THE DAY OF
THE LORD

We know from putting the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation together that the major player in this world war will be a military power known as the Beast. This Beast is the final and greatest revival of the Roman Empire – a United Europe. An Arab power known as the King of the South at the end of

Daniel 11, possibly a confederation of Arab countries, will push or attack this power for whatever reason (perhaps this is a reference to a major series of terrorist attacks). This war begins with this United Europe retaliating to this push or attack from the King of the South, sweeping through the Middle East and invading many countries including Israel.

America and Britain will probably stand up to Europe for taking such action. Whatever transpires in the aftermath of the Middle East invasion will lead to this power-hungry United Europe launching a major assault on the modern nations descended from ancient Israel (America, Britain, NW Europe and the modern state of Israel populated by only 1 of the 12 tribes - Judah or the Jews).

The result will be that the war against the U.S. and Britain will wipe out a third of its people, another third will die of famine and disease and another third will be deported as slaves. This is spoken of in Ezekiel 5:12. The captivity of Israel, called the time of Jacob's trouble in Jeremiah 30, will have begun.

In Isaiah 9:14 we read the following, “Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm-branch and rush in one day.” This could well refer to a surprise nuclear attack against our Israelite nations.

Over this initial 2 ½ year period of world war 5 of the 7 seals of the Book of Revelation will be opened with devastating impact on the peoples of all the world. These are described in Revelation 6 with the explanation of each of them given in Christ's Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24.

1ST SEAL - The white horse of the first seal represents false religion – that of the great false church which will support and feed the power of the United Europe.

2ND SEAL - The red horse of the second seal represents world war.

3RD SEAL - The black horse of the third seal represents great famine.

4TH SEAL - The pale horse of the fourth seal, represents disease.

Revelation 6:8 tells us that these first four seals of destruction will kill a quarter of the population of the whole world – that's nearly one and a half billion people!

5TH SEAL - On the heels of those four seals will be the fifth seal which will be a martyrdom of many of God's true church. Revelation 12 tells us that some of God's people will be protected in a place that God has prepared for them.

Revelation 3:10 tells us why they will be protected. “Because you did keep the word of my patience I also will keep thee from the hour of trial which is to come on the whole world to try them that dwell on the earth.” Satan will vigourously go after the rest of God's people that aren't protected at this time.

It is only after describing the meaning of the fifth seal in Matthew 24 does Christ tell us, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a witness unto all nations.” The primary fulfillment of this prophecy will be through the preaching of the two witnesses accompanied by many great miracles.

Though this will be primarily fulfilled at this time we still have a responsibility, as the Church of God, to preach that good news as far and wide as we can.

We also have what's been called the Ezekiel warning commission to preach to our Israelites nations warning them out of love of their coming captivity just as the prophets of old did in ancient Israel. By the time the two witnesses come on the scene in great power it will be too late for them to do this very important commission.

Now we get down to the Day of the Lord. The heavenly signs of the sixth seal will herald the beginning of this time followed by the seventh seal which opens the seven trumpet plagues.

In Isaiah 34:8 we will read the following, “For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompense in the controversy of Zion.” It is from this verse that we have come to the belief that the Day of the Lord will last approximately one year in length. The day for a year principle in prophecy is also referred to in Ezekiel 4:6.

Are the Day of the Lord Plagues Random Events or Connected to Each Other?

In this article I'd like for us to look at the Day of the Lord from a somewhat different perspective than we have generally looked at it before.

Recent blockbuster movies such Deep Impact and Armageddon have made popular what I have come to refer to as cosmic catastrophism – the belief that heavenly objects such as meteors, asteroids and comets could hit our planet and the study of the devastating impact that they might have on planet earth.

Many have read certain verses in the Book of Revelation and wondered whether such events could be part of how God punishes the earth during the Day of the Lord – verses such as the ones which talk about a great star from heaven and a great mountain burning with fire hitting the earth in

• Revelation 8:7, the first trumpet, tells us about a fiery hailstorm that is mingled with blood.
  
• Revelation 8:8, the second trumpet, tells us that the great mountain burning with fire that hits the sea turns a third part of the sea into blood. Whatever this fiery mountain is it must have a blood, red pigment to it to do this.
  
• Revelation 16:3, the second of the seven last plagues, tells us that waters of the sea were turned into blood.
  
• Revelation 16:4, the third of the seven last plagues, tells us that the waters of the rivers were also turned into blood.
  

• Revelation 6:12, the sixth seal, tells us the sun becomes as black as a sackcloth of hair.
  
• Revelation 8:12, the fourth trumpet, tells us a third of the sun, moon and stars' light does not shine.
  
• Revelation 16:10, the fifth of the seven last plagues, tells us that darkness covers the whole of the beast's kingdom.
  

• Revelation 6:12-16 and 8:7. As the heavenly signs of the sixth seal occur an almighty earthquake occurs such that every mountain and island is moved out of its place. Right on the heels of this earthquake is the first trumpet plague which is a fiery hailstorm. This meteor shower is so destructive that a third of the earth's vegetation is destroyed by the fires created by it.
  
• Revelation 16:17-21. The last of the seven last plagues is the greatest earthquake of all time shaking the whole earth. Just like at the beginning of the Day of the Lord this almighty earthquake is also accompanied by a tremendous hailstorm – another great meteor shower.
  

Cosmic Possibilities

What different cosmic possibilities do we have? There are three major types of Earth-threatening cosmic objects we can look at – asteroids, meteor showers and comets.

Asteroids are irregular shaped objects that are usually fragments of exploded planets or moons. The biggest asteroid we know of is one called Ceres which is 940 km in diameter – certainly large enough to do some major damage to the Earth should it hit us but it is in a safe orbit between Mars and Jupiter. There are a number of small asteroids that cross the Earth's orbit. None of these are much bigger than 10 km across. As they are rocky and have no matter streaming off them they have no fiery tails like comets. The second trumpet speaks of a great mountain burning with fire and the third trumpet is a great star burning like a torch so these aren't asteroids and neither is the hail mingled with fire.

Meteor showers are showers of cometary debris that are usually associated with a parent comet. The comet Encke, for example, crosses the Earth's orbit and has an orbital period of 3.3 years and has a meteor shower train associated with it called the Taurids. Based on the plagues we've just looked at that will be part of the Day of the Lord some appear to be meteors (hail mingled with fire) but there are many others that have nothing to do with meteors such as the great earthquakes and the plagues of darkness.

While some meteor showers are not associated with comets the majority of them are. So let's look at our next option – comets. We know that meteor showers are associated with comets. There are also two larger objects that hit the earth and cause major destruction (second and third trumpet plagues). What is different and unusual about one of these objects that stream off and crash into one of the earth's oceans is that is turns the sea into a blood red colour. This is much different to our usual comets which are icy and rocky.

There is a serious amount of “red soil” coming off this huge object that hits one of our oceans. This red soil and dust may go a long way to explaining a lot of the other plagues that speak of things turning into or looking like blood such as the moon at the sixth seal. We are also told that the hail mingled with fire of the first trumpet plague is also mingled with blood.

What is also different about the apparent meteor showers at the beginning and end of the Day of the Lord is that they are accompanied by enormous earthquakes that shake the WHOLE EARTH!

A New and Provocative Theory

Now what I am about to cover I will qualify right here and say that this is my own personal hypothesis and, as such, is speculation but it is my best guess in accordance with the clues offered to us from past history and the Book of Revelation.

If we are dealing with a comet we have already seen this is something far different to the usual type of small icy comet by the red soil that comes off one of its major meteors. Now we have something else to contend with. If earth-shaking earthquakes are associated with its passing what does that tell us about its size?

