Our Father had a purpose and a plan when He made the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, and that He organized them and set them in the heavens to be not only time pieces marking the days, months, years, etc. but also as an outline of the plan of His salvation for mankind and the marking of "things to come", i.e. the "appointed times" (cp. Gen. 17:21, 18:14, 21:2).  We therefore have a second witness in the Heavens to the Word of God and the prophecies contained therein, for they are both the handiwork of the Lord and they totally agree in harmony.

We also learned in our previous study that the plan of salvation begins in Virgo, the woman, with the promise of her seed, the Child who would be born. Here is the description of that promise, as seen in the HEAVENS, and recorded by John in the Book of Revelation:

Rev. 12:1-2
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

[2] And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Rev. 12:5
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

But guess what? They are both returning IN PERSON! But beware lest any man deceive you! Satan, the dragon, that old serpent, comes FIRST, at the sound of the 6th Trump. And when he comes he will be disguised as Jesus Christ Himself and the whole world will wonder after him. He will sit in the temple and show the world through signs and miracles in the sight of men that he is God. (2 Thes. 2).This will happen when Michael casts him out of heaven, when "he who letteth is taken out of the way" (2 Thes. 2:7). Here is the account in Revelation of this soon to occur event:

Rev. 12:7
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

[8] And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

[9] And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

But look what happens! Not only Satan is cast out, but his angels are cast out with him. These angels are the same "fallen stars", the Nephilim of Genesis chapter 6, who left heaven (their first habitation as described by Jude in verse 6) and came to earth in their angelic bodies instead of being born of woman. They took to wife the daughters of Adam and the union between flesh and angelic bodies produced giants, "gibor" in Hebrew. It was because of these giants that God brought the flood of Noah upon the land.

Well, they are coming again, those fallen angels, just as they did in the days of Noah. Jesus Christ said so:

Matthew 24:37-38
But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

[38] For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

And when they are cast out of heaven, the folks that dwell in heaven will be rejoicing that Satan and his creeps are gone. But WOE to the inhabiters of the earth (that's us flesh folk). Fun, fun, fun! Get ready.

Rev. 12:12
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

2 Thes. 2:6
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

2 Thes. 2:7
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

[8] And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Let's read these same verses in the Living Bible which has them translated a little clearer for us. (If you have a Companion Bible read the notes corresponding to these verses.)

2 Thes. 2:6
And you know what is keeping him from being here already; for he can only come when his time is ready.

[7] As for the work this man of rebellion and hell will do when he comes, it is already going on, but he himself will not come until the one who is holding him back steps out of the way.

[8] Then this wicked one will appear, whom the Lord Jesus will burn up with the breath of His mouth and destroy by His presence when He returns.

This all happens in the SIGN OF LEO! Remember the three constellations in Leo;

1. Hydra = the old serpent destroyed
2. Crater = the cup of wrath poured out
3. Corvus = the birds of prey devouring him

First, here are some quotes from the Ha'aretz News in Jerusalem from Thursday, November 18, 1999 (the underlining is mine):

Scientists here for 'shooting star'-spangled skies

By Tamara Traubman,

"An international galaxy of scientists last night were poised in the observatories at Mitzpeh Ramon in the Negev and at Tel Aviv University to observe a meteor shower that one visiting astronomer from the U.S. Space Agency NASA called "one of the rarest sights we have ever seen."

The spectacular shower of so-called "Leonid" meteors - because they appear to radiate from a point in the constellation of LEO - was to reach its peak at 4 A.M. Thursday, streaking across the sky at a rate of about 1,000 meteors an hour (though the peak period lasts only a few minutes).

In addition to NASA, teams from the U.S. Air Force, Canada and Holland joined their colleagues from the Israeli Space Agency to watch the heavenly spectacle.

Col. Pete Warden of the U.S. Air Force said about $2.5 million had been invested to document the event.

A NASA astronaut said that "we won't have another opportunity like this for the next 100 years."

A meteor is a streak of light in the sky caused by a meteoroid passing through the earth's atmosphere; in popular parlance, it is known as a "shooting star." Meteoroids are often lumps of rock or iron and orbit the sun like planets, moving at extremely high speed.

Meteoroids that enter the upper atmosphere of the planet are heated by air resistance, causing gases around the meteoroids to glow and producing meteors.

The Leonids in the current shower did not land on earth because they were burned and disintegrated. However, the dust particles could disrupt the activity of some of the hundreds of satellites currently orbiting the earth.

