meteors) falling from heaven that Jesus refers to in Matthew 24:29 seems to be spoken of in Revelation 6:12-17, Revelation 8-9, and Revelation 16.   The Trumpets and Vials of Revelation give a scientifically sound description of cometary impacts that strike land, sea and air. These impacts are described as causing catastrophes that include great earthquakes, regional forest fires, towering tsunamis, magma flows and even 100 pound hailstones striking the Earth.

In my book The Comets of God – New Scientific Evidence for God: Recent Archeological, Geological and Astronomical Discovers that shine new light on the Bible and it Prophecies  (www.thecometsofgod.com) I explain that the Bible contains a virtual textbook of information about cosmic activity. Catastrophes described in the Old Testament and the New Testament’s Book of Revelation are being recognized by a growing number of astronomers and planetary scientists as descriptions of cometary impacts. Long before scientists learned about atmospheric roll back after cosmic impacts, comets carrying cyanide, and the existence of the Oort Cloud of comets that surrounds the solar system, the Bible clearly described these technical, astronomical and geological phenomena. 

Dr. John S. Lewis, Professor Emeritus of Planetary Science  at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, and Chief Scientist at Deep Space Industries  in his 1997 book (pages 11-13), "Rain of Iron and Ice: The Very Real Threat of Comet and Asteroid Bombardment" wrote: ". . . the description of future events in Revelation leans heavily upon the phenomenology of violent cosmic events . . . The central theme is clear and unambiguous: the events described in Revelation are of astronomical origin and describe real physical events, not mere portents or symbols. Did John (the author of the Book of Revelation) somehow know more about impact phenomena than any scientist before the present decade?"

 

Explaining why he said “pray,” NASA Chief Charles Bolden said this is because we have “put off” proper study.  Clearly the surprise Russian meteor strike and the near Earth asteroid 2012- DA14 on the same day has let us know that we cannot put off or delay study of the threat from space.  

At the congressional hearing John Holdren, senior advisor to President Obama on science and technology issues told Congress, “The odds of a Near-Earth Object strike causing massive casualties and destruction of infrastructure are very small, but the potential consequences of such an event are so large it makes sense to take the risk seriously.” Similarly, no matter how one feels about the odds of the Bible being right that comets will come to strike the Earth and end civilization as we know it; the consequences of such events are so large that it makes sense to take the risk seriously.

The US has done a good job at tracking the larger objects from space that could deliver a blow equivalent to tens of thousands of nuclear bombs and cause a global problem.  However, we are not identifying the smaller objects in the 450 foot plus range.  Referring to the Russian fly-by, Presidential advisor John Holdren said if an asteroid of this size were to strike the land, “it could devastate the better part of a continent.”  NASA Chief Charles Bolden said only one percent of the space rocks in the 90 to 300 foot range have been found.  The meteorite that recently struck Russia was only about 55 feet wide.  We are years away from identifying all of the potential threats out there and deciding how to respond to them.  This is not reassuring – indeed, pray!

 

History Channel's "The Bible" and Science

                                         

Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.

History Channel’s “The Bible” and Science

History Channel’s new series “The Bible” currently airing Sunday nights is a blockbuster hit for the network. While several of the stories were adapted for the sake of telling the story, viewers may not have been aware of the accuracy in the rendering of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  The scene showed large fireballs hurtling in from above, preceded by eerie sky scenes with lightning and rumbles of thundering.  For a detailed scientific explanation of this cosmic bombardment see my blog:  “Was Sodom and Gomorrah Wiped Out by a Comet?” (See http://blogs.christianpost.com/comets-of-god/was-sodom-and-gomorrah-wiped-out-by-a-comet-9091/#more )

