Asteroid Apophis vs 7 Trumpets of Revelation

An asteroid is composed of clay and various metals including iron. Meteors are created when two asteroids collide with each other and break into fragments. When these meteor fragments enter into the earth’s atmosphere, they heat up red hot from the friction created as they move at very high speeds through the air. The vast majority of small asteroids completely evaporate before they hit the earth. Because they glow very bright as they move through the atmosphere, they are commonly referred to as falling or shooting stars

Comets are made up of ice and dust. As they come close to our sun they begin to heat up and the ice begins to vaporize leaving a trail of water and small ice crystals that are called the tail of the comet.

The United States currently tracks the movements of 164,000 asteroids traveling at an average speed of 12 miles per second. Because of their tremendous speed, size and trajectory, they cannot always be located, especially if they come from behind the sun on a direct path towards the earth. Here are a few examples of asteroids that have made contact with the earth. An undetected asteroid the size of a small SUV entered the earth’s atmosphere on June 22, 2019 and produced a blast equal to four kilotons of dynamite. In 2013, a 65-foot-wide asteroid traveling at 43,000 miles per hour exploded just before impact over Russia.

In 1908, an asteroid that was 60 ft. by 30 ft. exploded just before hitting Siberia creating a blast 30 times more powerful than the Hiroshima nuclear bomb of WWII. The power of the explosion leveled an 80-mile radius of trees and the heat was felt 35 miles away. People in the vicinity of the blast were knocked off their feet and the sound wave from the blast blew out glass windows in homes and buildings. The fact that we cannot always track every asteroid lends credence to Jesus telling His four disciples that just before His second coming, everyone will be living life as usual with absolutely no idea about the events that will suddenly appear in the sky directly overhead (Matthew 24:37).

In June of 2004, astronomers detected a sizeable asteroid approaching the earth. They calculated that this asteroid was now caught in the gravitational pull of the sun and would make several passes by the earth before eventually striking it. Current calculations reveal that this asteroid will likely hit the earth in 2068. The decision was made to name this asteroid Apophis which is somewhat alarming as Apophis was the ancient evil Egyptian god of chaos, or the great serpent enemy of the sun god of light. He was thought to live in the darkness of storms, creates thunder and brings destruction and death to the earth.

Apophis is large and will cause devastation if and when it hits planet earth. According to NASA’s calculations as of 2021, it will pass extremely close to earth on Friday, 'April 13th' 2029. In fact, it will pass so close to the earth that there is a very real possibility that it may destroy some satellites currently in geosynchronous orbit. And, you may even be able to see the asteroid in broad daylight with the naked eye! If this event occurs in the middle of the 7-year tribulation period, it means that the tribulation started in 2022. It was in this year that Russia invaded the independent democratic country of Ukraine. The earth also experienced the most mudslides, forest fires, droughts and earthquakes ever recorded to date. In 2023 the skies over America turn orange from 500 Canadian forest fires, with triple digit heat in the South and Southwest week after week . The state of Florida is being engulfed by a seaweed that smells like sulfur. So, there is certainly enough natural and manmade events going on in the world at this time to believe that the world might very well be at the start of this period. This would mean that the rapture could now take place at any time. And if the rapture is in fact timed to the Fall Jewish Feast of Trumpets, then one could expect it to happen during the coming years in the Fall. If the rapture is mid tribulation, then it would happen in the fall of Fall of 2025. Here is what makes this time period very interesting.

The trumpet or shofar was blown when the temple in Jerusalem had an important public announcement to make. But it was always blown during the Feast of Trumpets to notify the people that it was time for them to go into the fields and harvest their final grain crop before winter. Interestingly, in the Book of Revelation, John said he heard, “…a great Voice as of a trumpet” (Revelation 1:10). John turned to see who was speaking and saw the Son of Man or Jesus (Revelation 1:12-13). John then saw a door in heaven open and the Voice said, “…Come up here and I will show you the things that will come in the future” (Revelation 4:1). It was then that John was raptured into heaven. John wrote that he was not sure if he was physically raptured off the earth and into heaven or he was given this vision while physically remaining on earth. But either way he was shown a sweeping detailed panorama concerning the events leading up to the end of the rule of mankind on earth and the Second Coming of Christ.

The first 3 chapters of Revelation deal exclusively with the Church Age. Then, in verse one of Chapter 4, John is raptured from the earth in body or mind and the Church is not mentioned again until Chapter 19 which details the Second Coming of Christ. Therefore, many Bible scholars believe that what John saw and heard at the beginning of Chapter 4 is what believers will see and hear at the rapture. They will hear a trumpet sound, look up and see heaven open and hear the command “come up here”.