As we will look at later we will see that the types of plagues at the beginning of the Day of the Lord (around the sixth seal) and those at the end of the Day of the Lord (the seventh trumpet and its seven last plagues / bowls / vials) are in reverse order. What we know about the tails of comets is that, because of the solar wind, their tails always face away from the Sun so if they are going in an outward direction from the Sun their tails are actually in front of them. The effects of the tail would hit us first before the body of the comet would then pass.

The first important parameter of my model, which I believe best fits the clues of the Book of Revelation, is that it requires the passing of a large heavenly object such as a comet not just once, but twice!

The first passing is at the time of the 6th seal at the beginning of the Day of the Lord. The second time it passes is at the time of the 7th trumpet at the end of the Day of the Lord.

The second important parameter is especially provocative.

In order for this heavenly body to cause worldwide earthquakes twice, this heavenly body would have to be large enough to have the gravitational mass to cause great seismic stress all over the whole earth as it passes our planet!

In order words, this heavenly object might have to be as large as a moon or even a planet!

The First Pass of the Future Supercomet

6TH SEAL

(Revelation 6:12-17) - We first encounter this great heavenly body in when the sixth seal is opened. Remember the tail of a comet always points away from the sun because of the solar wind regardless of what direction it is travelling.

For this first passing I speculate that it comes in from the outer solar system. That means that the body of the object passes the earth first and we feel the effects of its massive tail afterwards.

As its body approaches it blackens the appearance of the sun with its tail and then changes the appearance of the moon to a blood red colour with its red tail and body. Meteorites or the stars of heaven fall to the earth covering the earth with a great meteorite shower.

The gravitational forces between the two bodies trigger off tremendous seismic and earthquake activity. Mountains and islands are raised and lowered! This is no ordinary earthquake. This is FAR bigger than any we have experienced in recent history!

The seventh seal then opens up the seven trumpet plagues.

1ST TRUMPET (Revelation 8:7) - Another meteorite shower, mingled with the blood red dust of the object, falls to the earth as the 1st trumpet plague is unleashed.

Massive fires spread out all over the earth destroying a third of the earth's vegetation! With so much of the earth's vegetation being destroyed it's no surprise that the leaders of the beast power tell their armies not to destroy vegetation as it launches its 5th trumpet attack later on.

As the object passes the earth two fragments split off and hurtle towards the earth. The fact that there are not one, but two massive objects that hit the earth suggests a common origin.

2ND TRUMPET (Revelation 8:8-9) - The first fragment is described as a great mountain burning with fire - a luminous object probably with a great fiery tail - which strikes a major ocean.

This object obviously is of a red colour as it reddens or bloodies a third of the seas' water after it hits the water.

This meteorite dust coupled with tremendous tidal waves like the one in the movie “Deep Impact” destroy a third of the sea creatures and ships in the ocean (Revelation 8:7).

3RD TRUMPET (Revelation 8:10-11) - The second fragment is described as a great star burning like a torch and it hits one of the continents this time causing the 3rd trumpet plague.

Its red dust falls on a third of the rivers and pollutes them, giving them a bitter taste and many people die as a result of drinking the polluted water. This red meteorite dust, in my opinion, is probably iron sulfide which has a rusty red colour to it much like the surface of Mars.

Matter ejecting off the body would be the greatest in size near the body's passing resulting in great meteorite showers. The further it would pass away the finer the matter ejecting from it would be in the form of the fine red dust causing the earth to be covered in a red dust. The more of its tail that the Earth would be covered with, the thicker the dust and cinders would be, causing darkness.

4TH TRUMPET (Revelation 8:12) - As the earth enters deeper into the object's tail thick swirling gases and smoke fill the atmosphere and might block out a third of the sun, moon and stars' light as the earth is hit by the 4th trumpet plague.

Amos 8:9 says that God will make the sun go down at noon, possibly refering to the same event. Alternatively, this plague could be similar to what happened in Hezekiah's day (2 Kings 20:8-11) with the earth suddenly being rotated by a number of degrees forward possibly due to the gravitational pull and / or the magnetic attraction of the object as it passes the earth.

Such an occurrence may explain the enigmatic phrase in Revelation 6:14 which says that “the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up.” A sudden rotation similar to that which occurred in Ahaz's and Hezekiah's day could explain this enigmatic phrase. If the sudden rotation is 120 degrees that would shorten that particular day (or night depending where you are) by a third. A sudden rotation of 60 degrees would shorten either the day portion or night portion of the day by a third.

Trumpets Plagues Between the Two Passes of the Supercomet

After the 4th trumpet plague we get down to the three woes. The 6th seal and the first 4 trumpet plagues mark the first passing of this massive heavenly object.

5TH TRUMPET

The Second Pass of the Future Supercomet

Now for this heavenly object to pass the Earth again at approximately the same time of year this heavenly body will probably have to have its orbit altered by slingshotting around one of the inner planets.

God is the Creator of all the laws of celestial mechanics so achieving the perfect timing for such events is no problem at all for God!

It now begins to come back from the inner solar system. Remember that the tail of a comet always points away from the Sun so its tail with its related effects will reach us first before climaxing in the passing of the body of the object which causes tremendous seismic stress on the earth accompanied by great meteor showers.

The first four trumpet plagues follow the massive earthquake and meteor shower of the sixth seal. The plagues released by the seventh trumpet don't follow, but instead lead up to the climaxing worldwide earthquake and meteor shower of the last of the seven last plagues.

Is it possible that this is a great comet coming from one direction and then coming back the other way? If, hypothetically, it was, then the effects of its tail would occur in reverse order due to the fact that the tail of comets always point away from the Sun. Because God will use natural phenomena to bring about these plagues this could be why many people still refuse to repent

(Revelation 9:20-21, 16:9, 11).

1ST OF LAST PLAGUES (Revelation 16:2) - The first plague sees loathsome sores come upon man and beast as a result of the cosmic meteorite dust.

2ND OF LAST PLAGUES (Revelation 16:3) - The second of the last plagues sees yet another massive reddening of all the seas and rivers from the comet's red meteorite dust.

3RD OF LAST PLAGUES (Revelation 16:4-7) - The third of the last plagues sees a massive reddening of much of the earth's land from the comet's red meteorite dust.

4TH OF LAST PLAGUES (Revelation 16:8-9) - The combined effect of nuclear war and these cosmic disturbances will probably see a fair bit of destruction to the planet's fragile ozone layer and probably be the reason for the fourth plague which sees men being scorched by intense heat from the sun.

Isaiah writes of this when he says that "the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of the seven days” (Isaiah 30:26).

5TH OF LAST PLAGUES (Revelation 16:10-11) - Again as the Earth enters deeper into the tail darkness covers much of the Earth, in particular the beast power's territory in Europe, as the comet's passing nears its ultimate climax.

6TH OF LAST PLAGUES (Revelation 16:12-16) - The River Euphrates is dried up to prepare the way of the kings of the East and their Asiatic hordes. This may be due to the gravitational forces exerted by this celestial body or due to an upthrust of land that could cut the lower part of the river off from its water supply.

After moving across and destroying much of Europe and Rome with their 200 million man army during the 6th trumpet plague they now gather together to fight the rest of the tremendous European army that is heavily deployed in the Middle East. The forces of the two massive armies gather together to fight each other at Meggido or Armageddon before they turn on Jesus Christ at that critical juncture for the control of the world.

7TH OF LAST PLAGUES (Revelation 16:17-21) - The very last plague is poured out with the voice of the seventh angel crying out "It is done!"

The greatest earthquake of all time rocks the whole earth! "Then every island fled away and the mountains were not found." "The earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard."

Combined with this will be an incredible meteorite shower with many meteorites weighing as much as a talent or 100 pounds.

This earthquake will cause the Mount of Olives to split in two and shake Jerusalem like the mighty earthquake of Uzziah's time (Zechariah 14:4-5). The earthquake that occurred in Uzziah's time, that was a type of this, was quite incredible!