Another scene in “The Bible” portrays the seventh plague of the Exodus when a “grievous hail” fell.  Exodus 9:25 says this hail smote “both man and beast (cattle)...and brake every tree in the field.” Unfortunately, the hail shown falling in the series was about the size of small golf balls, which are not big enough to kill man and beast and break trees.  But hail the size of basketballs would. No one has ever imagined hail of this size, whereas the Bible makes reference to such great hail in Exodus 9:25, Joshua 10:5-24, and Revelation 16:21. Most recently NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft while tracking Comet Hartley 2 took photos of hailstones the size of basketballs, weighing upwards of 100 pounds. NASA scientists said that “We’ve never seen anything like this before” and that “This is a genuinely a new phenomenon.”  This is not a new phenomenon to those who study the Bible.  NASA’s discovery clearly supports the Bible’s references to great hail weighing about 100 pounds. (See http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/18nov_cometsnowstorm/  and “Data from Comet Hartley Continues to Support the Bible” http://christiannewswire.com/news/4010715546.html )
 

The meteorite that struck Russia a couple of weeks ago provided a live demonstration in miniature of the catastrophic cosmic events described in the Bible.  For example, was the Flood the result of a towering tsunami caused by a comet? Note that scientists have recently discovered that around the time of the Flood that a comet hit the Indian Ocean and left an 18-mile in diameter impact crater in the seafloor. This crater is called the Burckle Impact Crater and it now appears to be the proverbial “smoking gun” for the Flood. (See http://blogs.christianpost.com/comets-of-god/noahs-flood-was-really-a-tsunami-caused-by-a-comet-a-retranslation-of-genesis-711-8825/#more ) To learn more about the catastrophes described in the Bible caused or to be caused by cometary activity see my book entitled– “THE COMETS OF GOD - New Scientific Evidence for God: Recent archeological, geological and astronomical discoveries that shine new light on the Bible and its prophecies”  Jeffrey Goodman, Ph.D.(www.thecometsofgod.com ).

Meteorite Strikes Russia

 

                                                            Comet Hartley2                                         
             

Meteorite Strikes Russia

Signs and Wonders in the Heavens

 

            Thursday, February 14, 2013 a ten ton fiery meteor about the size of a SUV blazed across the Russian sky over the Ural Mountains after sunrise, part of which went on to strike a frozen lake.  Early AP reports say that upwards of 1,000 people were injured by broken glass and debris as a result of the “blast wave” that occurred after the meteor exploded in the sky.  Note: In 1908 a comet fragment 100 meters in diameter exploded above Tunguska, Siberia flattening 2,000 square-kilometers of forest.                                                                                                                                                    

            The Russian meteor strike appears to be unrelated to the February 15, 2013 asteroid (DA14) which is half the size of a football field, and large enough to destroy a city.  This asteroid is expected to come within 17,000 miles of earth, passing within the ring of satellites that surround Earth.  Then sometime between Thanksgiving and the end of the year Comet Ison will come into the solar system to round the sun.  As it grazes the sun it will no doubt break up to some degree and as a result dramatically increase in brightness.  Some astronomers expect that it might get even brighter than the moon and be seen during daylight hours crossing the sky. Astronomers know that our planet exists in a cosmic shooting gallery of objects that could strike the Earth and cause major catastrophes.  Are these events occurring in a relatively short period of time coincidental or is something else going on?  Do these signs and wonders speak of events foretold in the Bible? 

            Few people know that the Bible contains a virtual textbook of information about cosmic activity including descriptions of impacts in the atmosphere, on land, or in the ocean.  Several noted astronomers, geologists and geophysicists have made convincing arguments that several of the catastrophes in the Old Testament (including Sodom & Gomorrah and the Exodus plagues) and Revelation’s prophecies are descriptions of cosmic activity.  We now know that cosmic impacts can cause great earthquakes and towering tsunami.  However, long before scientists came to learn about atmospheric roll back after cosmic impacts, comets carrying cyanide, and the Oort cloud of Comets that surrounds the solar system, the Bible clearly described these technical astronomical and geological phenomena.  