It is this aspect of the phenomenon - the danger that meteors pose to artificial satellites - that is of particular interest to the U.S. Air Force.

At 12:30 A.M. two NASA research aircraft lifted off from Ben-Gurion Airport to study the meteors. Radar and other instruments placed at Kibbutz Revivim in the Negev and near Mount Hermon in the north supplied information about the meteors' chemical structure and their temperature.

One possibility being examined is that the meteoroids carry organic material. According to one theory, organic material borne by heavenly bodies that struck the earth's surface billions of years ago may have created part of the conditions necessary for the emergence of life on the planet."

Next, here are some quotes from the article on the BBC News, UK, Thursday, November 18, 1999, published at 11:27 GMT (again, the underlining is mine):

Sci/Tech

World marvels at meteors

Waves of fireballs brightened the skies over the Middle East as the much-heralded Leonid meteor shower swelled into the heaviest show of shooting stars in 33 years.

Around the world, astronomers and amateur stargazers gathered together to watch the celestial light show, which is unlikely to be matched for decades...

In Jordan, 25 miles from the border with Saudi Arabia, about 50 astronomers from around the world watched as fireballs flashed over the desert.

Jordanian astronomer Ali Abanda, said; "It is magnificent. It is something that we didn't even detect when we watched the skies 33 years ago."

In Israel, observers in the Jordan Valley marveled at the canopy of shooting stars. Ariel Cohen, professor of atmospheric sciences at Hebrew University, said "I see this as nature's contribution to the celebration of the new millennium."

"Streak of light"

The Leonids, which get their name because they appear to come from the constellation Leo, occur when the Earth passes through the dusty debris left by comet Temple-Tuttle.

The show is usually at its best just after the comet has visited the inner Solar System - something it did early last year. Here, the sun's heat warms the comet's ice and loosens the dusty fragments which become meteors.

Around the globe, military and private companies turned satellite solar panel side-on to the shower to avoid the meteor strikes.

However, one country which did not enjoy a dazzling display was Britain, where bad weather hampered views of the Leonids.

Scientist John McFarland said; "It is a disappointment, but we are at the mercy of the elements. It's been overcast all night and I haven't been able to see anything at all."

Now you know what happened on Nov. 17th, 1999, and we will soon discuss the full significance of what it all means.

Now that we know about the spectacular Leonid "light show" and "fireworks display" that took place on Nov. 17, 1999, which was especially intense over the Middle East, we will next document that the Leonids do indeed have a profound "religious" significance, which is extremely important to our understanding of the SIGN.

There are numerous resources you can access using the technology available in this information age to research the history of the Leonids. What we will focus on is the Leonid shower of Nov. 17, 1883, which was especially intense over the Western Hemisphere. Here are some quotes from the website http://www.leonids.com/1833/the_1833_storm.htmltitled "The 1883 Storm":

The 1833 Storm

Meteor Showers were neither known nor understood during the first half of the 19th Century. Thus, when Americans awoke during the twilight hours on November 17th, 1833, many thought Judgment Day had finally arrived.

The Leonids are credited with playing a large role in the religious renaissance that took place in America in the 1830s. Perhaps Yale professor Denison Olmstead, who scrutinized the 1833 Storm and laid the foundations of modern meteorics, the study of meteors, put it best:

"Probably no celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with so much admiration and delight by one class of spectators, or with so much astonishment and fear by another class."

The following are quotes from the "Sky & Telescope" magazine, a reputable publication in the field of astronomy. Their website is http://www.skypub.com/sights/meteors/leonids/king.html

 
Leonid History

On the night of November 12, 1833, the Western Hemisphere unexpectedly came under attack. A firestorm of shooting stars, silent but overwhelming, filled the sky. Here is a part of Victorian astronomy writer Agnes Clerke's classic description of that incredible scene:

"On the night of November 12-13, 1833, a tempest of falling stars broke over the earth.... the sky was scored in every direction with shining tracks and illuminated with majestic fireballs. At Boston, the frequency of meteors was estimated to be about half that of flakes of snow in an average snowstorm. Their numbers ... were quite beyond counting; but as it waned, a reckoning was attempted, from which it was computed, on the basis of that much-diminished rate, that 240,000 must have been visible during the nine hours they continued to fall."