Josephus speaks of a mountain splitting apart and moving nearly a kilometre. He writes :

“Before the city, at a place called Eroge, half the mountain broke off from the rest on the west, and rolled itself [toward the west] four furlongs [880 yards or half a mile], and stood still at the east mountain, till the roads, as well as the king's gardens, were spoiled by the obstruction" (Josephus, Book IX, Chapter X).

(1 Thessalonians 4:16) in power and glory. The hills and mountains melt and wax at His return (Psalm 97:5) due to the phenomenal volcanic activity shaking the earth at this time set off by the great seismic activity that is caused by the passing of this massive comet.

Those armies which proceed to fight Christ will melt and rot on their feet at the hands of the Jesus Christ (Zechariah 14:12). At even time it shall be light (Zechariah 14:6-7). This may be due to Christ's brightness filling the sky, making it like day or we may see some sort of repeat of Joshua's long day (Perhaps this might be a correction of the sudden rotation that might occur from the 4th trumpet plague).

In such a awesome, dramatic spectacle God intervenes in human affairs and ushers in the Wonderful World Tomorrow!

If this provocative theory is correct, then the possibility that something SO BIG could be used by God to threaten the earth and shake this world to the point of repentance is an absolutely mind-blowing one!

If this possibility is correct then no human rescue efforts, like those portrayed in the movies “Deep Impact” or “Armageddon”, will make even the smallest dent in shifting the path of such a massive heavenly body!

That's the best hypothesis that I have come up with to link all these plagues together. Whether it actually happens that way remains to be seen. No matter how these things come about, this will be an absolutely frightening time for all who are living on this planet.

Luke 21:26 talks about “men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth.” It makes quite an interesting study of the major and minor prophets to look at their prophecies from this cosmic catastrophism point of view.

New Heavens and a New Earth

One question I asked myself is whether there were any prophecies that might talk about what would become of this kind of celestial body after the Day of the Lord. Would it then be turned by God into a blessing for mankind?

While going through the book of Isaiah I ran across this prophecy in

Acts 3:21. According to my research, which we will look at in just a moment, the length of the year was originally 360 days long which had a much simpler year / month arrangement of 12 lunar months of 30 days. If this was so, I wonder if another thing that God will restore will be the original solar year of 360 days.

In Isaiah 24:20 God says: "The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard...it will fall and not rise again." Could this falling be refering to the Earth being brought closer to the Sun in its orbit and be another part of this new heavenly order?

Will God use a large celestial body to restore the original 360 day solar year? Only time will tell? [Though I still can't figure out how clocks will have to deal with variable length days from sunset to sunset in the World Tomorrow.]

The current Sacred Calendar has alternating months of 29 and 30 days with an extra month added 7 in every 19 years, which we call a time cycle - a rather complicated and awkward arrangement.

In the book of Genesis we read that the Flood lasted 150 days and went from the 17th of the second month to the 17th of the seventh month - 5 months of exactly 30 days each (Genesis 7:11, 8:3-4). If Noah knew that the months alternated between 30 and 29 days then why didn't he alternate between 30 and 29 days in the Ark when he could not see the moon? Why count all the months as 30 days?

Another Biblical curiosity on this point is the prophetic year which most of us know is 360 days long. Have you ever tried to figure out why it is 360 days? There are 365 ¼ days in the solar year. Twelve lunar months vary between 353 to 355 days while a year with Adar 2 gives us around 385 days. Why a prophetic year of 360 days? Was the solar year only 360 days in the past? The weight of historical evidence certainly points to this conclusion.

Historical evidence from Egypt, Persia, Babylon, Rome, Mexico, India and many other ancient nations shows that they all had years that were originally 360 days in length before adding 5 ¼ extra days several centuries before Christ. If the ancients are to be believed the solar year consisted of 12 lunar months of 30 days that were exactly equal to a solar year of 360 days.

Here are a few historical quotes to show that the ancients had a 360 day year with 12 lunar months of 30 days:

“Here is a passage from the Aryabhatiya, an old Indian work on mathematics and astronomy: A year consists of twelve months. A month consists of 30 days. A day consists of 60 nadis. A nadi consists of 60 vinadikas.”

“The ancient Persian year was composed of 360 days or twelve months of thirty days each. In the seventh century five Gatha days were added to the calendar.”

“The astronomical tablets from the period antedating the Neo-Babylonian Empire compute the year at so many days, without mention of additional days. That the ancient Babylonian year had only 360 days was known before the cuneiform script was deciphered: Ctesias wrote that the walls of Babylon were 360 furlongs in compass, 'as many as there had been days in the year.”

“The Egyptian year was composed of 360 days before it became 365 by the addition of five days. The calendar of the Ebers Papyrus, a document of the New Kingdom, has a year of twelve months of thirty days each.“In the ninth year of King Ptolemy Euergetes, or -238, a reform party among the Egyptian priests met at Canopus and drew up a decree; in 1866 it was discovered at Tanis in the Delta, inscribed on a tablet. The purpose of the decree was to harmonize the calendar with the seasons 'according to the present arrangement of the world,' [implying that it had changed] as the text states. One day was ordered to be added every four years to the 'three hundred and sixty days, and to the five days which were afterwards ordered to be added'” (Worlds in Collision, p.316-322).

The standard rebuttal to the view of an ancient 360 day solar year is that the 360 day year came from Babylon where they often used a base 60 numbering system having 12 months of 30 days followed by 5 or 6 leap (intercalary) days at the end of the year.

This rebuttal is flawed in a couple of ways. By not alternating the months between 30 and 29 days the months get out of sync with the phases of the moon towards the end of the year. Another flaw is that there is plenty of historical evidence to show the 360 day year (from where we get 360 degrees in a circle) was in worldwide use, not just in the Middle East.

The following quotes show that the practice of adding leap (intercalary) days which were ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to prevent the 360 day year from getting out of sync with the lunar and seasonal cycles DID NOT EXIST prior to several centuries before Christ.

M.P. Nilsson in “Primitive Time Reckoning” (p. 367) states that “...we are met with the difficulty that an intercalary cycle [adding days or months to the calendar] was not introduced into Babylonia before the sixth century [B.C.].”

A.E. Samuel in “Greek and Roman Chronology” (p. 21), says “...We have long lived with the cliche that the Greeks learned their astronomy from the Babylonians, but modern investigation has demonstrated that the sophisticated Babylonian systems were later than had hitherto been believed. The irregular intercalculations [of adding days or months to the calendar] exist down into the fifth century, showing that as late as 480 B.C. no intercalary cycle existed to control that calendar.”

Benny Peiser's “Greek History Begins in the 6th Century” makes the point emphatic stating, “it has become a communis opinio [the common opinion] that the intercalary cycle [of adding days or months to the calendar] cannot be detected anywhere in the ancient world before the 6th century.”

How can the length of the earth's orbit around the Sun change by several days? There are two and only two possibilities!

One is simple Divine fiat. God simply snaps His fingers or says the word and it happens. The other possibility is a physical means and the ONLY physical means by which it can happen is from the gravitational / magnetic force of a passing celestial body pulling it into a different orbit!

Cosmic Catastrophes in Man's Past?

I said earlier when I started to present my hypothesis that this was my best guess in accordance with the clues offered to us from past history and the Book of Revelation.

Those of us in the church are well familiar with the principle of duality in the prophecies of the Bible where many events that happened to ancient Israel were smaller forerunners of greater prophetic events to happen to modern Israel at the time of the end prior to the return of Jesus Christ.

Is it possible that this type of mind-blowing event such as a moon or planet sized heavenly body threatening the earth actually happened in the past as a forerunner to what causes the plagues of the Day of the Lord?

If you have been an avid student of the prophecies of the Book of Revelation one thing should leap out at you about the plagues of the Day of the Lord. Are they not very similar to the plagues that struck Egypt when God delivered Israel out of slavery in Egypt?

