What Is Going On?
Resurrection Auroras
by Steve Santini
March 2005
What is going on? Volcanoes are erupting more profusely
than previously known, earthquake activity has recently been and is noticeably
above average with quakes occurring in uncommon places, the explosion of a
distant magnetar has recently shaken the solar system, Venus briefly developed
a visible plasma tail as it began its trek on the other side of the sun, five
powerful typhoons just raked the South Pacific within a month, unexplained atmospheric
fireballs and explosions are being reported more frequently, as are towering
rogue waves, and the last comet of a record high year and ten year series for
bright comets is pulling away from the solar system. The answer may be within
the apostle Peter’s reiteration of Joel’s prophetic words on the day of
Pentecost about two thousand years ago.
Peter’s
First, and Bold, Sermon
At a pivotal point in man’s spiritual history, Peter stood up
with the eleven other apostles in the crowded temple area of the then chosen
people of God and delivered an astounding message. This day was the annual
feast day of Pentecost. It was one of three major feasts ordained by the Mosaic
Law many centuries earlier. On this major feast day, celebrating the wheat
harvest, all Hebrew males were to come to Jerusalem. Likewise, about fifty days
earlier during the feast of Passover when the Hebrews celebrated their exodus
from bondage in Egypt and the barley harvest, all males were to attend. It was
during this preceding feast of Passover that Jesus was resurrected after being
in the grave for three days and three nights. On several occasions between the
resurrection of Jesus and his ascension, he spent time admonishing, teaching
and instructing his apostles and, at one point recorded, described to them the
reception of the gift from the Holy Spirit. Just before Jesus ascended, ten
days prior to this Pentecost at which Peter was standing, Jesus instructed them
to go and wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father-the gift from the
Holy Spirit.
So, here, during this feast day of Pentecost at the third hour,
an hour of prayer, the apostles had sat meditatively waiting. Then there came a
sound from heaven as a wind rushing or as a heavy breathing and then what
appeared as flames sat upon their heads. At this point they each spoke in a
language previously unknown to them loud enough for others in the vicinity to
notice. Some of those who came from far off lands understood these languages
and said they were speaking of the wonderful works of God. Others came mocking
saying that it was nothing but a group of drunken men. It was at this point
that the twelve stood up and Peter spoke:
Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this
known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye
suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was
spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith
God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old
men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour
out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew
wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and
vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into
blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: (Acts 2:14-21) KJV
Peter declared that these events were that which was prophesied
by Joel. In Peter’s opening quotation from this section in Joel he includes
many events that occurred on that day of Pentecost beyond the reception of the
gift from the Holy Spirit. That time included a darkened sun and a blood red moon.
By what means were the sun darkened and the moon turned blood red?
Common explanations currently include a build up of particulate
matter in the atmosphere produced by either volcanic eruptions or the explosion
of a space body or explosions of space bodies in the atmosphere. However,
historical evidence from observers testifies that in the situation of gases and
particulate matter from these sources turns the both sun and moon “brick”
red. Other explanations include the
collision of a space body with the moon. It seems the impact needed upon the
moon would be so catastrophic that it would alter the meteorological and
geophysical systems of the earth so that man would not survive. Others say it
was an eclipse yet computer models show no observable eclipse occurred in the
Passover season over Israel in any of those five years in which Jesus could
have been crucified.
Another Possibility
When detailed scriptural evidence from the time period of
Passover through Pentecost of that year is combined with scientific evidence
there is another possibility that seems not yet approached. It is extreme
sunspot activity. Sunspots when viewed by the observer from earth are dark
spots yet when viewed in spectral photography they range from bright red on
the edges to very dark red at the centers. Sunspots can grow at times doubling
their size within one half of a day according to modern scientific
observations. Sunspots lower the radiance of the sun. Massive sunspot activity
would significantly darken the sun and cast a dark red light beyond earth onto
a full moon making it appear to be blood red.