            Most recently NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft while tracking Comet Hartley 2 took photos of hailstones the size of basketballs, weighing upwards of 100 pounds.  NASA scientists said that “We’ve never seen anything like this before” and that “This is a genuinely a new phenomenon.” http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/18nov_cometsnowstorm/ 

  Yet, this is not a new phenomenon to those who study the Bible.  The Bible talks about the existence of great hailstones weighing upwards of 100 pounds in Revelation 16:21 (also see Joshua 10:5-24 and Exodus 9:18-26). See “Data from Comet Hartley Continues to Support the Bible” http://christiannewswire.com/news/4010715546.html

 

To learn more see “THE COMETS OF GOD - New Scientific Evidence for God: Recent archeological, geological and astronomical discoveries that shine new light on the Bible and its prophecies” Jeffrey Goodman, Ph.D.  www.thecometsofgod.com

 

 

           

What was or is the Star of Bethlehem?

 

 

What was or is the Star of Bethlehem?

 

By Jeffrey Goodman, Ph.D.

 

            Many people consider the Biblical story of the Star of Bethlehem to be a fairy tale or myth.  Some ask if there was a Star of Bethlehem, where is it now? They say that there is no scientific evidence for the Star as presented in Matthew, chapter 2.  On the other hand, some people speculate that the Star was either a planetary conjunction or a comet.  As scientific knowledge about the heavens rapidly increases, astronomy just might provide a scientific explanation for the Star of Bethlehem.

            The Christmas story in Matthew tells of wise men who came to Jerusalem searching for the one born King of the Jews for they had “seen his star in the east.”  The wise men probably came from Babylonia tracing back to the prophet Daniel and the Judean exile where a large Jewish population still lived in Babylonia.  They would have made the connection of the star to the Jewish King based on the prophecy told of in Numbers 24:17 which says, “…there shall come a Star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel ….” 

            During their visit with King Herod, he told them that according to prophecy (Micah 5:2) the ruler of Israel was to come from Bethlehem of Judea. He also asked “what time the star appeared (2:7).”  After the wise men departed for Bethlehem they again saw the same star which they had seen in the east as it stood over where the young child was.  Matthew 2:10 says when they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

           

            The story provides some very interesting information about the Christmas Star.  First, nothing in the story indicates that everyone saw the Star – only the wise men.  The fact that Herod asks when the star appeared and it appeared again after the wise men left Jerusalem implies that the star was not always visible.  So we can gather that the word “star” is not being used to designate a comet, a planet or a planetary conjunction, objects which can be seen each night moving against the background of stars.  But what kind of star appears, disappears and then reappears?  Maybe the Star of Bethlehem is a very special kind of Star which makes it very hard to locate and to see. 

            Meet the “Red dwarf stars.” Red dwarfs have masses that range from forty percent to just eight percent of the mass of the Sun, and diameters as small as one-seventh the diameter of our Sun.  They emit little light, sometimes less than 1/10,000 that of the Sun.   Red dwarfs are the most common star type in the Galaxy, and twenty-one of the thirty nearest stars to the Sun are red dwarfs.  Some red dwarfs can suddenly erupt and temporarily get much brighter, and the light given off by some red dwarfs can be obscured or concealed by a “nebula” or cloud.  A “nebula” is an interstellar cloud of dust and gases, something quite different than an atmospheric cloud. 

Astronomers call a cloud-enshrouded eruptive red dwarf a “flare star.”^[1]  More simply, a flare star is a red dwarf that may undergo very sudden short term changes in brightness.  Most dim red dwarfs are also flare stars.  Since flare stars can suddenly brighten as much as six magnitudes or more and go from invisible to visible and then back to invisible in minutes, a “wise man” who knew both where and when to look could see an otherwise dark red dwarf star when it flares and unveils itself.^[2]  Could the star the wise men saw in the East and then saw again in Bethlehem have been a flare star?  A flare star erupting and then suddenly increasing in brightness would explain Matthew 2:10 which says, “When they saw the star (in Bethlehem) they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.”  Is this why Matthew 2:7 says Herod secretly asked the wise men “what time the star appeared.”  It is a blessing to be looking in the right place at the right time when a flare star suddenly erupts and unveils itself.  Clearly we are not talking about a star that can be seen with the naked eye each night like the millions of stars that dot the sky each night.