The Jewish people have been known to produce the highest number of genius intellects per capita than almost all other peoples on earth. Albert Einstein was one of them.

A close friend of Albert Einstein was a Russian-born Jew who also emigrated to America. He wrote a controversial book around 1950 drawing upon ancient sources all around the world in which he postulated that the plagues which came upon Egypt (and according to him, the whole world as well) were caused by the passing of a planet-sized comet.

His name was Immanuel Velikovsky and the book was appropriately called “Worlds in Collision”. As I said before he was a Jew who didn't embrace Christianity and the New Testament. Because of that, as far as I'm aware, he never, like I have here, speculated that the plagues of Day of the Lord might come about in a similar way.

He never looked at the Book of Revelation, saw the possibility I have described here and looked back at the plagues of Egypt and said “I wonder if this same kind of event could explain the plagues of Egypt.” Instead he saw the evidence of a change of length of the year and developed his theory from a vast array of ancient documents that spoke of a world-shaking catastrophe that threatened the earth at the time that Israel was freed from slavery.

He also saw similar events that occurred on a smaller scale in the days of Joshua (the long day), Uzziah's earthquake and Hezekiah when the sun went 10 degrees backwards. The time that the length of the year changed on ancient calendars around the world was in the general period of time contemporary with the time when God moved the Sun back 10 degrees in Hezekiah's day

In "Worlds In Collision" (WC) Velikovsky postulated that God caused Venus to be born as a comet from the planet Jupiter (WC, p.60, 173-175) [perhaps the vortex known as the Great Red Spot was the ejection point] and in the middle of the second millennium B.C. was used and directed by God to cause the plagues of Egypt by which the Israelites were delivered out of slavery.

The plagues of Egypt and many other related events at the time of the Exodus were not just localized to the land of Egypt. They occurred all over the Earth as a large number of oral and written traditions and histories of many different civilizations testify.

The plagues Velikovsky attempted to prove are consistent with the effects of a near pass of a large comet and the Earth passing through its tail. The first plague was that of the waters turning to blood (Exodus 7:17-25). When Venus first touched the Earth with its gaseous tail, it covered the earth's surface with a fine dust of rusty red pigment. In sea, lake and river this pigment gave a bloody colouring to the water.

The Mayas tell of a time of a great cataclysm when the earth quaked and the sun's motion was interrupted, the waters turned to blood. The Finns tell in the days of a cosmic upheaval the world was sprinkled with red milk. The Babylonians and Tartars of Russia also tell of a blood reddening of the earth's surface and waters (WC, p.60-62).

Velikovsky believes that the pestilence of the livestock was caused by the red dust (Exodus 9:1-7). It seems likely this was the fine dust that caused the boils on man and beast (Exodus 9:8-12) (WC, p.61).

The volcano eruption of Thera which exploded like Krakatoa and sank much of the famous Greek island of Santorini occurred at the same time that God brought Israel out of Egypt due to the seismic stress of Venus' passing. The volcanic ash from Thera may have also contributed to the plagues of the livestock pestilence and the boils.

Velikovsky speculated that this may have been the time that the fabled lost continent of Atlantis sank into the Atlantic Ocean (WC, p.148-150) beyond the pillars of Hercules (The Strait of Gibraltar). Ancient historian Diodorus wrote that Lake Triton in North Africa “disappeared from sight in the course of an earthquake, when those parts of it which lay toward the ocean were torn asunder”. Velikovsky cites this a primary cause for how the Sahara desert came into being (WC, p.170).

The plagues of the frogs and the various insects (Exodus 8, 10:12-19) would have been an ecological chain reaction that would have occurred after all the fish died in the Nile as a result of the iron sulfide that caused the waters to appear to turn into blood.

On the Discovery Channel there was a documentary called “The Plagues of Egypt” in which a couple of scientists attempted to show that the plagues of Egypt were linked to each other and were essentially a chain reaction. The detective work they showed in proving how the plagues of the frogs and various insects occurred was quite brilliant though their explanations of the latter plagues were quite weak since they didn't consider celestial phenomena as a potential cause for them.

A friend of mine, John Godowski, has produced a paper entitled “Planetary Passover”. In the paper he, unaware of that Discovery Channel program, independently came to the same conclusion and showed how the plagues of the frogs and the various insects was probably an ecological chain reaction that would have occurred after all the fish died in the Nile as a result of the iron sulfide that caused the waters to appear to turn into blood.

Following the red dust a shower of meteorites flew toward the earth. Hailstones mingled with fire (Exodus 9:13-35) is the way Moses described this phenomena which he would never have seen before (WC, p.63-64). Egyptian sources state that these hailstones were hot. This fits only meteorites, not hail of ice.

The last plague before the firstborn were struck was that of thick darkness (Exodus 10:21-23). As the Earth entered deeper into the tail of the onrushing comet and its body terrific hurricanes swept the earth because of disturbances of the Earth's movement and the sweeping gases, dust and cinders of the comet.

The Finns tell of a time when hailstones of iron fell from the sky of an extended period of darkness lasting days occurred. According to the Indians of the New World the sun didn't appear for about 5 days following a cosmic collision of stars. Records of ancient Babylon and Iran talk of days of darkness accompanying a giant cataclysm (WC, p.69-72).

The Great Comet of the Ancient World

In Ancient Mexican records we read "the sun refused to show itself and during the four days the world was deprived of light. Then a great star...appeared, it was given the name Quetzal-cohuatl...the sky to show its anger...caused to perish a great number of people who died of famine and pestilence." Quetzal-cohuatl is the well-known name for the planet Venus (WC, p.158-159).

The word “Quetzal-cohuatl” means serpent-god. This comet with its tail, at times, had a serpent or dragon-like appearance. [Another similar Aztec word that should look familiar is chocohuatl. Cho-cohuatl means food of the gods and is where we get the word chocolate from.]

By asserting that the planet Venus was born, or reappeared as Velikovsky later came to believe in the middle of the second millennium B.C. it's assumed that prior to that only four planets could be seen with the naked eye.

In an ancient Hindu table of planets Venus alone among the visible planets is missing. Babylonian astronomy, too, had a four planet system. On a later date "the planet Venus receives the appellative: The great star that joins the great stars. The great stars are, of course, the 4 planets Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn...and Venus joins them as the fifth planet." Apollonius Rhodius refers to a time "when not all the orbs were yet in the heavens” (WC, p.162).

There was a period of time when the planet Venus acted and looked like a comet. The Mexican Indians relate that Venus smoked. "The star that smoked...was Sitlae choloha, which the Spaniards call Venus." The Chaldeans said that the planet Venus "was said to have a beard". In the Indian sacred Vedas it is said that the star Venus looks like fire with smoke (WC, p.164-165).

Before certain events occurred to finally bring it into a circular orbit between Mercury and the Earth, Venus at times glowed very brightly. The Chinese wrote, "Venus was visible in full daylight and while moving across the sky, rivalled the Sun in brightness” (WC, p.166). Very detailed astronomical records of ancient Babylon centuries before Nebuchadnezzar show Venus moving very erratically and not moving as it does today (WC, p.195-197).

Planetary Passover

The climax of the comet Venus' passing occurred on the night of the Passover. Venus would have come from below the orbital plane of the Earth as it approached and then passed through that plane with its tail causing several days of darkness. At its closest approach to the Earth it passed directly over the Earth. Not only were God's people passed over by the death angel, the Earth itself had a planetary Passover in the form of Venus passing over it as John Godowski notes in his “Planetary Passover” paper.

The close passing of Venus would have shaken the Earth to its foundations and like, what will happen at the time of the sixth seal and the seventh trumpet, there would have been an earthquake of almighty proportions that shook the whole world.

This would have been a major contributing factor to the last of the plagues of Egypt – the death of the firstborn (Exodus 11-12). (WC, p.73-75). The Hebrew words for firstborn and chosen differ only slightly by one letter. Though I have my doubts about this point, Velikovsky does put forth a reasonable case that firstborn could be translated as chosen in the Exodus account (WC, p.74).

