The First Four Trumpets
Study 3
page 2
page : 1 : 2 : 3 :
Great Ball of Fire #2
The next judgment is a
great asteroid impact on a continent.
John describes a great star that
impacts the Earth. “The third
angel sounded his trumpet, and a
great star, blazing like a torch,
fell from the sky on a third of the
rivers and on the springs of water
– the name of the star is
Wormwood. A third of the waters
turned bitter, and many people died
from the waters that had become
bitter.” (Revelation
8:10,11)
Many prophecy experts
insist on a symbolic interpretation
of these verses, maintaining that
they do not believe these events
could be literal. However, two
compelling reasons eliminate the
possibility of a symbolic
interpretation. First, each event is
physically consistent with the
literal outcome John describes.
Second, if these texts were symbolic,
where is the explanation or
interpretation of these symbols
within the Bible? How can symbolic
people drink symbolic water?
Suppose a large star
(asteroid or comet), blazing like a
torch, were to impact on of
Earth’s seven continents. What
would be the consequences? Computer
and seismic models created at the
University of Southern California at
Berkeley indicate that ground waves
would sheer water wells and sewer
lines for hundreds of miles in all
directions. Earthquakes and tremors
would continue for many days as
enormous tectonic forces beneath the
surface of the Earth adjust to the
impact. Of course, everything within
two hundred miles of ground zero
would be vaporized. Remember, a large
asteroid impact would release the
energy of thousands of nuclear bombs.
This energy would be dissipated in
power earthquakes and one of the
first casualties of such an impact
would be drinking water. Broken
septic systems and toxic waste buried
in landfills would leach into
underground rivers that flow into
huge aquifers that provide drinking
water for millions of people. The
results will be devastating.
Revelation 8:10,11 predicts that many
people will die from drinking bitter
water that has become unsafe; a
direct consequence of a
“star” hitting Earth! The
title of this star is very
meaningful. “And the Lord
saith, Because they have forsaken my
law which I set before them, and have
not obeyed my voice, neither walked
therein; But have walked after the
imagination of their own heart, and
after Baalim, which their fathers
taught them: Therefore thus saith the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel;
Behold, I will feed them, even this
people, with wormwood, and give them
water of gall [poison] to
drink.” (Jeremiah 9:13-15,
KJV) If we compare the Lord’s
comments to Jeremiah with John’s
vision, it becomes clear why the
asteroid is called
“Wormwood.”
“Wormwood” means poisonous.
Scientists Predict
In the early
1980’s, few geologists and
geoscientists accepted the theory
that giant asteroids, the size of
mountains, had previously impacted
our planet. Today, with the help of
computers, satellites, and better
equipment, scientists have discovered
several enormous impact sites on
planet Earth. Funny, isn’t it,
how scientific discovery can reverse
long-standing conclusions in a very
short amount of time! The notion that
giant asteroids have pummeled Earth
was regarded as scientific lunacy in
1978 when geoscientist Dr. Luis
Alverez (University of California at
Berkeley), advanced the idea that
dinosaurs may have become extinct due
to a giant asteroid impact millions
of years ago. Dr. Alvarez and other
scientists, such as the late Dr,
Eugene Shoemaker (1928-1997) from the
United States Geological Survey, were
among the first geoscientists to
conclude that large asteroids had
impacted Earth. The idea, widely
controversial in the late 70’s,
is widely accepted today due to
overwhelming evidence. When the
comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9, broke up and
impacted Jupiter’s surface in
July 1994, all arguments ended. One
impact site on Jupiter was wide
enough to comfortably accommodate two
planets the size of the Earth side by
side. Today, geoscientists are
convinced that our planet has
experienced horrific impacts from
large asteroids and they are just as
convinced that out planet will be
impacted again. Because erosion
constantly changes the face of the
Earth, it is difficult to detect
impact craters until the late
1970’s. Even more, 75% of
Earth’s surface is covered by
water, making it almost impossible to
detect ocean impact sites. With the
help of satellite photographs, it has
become much easier to find these
ancient impact sites.
