Warnings in the Sky

Have you ever estimated what time it is by where the sun is in the sky?  Have you ever used a sundial?  “Forensic astronomy” can take things a few steps further, using ancient descriptions of future skies to help calculate the dates of events in prophecy through the position of the sun, moon, and planets.  Using all the available biblical clues isn’t astrology; it is following the instructions of Genesis 1:14 regarding heavenly bodies to “let them be for signs.”

This method of calculating dates using astronomical clues isn’t just for prophecy.  Texas State astronomer and Physics Professor Donald Olson frequently applies forensic astronomy the historical past.  Most recently, he used it to help determine the exact moment Monet’s “The Cliff, Etretat, Sunset” was painted – on Feb. 5, 1883 at 4:53PM.

The declination of the moon gave him indirect clues to a small range of dates, but after considering local topography on the Normandy coast, Monet’s comments on local tides and weather conditions, and astronomical software with data on the exact path of the sun – Olson and his team of students were able to pin down the creation of the French impressionist’s painting to within one minute of accuracy.

I have applied similar techniques to the Bible and other ancient books and monuments, analyzing written clues and astronomical descriptions of future skies to calculate a seven year timeline of events in end times prophecies.  Many scientists pay no attention to things like Bible prophecy.  We know our planet is billions of years old, with a universe several times older, and yet there are stories of the creation of the world mere thousands of years ago.  I suggest that all the world’s creation and re-creation stories stem from catastrophic events that radically changed the world as our ancestors had known it.  They believed such disasters would occur again in the distant future, and they warned us with various prophetic clues – including descriptions of the skies in these future times.  The final seven years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week – sometimes referred to as the seven year tribulation – can be pinpointed very accurately using such astronomical details.  This final seven year period begins with a date many consider an uneventful failure for those who expected the end of the world in 2012 – the end date of the Mayan Calendar’s Long Count on December 21, 2012.

The Maya did associate this date with a chain of events leading to the end of a world-age.  The Long Count spanned over 5,125 years before ending in December 2012, which marks a close alignment of the winter solstice sun with the galactic center.  Ancient Mayan astronomers understood the 25,800 year cycle of precession of our planet’s axis, and their calendar clearly drew everyone’s attention to 12/21/2012.  Fewer people understand how the Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza was built as a “precessional clock with its alarm set for the twenty-first century.”  John Major Jenkins (author of Maya Cosmogenesis 2012) explains that in terms of Mayan mythology, their sun-god Kukulkan will be enthroned as king over the earth.  But this only happens when the sun is directly overhead on the first of two zenith passage dates for the latitude of Chichen Itza – coupled with the Pleiades constellation as a crown directly behind and above it.  These clues all point to the early 21st century.

But another important clue – artwork on page 74 of the Dresden Codex of the Mayan “Popul Vuh” creation story – depicts a flood at the end of the world with a conjunction of the visible planets near the galactic center.  This does not occur in 2012, but it does occur seven years later in December 2019.  Another Mayan myth describes the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, as “The Hero Twins” that help revive their father, the winter solstice sun god One Hunapu, at the end of the present world.  Their birth is described as a rare conjunction near the galactic center with a waning crescent moon.  This arrangement happens to occur on November 23, 2019 – just in time for the Hero Twins to save the day four weeks later on the winter solstice – 12/21/2019.  The Maya referred to this location in the sky where the galactic equator crosses the band of the ecliptic as the “holy cross” and even described the coming of the Hero Twins “like a thief’s presence.”  This is very reminiscent of Christianity and the Messiah who will reign as King of the Earth coming like a thief in the night as described in Matthew chapter 24.

The Bible has many more astronomical references to the end times, for the night sky is like a giant clock – the clock GOD uses.  And we can tell time reading the “hands” of planets and stars…  The Book of Daniel suggests that 1260 days into the final seven years, the politician not yet known as the Antichrist will suffer a near fatal assassination attempt.  Everyone will assume he has been mortally wounded, then as if imitating Christ, three days later he will be miraculously healed, and stand at the site of the Temple in Jerusalem to publicly announce his identity by claiming to be God.  A reasonable assumption for an astronomical correlation would involve Venus, (the Morningstar – also a name for Lucifer in the Bible) in a rare position opposite (anti-) the Sun, which is the heavenly representation of Jesus Christ.  Despite the rarity of Venus occultations, which occur just nine times every 105 years – exactly 1263 days after 12/21/2012 we reach June 6, 2016 – when Venus is occulted by the Sun, giving us our astronomical Anti-Christ.  (This date – the sixth day of the sixth month of a year ending in six – is also a nice fit for the number 666 – and there are several additional clues pointing to this exact date.)

“As above, so below.”  All the major events on Earth – as described in Bible prophecy – will be mirrored by astronomical alignments in heaven, especially in 2019. The sun, moon, and planets act out all major steps of a week-long, ancient Jewish wedding ceremony in the sky for the week starting December 21, exactly seven years after the end of the Mayan Long Count on December 21, 2012.  In the step known as “Hakafot,” the bride circles the groom standing at the altar seven times before the wedding ceremony begins.  This corresponds to Earth orbiting the Sun for precisely seven years.  Perhaps the most noteworthy step in the wedding is the “yichud,” in which the groom takes the bride to a seclusion room during the wedding ceremony for an eight-minute breather, so the anxious couple can relax and the groom can give the bride the ring.  In a solar eclipse, the moon appears to be slightly smaller than the sun, so we see the sun’s corona, often referred to as a “ring of fire.”  As I am certain that we on Earth represent the bride, and that Christ is represented by the Sun, I can’t help but notice that a solar eclipse lasts a maximum of just over seven and a half minutes, and there are precisely eight minutes allotted to this step in the wedding.  This represents Christ giving us the ring during the solar eclipse which will be visible in the Middle East on the morning of December 26, 2019 – in the middle of the week long wedding ceremony taking place in the sky. 

Isaiah chapter 13 warns us that right before Judgment Day, when “the day of the Lord is near” (verse 13:6) we also read “the sun will be dark when it rises.” (verse 13:10)  My favorite astronomical software, Stellarium, shows that from the point of view of Jerusalem, the moon will be in front of the top portion of the sun from about 5:54AM until 6:35AM, at which point the eclipse is total.  By around 6:42AM the moon is still about 99 per cent in front of the sun, but towards the bottom, with the top edge of the sun starting to become visible.  Sunrise is officially 6:37AM.  Israelis might not have a good view of the eclipse near sea level, but Jerusalem is a mountain city; the Temple Mount’s altitude is approximately 2427 feet above sea level – and from high ground one can see a more distant horizon and watch the sun rise earlier.  In this case those in Jerusalem should be able to watch the sun be dark as it rises, just as described in Isaiah.

There are many more astronomical and prophetic clues pointing to end times events in 2016 and 2019.  If you are looking for detailed answers about the timing of end times prophecies, please consider reading my recent book, End Times and 2019

— contributed on June 13, 2014   by David Montaigne

http://endtimesand2019.webs.com/