The passing over of the death angel occurred on the night part of the Abib (Nisan) 14. “What, for the Israelites, became a feast, became a day of sadness and fasting for the Egyptians. 'The thirteenth day of the month Thout [corresponding to Abib] is a very bad day. Thou shalt not do anything on this day” (WC, p.75). The Hebrew calendar starts days at sunset while the Egyptians started the day at sunrise hence the actual passover occurred on the 13^th day of the month for the Egyptians. According to Velikovsky this is where the superstition of the bad number 13 originates (WC, p.76).

Parting of the Red Sea

As the comet came back down it passed again through the earth's orbital plane seven days later when the Israelites reached the Red Sea and the gravitational pull of it would have raised the oceans' waters towards the sky.

This may have been something which the Great Architect of Nature used and directed to part the Red Sea

(Exodus 14).

In John Godowski's “Planetary Passover” paper he has a vivid and very detailed description of how God may have used Venus to pull off this incredible event in Bible history.

The phenomenon of the oceans being parted and piled up sky high is also recorded by many peoples around the world - the Red Indians, Chinese, Peruvians and the Finns (WC, p.80-83).

These events occurred when according to Lapland tradition "the wickedness increased among the human beings.” God may have been not only punishing the Egyptians but the whole world as well at the same time.

Venus had phases and often had two long appendages due to the Earth's shadow and looked like a bull's head when the tail appeared at the top of Venus (WC, p.166-167). It appears the Hebrews perceived the bull image of the comet when they made the golden calf as a representation of the celestial power that was shaking the world at that time. Perhaps this also helps to explain why the cow is sacred to the Hindus (WC, p.180-182).

(Exodus 16:13-14). “Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium” (Numbers 11:7).

Numerous sources from peoples around the world tell of a honey-food which dropped from heaven after a cosmic catastrophe. The honey-frost fell in enormous quantities. Icelandic tradition says, “the terrible Fimbul-winter at the end of the world (age); meanwhile they feed on the morning dew, and from them come the folk who people the renewed earth." The Greeks called the heavenly bread ambrosia which in its fluid state is nectar. The Maoris, Hindus, Buddhists and Finns all describe a honey-food which dropped from the clouds (WC, p.140).

Under the heat of the day the manna or ambrosia melted. Much of it fell also on the waters and the rivers became milky in appearance and so naturally when the scouts returned to the people they described it as a land that "flowed with milk and honey" (Numbers 13:27).

"The heavens rain oil, the wadis (waters) run with honey" says a Syrian text. A memory of a time when there were "streams of milk and streams of sweet nectar" is also preserved by Ovid. Finnish tradition narrates that the land and water were covered with red milk then white milk (WC, p.141).

Charles Ginenthal wrote a 400 page book in which he gave an excellent defence of Velikovsky's work against his primary critic, Carl Sagan. The book was entitled “Carl Sagan and Immanuel Velikovsky” (CS & IV). After reading it I certainly agreed with the reviewer who said, “The glib and slipshod nature of Carl Sagan's critique is repeatedly and tellingly exposed.”

What I was most pleased with about the book was the large amount of extra evidence he added other than what Velikovsky presented. He added a great deal of extra scientific, astronomical and historical evidence to support Velikovsky's position. On the subject of manna from heaven he offers some fascinating information:

"Dr. A.J. Swallow, in his text Radiation Chemistry of Organic Compounds writes, 'The synthesis of organic compounds through the agency of high energy radiation had been amply demonstrated in the laboratory, an elementary example being the alpha-induced reaction between carbon dioxide and hydrogen to give formaldehyde, which then reacts further. Carbon monoxide can be reduced similarly. The main final product of irradiation in both cases appears to be a white solid composition (CH2O)n, which is presumably produced by polymerization of formaldehyde."

'“In fact, it was pointed out in the Biblical Archaeology Review for May/June 1988 by C.L. Ellenberger, L.M. Greenberg, and Dr. Shane Mage, the process described in the article cited above produces 'edible carbohydrate or protein-like substances. The product of a similar, if not identical, process of conversion of petroleum into concentrated nutrition is today sold in food stores everywhere as 'primary growth torula yeast.

'“It is quite interesting to note that the description of manna from around the world describes it as milky or honey like just as the experiment by Dr. Swallow produced…

“A dozen times since early in the 19th century— and I have no definitely dated data upon still earlier occurrences—have been reported showers of 'manna' in Asia Minor...The Director of the Central Dispensary of Baghdad had sent to France specimens of an edible substance that had fallen from the sky, at Meriden and at Diarbekis (Turkey in Asia) in a heavy rain, the last of May 1890. They were convoluted lumps, yellow outside and white inside. They were ground into flour from which excellent bread was made" (CS & IV, p.243-245).

It would have been no great miracle for God to extend this natural supply of manna for the 40 years Israel wandered in the wilderness long after Venus had passed the Earth. The massive comet would have had the appearance of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (WC, p.165). It would have been a celestial type of the presence of God that travelled with and directed them.

The Giving of the Ten Commandments

Venus as it passed close to the earth exchanged electrical discharges and caused earthquake and volcanic activity (WC, p.102). It was a perfect setting for hearing God's words - a world flowing with lava, shattered by meteorites, with yawning chasms, shaking ground and thunders and lightnings.

According to Hebrew tradition all nations heard the roaring of the lawgiving

Venus' Second Passing

About 52 years later Venus would make a second near passing of Earth but on a much less destructive scale in the days of Joshua and the conquest of Canaan.

In the book of Joshua 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 Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.

“Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: 'Sun, stand still over Gibeon and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.' So the sun stood still, And the moon stopped, Till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day

Mars, the Bringer of War

Not only did the planet Venus threaten the Earth in ancient times but Velikovsky believes that another planet also threatened the Earth as well – the planet Mars. Mars would then become the feared one – the god of war!

Some time after 800 B.C. Venus near collided with the planet Mars (WC, p.237-244). While this helped put the planet Venus into its current orbit, it also put the planet Mars on a path that threatened the Earth every 15 years until one last particularly close pass led to it being thrust into its current orbit (WC, p.345-346).

Around 800 B.C. Venus and Mars exchanged orbits through a near collision and Venus sent Mars on a path that endangered the Earth.

Many of you would have seen the epic blockbuster movie “Troy” based on Homer's classic “The Illiad”. The Illiad tells us that the events of the Trojan War occured at a time when the Greek gods Athene (Venus) and Ares (Mars) battled in the heavens (WC, p.237-244).

The full name for the goddess Athene was Athene Nike. The famous sports brand Nike was named after this goddess. You would probably be familiar with Nike's symbol that looks something like a tick. The symbol if you look carefully at it is actually a comet. The Nike symbol keeps alive the ancient tradition of the planet Venus (Athene) being associated with a comet.

There is plenty of evidence on Mars that it was struck by a major catastrophe in the last few thousand years. The erosional forces on the planet Mars are very intense. There are absolutely enormous sandstorms that sweep across and scour the planet on a regular basis. Yet, photos taken by recent probes to Mars show geological features, such as what are believed to be riverbeds, that have sharp, crisp edges. The sharpness of them defy the intense erosional forces at work on the planet and show that these features are very young and that the planet was far less hostile only a few thousand years ago.

Venus' near colliding with Mars would have had a devastating impact on Mars which is much smaller. It appears to have destroyed much of its atmosphere creating the violent climatic conditions on the planet today. If some of those sharp geological features are indeed riverbeds and the planet's climate was far less hostile in the past few thousand years one has to wonder what Mars looked like in the past. Did it have water which dried up after the catastrophe along with most of its atmosphere? If it did flow with water was there, at the very least, plant life there in order to hold the soil together from erosion?