So, the Feast of Trumpets is a shadow prophecy of the rapture of the Church when all believers both dead and alive will be instantly raptured to be with Christ. Thus there is a high probability that the rapture will occur during the fall Feast of Trumpets. The Jews and unbelieving gentiles of the world will see and hear nothing. But they will be immediately aware that family, friends and collages have mysteriously gone missing. This will have a particularly dramatic effect on the Jews who will immediately connect the timing of this mass disappearance of the Church with the Feast.

The questions concerning Apophis are, will it pass harmlessly by the earth or collide with it? Is Apophis the event that the Book of Revelation refers to as Wormwood? And lastly, will the date of its appearance mark the beginning, middle or end of the tribulation period and the Second Coming of Christ?

If the movements of this asteroid are in fact part of the timing of the rapture, then the rapture of the church and 2.5 billion Christians plus 2.5 million children might take place any time after the spring of 2022, which would be  7 full years before the asteroid might affect the earth and trigger the start of the tribulation period. Or, if this possible asteroid event is mid-tribulation, the rapture might take place on or before October of 2025 which would be 3.5 years into the 7-year tribulation period, or the start of the Great Tribulation period. This will be the final 3.5 years which will end with the return of Christ and His Saints to rule the earth for 1000 years (Revelation 19:11, Revelation 20:4).

Scripture speaks of a 7 year peace treaty with Israel and the Great Tribulation period starting 3.5 years into that treaty. As for world events leading up to the actual tribulation, we are only told that there will be wars, rumors of wars, famines, disease, violence concerning race relations, earthquakes and a general unrest among the nations all occurring at the same time just before the start of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:3-8). Does any of this sound familiar?

Apophis is estimated to be a little taller than the Empire State Building and 400 yards across. It weighs 28 million tons, and is hurtling towards the earth at 28,000 miles per hour. If it were to make a direct impact with the earth, it will create an explosion equal to 65,000 Hiroshima bombs. The main concern of astronomers is the very real possibility that Apophis’ current trajectory will change due to gradational effects from the sun and other celestial bodies. If it comes close enough to the earth, the gravitational pull of the earth combined with heat produced from contact with the atmosphere may cause the mass to heat up and by expanding, fracture into two or more giant pieces. Some of these pieces may fall and strike the earth while others may pass by the earth and continue into space (Revelation 8:6-12). Or, the earth may be struck by a series of fragments only to then be hit later by the bulk of this asteroid. It is currently calculated by astronomers to make an elliptical orbit that will cause it to make a second pass at the earth. This scenario was graphicly depicted in the recent movie “Greenland”. It is this scenario that best fits the prophecy in the Book of Revelation which describes a burning mountain coming out of the sky and striking the earth twice. The first piece strikes the ocean and causes a massive kill of sea life while the second piece strikes the earth causing the poisoning of much of the fresh water.

This is also the same way God has typically employed the laws of nature to bring about events in an effort to try and nudge mankind in the direction of His will. His use of natural phenomenon allows a person to either recognize His involvement in an event or decide it was only a coincidental act of nature. A prime example concerns the Egyptians reactions during the plagues prophesied by Moses. Were they caused by the God of the Hebrews, or where they caused by naturally occurring phenomena? Egyptians then and many people today believe that these plagues were caused by natural occurring seismic activities in the area. This may very well be true but how fortuitous that they happened exactly when Moses needed them to expedite the Exodus. As for the wind that blew back the waters of the Red Sea, was it a miracle or just a lucky and unusual tidal surge (Exodus 14:21)? Were these events acts of God or just an unusual series of natural events that can be explained away? Thousands of books have been written to scientifically explain that every miracle performed by God in scripture is nothing more that series of coincidences of nature or mind over matter. The truth is, God has purposefully caused His works to occur in ways that allow people to freely decided if these events are miracles or mere coincidences. On an interesting note, the Rabbis call a coincidence “God winking at you.”

Apophis is not the only concern for the earth. There is an unnamed asteroid called 2018 LF16 which is unfortunately slightly larger than Apophis and is scheduled to either pass close by or possibly strike the earth on August 8, 2023. It is 700 feet across, traveling at 34,000 miles per hour, and would produce a blast equal to 1,500 Hiroshima bombs. So, it might be that the asteroid of 2023 is the first of two strikes 6 years apart with Apophis potentially being the 3rd Trumpet Judgement of God known as Wormwood.