In contextual consideration of this elongated Hebrew spring feast
season, individual powerful sunspots can and have lasted for months as they wax
and wane. They reappear earthward successively after each thirteen-day traverse
on the far side of the sun to repeat their thirteen-day earth side traverses
with the sun as it fully rotates in about twenty-six days at its equator.
Groups of powerful sunspots could likewise reappear as many as four additional
times within two months.
Passover and Pentecost
The Hebrews considered the time between the feast of Passover and
Pentecost as contiguous. Pentecost was considered as the culmination of
Passover that commenced on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan
about fifty days prior to Pentecost. When time is reversed by two rotations of
the sun or 52 days prior to this Pentecost when Peter stated that the sun was
dark, time arrives at the Passover season during which Jesus was crucified,
buried and resurrected. For the Hebrews, the full moon was on the 15th
of each month. On the first day of Passover that year the moon was full and
blood red and the sun was darkened. On Pentecost the sun was darkened and the
moon was blood red also as it waxed toward its fullness in about six days.
The gospels record that at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion the
whole land was darkening from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. The Greek word
for land in these verses means the whole earth. Of these records, Luke
testifies that the darkness continued.
And it was about the sixth
hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the
sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. (Luke
23:44,45) KJV
(The word was in the first sentence is the Greek
aorist tense of the word become meaning that it should be translated became.
The noun darkness and the verb darkened have a root; skoto
that is one of 233 Greek words translated dark. Its meaning is shadow or
shadowed and is consistent with the radiant appearance of the sun darkened by
hyper sunspot activity.)
When Jesus was Crucified,
When He was Resurrected and Where did these Events Occur
(As an important aside, for overall understanding at
this pertinent point, Jesus died on the cross at 3 pm and was buried by Joseph
of Arimathia on Wednesday after noon the 14th of Nisan before 6 pm.
The 15th of Nisan, Passover, was celebrated that year on the next
day. This was the weekly high day that John wrote of in his gospel and it was
considered as a Sabbath. He was in the grave for three days and three nights as
he had foretold. He rose between 3 pm and 6pm on the Saturday Sabbath of that
week. The next day, Sunday, began at 6 pm and was considered the first day of
the week in Hebrew culture. Since 1980 when the information regarding the
Wednesday crucifixion and Saturday resurrection was first widely published in
the book, Jesus Christ Our Passover, there have been a number of other
cogent pieces written on this subject. In addition, according to the
well-reasoned and extensive work, The Secrets of Golgotha, by Earnest
Martin and other
subsequent works, Jesus was crucified on the Mount of Olives in the face of
the temple veil to the west)
The Time of the Women at the
Tomb
Tradition has taught
that the women first came to the tomb of Jesus early in the morning yet there
is enough evidence from scripture to say that they came to the tomb early in
the evening before the first day of the week rather than on the morning of the
first day of the week (Sunday).
Each gospel
describes the coming of the women to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus with
oil and spices as they would have for a proper oriental burial of Jesus if
there had been time that afternoon before the new day. Once six pm had passed
they would have been in the new Hebrew day of Passover on the 15th
of Nisan in which that evening they were to eat the Passover meal and do no
work until the following evening. The
records in the gospel of John 19:31 and 42 reveal that the day after Jesus’
death was a high day and that the Jews asked the Romans to break the legs of
those crucified so that they would die quicker and the bodies could be removed
before the beginning of that high day around 6 pm.
Each of the
gospel records of the women coming to the tomb give different information by
each author to high light certain points deemed necessary for their own
testimony. With some thought and consideration all four records can be
harmonized as one event. With a focus on the time the women came to the tomb
and the condition of the sun at that time the Greek words in Mark 16:2 are
illuminating.
And very early in the morning
the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the
sun.
In this second
verse early in the morning is the translation of one Greek word. It is proi.