Most people are familiar with the Martian meteorite rocks that were found in Antarctica. There was some debate over whether the miscroscopic structures inside the rock where evidence of prehistoric life on Mars. These rocks were found in Antarctica and were positively determined to have originated from Mars based on matching mineral and isotope composition with measurements made on Mars by the Viking probes.

Assuming these rocks are definitely from Mars you've got to ask the question, “How on earth did Martian rocks get here?” Martian rocks on the surface could get caught up into the upper atmosphere by the violent sandstorms on Mars but to be thrust to Earth you would also need, at least, the combination of the solar wind and a close passing of the two planets.

Another thing to be noted about Mars is its colour. We have spoken about this great comet having a reddish colour and it pouring out red dust causing the plagues of sea and land becoming like blood. The planet Mars is also covered all over with this kind of red dust.

The Major Passes of Planet Mars

Around 776 BC in the year that the Greeks began the ancient Olympics and the first Olympiad (their 4 year cycle of counting time) there is recorded an event in the reign of King Yen-Yang of China when the sun was obscured (WC, p.207). This may have marked the first near passing of the planet Mars after its encounter with Venus.

A near collision of Earth and Mars occurred in 747 B.C. which probably caused the great earthquake of Uzziah's time (Amos 1:1, Zechariah 14:4-5). As we saw before, the earthquake that occurred in Uzziah's time was quite incredible! Josephus spoke of a mountain splitting apart and moving nearly a kilometre! If this earthquake co-incided with the event of his going into the Temple to burn incense perhaps fear might have been a factor in his presumptuousness (2 Chronicles 26:16-21).

Cosmic calamities were associated with the founding of Rome (747 B.C.) and with the death of its founder Romulus (c. 687 B.C.). "Both the poles shook", Ovid relates, “and Atlas shifted the burden of the sky...The Sun vanished and rising clouds obscured the heaven" (p.232). Mars, the lord of war, became the national hero of Rome.

Much smaller than Venus, it couldn't match Venus' destructive power but it did manage to pull the moon on an orbit further from the Earth.

After the upheaval in Uzziah's days the orbit of the moon was shifted so that the month became 36 days long and stayed that way for 60 years until in Hezekiah's day it was shifted again so that the month changed to its present length of 29 1/2 days (WC, p.329-330).

It was during that period that Rome was founded. The calendar Romulus computed was 10 months long. Two months were later added. This difference survives in the names September, October, November and December which really mean the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th months. We have actual dates like "the 33rd of the month" cited in Babylonian tablets of the period. There are other calendars of the time which also show only 10 months (WC, p.329-330).

Fifteen years after the earthquake of Uzziah Mars threatened the Earth again. The Bible hints at an event that might have happened in the days of King Ahaz (732 BC) that was the exact opposite of a similar cosmic sign that occurred in the days of King Hezekiah thirty years later (702 BC).

“Then Isaiah said, 'This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?' And Hezekiah answered, 'It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.' So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz” (2 Kings 20:9-11).

Was there a sudden rotation of the Earth ten degrees forward in the days of King Ahaz? There was a prophecy that Amos gave 20 years earlier that speak of a sudden rotation of the earth forward. “'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).

One more cosmic upheaval occurred to throw Mars out of the Earth's path. The last near collision between Earth and Mars occurred in 687 B.C. This occurred during the well-known defeat of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, when 185 000 of his soldiers were killed mysteriously in one night (2 Kings 19:35). The Talmud says a blast fell from the sky on the camp of Sennacherib. It was not a flame, but a consuming blast. "Their souls were burnt, though their garments remained intact" (WC, p.224). The phenomenon was accompanied by a terrific noise. This may have been a meteor shower that accompanied to the passing of the planet Mars.

Prior to the time when Herodotus said the sun changed its direction twice, it was inserted directly following the story of Sennacherib's defeat. According to Velikovsky's calculations this happened on March 23, 687 B.C. of which the Chinese wrote "the five planets went out of their courses. In the night, stars fell like rain. The Earth shook" (WC, p.227-230).

This last near collision of the Earth and Mars again changed both the Earth's and the Moon's orbits. Psalm 82:5 describes how "all the foundations of the earth are out of course" - Bible terminology for the Earth being pulled off its regular orbit into a new one. The Earth's year became longer (changed from 360 to 365 days) and the Moon got pulled in toward the Earth (The month changed from 36 to 29.5 days).

The story is told in 2 Chronicles 30:1-3 that Hezekiah and the Israelites, instead of keeping the Passover in the first month put off keeping it until the second month due to a lack of consecrated priests. There was provision for keeping the Passover in the second month if people weren't able to keep it in the first month (Numbers 9:9-12). The Talmud explains that this was not the regular second month but was an additional Nisan (Abib) (WC, p.335).

A relic of the old 360 day year is still the persistent division of the Earth and circles into 360 degrees; each degree represented the advance of the Earth on its orbit or that position on the zodiac which passed over from one night to the next. After 360 changes the stellar sky returned to the same position from an observer on the earth (WC, p.319).

Though much larger than Mars, Venus did not change the length of the Earth's year because it moved the Earth up and down on its orbital plane, not in or out from the Sun as Mars did thereby changing the length of the orbit around the Sun.

After the final passing of Mars it found its way into its current fairly eccentric orbit while Venus after had its final close pass of Mars quickly, because of certain favourable factors, worked its way into its current almost circular orbit.

Fifteen More Years

As I said before, Mars threatened the Earth every 15 years. The favourable opposition of the planet Mars occurs every 15 years. Mars has quite an elliptical orbit and its closest and furthest points from the Sun differ by many millions of miles.

The favourable opposition is where the Earth and Mars are in line with each other and the Sun at the place in Mars' orbit where it is closest to the Earth. The time between each favourable opposition where Earth and Mars make their closest approach is 15 years.

The two closest approaches where Mars influenced the orbits of the Earth and the moon were in 747 BC and 687 BC and these two events were 60 years apart – 60 being a multiple of 15.

Now for those of you who are keen Bible students does the number 15 years ring any bells? An event is recorded in the Bible where King Hezekiah was granted by God an extra 15 years of life. That period of time happens to be the time between each favourable opposition of the planet Mars (WC, p.345-346).

In 702 BC God granted Hezekiah an extension of life of 15 years until the next passing of Mars in 687 BC when the Earth was shook by the events which included the destruction of Sennacherib's army in one night.

“Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. 'And I will add to your days fifteen years…

“Then Isaiah said, 'This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?' And Hezekiah answered, 'It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.' So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz”

Worship of Mars and Venus

Mars, the god of war, became the national hero of Rome. “The Roman people…profess that their Father and the Father of their Empire was none other than Mars.” The main festival of in the cult of Mars took place on the 23rd day of the month of March which was dedicated to the planet Mars which co-incided with the Passover in 687 BC when Sennacherib's army was destroyed (WC, p.231-233). The Babylonians referred to Mars as Nergal and they said that Nergal was the most violent of the gods (WC, p.253).

In the Vedas, the sacred texts of India, the planet Venus is compared to a bull: “As a bull thou hurlest thy fire upon earth and heaven.” The morning star of the Phoenicians and Syrians was Ashteroth-Karnaim - Astarte of the Horns (WC, p.178).

The “queen of heaven” referred to repeatedly by Jeremiah was Venus (also Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod). The women of Jerusalem made cakes for the queen of heaven and worshipped her from the roofs of their houses

(Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-19, 25).

If Velikovsky was correct about these cosmic catastrophes that occurred at the time of the Exodus as well as the period between Uzziah and Hezekiah it's easy to see how the ancient Israelites could be so easily moved to worship the planets or the host of heaven as they are often referred to in the scriptures. It's also easy to see how such catastrophes, combined with the rise of paganism, saw the Temple fall into such disrepair leading up to the time of Hezekiah and Josiah.

