[thunder] NARRATOR: Revelation, long considered the most controversial book in the Bible. In its cryptic language, many see a timeline for destruction on an unprecedented level. Some argue the timeline will end, suddenly, violently, in this century.
We live in a world that is changing profoundly and fast, and that is facing threats that seem apocalyptic to us. We worry about global warming, overpopulation. It's necessary only to open the newspaper or turn on CNN to see headlines, which, in the eyes of some readers of Revelation, will be sure proof that the Biblical prophecies are coming true at last.
JOYE JEFFRIES PUGH: Just think about in the last couple of years, we have seen devastating hurricanes. We have seen devastating tornadoes. We've encountered earthquakes very high on the Richter scale.
If you look at how fast they are happening and how much closer together they are coming, as we get closer to the end of days, they almost will come right on top of each other. NARRATOR: The prophecy within Revelation suggests that as the seven seals of the Apocalypse are broken one by one, we move closer to the end of the timeline. [thunder] [explosion] Some biblical experts contend that the seals have already begun to break, setting the stage for a final cataclysm.
If this is true, what could happen and when? Exactly where are we on the timeline? JONATHAN KIRSCH: There will be terrible suffering, wars, illness, a series of disasters, catastrophes, that will be visited on Earth, on human beings living on Earth, as the end of the world approaches.
And in the end, we will witness the final destruction of the Earth on which mortal human beings live. NARRATOR: But what forces will bring about this final destruction? How would we know that the most important seal of all, the seventh, has been broken?
Revelation says the final punishment for mankind's evil will be heralded by the peals of celestial trumpets. [brass music] You see seven angels, each having a trumpet. And they come forth, and then begins the series of the trumpet judgments.
NARRATOR: Some believe that these judgments will be natural disasters of unprecedented magnitude. They look to science for answers as they theorize that the cryptic text in Revelation may allude to physical forces on or beyond Earth. Some New Testament scholars say that this and biblical references to fire falling from the sky could be interpreted as asteroids.
A collision between an asteroid and the Earth may be the catastrophic event predicted in another verse from Revelation. MAN: The third angel sounded his trumpet and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky. The name of the star is Wormwood.
NARRATOR: Some believe that Revelation's author, John, is not specifying a star in this passage, but a comet or asteroid. It is widely accepted that ancient observers could not have understood the difference between various types of celestial bodies. And while no stars are named Wormwood, there is strong scientific evidence that an asteroid strike could play a major role in the mass extinction of life on Earth.
Astronomers now believe that all three generations of dinosaurs, Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous, were brought to extinction, at least in part by extraterrestrial collision events, giant comets and asteroids striking the Earth. If something that big were to happen, humanity wouldn't survive. NARRATOR: Today, a collision between Earth and an asteroid just a few miles in diameter may release as much energy as 1,000 nuclear weapons detonated simultaneously.
[explosions] MAN: And the third part of the son 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. NARRATOR: If a large asteroid or comet were to strike Earth in our lifetime, it would send millions of tons of debris into our atmosphere for years. This would virtually imprison us in a cloud of dust, cut off from the life-giving sun.
Is this the scenario described in Revelation? In any case, its author writes that more trumpets will blast and even greater anarchy will unfold.
