Global Warning
While living in exile on the Greek island of Patmos, the disciple John had a series of revelatory visions about a future time when Jesus would return in triumph to the earth. In his book of Revelation John described in dramatic fashion the sequence of events that would unfold at that time. This book has since become one of the most enigmatic books of the Bible, and religious scholars still cannot agree on what exactly John was describing.
“The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all the green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
“And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
“And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.” (Revelation 8:7-12)
The florid writings of John could have held little meaning for those people living at the time these words were penned. Today however, their meaning stands revealed as the clear imprint of a heavenly harbinger of doom. The tribulations predicted by John are a vivid illustration of just those disasters that would befall the earth if it were to have a close encounter with a comet.
Suppose a large comet was to pass in orbit around the sun. As it sped away from the sun back into the dark void of space, its luminous tail of particles would travel ahead of it, blown by the force of solar radiation. If the earth should happen to lie in the path of this comet after its perihelion, or closest approach to the sun, then our world would first come into contact with the tail of the comet, which would extend ahead of it in space for many millions of miles.
If the dust particles in the cometary tail were ferruginous (containing iron oxide or rust), then the earth would be showered by particles of fine, red dust. The presence in the atmosphere of these tiny particles would then spawn torrential downpours of rain, which would be characterised by a blood-red color. This bloody rain would contaminate all the rivers and the seas. Those who drank from these toxic waters would die.
As the earth drew closer to the nucleus of the comet, larger particles in the comet’s tail would fall as blazing meteorites. This torment of fiery hail would then set fire to large portions of the land. Should a part of the comet, or even the nucleus itself plunge into the sea, this flaming asteroid would create unparalleled havoc, not just to those creatures in the sea, but also to those craft which happened to be travelling upon it. Coastal cities would be ravaged by tumultuous tidal waves.
The resulting collision would devastate the land and decimate all forms of life on the planet. A cloud of dust and debris would soon circle the earth, blotting out in places the light of the sun, moon and stars. The impact of this cometary collision would severely jolt the earth, causing it to tilt on its axis and change the alignment of its poles.
If such a sequence of disasters were to assail the earth, pious churchmen and women everywhere would see in these events the wrath of God, and the fulfilment of Biblical prophecy. To the scientific community however, they would simply be the predictable consequences of a rare and unfortunate astronomical encounter, which would no doubt be attributed to the random effects of chance.
Yet according to the teachings of the sages, such an awesome cataclysm would be neither the result of chance, nor the retribution of divine wrath. It would instead be the precise response in physical experience to those violent thoughts and feelings that gave it birth. The encounter with the comet would be an event conjured up in karmic response to the contents of the minds of all the peoples now living on the earth.
Our thoughts and emotions do not just influence the events that unfold in our daily lives. They reach out to the farthest domains of the heavens. They not only influence the earth, but the entire universe as well. This mystical insight has been understood by sages, and shared by those with sympathetic minds. As the English poet Francis Thompson once wrote:
“Thou canst not stir a flower, without troubling of a star.” (The Mistress of Vision – 1913)