This word is translated at times idiomatically as in the morning in
secular Greek yet it is more often translated beforehand. Its root is
the Greek preposition pro which means before. The word came is in
the present tense in the Greek texts and indicates that they were in the act of
coming to the sepulcher at this time. The phrase at the rising of the sun
is the one Greek verb anatello. It is a compound word. Ana, the
suffix, simply means repetition. Tello means to the limit. The sun does
rise again each day. Its limit, if this word is to connote that it is morning,
would be at noon when it reaches it highest point. Without regard to this time
of morning, from daybreak until noon, the limit would be sunset. In Henry
George Liddell and Robert Scott’s, A Greek-English Lexicon this
word is said to encompass the first quarter of the sun’s rising. In any case
this verb is in the aorist tense. The aorist tense is generally translated like
the simple past in English yet has an emphasis on continued action in the past
and the conclusion of the past action. This would mean that the rising had been
completed not just commencing, as traditional interpretations would infer. In
regard to these definitions and Greek grammar, this verse could be translated
as such:
And very soon before the
first day of the week they came to the sepulcher [after] rising sun had reached
its limit.
Matthew 28:1 gives further evidence that
the women came to the tomb at the ending of the Sabbath in the late afternoon
before the first day of the week that was to begin at around 6 pm. as the
Sabbath ended. The translation of this verse in George R. Berry’s, Interlinear
Greek-English New Testament reads:
Now late on the Sabbath as it was getting dusk toward [the]
first [day] of [the] week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the
sepulcher.
The word toward
is the Greek word eis. It is a preposition that means motion unto and
meeting an object. They came on the Sabbath evening as it was approaching or
towards the first day of the week that began at 6 pm. This interlinear
translation translates epiphosko as dusk while the King James
Version translates it as dawn. In the one other place in Luke 23:54
where this word is used in the New Testament, the King James translators have
inexplicably translated this word as drew on. Since they translated it
as dawn in Matthew 28:1, it could not be translated as dawn in Luke 23:54
because the context of this verse shows clearly that it was evening. As a
result, it seems, they constructed an additional definition to fit this context
in Luke. Considering the divergent variety of translations of dusk, dawn and
drew on, this article will later investigate the word epiphosko within
the context of the sun being darkened by hyper sunspot activity.
In the context
of sunspot hyper activity and expansion, the importance of understanding that
the women coming to the tomb in the late afternoon is revealed in John 20:1.
This scripture states that Mary Magdalene came to the tomb when it was still
dark. Yet, this word for dark again is the same Greek word, skoto,
employed in Luke 24:44,45 where the sun was darkened between noon and 3 pm and
continued in this state afterwards. Unlike some of the other 233 Greek words translated
as dark, this word is never translated also as the darkness of night nor of the
darkness in dawn or dusk. It means shadowed. Most likely, the darkness of the
sun from sunspot activity shading the sun and the additional darkness of the
shaded tomb location on the Mount of Olives did not allow Mary to recognize the
man standing in the garden nearby as the resurrected Jesus until he spoke to
her and identified himself.
From the
construction of these verses and some of the pertinent Greek word definitions a
picture of the women traveling to the tomb, under a darkened sun, as the
Sabbath closes in the late afternoon, emerges. This seems consistent with the
rules of Hebrew culture and the love for and dedication to Jesus that these
women had.
It was the
responsibility of the female members of a household to anoint a body before
burial for ceremonial and practical purposes. These women were unable to anoint
Jesus’ body on the day he died because he was hurriedly placed in a grave
before Passover began at 6pm. After Passover began they could do no work. It
was not until Friday that they purchased the ointment and spices that needed
preparation. For some reason, they could not or chose not to anoint him on
Friday. Saturday was again a Sabbath and they were not allowed to work that day
either. When the end of the regular weekly Sabbath was coming to a close they
walked towards the tomb. They were allowed to walk a “Sabbath’s day journey”
from their home on the Sabbath. They may have been considering asking some
Gentiles to remove the stone from the entrance to the grave. By the time the
walking and the removing of the stone would have been completed, it would have
been past 6 pm and a new day so that they could do the work of anointing the
body of Jesus. After 6 pm at that time of year there were still several hours
of daylight remaining. Why should they have waited until the next morning as
Christian tradition has taught? By late on the Saturday Sabbath, Jesus had been
in the grave three days and three nights as he had foretold and, now, after
those three full days he was considered legally dead according to Jewish law.