---

The meteor storm made a deep and terrifying impression on the American people. According to newspaper reports almost everyone saw it, awakened either by the commotion in the streets or by the moving glare of fireballs shining into bedroom windows. In 1878 the historian R. M. Devens listed it as one of the 100 most memorable events in U.S. history. "During the three hours of its continuance," he wrote, "the day of judgment was believed to be only waiting for sunrise, and, long after the shower had ceased, the morbid and superstitious still were impressed with the idea that the final day was at least only a week ahead. Impromptu meetings for prayer were held in many places, and many other scenes of religious devotion, or terror, or abandonment of worldly affairs, transpired, under the influence of fear occasioned by so sudden and awful a display."

---

Indeed, the 1833 shower has been credited with contributing to the intense religious revivals that swept the United States in the 1830s, which permanently influenced the national character and spread new sects and denominations that are well established on the American scene today.

The meteor storm burst upon a world largely ignorant of the possibility of meteor showers. Yet records examined afterward showed that the storm could have been anticipated, if not actually predicted. The fault lay as much with the astronomers of the era as with anyone. Up until only some years earlier, they had refused to believe that meteors -- those little streaks of light so commonly seen in the upper atmosphere -- could have any astronomical connection at all. But the shower of 1833 dispelled all doubts. Many observers clearly reported that the meteors seemed to radiate from a spot in Leo and that, as the constellation moved slowly westward during the night, the radiant point moved with it.

"Indeed, the 1833 shower has been credited with contributing to the intense religious revivals that swept the United States in the 1830s, which permanently influenced the national character and spread new sects and denominations that are well established on the American scene today.

Note: Isn't it also interesting that this year especially, the Rapture Theory has been promoted as never before, with the production and promotion of two new full-length feature films exceeding sales of 14,000,000 copies already? One is titled "Vanished".

So let's recap what we have learned so far.

1. The plan of salvation is written in the uncorrupted Zodiac in the heavens.
2. It begins in the constellation Virgo and ENDS in the constellation of Leo.
3. The constellation Leo, the sign consummating the triumph of the LION of Judah, has three main elements to it:

a.  The serpent
b.  The cup of wrath
c.  The birds of prey

5. On November 17, 1999, there was a mighty meteor shower streaming from the Constellation Leo, only this time is was predominately over the Middle East. Does it signify religious revival again? Yes it does, but this time because it happened in the generation of the "fig tree", AND in the location that we watchmen are to look for signs, i.e. Jerusalem, it means that the final religious revival brought about by the "moon" and the "fallen stars", is about to take place real soon, in that location. Let's look at some scriptures.

It should be common knowledge that "stars" are symbolic of the sons of God, in other words, angels. In Job 38:7 we find the "stars" singing for joy when God created this beautiful planet, and in Rev. 12:4 we see that the dragon [Satan], drew 1/3 of the stars [sons of God], away from the Father. That should be ample documentation (for common sense dictates that stars can't sing, and you don't gather stars together like marbles), but in case someone needs a stronger reference, here's Rev. 1:20:

Rev. 1:20
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

Did you know that Jesus Christ gave his disciples (us) the same exact 7 Seals found in the book of Revelation in the Olivet prophecy found in Mat. 24 and Mark 13? Here is His description of the sixth seal in Mark:

Mark 13:24
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,

[25] And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

Now, this next verse is extremely important, for it sets the "time", the "season", when these angels fall:

Mark 13:28
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:

Here is the same event described by John in the Revelation (notice it is the 6th seal):

Rev. 6:12
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

[13] And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

Rev. 12:7
And there was war in heaven:

Rev. 12:7 (cont.) Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels

Rev. 12:9
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. ,

Luke 10:18
And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Here's an interesting observation (not that it is a big deal, just interesting.) Did you know that the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), representing the finest eye's the world has to offer, SHUT DOWN the week of the Leonid meteor shower and therefore MISSED seeing it altogether? How ironic! Here are some quotes from the BBC News, Monday, November 15, 1999 (remember the Leonids were on the 17th):

Hubble shuts its eyes

By BBC News Online science editor Dr. David Whitehouse

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has shut itself down, preventing astronomers from making observations of the Universe.

It is a safety precaution triggered by the failure of another of the space observatory's gyroscopes.

HST has six gyros onboard, half of which must be operational to point the observatory accurately.

But one by one, three have failed and there have been indications for some months now that a fourth gyro would also cease working.

This is apparently what happened on Saturday.

Anyway, tomorrow night the world will be celebrating the ushering in of a New Millennium. Many folks will be partying and drinking and shaking rattles and blowing horns, totally unaware of the warning about the three woe trumpets of God, and that the heavens are declaring those final events leading up to the Triumphant Return of the Lion of Judah.