For comparative purposes consider that on April 25, 2008 the tiny “red dwarf star known as EV Lacertae, unleashed a mega flare packing the power of thousands of solar flares.  The flare was not seen but recorded by Russian and American satellites.  To anyone looking in the right spot at the right time the flare would have been visible to the naked eye.  Rachel Osten of NASA’s Goddard Space Center in a report titled “Red dwarf star releases giant burst of light,” and said “Here’s a small cool star that shot off a monster flare.”   It is interesting to note that Proxima Centauri, the closest known star to the Earth (4.22 light years away), and many other known stars closest to the Earth are red dwarf flare stars.  The possibility of being able to find an unknown flare star in the Earth’s stellar neighborhood by modern astronomical techniques is demonstrated by the discovery in 2003 of a faint red dwarf, a probable flare star that at first appeared to represent the third closest star system to our own.  “Our new stellar neighbor is a pleasant surprise, since we weren’t looking for it,” wrote Bonnard Teegarden, an astrophysicist with NASA’s Goddard Flight Center.   Teegarden and his colleagues detected the unknown star while searching a database of telescopic sky survey observations.  “It was while going through the database that researchers discovered the dim red dwarf, which shines about 300,000 times fainter than the Sun. Its faintness has veiled it from astronomers until now. . . .”    Bonnard Teegarden, the discoverer of the new star said, “since the survey only covered a band of the sky (about twenty-five degrees in declination), it is entirely possible that other faint objects remain to be discovered.”

            It should be noted that a number of scientists such as award winning astrophysicist, Richard Mueller of the University of California Berkeley, believe that a dark dwarf star exists in our solar system. For various reasons a number of these astronomers propose that our local star, the Sun, like most other stars in the universe has a companion!  This proposed companion has come to be popularly referred to as “Nemesis.”   Nemesis has still not yet been seen and confirmed after 30 years, most likely because it is “dark,” and it gives off very little light.  Some scientists say that it is not simply faint but actually “sub-luminous” meaning this type of star is relatively cool and does not give off enough radiant energy to be clearly seen via electromagnetic spectral emission in the visible light band.   Another possibility is that something is obscuring the light that this star gives off.  Beyond the Nemesis theory, some astronomers are now searching the sky for small sources of light and infrared radiation, which might indicate the location of a secretive companion star to our Sun, most likely an infrared emitting brown dwarf or a red dwarf.^[3] 

The Bible appears to give information about this special type of flaring red dwarf star in a number of different places.  Arguments could be made that some scriptures talk about this star. In light of the detailed information the Bible provides about comets, it would not be surprising that the Bible also gives information about a type of star that can drive comets to the Earth. (For full references please see THE COMETS OF GOD, and see www.thecometsofgod.com and www.newscientificevidenceforgod.com

Psalm 19:4 says, “he hath set a tabernacle for the sun,” and since a “tabernacle” is a “dwelling place” (Interlinear Bible) this suggests that this dark dwarf, is part of the solar system. Psalm 19:6 says, “His going forth is from the end of the heaven (‘heavens’ – Interlinear, NAS, NIV) and his circuit (‘orbit’ – Interlinear Bible) unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof (‘from His heat’ – Interlinear).”  This suggests that the star travels at the end of the solar system (heaven).^[4]  When Psalm 19:6 also says that “nothing is hid from the heat thereof or from His heat,” it suggests that this star is an infrared emitter, as infrared radiation is the heat given off by a body.  Infrared radiation is a function of temperature, and this is how night vision glasses work by making heat waves visible.

A flare star, that is, an eruptive red dwarf star enshrouded in a hydrogen cloud, is an infrared emitter, because the dim light it gives off is mostly blocked and converted to additional heat by the thick and opaque hydrogen cloud that conceals it.  II Peter 1:19 may apply here since it talks about “a light that shineth in a dark place” until the day comes when the “day star” arises.  “A light that shineth in a dark place” is an accurate description of a flare star, a star that shines inside the cloud that covers and conceals it.  Finally, it must be noted that most flare stars are dim eruptive red dwarfs and that all flare stars are infrared emitters. 