It seems that there may have been some anxiousness on the women’s part to
fulfill their responsibility to this man who they loved and admired as soon as
possible rather than waiting until the following morning as tradition has
taught.
Later That Evening
That same evening
after 6 pm on the first day of the week two men who had followed Jesus were starting
out on their seven to eight mile journey back to their hometown of Emmaus. As
they were traveling the resurrected Jesus approached yet their eyes were kept
from recognizing him. He asked what had happened to make them sad. They
reiterated some of the events including the women coming from the tomb to the
quarters of the disciples saying that the body of Jesus was gone and they said
that three days had passed since all these things happened. (If it were the
following day, as tradition has taught, they would have said that four days had
passed already.) He admonished them for their slowness to believe and as they
walked Jesus began to share with them scriptural things about himself. When
they reached Emmaus, the two men invited Jesus to dinner with them because the
daylight was far spent. At dinner, they recognized Jesus and he then vanished
from their sight.
This record places
these two, previously, early that evening in the quarters of the disciples when
the women had rushed from the tomb to say the body was gone. The Interlinear
Greek-English New Testament describes in its translation the time that the
women came as the same evening that Jesus later appeared to the disciples. (If
they had come to the tomb in the morning why would they have waited until
evening to tell the apostles the body of Jesus was gone from the tomb?) It was
after the women came to the gathered disciples that the two from Emmaus
departed for home. The KJV gospel of John 20:19 testifies that on that same day
the women had come, at evening, Jesus came and stood in their midst saying,
“Peace be unto you, ” admonished them also for being slow to believe. This
Greek word for evening means second evening, which was from 6 pm till
sunset about 9 pm rather than the first evening from 3 pm until 6 pm. This
second evening was the same evening that the two from Emmaus had said three
days have passed already. In summary: the women came to the tomb late in the
first evening and found it empty; saw the resurrected Jesus briefly; ran and
told the disciples including the two from Emmaus early in the second evening;
the disciples did not believe; the two from Emmaus departed for home; Jesus
then, also, at the beginning of the second evening, appeared to the two on
their way to Emmaus; and then came back and appeared to the unbelieving
disciples in Jerusalem late that second evening.
A broader overview
relevant to the overall subject would be as such: On Wednesday, the 14th
of Nisan, as Jesus hung on the cross, the sun grew darker and darker from noon
until 3 pm when he died. The sun continued in this darkened state through at
least late Saturday afternoon when the women came to anoint the body of Jesus
and found that he had risen from the dead.
This three-day
period of darkness is well within the range of sunspot growth and subsequent
dissipation. As stated previously sunspots can last for months expanding and
shrinking repeatedly as they rotate with the sun.
Accelerated Plasma Clouds
What other
events of Passover and Pentecost are consistent with sunspot hyper activity?
Earthquakes are one! There is a correlation between heightened sunspot activity
and increased earthquake activity, especially during one of each month’s two
earth-sun-moon alignments resulting in a fully dark moon or a full moon. Why
the correlation between heightened sunspot activity and increased numbers of
earthquakes?
When sunspots
become expanding powerful tangled magnetic currents they erupt sending
streaming solar plasma discharges into space. These are called Coronal Mass
Ejections. When they are earth directed they strike the earth’s geomagnetic
field called the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere is a protective electro
magnetic field with field lines oriented presently in a north to south field.