The following scriptures show how the ancient Israelites worshipped the planets, including Venus and Mars:

“So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal” (2 Kings 17:16).

“For he (Manasseh) rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he raised up altars for the Baals, and made wooden images; and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. He also built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, 'In Jerusalem shall My name be forever.' And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 33:3-5).

“'At that time,' says the Lord, 'they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth” (Jeremiah 8:1-2).

In Isaiah 14:12 we read: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!” This is a reference to Satan (Isaiah 14:13-14, Ezekiel 28:11-16) who was the great angel that rebelled against God and became the Devil.

The planet Venus is also known as the Morning Star. Velikovsky sees a duality in Isaiah 14:12 with the planet Venus. When the Earth is between the Sun and the outer planets they cross the whole sky over the night moving slightly forward or back each night in relation to the stars.

Since the Earth is never between the inner planets and the Sun there is only ever a small angle between the position of the inner planets and the Sun.

When Venus first becomes visible at sunset it is always close to the horizon closely following the setting sun. Alternatively it rises shortly before the Sun before the daylight blocks it out from view.

According to Velikovsky there was a time when Venus was further out from the Sun than the Earth's orbit and could from time to time be seen directly overhead. After it “weakened the nations” it was ”cut down” closer to the horizon and now never appears more than 48 degrees above the horizon. The dreaded comet became a tame planet (WC, p.199-200).

Scientific Evidence that Venus is a New-Born Planet

There is quite a lot of scientific evidence that points to Venus being a new-born planet. First of all, the composition of Venus' atmosphere attests to a young age for Venus as demanded by Velikovsky's theory.

“U. von Zahn et. al., in a paper titled 'The Composition of Venus' Atmosphere' in the book Venus, published by the University of Arizona tells us that there is far too little carbon monoxide and oxygen and far too much carbon dioxide for Venus to be very old. Because of the rapid breakdown naturally of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen he was led to conclude:

“CO2 would disappear from the upper atmosphere within a few weeks, and from the entire middle atmosphere in a few thousand years.” The prevalence of CO2 indicates Venus is only a few thousand years old.”
Venus has a lack of craters as one would expect if it was only a few thousand years old. Venus also shows little erosion despite having a very corrosive atmosphere which indicates it has a very young age.

“Venera pictures of the surface show mostly sharp edged rocks which indicate they are extremely young. C.J. Ransom remarks that, 'Russian probes recently soft-landed on Venus and took photographs.

These photographs reveal sharp-edged rocks which were classified as young-looking. The Venera 9 and 10 photos show a young-looking surface that inspired [this] speculation, [in] (Aviation Week and Space Technology, Nov. 3, 1975) that Venus is in an, 'early cool down phase of evolution rather than in final stages of suffocation in a thickening atmospheric greenhouse'...

“Rivers of lava, some of them, thousands of miles long, have been observed on Venus' surface. The enormity of Venus being literally volcanic from pole to pole and on every region of the planet has led one Magellan investigator to say:

'Everyone says Olympus Mons on Mars is the biggest volcano in the solar system... It isn't. Venus is. The entire planet is one big volcano' [Henry S.F. Cooper Jr., The Evening Star Venus Observed, p. 180].

“A completely volcanic crust is precisely what a new-born planet that was completely molten a few thousand years ago would exhibit as Velikovsky's theory demands. The actual picture of Venus is diametrically opposed to what the astronomers had anticipated. Yet its volcanic nature is in complete harmony with Velikovsky's concept” (CS & IV, p.338, 341).

Peter R. Ballinger, a researcher in organic chemistry, also had this to say about sulfuric acid in Venus' clouds:

”It is likely that sulfuric acid would be gradually decomposed by solar radiation of ultraviolet and shorter wavelength particularly in the presence of iron compounds...to give hydrogen and oxygen.

“This process would also be expected to result in the preferential retention of deuterium, as discussed in another context...' [Ballinger, who wrote this in Transactions of the Faraday Society, Vol. 61, (1965) page 1681, went on to say], 'Because of this and other chemical reactions sulfuric acid might well have a relatively short Iifetime, consistent with a recent installation of the planet in its present orbit.''

The momentum of Venus's super-fast moving atmosphere is what one would expect after being a new-born planet after acting initially like a comet.

“One of the enigmas of Venus is the rapid flow pattern of its upper atmosphere. On Earth, the atmosphere flows in the same direction as the Earth rotates taking weeks to circle our planet at the equator. Venus' rotation period is 243 days; it possesses an atmosphere with clouds 39 miles above the surface which flows at 100 m/sec circling that planet in only about 4 days. Other measurements indicate the circulation takes about six Earth days in the direction Venus sums....Theoretical attempts to explain the generation of the winds have produced several possible mechanisms, such as convection caused by the uneven heating of the day and night sides of the planet. None of them, however, has been shown to be capable of explaining velocities greater than a few meters per second.

“Velikovsky's hypothesis fits the bizarre atmospheric behaviour quite well. Since Venus was a comet-like body, its tail gases, that is its atmosphere, would still have great momentum after Venus entered its present orbit. This momentum still exists in the Venusian atmosphere and causes it to move with great velocity around the planet in the upper regions where the density of the gases are thin and turbulence of these gases do not act to halt this motion”(CS & IV, p.341-342).

There is also a ring of dust particles around the orbit of Venus as well as Venus having a magnetic tail that inidicates that Venus was a comet in geologically recent times.

“Comets, published in 1980 [not Sagan's book] states that, 'While Venus itself is in many respects most unlike a comet, it is very comet-like in its interaction with the solar wind... Both comets and Venus have magnetic tails which are not intrinsic... The Venus tail appears to be either striated or very dynamic and thus quite similar to a cometary tail. Plasma clouds are seen above the Venus ionosphere which may be the Venus analog of cometary tail rays.

“'Apparently Venus' interaction with the solar magnetosphere is quite like a comet. Also, Velikovsky points out that, 'The zodiacal light, or the glow seen in the evening sky after sunset, streaking in the path of the sun and other planets (ecliptic), the mysterious origin of which has for a long time occupied the minds of astronomers, has been explained in recent years as the reflection of the solar light from two rings of dust particles, one following the orbit of Venus.' As is well-known comets also have a dust tail as well as a magneto tail” (CS & IV, p.125).

If most comets come from the outer solar system beyond Pluto statistically only a fairly small percentage would be captured by the gas giants of Jupiter and Saturn. In reality there are far too many short-period comets orbiting Jupiter and Saturn compared to long-period comets that cannot be explained by the capture theory.

“Dr Vsessviatsky points out that....there are about sixteen of these short-period comets to a hundred parabolic ones....In an article (S.K.) Vsekhsviatsky published in the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Publications, Vol. 74 (1962) p. 106 he states specifically that, 'The absence of retrograde motions [orbiting in an direction to the planet the comet is orbiting] in the Jupiter family [of comets] can also not be understood from the point of view of the capture theory (CS & IV, p110-111).

This points to the conclusion that the majority of short period comets orbiting Jupiter and Saturn were expelled in a fissionary way by the giant planets much in the same way that the excessively large nucleus of a radioactive atom splits into two releasing great energy. This points to the scientific possibility that God could have used a similar process to have created the planet Venus.

The Tilting of the Axis

Prior to this event Egyptian and Hindu sources say that the Great Bear constellation played the part of the pole star which remained fixed. Since 687 B.C. the Pole Star has always been in the Little Bear (WC, p.301-302).

Using the water clock of Amenhotep III of Egypt ancient astronomers calculated the length of the day of the winter solstice and recorded it as 11 hours 18 minutes while the summer solstice was calculated as 12 hours and 42 minutes and the equinoxes were 11 hours and 56 minutes each.

The equinoxes match with present values while both the summer and winter solstices differ 52 minutes from today's values (WC, p.310-311).

If they were both calculated at the same place this means the earth's axis has been tilted differently since then. The values calculated indicate the tilt of the earth's axis was half of what it currently is (23.5 degrees).