While the Bible is not a science book, it contains historical and scientific information.  There are scriptures that clearly describe cosmic objects enshrouded by clouds, objects that shine in dark places, and objects that unseen by we Earthlings.  Finally, could the Star out of Jacob, a Scepter out of Israel, the Star seen only by the wise men at the time of Jesus’ birth also be the “sign of the Son of Man in heaven …” Matthew 24:30) that appears with Jesus’ return?  If so, according to the Bible it will make a reappearance that many will see. 

---

^[1]           On December 7, 1947 the American astronomer K. G. Carpenter accidentally photographed UV Ceti while it was flaring.  UV Ceti increased in brightness by a factor of 12 and returned to normal within a three minute time span.  The word didn’t get out to the astronomical community until 1948, and the next flare star discovered, AD Leo, was in 1949. G. A. Gurzadyan, Flare Stars, Pergamom Press, New York, 1980, p. 1.  A different account of the discovery of flare stars is given in Burnham’s Celestial Handbook by Robert Burnham, Dover Publication, New York, 1966, pp. 641 and 642, and in Variable Stars by Michel Petit, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1982, p. 156.  In these two books Willem J. Luyten of the University of Minnesota is credited with first discovering the flaring of the UV Ceti system (L726-8) in 1948, and this discovery being announced by Harvard Observatory in April 1949.  The fainter member of this pair of stars called the UV Ceti system has been called “Luyten’s Flare Star” and it is the classic example of the type.

 

^[2]    The flares of a flare star (stellar flares) are unlike the more familiar flares of our Sun (solar flares).  The flares of a flare star are of a different nature and infinitely greater magnitude than the flares that our sun undergoes.  “A stellar flare is a grandiose event, truly stellar in its scale, an event that, each time it appears, encompasses huge volumes of space around the star and develops with fabulous large speed”— G. A. Gurzadyan, Flare Stars, Pergamon Press, New York, 1980, p. 334.  In an article called “The Atmosphere of M Dwarfs” which appears in The M-Type Stars – NASA (J. Johnson and F. Querci editors) 1986.

 

^[3]           Several astronomical surveys are currently underway.  In particular the “Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer” (WISE) a NASA funded satellite mission carries an infrared sensitive telescope.  Note that instead of giving off radiation in the visible light spectrum, an infrared brown dwarf and many red dwarfs would only give off radiation of invisible infrared wavelengths.

 

^[4]             In the Bible, when used in regard to astronomy the term “heaven” pertains to the “solar system,” and the term “heaven of heavens” pertains to the “greater solar system” which includes both the solar system and the Oort Cloud.  So in regard to astronomy, the term “heavens” indicates both “heaven” and the “heaven of heavens.”

 

The Tale of the Tower – Part 2

 
                                                   Lucas van Valckenborch 1568

        

                 IMPORTANT SUMERIAN AND AKKADIAN SITES AND THE BIBLE

Genesis 10:10 refers to "Babel" (Babylon-NIV), "Erech," "Akkad," and "the land of Shinar." // Genesis 11:28-31 refer to "Ur." // Genesis 11:31, 32 and 12:4-5 refer to "Haran."This map also shows the location of the Amarah Crater. This two mile in diameter crater provides physical evidence that a cosmic impact took place in the Holy Land during Biblical times. The crater was discovered after Saddam Hussein had the lakes drained in Southern Iraq in retaliation against the Marsh Arabs in the area. The Sumerian text The Curse of Akkad and the Bible’s story of the destruction of the "Tower of Babel" both record the occurrence of this catastrophic event which ties to the sudden abandonment of Akkadian sites, and collapse of the Akkadian Empire.

 

The Tale of the Tower – Part 2

What Does the Tower of Babel Story Tell Us

About the End Times?

 

 

How can a nine verse story that appears in Genesis 11 about people who spoke one language while building a city and a tower cause concern for God and be connected to End Times?  Based on excerpts from Dr. Jeffrey Goodman’s book The Comets of God come an intriguing explanation. 