In fact, scientists
have identified more than 150
land-craters caused by asteroid or
meteoric impacts. The three largest
craters are found in Canada, South
Africa and of the coast of
Mexico. Each of these craters
has a diameter of about 120 –
150 miles. The largest known crater
within the United States is about 18
miles wide and located close to
Manson, Iowa. Even though craters are
sprinkled over various continents,
few are as distinct in appearance as
Meteor Crater in Arizona. According
to Richard A.F. Grieve, Ph.D., a
scientist with the Geological Survey
of Canada (Scientific American, April
1990), the “tiny “iron
meteorite which caused Meteor Crater
In Arizona was less than 200 feet in
diameter and weighted approximately
one million tons. It hit the Earth
traveling about 35,000 miles per hour
(mph) and released energy equivalent
to the most powerful nuclear devices
available today. Meteor Crater is
about two-thirds of a mile wide and
640 feet deep.
The amount of damage
caused by an impact is relative to
the momentum and the direction of
impact. Earth is traveling about
72,000 mph in its annual orbit around
the Sun. If a meteor traveling 40,000
mph hits “head on” with
Earth, the energy released would be
equivalent to an 112,000 mph
collision! National Geographic
featured an impressive article titles
“Extinctions” in its June
1989 edition, which reported the
findings of scientists studying the
effects of ancient asteroid impacts.
This article is still timely since
the Bible and scientists agree that
Earth will be impacted again.
The National
Geographic article proposed the
following scenario: “Giant
meteorite strikes Earth, setting the
planet afire. Volcanoes erupt
tsunamis crash into the continents.
The sky grows dark for
months, perhaps years. Unable to cope
with the catastrophic changes in
climate, countless species are wiped
off the face of the planet.”
(Page 686) The article goes on to
suggest that great fires resulting
from an asteroid would destroy crops,
trees and vegetation. Even worse,
windstorms created by the fires would
destroy buildings hundreds of miles
from the impact. Dust and smoke from
the fires would find their way into
the jet stream and block much of the
Sun’s light, thus altering the
world’s climate and the chances
of human survival!
Will Asteroids Impact
Earth Again?
“Sooner or later,
it is inevitable,” scientists
say, “that Earth’s
gravitational field will attract one
or several of these celestial
bodies.” “Civilization
threatening” asteroids (rocks
having a diameter of one to 10 miles)
are so tiny in space that scientists
rarely detect their presence until
they are very close to Earth.
Scientists calculate that Asteroid
1989 FC missed Earth by only six
hours on March 23, 1989. They also
maintain that it is highly probable
that it will return at some point in
the future and this time be even
closer to Earth! What is shocking
about Asteroid 1989 FC is that it was
not detected until after it had
passed by Earth. On January 7, 2002,
a small asteroid (2001 YB5) about
1,000 feet in diameter missed Earth
by twice the distance between the
moon and Earth. Although this may
sound like a safe distance, the
asteroid was traveling toward us at
70,000 miles per hour. In other
words, we missed an impact by only a
handful of hours! This asteroid will
revisit our place in space in about 3
years and 7 months. A document on
NASA Internet site currently states
that Earth’s closest miss with
an asteroid has been only a matter of
minutes! One asteroid whizzed within
62,000 miles of Earth!
“It is
inevitable,” scientists say,
“Earth will once again be hit by
an asteroid large enough to cause
mass extinctions….”
(National Geographic, January 1985,
page 47) Scientists Clark Chapman and
David Morrison startled 4,000
geoscientists at the American
Geophysical Union in San Francisco in
December 1989, saying, “In terms
of risk, the significant danger [from
asteroids] comes from impacts with
global implications. Statistically,
the greatest risk to each of us is
[that]…the impact could cause a
global disruption of crops and/or
food distribution systems, leading to
widespread starvation and perhaps the
death of most of the Earth’s
human population. We call this a
civilization threatening
impact.” At the time of the
meeting (1989), Dr Chapman was a
scientist at the Planetary Science
Institute in Tucson, Arizona, and Dr.
Morrison was chief of the Space
Science division at NASA’s Ames
Research Center in Mountain View,
California.
Scientists have known
for years that asteroids and
meteorites strike the Earth and moon
in predictable patterns. In fact, if
Asteroid 1989 FC had hit Earth, Dr.
Bevan French, an expert at
NASA’s Solar System Exploration
Division, calculated it would have
released energy equivalent to 20,000
hydrogen bombs. If it had hit a
metropolitan area such as Tokyo, Los
Angeles or New York, millions of
people would have died instantly.
Fortunately, most meteorites that
have impacted the Earth in recent
times have been small and have had no
significant consequence. However, the
media reports fireballs and
meteorites regularly. As an example,
on November 22, 1996, a
“small” meteorite impacted
Honduras, making a crater 150 feet in
diameter.