If you have studied the Book of Revelation with us then you know that the last three trumps are the "woe" trumps and correspond to the three constellations within Leo that we covered in the previous studies.

Trump five (5) culminates with the casting down of the fallen angels, those nephilim of Gen. 6, also described by the prophet Joel and the apostle John as "swarming locusts" to graphically illustrate the manner in which they spiritually devour and consume the souls of men. In the constellation Leo they are known as the birds of prey.

Trump six (6) begins with the casting down of the Serpent, that old dragon, Satan himself, who comes posing as Jesus, though he is the false messiah. In the constellation Leo he is also known as the serpent.

Trump seven (7) sounds the triumphant return of Jesus Christ, who brings with Him reward and eternal life for His saints and also pours out the cup of wrath upon the ungodly.

So what about you? Are you watching or partying? (I don't mean as a single event on New Years Eve, but rather as a life style.) Do you realize how many times we Christians have been told to be diligent and study, which means to "watch"? Jesus told us to watch. Here is what He said concerning the very days we are living in RIGHT NOW, the days just prior to His return:

Luke 21:34
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

[35] For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

[36] Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

So did Paul:

1 Thes. 5:6
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

1 Peter 4:7
But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

Rev. 3:3
Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Note: Some would accuse us and say that the "watching" has nothing to do with the heavens as we have noted. True, there are many other things to watch, but remember the  "wise" men knew from the star in the heavens that the first advent had taken place. Herod and company were clueless until the wise men made it known.

So let's do some more watching and move to the next Sign in the Heavens that took place last week on December 22, 1999, which just happened to be the Winter Solstice, and we will tie these events, and more, all together.

What is the Winter Solstice anyway? In the northern hemisphere it is the day when the Sun is farthest south. The Winter Solstice marks the first day of the season of WINTER and is the shortest day of the year, which means it is the longest period of DARKNESS from Sunset to Sunrise. An event occurred this year on the Winter Solstice that hasn't happened since the U. S. Civil War and won't happen again in your or my lifetime.

Here's the report:

VERY SPECIAL FULL MOON DEC. 22

This year will be the first full moon to occur on the winter solstice, Dec. 22, commonly called the first day of winter. Since a full moon on the winter solstice occurred in conjunction with a lunar perigee (point in the moon's orbit that is closest to Earth) the moon will appear about 14% larger than it does at apogee (the point in it's elliptical orbit that is farthest from the Earth). Since the Earth is also several million miles closer to the sun at this time of the year than in the summer, sunlight striking the moon is about 7% stronger making it brighter. Also, this will be the closest perigee of the Moon of the year since the moon's orbit is constantly deforming. If the weather is clear and there is a snow cover where you live, it is believed that even car headlights will be superfluous.

On December 21st. 1866 the Lakota Sioux took advantage of this combination of occurrences and staged a devastating retaliatory ambush on soldiers in the Wyoming Territory

In laymen's terms it will be a super bright full moon, much more than the usual AND it hasn't happened this way for 133 years!

Our ancestors 133 years ago saw this. Our descendants 100 or so years from now will see this again.

Did you see that Full Moon? I sure did. Was that sucker big and bright, or what? And it appeared very, very close! Hmmm.

Next inour study on the "Signs in the Heavens" we will analyze what the Sign in the MOON of the Winter Solstice means, along with the Sign in the STARS (the Sign in Leo), and see what's ahead in the heavens for the year 2,000. Would you believe Full Blood Red Eclipses of the Moon and an unparalleled alignment of the planets? By the way, it takes both the sun and the moon to make an eclipse of either one.

Yes, Jesus Christ was right on in Luke 21:25! There actually ARE "Signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars."

Watching them is exciting, isn't it? And knowing His words are true, is comforting!

The last Leonid Meteor shower of major magnitude was the 1833 Leonid Storm which was 166 years ago (although there was a notable shower 33 years ago, in 1966). The last time there was a Full Moon on the Winter Solstice was 33 years later in 1866, which was 133 years ago!

But you and I, living in the generation of the fig tree, have witnessed these two phenomena only 36 days (6 x 6) apart. Do you not find that amazing?

And that's just the beginning! There is much more to come as the incredible "Signs in the Heavens" continue in the year 2000. Three weeks from now, on January 21, 2000, there will occur the first of three (3) Full Blood Red Lunar Eclipses, that beginning from this past summer are each 6 months apart. This was brought to your attention last May 12, 1999, in our study of the Book of Revelation. Below is a segment from that study:

----

Let's look again at verse 12.