 

 

The traditional interpretation of the Bible’s story of the destruction of the Tower of Babel poses several problems.  The idea that at one time all the people of the whole earth spoke the same language and travelled to a plain in “the land of Shinar” to build a city and a tower does not fit with what we know from other scriptures in the Bible (Genesis 10:10 and Zechariah 5:11) that also talk about the “land of Shinar.”  A second problem is that the traditional interpretation of a universal language at the time of the Tower does not fit archeological and historical records.  While some people considered this Bible story to be a myth, the corrected translation provides an account that is consistent with the writings of the people from the two adjoining nations who spoke different languages in the land of Shinar.  It is these people who were building the new city and tower when God did something that stopped the people’s plans and caused them to scatter.

 Why was God so upset?  The defiant act that kindled divine wrath was not a universal language or the building of a city and tower, but rather the establishment of the ancient Near East’s first empire. Politically an empire has absolute authority over a group of states or nations consisting of people from different ethnic groups and languages who have been united and become one as a result of military domination.  Empires are ruled by a single chief of state called an emperor.  Since an empire represents a level of government higher than any of the nations it is ruling, an empire could let a brutal dictator begin to do anything he imagined to do in the world. Recall the abuses of the ancient Roman Empire during the Classical period.

The ancient Near East’s first powerful empire, known as the Akkadian Empire, was ruled by Sargon, an Akkadian who had carved out a multi-national empire that went from sea to sea, from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean.  Just as archeological findings of the historical Akkadian Empire’s city of Akkad have confirmed the Bible’s city of Akkad, it has also shown that the historical Akkadian ruler called Sargon was one in the same as the ruler the Bible refers to as Nimrod.  The Bible says it was Nimrod who founded a kingdom or empire in the land of Shinar, the land of Sumer and Akkad that included the ceremonial center at Babylon and the cities of Erech and Akkad (Genesis 10:8-10 and 11:1-4).   Likewise the historical records show that Sargon founded an empire in the land of Sumer and Akkad that included Babylon and the cities of Erech and Akkad.  

When the Bible (Genesis 10:9) says that Nimrod “was a mighty hunter,” the Bible is clearly identifying him as an Akkadian king, because all the kings of the Akkadian culture were celebrated as “mighty hunters.”  Based on cuneiform inscriptions, archeologists know that the ritual hunting of lions was a traditional past time, a “lordly sport” for Akkadian Kings.^[1]  Writing about the person the Bible calls Nimrod, Dr. D. J. Wiseman of the University of London, a leading authority on Assyriology, notes that “many scholars compare him (Nimrod) with Sargon of Akkad c. 2300 BC, who was a great warrior and huntsman and ruler. . . .”  While Dr. Jeffrey Goodman, is not the first archeologist to connect Sargon and Nimrod as the same person, he may be the first to show the Bible’s story of the Tower is about the destruction of the Akkadian Empire, where God in accord with His pattern, used comets as the weapons of His wrath.

The corrected translation of this Bible story tells how the God of the Bible, because of a defiant act on the part of mankind, brought about the destruction of the new empire and scattered the people who were building the new city and the new tower. The dean of Sumeriology, Samuel Noah Kramer, who translated The Curse of Agade (Akkad), wrote, “Its central theme concerns national catastrophe as a direct consequence of divine wrath kindled by a defiant act on the part of man.”    In The Curse of Akkad, cometary activity is described as the writers tell of the destruction of the Akkadian Empire by their heavenly gods who fought from heaven

The Curse of Akkad written in Sumerian provides an independent and much older account of the same basic set of events spoken about in the Bible’s story about the Destruction of the Tower of Babel.  In The Curse of Akkad the cometary goddess Inanna, the Queen of Heaven, who like a warrior hastening to his weapon, went forth against Akkad in battle and combat to attack it.    The Curse of Akkad and related works tell how there were “flashing potsherds raining from the sky,” “many stars falling from the sky,” so that “the raining dust rose sky high.”    The account of cometary impact as told in The Curse of Akkad was apparently written within a few centuries after the catastrophic event.