Remarkably, the Book of Revelation written by the Apostle John is the only book of the Bible that comes with its own special blessing for those who study it (Revelation 1:3). What John was shown by Christ was a vision of what was absolutely going to transpire on the earth during the tribulation period. It is clear that while John was seeing things that would happen in the future, these events had actually already happened. In other words, like a movie preview, he saw the actual events happen in real time even though they happened in the future. Thus, the events are guaranteed to happen because they have already happened. There will come a time when mankind will be challenged to survive what will appear to be natural upheavals. Yet, these catastrophic event are listed in their sequential order in the Book of Revelation and are credited as being signs from God. Most people will refer to these events as happenstance or the current term, the new normal.

The Book of Revelation reveals the unfolding of 7 catastrophic events that are announced by 7 Trumpets. With the First Trumpet, all green grass and one third of the earth’s trees will burn up through a combination of hail and fire mixed with what appeared to John to be blood falling from the sky onto the earth (Revelation 8:7). This could be caused by a first comet strike. The Second Trumpet announces what appeared to John to be as a great mountain burning with fire falling down out of the sky and striking the ocean. The impact of this mountain destroys one third of all the ships in the world, kills one third of all ocean life, and turns one third of the ocean’s water into what appears to be blood (Revelation8:8-9). This sounds like a second comet strike. The Third Trumpet announces a star named Wormwood which impacts the dry land of the earth, makes one third of the fresh water of the earth bitter to the taste, and poisons anyone who drinks it (Revelation 8:10-11). Interestingly, the Russian word Chernobyl is the English word wormwood. This falling star {comet} is a major catastrophe to mankind in that while the earth is 71% water, only 0.5% of the surface water on the earth is fresh. The Forth Trumpet announces yet another star that also falls from the sky, however, this star is referenced as a “him” and “he” and so not an inanimate object (Revelation 9:1-11).

The angels of God are referred to as stars. This star is an angel who is given by God the key to the Bottomless Pit or Sheol. Some scholars believe that because this angel is said to have fallen to the earth, it must be Satan the fallen angel. But, other scholars understand that the word fallen is the same word as descended. Thus, this angel was sent from God to open the Pit. Future references to this same angel confirm this second understanding to be the correct one. The Pit is the dwelling place of all the human spirits of the unrighteous dead. A separate lower area known as Tartarus imprisons a particular group of fallen angels. These angels are the ones that once mated with the daughters of men and created hybrid monsters know as Nephilim or Giants (Genesis 6:4). The Bible contains 32 verses concerning giants and their ongoing wars against mankind and in particular the Jews. The Pit also contains the demonic spirits that Jesus confined to the Pit during His ministry. The opening of the Pit causes heavy black smoke to billow out onto the surface of the earth. This completely blocks the suns light and the earth goes black. Unearthly spiritual demonic creatures that look to John like locusts emerge out of the pit and smoke. They must not be actual insects as they are under the command of a fallen angel named in Hebrew as Abaddon, or in Greek Apollyon the Destroyer. John saw and described them, but that does not mean that mankind can see them. They can only feel their presence by way of their effects on the human body. This army is not allowed by God to harm the earth’s plant life but only to torment those people who do not have the Seal of God on their foreheads (Revelation 7:1-6). The unrighteous people of the earth will not be killed, only punished for five months to see if they will repent of their sins and follow the will of God.

The sounding of the Sixth Trumpet involves the releasing of 4 fallen angels currently bound under the Euphrates River. They will use their powers to stop the flow of the Euphrates in order to allow an army of the Kings of the East, primarily China, to cross on their way to participate in the conquest of Israel (Revelation 16:12). This army will kill one third of the earth’s remaining population. A staggering total of two billion people will be killed during the tribulation period. And, even though a worldwide revival will save hundreds of millions of people, there will still be those who prefer to worship a world leader or Antichrist. They falsely yet staunchly believe the Lie that only a man can have the solutions to solve all the problems of mankind (Revelation 9:20-21, 13:4).

When the Seventh and final Trumpet sounds, a shout is heard around the world emanating from heaven. The entire world will hear the words “…The kingdoms of this world has become the Kingdoms of God and His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Revelation 11:15-19) In heaven, the 24 Elders fall down before the Throne of God and worship Him. The Temple in Heaven opens and the Ark of the Covenant is now visible. Christ then stands and leads His army of angels and raptured saints down to the earth to save a remnant of the surviving Jews and gentiles who have become believers during  the tribulation period (Revelation 19:11-21, Revelation 20:4-6 ; Zechariah 13:1-9; Isaiah 10:20). And on that day, the one thousand year reign of Christ on earth will begin.