If the Coronal Mass Ejections are large and powerful, they disrupt the earth’s
magnetosphere. At times the solar plasma penetrates the disrupted
magnetosphere. These are plasma clouds traveling sometimes at extremely high
speeds. Most often they are unseen. Occasionally they appear like fireballs
streaking through the sky in the daylight or in the dark night. Sometimes they
explode loudly with a flash in the lower atmosphere shaking everything like an
earthquake yet not registering as an earthquake on seismographs.
The earth itself
also generates electromagnetism. According to the current Dynamo Theory, the
molten mantle of the earth is turbinated by flowing over the inner surface of
the earth’s solid outer crust as it rotates at a slightly different rate than
the crust. When it is so turbinated it generates electrical currents and
corresponding magnetism. These electrical currents travel along the paths of
least resistance through the crust. One of the paths of least resistance is a
potential earthquake fault line. The portions of Coronal Mass Ejections that
penetrate the magnetosphere sometimes reach the surface of the earth where they
discharge. These discharges can be explosive with concentrated energetic
particles. When attracted to the build up of energetic particles along a fault
line the solar plasma penetrates the earth and discharges explosively
underground. This is not to say that all earthquakes are catalyzed by the
discharges of solar plasma yet enough earthquakes are in order to register a
correlation between sunspot activity and earthquakes.
Zechariah 14:4
indicates that there is a fault line running east west over the Mount of Olives
by writing that one day this mountain shall “cleave in midst” along an east
west line. It was along this line that not only Jesus was crucified, buried,
resurrected and later ascended but it was also the line upon which the temple
was constructed. And, as Zechariah writes, it is along this line that Jesus
Christ will one day again touch the surface of the earth.
From the time of
the ninth Hebrew hour at 3 pm on Wednesday until the women came to the tomb,
the gospel of Matthew records two earthquakes - one in the moments Jesus gave
up his last breath on the cross and one when the women approached the tomb
after three days and three nights. The second one, Matthew terms as a great
earthquake. This second earthquake also included the manifestation of an angel
who sat upon the stone that had rolled away from the entrance to the tomb.
Another event of
the time that would be consistent with solar plasma ejected from sunspots
entering the lower atmosphere would be the rending of the temple veil. In the
same moments that Jesus expired the scriptures say that the veil of the temple
was rent in two from the top to the bottom. This was not a flimsy veil. It has
been written that it was inches thick with gold and silver metal threads
interwoven and also used to embroider signs of the zodiac in it. It could be
that the same electrical discharge of plasma that caused the earthquake first
traveled down this conductive veil rending it apart.
These Coronal Mass
Ejections from sunspot activity also produce auroras-the undulating veils of
colorful lights normally spanning the night sky called the Northern Lights. If
energetic enough, these auroras can be seen in daylight. In these current days,
intense solar wind streams of plasma cause these auroras to be seen as far
south as Florida. There are other forms of these lights other than undulating
veils including flame like appearances. There are some current records of what
observers say are audible auroras. The sounds described are as of tinkling bells,
crackling, and wind. Some scientists say that there is not actually a sound. They
say that the electromagnetic plasma waves effect the auditory portion of the
brain making it seem as if the aurora is emitting a sound. This leads to other
events of that time that lend themselves to the causative effect of portions of
solar wind streams entering the lower atmosphere. Parapsychologists and other
scientists have found that during intense solar activity dream states can be
altered and aggressive activity increased in some individuals. There are a
number of records of precognitive dreams before major earthquakes. Before Jesus
was nailed to the cross, as Pilate sat to judge him, Pilate’s wife sent a
message telling Pilate to have nothing to do with Jesus because she suffered
many things in a dream about Jesus on that day.
