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BIRTH PANG NUMBER 7

CHAPTER 9- THE HEAVEN DEPARTS

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And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places, Revelation 6:14.

In chapter four I went into specific detail as to the meaning of and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” I am convinced this scripture, along with “and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found,” means that the tectonic plates will shift sufficiently to change the latitudinal and longitudinal mini-second coordinates of every island and mountain on the face of the earth. This will produce wave after wave of unbelievable earthquake activity rippling through the horizontal and vertical structure of the earth. At the same time this fantastic earthquake scenario is occurring, the heaven will depart “as a scroll when it is rolled together” The shifting of the plates produces both phenomena: earthquakes by an unlocking of pent-up pressures along plate boundaries, and a departure of the heavenly view by smoke from volcanic eruptions.

I an convinced that the shifting of the plates will generate the formation of chains of volcanic activity, as pictured in figure 10, along all the plate boundaries shown in figure 3. God, who made everything I have described to this point, has also created around the entire earth a great temperature inversion shroud in the lower section of the stratosphere just above the tropopause. Any time there is a moderate to severe vertical volcanic eruption, smoke is forcefully injected through the tropopause and trapped beneath the temperature inversion of the stratosphere. There is virtually no moisture above the tropopause and, since the smoke particles cannot be made heavy enough to fall earthward by condensation of water vapor on them, the smoke remains suspended in the lower section of the stratosphere for five to fifteen years. The winds in the lower section of the stratosphere advect the volcanic smoke around the entire envelope of atmosphere that surrounds the earth over a two to four year period. Figure 11 portrays the great temperature inversion that exists around the entire earth through the stratosphere. As the smoke attempts to rise through this inversion it soon reaches a temperature near its own and begins to flatten out into a great shield of smoke, a shield that is then advected around the entire atmosphere by the winds of the stratosphere. Have you ever really looked at all the Old and New Testament prophecies concerning the appearance of the heavenly bodies during the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation Period? Let us now consider just a few of these prophecies to see if we can correlate them.

And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise, Revelation 8:12.

And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness~ and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come, Joel 2:30, 31.

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

The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining, Joel 2:10.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, Matthews 24:29.

How can this be? One prophet says you will not he able to see the sun, moon, and stars about one-third of the time, but another says you won’t be able to see them at all. These prophecies are fulfilled gradually over the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation Period, and the prophets have been given visions of the effects on the view of the heavenly bodies from earth at different times in this period. Let us assume that the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation Period have begun and a person is standing at point “X” on figure 12. A person could look up and see the sun, moon or stars from this vantage point on the earth’s surface without obstruction. Now, let us allow figure 12 to become alive, with the winds of the stratosphere moving the volcanic smoke clouds around the earth in patches. Within a few hours after you had made your unobstructed observation of the sun, moon or stars, the thin leading edge of the volcanic cloud would begin to move between you and the heavenly bodies. If it were night, the moon would turn blood red. If it were day, the sun would be darkened. Within an hour or so the thicker part of the volcanic smoke shield would move over you and the sun, moon or stars would completely disappear from view. After a few more hours the back side of the cloud would move past, and you would once again be enjoying a clear space between volcanic cloud patches, such that the sun, moon or stars would again be visible. This scenario would be repeated over and over again during the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation Period on a gradually worsening trend. You would not be able to see the sun, moon or stars about one-third of the time—at times the moon would be blood red and the sun black as sackcloth of hair—and sometimes you would not see any of the heavenly bodies. All of this is exactly what the Old and New Testament prophets observed in their visions. These things are the “signs in the sun, and in the noon, and in the stars prophesied in Luke 21:25, 26:

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

At this point it may seem that I have been sidetracked from

Explaining “and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together,” but everything to this point draws together toward a

Final conclusion. In Revelation 6:14, the word used for heaven is ouranos, and there are three of them: (1) the Heaven where God dwells, (2) the heaven where the birds fly (atmosphere), and (3) the heaven where the sun, moon, and stars abide. It is the latter to which John refers. The word used for departed is apechoristhe, which literally means, in this case, “was removed from view.” John is saying he saw what the Hebrews considered heaven (sun, moon, and stars) removed from his view. When something or someone departs, or is removed, it is no longer visible to the one from which it departed. John says that the heaven disappeared from his view and then tells us the manner in which it disappeared: as a scroll when it is rolled together”

In figure 13 you can see the likeness of a Hebrew scroll. If while you were reading the scroll it were slowly roiled together, then it could he truly stated that the writing departed from your view “as a scroll when it is rolled together.” In his vision John looked up into what the Hebrews considered one of the heavens and, as he watched, the heavenly bodies slowly disappeared over a period of time. This is exactly what will occur during the period of time we identify as the last three and one-half years of the tribulation Period. It will occur like the slow rolling together of a scroll, such that by the end of the Tribulation Period a continuous cloud band of smoke will completely engulf the earth in the lower section of the stratosphere. No one will be able to see the sun, moon or stars through the thick shroud. It is through the great stratospheric cloud shown in figure 14 that the author believes the Lord shall return at the end of the Tribulation Period.