 Archeologists have found copies of The Curse of Akkad inscribed on clay tablets dating back to 1800 BC.  In the last 20 years tests have been performed on dust deposits excavated from suddenly abandoned Akkadian sites from around 2200 BC that have indicated the presence of trace elements associated with cometary activity.  The discovery in 2001 of the two-mile wide Amarah Crater in Southern Iraq has provided the physical evidence to confirm suspicions that cometary activity destroyed the Tower of Babel.

The Amarah impact, which produced energy equivalent to that of hundreds of Hiroshima sized atomic bombs, took place just 125 miles or so to the south of where ancient Akkad lay.  The historical corroboration with the Akkadian Empire, the direct physical evidence from the Amarah Crater, and the dust deposits now provide a powerful one-two punch in establishing the reality of one of the Bible’s first stories of catastrophe. 

It is the recognition that the Bible story of the Tower of Babel is about the destruction of an empire that links it to the destruction of the Akkadian Empire and thus the Amarah Crater.  Equally important, this Biblical account holds a warning to mankind, a warning about empire and the God of the Bible’s opposition to empire.  An empire is a type of government involving people of different lands under the rule of a single political authority, typically having an emperor as chief of state.  With such absolute authority comes great power.  Having people from different lands under one rule gives an empire the ability to marshal vast resources to accomplish its goals.  This would enable an emperor the power and capability to pursue anything he imagines or wishes.  Having one language does not enable a leader to do anything he imagines he can do (Genesis 11:6), but having absolute power over all people and lands gives him everything he needs.  A single nation no matter how powerful could not stand up to the multi-national forces of an ever growing empire.  (Where would the United States be if we did not enter World War II until after Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich [empire] had conquered all of Europe and Russia?)

The idea that the building of a city and temple tower was in and of itself threatening to the God of the Bible lacks credibility.  It should be noted that the remains of many temple towers have been found in Mesopotamia (approximately 28), and archeologists know that the Tower of Babel was not the first, nor the last, temple tower to be built in the region.  So, the defiant act that kindled divine wrath was not the building of the city and tower, but rather the establishment of the Near East’s first empire, since it is ruling an empire that would let a brutal dictator begin to do anything he imagined to do. 

A related reason the Bible gives for the God of the Bible’s opposition to empire, where one man could rule over all the nations of the earth, is that this position of authority is reserved for the God of the Bible.  The Bible says that God is to come in the person of the Messiah, the Christ, to “establish” an empire or kingdom that will last forever.  Isaiah 9:6-7 tells how “the government shall be upon His shoulder” and He will rule from “the throne of David.”  Daniel 2:44 NIV tells how during the end times “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom (empire) that will never be destroyed nor will it be left to another people…”  Daniel 7:13-14 tells how the Son of Man (the Messiah) will be given “dominion, and glory and a kingdom (empire), that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. . . .”^[2]

Not only did the emperors of the Akkadian Empire expand the empire and seek to rule over many nations, they also aspired to be worshipped as living gods.  Even though Sargon was an Akkadian, he made the Sumerian religion the “official” religion of the Akkadian Empire.  By virtue of his holy marriage (hieros- gamos) to the patron goddess of the new empire, the goddess Inanna bestowed all power to rule on earth to him, and Sargon declared himself to be a god-king.  Thus, through marriage to the “woman,” a goddess, the emperors of the Akkadian empire were worshipped as living gods (“ruler-worship).

Are you seeing the forewarning of the Antichrist to come?  Just as the story of the Tower of Babel involved a dictator who led a powerful empire that would defy God, Bible prophecy says that during the end times the antichrist will arise and form a worldwide empire and defy God by seeking to rule over the whole world and be worshipped as God.  Thus, the message of an all powerful ruler who claims himself to be a god in the story of the Tower of Babel relates to the empire the Bible says will be established by the antichrist during the end times. 