About fifty days
later than Passover as this same sunspot group was again making its way across
the face of the sun and Peter was declaring that the darkening of the sun and
reddening of the moon was what Joel had prophesied centuries earlier, two more
events consistent with the effects of the sunspot, solar plasma, aurora
scenario had occurred. As the twelve apostles had sat, just before Peter’s
message, it is written that they heard a heavy breathing or rushing mighty wind
and tongues of fire or flames appeared unto them. This was their GO sign; the
time to subjectively manifest the gift from the Holy Spirit confirming their
connection from the heavenlies. The hearing of the wind and the seeing of the
flames are consistent with aurora activity, especially under the conditions of
a shadowed sun. In addition, days later, after the apostles had been threatened
by the religious leaders not to speak in the name of Jesus, as those that
believed were gathered together praying for more courage and boldness to speak
the name of Jesus, the record states that the place where they were was shaken.
This is consistent with a plasma bomb or bombs exploding in the lower
atmosphere.
So what evidence
is there that hyper sunspot activity caused the darkening of the sun from the
sixth hour until the ninth hour and beyond: the dream of Pilates wife, the
earthquake and the rending of the veil as Jesus gave up his last breath, the
darkened sun when the women came to the tomb, the earthquake at Jesus’
resurrection, the rushing mighty wind and tongues of fire on the day of
Pentecost and Peter’s confirming testimony thereafter.
Epiphosko
Now the subject of
the Greek word epiphosko will be addressed. First, this article will
consider historical auroral activity in relation to the Greek culture and language.
The Greek culture and language were in their ascendancy from 300 BC until about
the middle of the first century AD. During this time the strength of the
earth’s magnetic field was rising to and traversing the highest apexial plateau in the
last 12,000 years. It was forty percent above the average, sixty percent above
the lowest point about 6,000 years ago and about thirty five percent stronger
than present. Examination of historical records over the last 2,000 years has,
at this early point in research, discovered three auroral plateaus. One was
from the time commencing about one hundred years before Christ unto the time of
Christ. It has been labeled as the Roman Maximum. Not only were these
historical elements present during that year’s Passover and Pentecost, in
addition, according
to current data, yet to be scientifically explained, the spring feast
season and the fall feast season were the two highest yearly times of solar
disruptions and geomagnetic activity.
It was not uncommon for ancient cultures to introduce new gods
for new phenomena. The Greeks introduced new gods as the offspring of older
gods. It was the union of Eos goddess of the dawn and Astraeus, the god of
winds and stars that brought forth Boreas, the god of the north wind. An
ancient relief of Boreas on The Tower of the Winds in Athens, depicts him as
flying with flowing garments, holding a flowing unfurled sheet and a spiraled
horn like that depicted of the mythical unicorn with his right index finger
pointing into the wide opening of the spiraled horn. He was also considered as
one of the Titans who were god-men. It seems to depict this in the relief
of Boreas who has one foot clad in a boot and the other foot unclad. It is
interesting that a common thread through many ancient cultural myths describes
auroras as pathways to and from the earth for the gods.
In this day the
name for the Northern Lights is aurora borealis. Aurora is the Latin name for
the goddess of dawn and borealis has it origins with the name of the Greek god
Boreas. Considering the very high magnetic strength of the earth and the many
disruptions to earth’s geomagnetic field by solar plasma evidenced by the frequent
appearance of auroras in this time frame, dawn may have been more varied and
dramatic in color during that time period. Even today, dawn can exhibit
beautiful shades of blue and red similar to some aurora colors. So to combine
the goddess of morning with the god of the shining stars and undulating wind to
bring forth the god of the north wind as a combination is quite reasonable for
that time period. It is also quite reasonable today considering the history of
the words to name the Northern Lights, aurora
borealis.