The events Velikovsky describes are probably what caused the instant freezing of the mammoths in Siberia and the freezing of the polar ice caps.

There are ancient maps of Greenland which show Greenland with rivers and mountain chains and as three islands, a fact that wasn't discovered until 1953 (CS & IV, p.153-154).

The same story is true for Antarctica. Not only do we have maps showing Antarctica, which modern man didn't rediscover until the 19th century, but they show Antarctica as two islands. Modern mapping techniques of Antarctica have indeed confirmed that Antarctica really is two islands and its coastline under the ice caps is quite similar to those of ancient maps.

There is also evidence that supports a double reversal of the magnetic poles 50 years apart in the middle of the second millennium BC and reversals in the eighth and seventh centuries BC as demanded by Velikovsky's theory.

"In 1896, Giuseppe Folgheraiter began his careful studies of Attic (Greek) and Etruscan vases of various centuries, starting with the eighth century before the present era. His conclusion was that in the eighth century the earth's magnetic field was inverted in Italy and Greece. Italy and Greece were closer to the south than the north magnetic pole. 'Furthermore, there is evidence of a magnetic reversal for 3,500 years ago” (CS & IV, p.160).

Archaeological Evidence of a Catastrophe Over
the Whole of the Middle East

The great archaeologist Claude F.A. Schaeffer, carried out an archaeological survey across a vast area of the Middle East. Velikovsky, in Earth in Upheaval, in a chapter titled "The Ruins of the East" summarizes Professor Schaeffer's work.

"In the ruins of excavated sites throughout all lands of the ancient East, signs are seen of great destruction that only nature could have inflicted. Claude Schaeffer, in his great recent work, [Stratigraphie comparee et chronology de l'Asie occidentale, Oxford Univ. Press, (1948)] discerned six separate upheavals.

“All of these catastrophes of earthquake and fire were of such encompassing extent that Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, the Iranian plateau, Syria, Palestine, Cyprus and Egypt were simultaneously overwhelmed. And some of these catastrophes were in addition, of such violence, that they closed great ages in the history of ancient civilizations” (p.168-169)

The following quotes are from an article that appeared in London's Sunday Times (December 14, 1997) entitled “Meteor Showers Blotted Out Man's First Civilizations” by Rajeev Syal that covers the recent discovery that at a time of worldwide destruction there were great meteor showers which is in harmony with Velikovsky's theory that these catastrophes had a cosmic origin. Rajeev Syal writes:

“A cataclysmic shower of giant meteors destroyed the great Bronze Age civilisations in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece by provoking a series of natural disasters. New archaeological and astronomical evidence indicates that a huge number of extraterrestrial bodies caused famine, flooding and bushfires THOUSANDS OF MILES WIDE that led to the collapse of the world's first sophisticated civilisations…

“Dr Benny Peiser, an anthropologist from Liverpool John Moores University, has analysed 500 excavation reports and climatological studies from the sites of ancient civilisations and found they all suffered huge changes in climate at exactly the same time.

“Previous explanations for the collapse of the ancient civilisations have pointed to warfare, volcanoes and earthquakes. But Peiser's findings show that the worldwide devastation could only have been provoked by an external cosmic event. 'There is very strong evidence to suggest that massive meteor storms are the real scientific reason why these ancient societies collapsed,' he said last week.

Raised beaches in the Andes also testify to massive worldwide catastrophes in the age of historical man.

"Charles Darwin, on his travels in South America in 1834-35 was impressed by the raised beaches at Valparaiso, Chile at the foot of the Andes. He found that the former surf line was at an altitude of 1,300 feet. He was impressed even more by the fact that sea shells found at this altitude were still undecayed, to him a clear indication that the land had risen 1,300 feet from the Pacific Ocean in a very recent period.

“When did the Andes mountains rise? According to the New York Times, (Oct. 3, 1989), 'Archaeologists working in Peru have unearthed stunning evidence that monumental architecture, complex societies and planned developments first appeared and flowered in the New World between 5,000 and 3,500 years ago.'

“The author of the article, William K. Stevens goes on to say, 'Around 4,000 to 3,700 years ago, activity abruptly shifted and irrigated agriculture replaced fishing as the main economic resource.' Why would a civilized people leave a thriving, hospitable environment to go live inland in an inhospitable region?”(CS & IV, p.170-171)

“In the Hawaiian Islands there is a 1,200 foot raised beach. On Espintu Santo Island in the New Hebrides in the southern Pacific, corals are found 1,200 feet above sea level.” (CS & IV,p.189)

The catastrophic events that Velikovsky described that occurred 3500 years ago could account for these incredible 1000 foot plus raised shorelines in South America. Now that is some earthquake to cause land at a fault line to be raised by over 1000 feet!

Parallels between the Plagues of the Exodus and the Day of the Lord

Before we look more closely at the prophecies of the Old Testament that speak about the Day of the Lord and perhaps we're fulfilled in type at the time between Uzziah and Hezekiah let's first notice some of the parallels between the plagues of Egypt and those spoken of in the Book of Revelation:

If Velikovsky is correct and these things did occur in the past and God manipulated the planets to play such a phenomenal part in some of the great events of the Bible you just have to marvel at the great mind that could orchestrate such awesome and terrifying events, which could possibly even be repeated in the future given how so many of the plagues of the Exodus match those found in the Book of Revelation!

I first read World in Collision when I lived in Perth in the summer of 1990 when I was 20 years old. I wrote up a seven page summary of the book and at the end of it I wrote a small paragraph speculating if similar events might happen in the end time. I noted only 3 or 4 similar plagues to those of the Book of Revelation but I never developed it any further and left it at that for about six years.

It was only much later when an elderly and eccentric friend of mine started to go on about a pet theory he had of an planet-sized asteroid touching the earth in the end-time that I was stirred into working out what the real cause and sequence of events might be.

I noted that there were almighty earthquakes at the time of the sixth seal and at the time Christ returns which threw me initially because I realized those events were a full year apart. It was then that I hit on the possibility of there being two passes of a major comet. Once that came to me the rest of the theory very quickly fell into place as I had Velikovsky's “Worlds In Collision” as a reference to understand what each of the plagues could be.

As I plotted each of the plagues on paper it became very apparent that the plagues for the two passes occurred in opposite order which one would expect with a comet coming from one direction (from the outer solar system - body and climax then tail) and then coming from the opposite direction (from the inner solar system with tail then the body and climax).

After I read “Worlds in Collision” I was absolutely blown away by the phenomenal magnitude of what a world-shaking catastrophe caused by a near passing of Venus would be like if Velikovsky was correct.

One scripture in particular came to my mind after taking that all in and that was Matthew 24:21 where Jesus plainly says “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

If Velikovsky is correct about Venus threatening the Earth and causing a catastrophe felt powerfully all over the whole world it certainly puts Matthew 24:21 into a whole new light. For the great tribulation to be the greatest time of trouble then it has to be even more devastating than what occurred at the time of the Exodus with the plagues.

Not only will there be a world war, the like of which has never occurred before, there HAS TO BE a cosmic catastrophe as great as what shook the Earth at the time of the Exodus!

If Velikovsky is correct and planet Venus threatened Earth at the time of the Exodus then surely something as big or close to it must threaten the Earth again for it to truly be the greatest time of trouble ever!

Jesus Christ also referred to something as the sign of His coming – something that would let people know that His return was close. He refers to the events of the sixth seal, which occur a year prior to His return, as the sign of His coming.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn” (Matthew 24:29-30).

What is this sign that will appear in the heavens? Is a great supercomet what Jesus was referring to as the sign of His coming?

“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26).

Man shall faint from fear as they see things that are coming upon the earth and seeing the heavens being shaken.

It would be an absolutely frightening spectacle to behold seeing something like that on a near collision course with the Earth!