The Bible says that the antichrist, a dictator who “will succeed in whatever he does” (Daniel 8:23-24 NIV), will eventually seek to be worshipped as God and exalt himself above God.^[3]  II Thessalonians 2:3-4 says this antichrist will even sit in the rebuilt Temple of God in Jerusalem “proclaiming himself to be God.”   Just as The Curse of Akkad and the Bible’s story of the Tower tell how a defiant act on the part of mankind kindled divine wrath, resulting in cosmic catastrophe destroying the empire, the Bible says that cosmic catastrophe will destroy the empire of the antichrist.  The Seven Trumpets and the Seven Vials of the Book of Revelation detail the basic sequence of cosmic impacts that will accomplish this destruction. 

There is another reason the Bible gives for the God of the Bible being opposed to empire.  An empire with its state religion takes away each person’s freedom to choose the god he will serve.  The God of the Bible has given each person free will and the freedom to choose who or what they will serve or believe.  In the empire begun by Sargon, the state religion was primarily the worship of a “woman,” a goddess, and in the empire of the antichrist, the state religion will also involve the worship of a “woman,” a goddess.  Ultimately, the empire of the antichrist will involve worship of the antichrist who will attempt to rule as a living god, just as Sargon did.

The Book of Revelation tells how the final empire will also involve the worship of a woman until the empire disavows her (Revelation 17:16).  Actually this woman, who in Revelation 17:1-7 is called the “The Great Whore,” and described as “Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother of Harlots (Idolatresses) and Abominations of the Earth” is none other than Inanna, the “Queen of Heaven” (Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-19, and 25).  It is this same Inanna, the “wicked” and “winged” woman for whom a house or tower were built in the land of Shinar at Babylon (Zechariah 5:7-11, Genesis 10:10, and 11:4-9)!  The essence of this idolatrous religious system would be carried forward in time from Nimrod/Sargon’s empire to the end times empire of the antichrist.  The Bible says that God would bring about the destruction of this “woman,” and all who have all invaded Israel, that is, the Neo-Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman Empires (Daniel 2:24-45, and 7:3-27).  The Bible also says that God will bring the destruction of the antichrist’s empire which will represent the third and final expression of Roman Empire (the ancient Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire of the Crusades, and the “revived” Holy Roman Empire in the form of the European Community) after it invades Israel during the end times (Daniel 2:24-45, 7:3-27, 11:36-45, and Revelation 13:1-3).  As this study of the tale of the Tower shows that the God of the Bible used comets to bring the collapse of the pretentious Akkadian Empire, its destruction is consistent with the pattern of God using comets as the weapons of His wrath.  If we acknowledge that there is indeed a pattern of cometary activity chronicled in the Bible, it seems that the same type of religious and political machinations that brought on God’s wrath and resulted in the destruction of the historical Akkadian Empire by comets will again bring on God’s wrath and result in the destruction of the antichrist’s Empire by comets.

 

 

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^[1]           The inscription on the famous hunting relief of Ashurbanipal (669-633 BC) housed in the British Museum says: “I am Ashurbanipal, King of the Universe, King of Assyria . . . endowed with surpassing might.  The lions which I slew: I seized a fierce lion of the plain by his ears . . . I pierced his body with my lance . . . in my lordly sport I seized a lion of the plain by his tail . . . I smashed his skull with the club of my hand . . . in my lordly sport they let a fierce lion of the plain out of his cage and on foot with my spear . . . I stabbed him later with my iron girdle dagger and he died . . . I shattering the might of the lions . . . .” from Daniel D. Luckenbill, Ph.D. Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, Vol. II – Historical Records of Assyria, University of Chicago Press, 1926, pp. 391-392.

 

^[2]           In Daniel 7:14 delineating that the “kingdom” (#4437 malkuw, dominion, empire, kingdom, realm) of the Messiah will include all people, nations and languages,” we have the equivalent of the modern working definition of “empire,” as a political entity of two or more nations.

 

^[3]           This is not unlike the Bible telling how Lucifer, or the devil wanted to raise his throne above God’s throne in heaven, and sit in heaven and ”be like the most high” – Isaiah 14:12-15.