Also, along with
the bringing forth of new gods, it was not, and it is not, uncommon for
cultures to form new words from old words, or add new definitions to older words
to describe new phenomena and new discoveries. This Greek word epiphosko
from its prefix epi and its root phosko simply means light down
upon. Of all secular Greek writings it is only used in quotations of the two
verses in which it appears in the New Testament, yet in A Greek-English
Lexicon it does not appear in the
listing of words translated as dawn or morning. It is little
wonder that translators have had difficulty with this word. At the time of the
translations auroral activity was low, sunspots were curious dark spots known
to the few astronomers of the day and there was no correlation between sunspots
and auroral activity or heightened earthquake activity since consistent records
of sunspot activity had not yet commenced.
All in the Family
Epiphosko, used in Matthew 28:1 and Luke 23:54, is in a word
family of which Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible indicates
that it is a member. This word family has two words that are translated at
times as dawn. Both words have very similar definitions. They are epiphaneia
and epiphaino. Their definitions from Lindell and Scott’s A
Greek-English Lexicon, include:
sudden appearance, unexpected outward show, come into view, manifestation,
especially of gods, visible surface of a body and show forth surface. The root
of these words, phaino, includes the definitions of to shine in mid air,
shine like fire, and reflect as in a pool of water. If the phos in epiphosko
is an indication that the word also has a relation to the Greek word phosphorus,
the word attracts more interest. This word is used of the light from torch
bearing deities. It is also used of enlightenment of the mind.
Besides Matthew
28:1, there is the other place that epiphosko is employed. It is in Luke
23:54 that concludes the record of the women watching where Jesus was buried in
the late day of his crucifixion.
And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.
Here the word epiphosko is translated
as “drew on.” Why? Who knows for sure? In any event, it is a far stretch to translate
this word as “drew on.”
In consideration of the Greek word, textual, historical and
scientific evidence this word would be another indicator that this was a time
period of quite high solar disruptions as evidenced by auroral activity.
So, in these two
records of Matthew 28:1 and Luke 23:54, the word, epiphosko, is found in
the context of the evening when Jesus was buried and the evening when he arose.
Luke 23:44,45 reveals that sun continued in darkness (skoto) beyond 3 pm
when Jesus gave up his life on the cross. Luke 23:54 reveals that the condition
in this darkness when the women watched as Joseph of Arimathaea place Jesus’
body in the tomb was under a manifestation of lights in the sky (epiphosko)
as the shaded sun was approaching sunset.
Similarly, three days later, in the early evening, as recorded in John
20:1, it was still dark (skoto). And according to Matthew 28:1, at this
time, there also was a condition of lights shining in the sky as shown also by
the other textual usage of epiphosko in this verse.
It seems that God
the Father, chose to vividly mark out this time period from Jesus’ crucifixion,
through his resurrection and ascension unto Pentecost with hyper solar activity
and the ensuing results. The whole world did pay attention. Pliny the Elder, a
contemporary secular Latin writer of the first century, wrote, from over a thousand miles distant in
Italy, of a year when there had been "portentous
and protracted eclipses of the sun … caused almost a whole year's continuous
gloom," yet, there are no
computer simulated astronomical records of a year in that area or span when
multiple eclipses could be observed. Nor can eclipses be noticeably protracted
events in relation to all others. In the scripture, on that year’s Pentecost,
the apostle Peter, used a word in the family, that includes epiphosko, in
that moment when he stood to quote Joel in order to describe that day in the
temple to those gathered.
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into
blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
The word notable in this sentence is the Greek word epiphanes.
It is only used here yet a close relative epiphaneia is translated as
brightness or appearing by the King James Version translators. Here again, with
consideration of the sun being darkened by expanded sunspots and the moon being
turned red by their luminous projection onto the moon’s surface; and
geomagnetic storms on earth being produced by sunspot eruptions, is other
textual evidence for subsequent auroral activity also marking the time.
It is all history;
so why is this so important for the Christian church now? It was past for the
apostle Paul yet he wrote of a future time period when the systems of this
world would progressively come to naught using the word epipheneia of
this word family.
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness (epiphaneia)
of his coming. II Thessalonians 2:8
The word is used five other places in the Greek texts to
describe this future time. In those places is translated in the King James
Version by the word appearing. One is in Titus 2:13.