Rev. 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

Here's something for you to do. Go to the following website and check out when the next times the moon becomes as blood red.

http://www.spirit.net.au/~minnah/LEO.html

January 21, 2000
July 16, 2000
January 9, 2001

You can also go to the U.S. Naval Observatory website and verify these dates. The link is  http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/data/docs/UpcomingEclipses.html

One thing we didn't point out is that 5 months from the last full blood red lunar eclipse (after the last of the three 6's moons), there will a Total Eclipse of the Sun. That date is June 21, 2001. Go to the U.S. Naval Observatory and check it out! For those who have studied chapter 9 of the Book of Revelation and know that the reign of Satan as the spurious messiah has been shortened to the time of the locusts, which is a 5 month period, this is certainly very interesting.

Now be WISE! We are NOT SETTING ANY DATES for the return of Jesus Christ or the entering in of the "little horn", i.e. the false messiah?  But it is time to Wake Up and start WATCHING!! Jesus wasn't just telling a nice story, to be "the scripture reading for today is...", as they say. When He told us there would be Signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars, He meant it!And if you believe we are truly in that final generation, the generation of the "fig tree" planted on May 15, 1948, which we most certainly are, then these signs should come as no surprise, and we should not be dismayed (afraid or confused) at them, as are the heathen.

Jeremiah 10:2
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

2 Peter 3:3
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, [4] And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

Let me ask you a question. Don't they will look like 7 eyes up in the sky? We often hear the expression before someone does something or takes action that "he is getting all his ducks in a row". It sure looks like our Father is getting all His planets in a row, doesn't it?

So what do we say then?  What do all these Signs in the Heavens mean?

Well, just as Paul Revere in his day knew that the enemy was coming, we, the children of light, who have been sealed with the knowledge of His Word also know that the enemy is coming, don't we? Of course if you believe Jesus Christ can return at any moment and rapture you away, then don't even worry about it, because you don't need any signs. You're just waiting for the Big Surprise!

And just like Paul Revere, we were told that there would be signs, no doubt about it! His was to be in the tower of the Old North Church, while ours are to be in the towering Heavens.

When Paul Revere saw the sign did he run and hide and try to save his own neck? No he did not! He mounted his horse and rode through the towns and countryside and WARNED HIS PEOPLE that the enemy was coming. He was a true watchman indeed.

We are now are beginning to see those signs we were to Watch for. What do you suppose we are to do... run and hide and try to save our own necks? No, saving your own neck is the rapture theory! We must throw down our pots and pans and get riding through the towns and countryside!

The enemy, the desolator, is coming for to destroy, to make desolate the souls of our people, to inflict a spiritual death. There was a Full Moon, even a Harvest Moon, that just occurred on the Winter Solstice. It is a sign that there is a harvest SOON coming, not in the true harvest time, but before the true harvest time, IN THE WINTER, i.e. out of season! But most people will think that it is truly the right harvest time and they will be harvested out of season, taken first in the field, and will be married to the wrong Jesus, the instead-of-Jesus, Satan himself!

Jesus warned us in Mat. 24 and Mark 13 to make sure that we avoid that winter harvest like the plague, and stay away from the False Shepherd and his Phony Reapers! When we see him in Judea, standing in the holy place claiming to be Jesus Christ, stay away from him. He's big trouble!

Mark 13:18
And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.

[19] For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.

Ezekiel 33:2
Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

[3] If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

4] Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. [5] He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him.

 [5 cont.] But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

But what if the watchman does nothing?

Ezek. 33:6
But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

[7] So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

We have been given strong signs that the Moon and his Leonids (their names from the news), the Serpent and his Birds of Prey (their names from the constellation Leo), Satan and his angels (their names from Rev. 12:9), are close at hand and the Winter Harvest of the night is soon upon us. If you have eyes to see and ears to hear and therefore have "heard the word at His mouth", and not from the mouth of men only, and so have an understanding of His plan, then He has "set you as a watchman" and you are to warn His people from Him, i.e. from His Word.

There is still much more that could be said, and it seems fitting that as the hour of the New Millennium sweeps across the planet and approaches the Eastern Time Zone. The fireworks are exploding and the whistles and horns are blaring, but the Millennium that the children of light long for is not happening tonight. So we will continue to watch the signs all around us and in the heavens and sound the alarm in the light of day until it does.
 
 

Two space rocks hours draw attention to dangers lurking in outer space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A space rock even bigger than the meteor that exploded like an atom bomb over Russia could drop out of the sky unannounced at any time and wreak havoc on a city. And Hollywood to the contrary, there isn't much the world's scientists and generals can do about it.