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing (epiphaneia)
of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Another is II Timothy 4:1
I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing (epiphaneia)
and his kingdom;
The Second Day of Darkness and Epiphosko
When it is considered that Paul, Peter, and
even James, wrote of two
time periods of Christ, the understanding of a future time period
containing events similar to the astrophysical events of Passover through
Pentecost in the year of the crucifixion becomes realistic. In a figure or
type, Jesus made two entries down from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem
during the week before he was crucified. The first was in blessing and the
second was in judgment.
The blessing of his sufferings is now past yet the glories
of his judgments are still future.
How far in the
future? As written previously in this article, historical researchers have
noted three time periods in the last 2000 years of heightened auroral activity.
The first was the one hundred years preceding Christ. The second was around the
11th century through the early 12th century and the third
began in the mid 19th century and continues through this day. Some
scientists say that the earth’s magnetosphere; the solar system’s magnetic
field and the solar magnetic field are highly unstable now. Yet, it is true
that the earth’s magnetic field is on the wane as compared to the first time of
Christ and that the sun is in a decline of sunspot activity although
anomalously slow and erratic.
However, there are
many other factors that produce and allow plasma discharges to pass through the
magnetosphere. Some are unknown factors, as scientists acknowledge a parallel
macrocosm that contains 96% of the universe’s energy and matter of which they
are ignorant. Even so, it is known that forces outside the solar system also
affect the magnetosphere. There was a cosmic blast entering the solar system in
September of 2003 that significantly shook all the fields of the solar system
producing large aurora fields. In December of 2004 the first wave, in the form
of light, from a magnetar located across the galaxy that had exploded 50,000
years ago shook the earth’s magnetosphere and certainly affected the sun’s fields.
And the solar system has recently entered an increasingly dense cloud of
charged galactic dust.
In this recent
time frame, from within the solar system, events like the following have
occurred. In November of 2003, the largest recorded disruption of the earth’s
geomagnetic field from a Coronal Mass Ejection occurred. In November 2004 there
was an extreme Coronal Mass Ejection that not only disrupted the magnetosphere
but also sent the earth’s ring current into a quite rare steep decline. It
produced auroras as far south as Southern California. In January 2005, there
was a powerful sunspot crossing the face of the sun-a rare and untimely
occurrence and in the current descent towards solar minimum. Its eruptions
produced an X7 solar flare resulting in awe-inspiring auroras across Northern
Europe. It is also known that the
earth’s magnetosphere has been weakening since the time scientists began to
have the means to measure its strength. Recently, the earth’s ring current has
remained noticeably negative with erratic downward spikes for a longer time
than any other in the about fifty-year record.
Jesus said that
when the stars of heaven shall fall and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken for the Christian to take heed that their redemption draweth nigh.
Stars, as bright
comets, have fallen in record numbers over the last ten years and the power
of the heavens are being shaken through cosmic blasts either from the sun or
from outside the solar system. It is when these things begin for which the
Christian is to watch in anticipation of the day of the Lord. (Mark 13:23-37,
Luke 22:25-36)
On the other hand
Paul writes, according to the Greek, that those of unbelief who are not
watching and waiting will say we shall not fail yet darkness will ruin them. (I
Thessalonians 5:3) Reasonably, a means to have both darkness and the light of
epiphany at the same time is in a scenario of extreme sunspots darkening the
sun and corresponding auroral activity undulating colorful lights in the sky.
Could this coming darkness and corresponding
light down upon the earth come from the same source as it did about 2,000 years
ago? Could this, now, in similar coordination of subsequent forces, be used for
transformation, regeneration, and resurrection and could variations of these
same subsequent forces be used for judgment?
The
End and A New Beginning For Man
Copyright, Steven G. Santini, 2005
Web Page Address:
http://www.oocities.org/kibotos2002/dark.html
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