But some former astronauts want to give the world a fighting chance.

They're hopeful Friday's cosmic coincidence — Earth's close brush with a 150-foot asteroid, hours after the 49-foot meteor struck in Russia — will draw attention to the dangers lurking in outer space and lead to action, such as better detection and tracking of asteroids.

"After today, a lot of people will be paying attention," said Rusty Schweickart, who flew on Apollo 9 in 1969, helped establish the planet-protecting B612 Foundation and has been warning NASA for years to put more muscle and money into a heightened asteroid alert.

Earth is menaced all the time by meteors, which are chunks of asteroids or comets that enter Earth's atmosphere. But many if not most of them are simply too small to detect from afar with the tools now available to astronomers.

The meteor that shattered over the Ural Mountains was estimated to be 20 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. It blew out thousands of windows and left more than 1,000 people injured in Chelyabinsk, a city of 1 million. And yet no one saw it coming; it was about the size of a bus.

"This is a tiny asteroid," said astronomer Paul Chodas, who works in NASA's Near-Earth Object program in Pasadena, Calif. "It would be very faint and difficult to detect — not impossible, but difficult."

As for the three-times-longer asteroid that hurtled by Earth later in the day Friday, passing closer to the planet than some communications satellites, astronomers in Spain did not even discover it until a year ago. That would have been too late for pre-emptive action — such as the launch of a deflecting spacecraft — if it had been on a collision course with Earth.

Asteroid 2012 DA14, as it is known, passed harmlessly within 17,150 miles of Earth, zooming by at 17,400 mph, or 5 miles per second.

Scientists believe there are anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million "near-Earth" asteroids comparable in size to DA14 or bigger out there. But less than 1 percent have actually been spotted. Astronomers have catalogued only 9,600 of them, of which nearly 1,300 are bigger than 0.6 miles.

Earth's atmosphere gets hit with 100 tons of junk every day, most of it the size of sand, and most of it burning up before it reaches the ground, according to NASA.

"These fireballs happen about once a day or so, but we just don't see them because many of them fall over the ocean or in remote areas. This one was an exception," NASA's Jim Green, director of planetary science, said of the meteor in Russia.

A 100- to 130-foot asteroid exploded over Siberia in 1908 and flattened 825 square miles of forest, while the rock that is believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was a monster 6 miles across.

The chances of Earth getting hit without warning by one of the big ones are "extremely low, so low that it's ridiculous. But the smaller ones are quite different," Schweickart said. He warned: "If we get hit by one of them, it's most likely we wouldn't have known anything about it before it hit."

Chodas said the meteor strike in Russia is "like Mother Nature is showing us what a small one — a tiny one, really — can do."

All this points up the need for more money for tracking of near-Earth objects, according to Schweickart and the former space shuttle and station astronaut who now heads up the B612 Foundation, Ed Lu.

A few years ago, Schweickart and others recommended NASA launch a $250 million-a-year program to survey asteroids and work up a deflection plan. After 10 years of cataloging, the annual price tag could drop to $75 million, they said.

"Unfortunately, NASA never acted on any of our recommendations," he lamented. "So the result of it is that instead of having $250 million a year and working on this actively, NASA now has $20 million. ... It's peanuts."

Congress immediately weighed in on Friday.

"Today's events are a stark reminder of the need to invest in space science," said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House science, space and technology committee. He called for a hearing in the coming weeks.

Bill Cooke, head of the Meteoroid Environments Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., said the space agency takes asteroid threats seriously and has poured money into looking for ways to better spot them. Annual spending on asteroid-detection at NASA has gone from $4 million a few years ago to $20 million now.

"NASA has recognized that asteroids and meteoroids and orbital debris pose a bigger problem than anybody anticipated decades ago," Cooke said.

Schweickart's B612 Foundation — named after the asteroid in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "Le Petit Prince" — has been unwilling to wait on the sidelines and is putting together a privately funded mission to launch an infrared telescope that would orbit the sun to hunt and track asteroids.

Its need cannot be underestimated, Schweickart warned. Real life is unlike movies such as "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact." Scientists will need to know 15, 20 or 30 years in advance of a killer rock's approach to undertake an effective asteroid-deflection campaign, he said, because it would take a long time for the spacecraft to reach the asteroid for a good nudge.

"That's why we want to find them now," he said.

As Chodas observed Friday, "It's like a shooting gallery here."