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Due to its popularity long ago, the following 18th century poetry was adapted into an English lullaby with several music and verse variations.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star!
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
When the blazing sun is gone
When he nothing shines upon
Then you show your little light
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night
In the dark blue sky you keep
And often through my curtains peep
For you never shut your eye
Till the sun is in the sky
As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveler in the dark
Though I know not what you are
Twinkle, twinkle, little star! -1-
This original English poetry was composed by British poet and novelist Jane Taylor. Entitled The Star in her children’s book Rhymes for the Nursery, it was first published in 1806 when she was only 23 years old. Jane favorably impacted England for decades with unusually charming children’s books and poetry.
Could there actually be a particular star that emits the “bright and tiny spark” inspired in Jane’s poetry? Strangely
enough, this wonderful and fanciful thought easily points us to a
unique star known from ancient times that matches up very well — perhaps
far better than any other star
we might imagine. This star is considered by some astronomers to be one
of the most significant stars for star gazers to discover within our
close universe! The star is anciently named Alcyone, pronounced al (as in alley) see-own-e (e as in ego). A princess name in Greek mythology, Alcyone is also historically known as "The Center One." The seven stars in heaven that form the well known Pleiades (pronounced ply-uh-deeze) Star Cluster (located in the shoulder of the constellation Taurus the Bull) are also known as The Seven Sisters.
The Pleiades is historically so prominent among star groups that it
even made its way into Bible history written as far back as about 700
B.C. (see Amos 5:8). When
viewed from earth, Alcyone has always attracted special attention as it
is blue in color and the brightest star in the Pleiades!Stars are classified in many ways including their brightness, called magnitude. Stars
visible without use of a telescope are rated from 1, being the
brightest, through 6, which is the dimmest to be seen. Alcyone has a
magnitude of 2.87, which is quite bright. It is about 10 times the
radius of our sun, and is about 400 light years away!Alcyone is a fast
spinning blue star. It is classified as a Giant Star, and is also a
Multiple Star System because three other much smaller stars revolve
closely around it! Known as Alcyone B, C, and D, their magnitudes
are 6.28, 8.25, and 9.15. These companion stars to Alcyone are too dim
to see with the naked eye, but they add light to the "bright and tiny
spark" seen when viewing Alcyone without a telescope.
There are about 400
more stars that compose the entire Pleiades Open Star Cluster. The
Pleiades is much nearer than the next nearest Open Star Cluster to our
solar system. Nevertheless, only its largest six or seven stars are
visible to the naked eye. These stars are named: Alcyone, Merope,
Electra, Celaeno, Taygeta, Maia, and Asterope. Pleiades’ nearest major
neighboring stars are named Atlas and Pleione. Mythologically, Atlas was
the husband and Pleione was his first wife, and they were parents of
the seven sisters. -2-
Strangely
enough, the Pleiades have been recognized by some civilizations since
ancient times as a key hub or center around which our known "close
universe" of other stars actually circle! ["Close
universe" refers to all of our telescopically known stars and planets].
Today, this idea of our close universe swirling around a hub star or
star group is dismissed as an unproved theory. Yet, some astronomers
still wonder if the billions of stars in our close universe actually do, altogether as one
unit, revolve in a super gigantic circular orbit -- an orbit so large
that its united overall movement is completely indiscernible to
mankind.
The unique Pleiades Open Star Cluster is about 18 light years from end to end and is about 400 light years away from earth. Knowledge About Our Universe Is Lacking In
spite of the amazing knowledge we have of our known universe mostly
gained through the aid of very powerful telescopes, our knowledge base
of the heavens is still quite limited. Distant stars and their planets
are simply too far away for us to better analyze and understand them.
Believe it or not, much of our present-day star "knowledge" is still theoretical !
For example, popularized by some scientists and therefore accepted by many in our modern times, the Big Bang Theory offers a theoretical explanation of how our universe "began"
by first forming (about 14 billion years ago) as a "soupy ethereal
substance transformation" or evolving via a "spontaneous disappearance
and reappearance transformation." The theory is that this emerging
transition (regardless of which supposed transformation it actually
underwent) caused an extreme reaction of intense heat culminating in a
sudden cataclysmic expansion so powerful and far reaching that the
explosion of a million hydrogen bombs would have seemed like the knee
jerk of a wood tick in comparison. The result theoretically produced
billions of stars and galaxies plus planets, moons, asteroids, and
billions of their other related space components even including space
dust.
THE INITIAL "BIG BANG" IS PHOTO SIMULATED BY FIREWORKS It
is both odd and paradoxical that certain more fundamental scientific
reasoning refutes these creation "emergence theories." The Postulate
of Causality states that events do not occur randomly, but only by cause
and effect. Therefore, the creation of anything from nothing is
impossible. This scientifically applies whether anything is said to
be created (or come into existence) "spontaneously," "first forming," or
otherwise. Elements (or an existing substance of matter) may change
chemical form and lose or gain energy, but it is a bedrock fundamental
tenet of science that matter cannot be created or destroyed.
It is clear to sound reason that something physical cannot
spontaneously appear, or entirely disappear, or be created otherwise out
of nothing, regardless of how large, small, solid, or ethereal the
proposed object may be. Could a spontaneous
"Big Bang" expand ethereal matter (which thin air-like matter itself must have already been in existence and take up space, or had to just appear by itself out of nothing!) -- yes, actually expand to the extent of generating enough energy to suddenly create from a small limited amount of ethereal matter the entire gigantic contents of space itself? Before the Big Bang could happen, the Big Bang theory limits itself to a very small beginning "universe." This primeval "space" or "small universe" would have a limited size. Valid reason requires that it also had to have an "edge" or "end" to define its actual size. Otherwise, if this beginning universe was without an edge or end, it would have already taken up all of the space available and there would be no space left for the huge explosion to produce a new or additional universe or to afterwards allow a ballooning expansion of it. So, what size was this small primeval universe before the supposed Big Bang? If it was large enough for a spaceship to fly inside it, and it flew to the end of that limited space, would it hit an invisible wall or just disintegrate or
disappear? It is more true to logic and to fundamental accepted science
that the vast endless universe of space surrounding us along with all
the matter in it did not need to begin, is without end, and simply
always existed !
Most Star Clusters contain
millions of smaller class stars rotating slowly and held closely
together without colliding due to their mutual gravity. Most are found
in the halo areas of galaxies. The cluster pictured is registered as
m92, located in the constellation Hercules. It is about 26,700 light years from earth with an apparent magnitude of 6.3. Many thousands of Star Clusters are found in our own Milky Way galaxy alone!
-3-
Does
not even God Himself work miracles within the framework of the many
eternal laws of our universe which by His perfect wisdom He understands and has power to
utilize and control? The first book of the Bible, Genesis, tells us that the earth we live on was at first "without form." It needed God's refining power to make it into a beautiful world fully suitable for mankind to live on and to enjoy. It reveals to us the first fundamental changes God made to bring about its "creation." Then, after that miraculous transformation, consider how God created earth's first man. God created Adam's
physical body in His own image "from the dust" of this earth. All of this "creation" process involved miraculously transforming elements -- not creating the earth or Adam's physical body from
absolutely nothing.
Not long afterward, Eve's body was also created from a rib taken from Adam's side. God caused a
deep sleep to fall upon Adam and then performed what we would consider
a "miraculous" operation. Yet, again it involved transforming elements.
[Genesis 2:7;21-22].
Jesus also made water
into wine by transforming elements. He had several stone water pots
first filled with water; then the water was transformed into excellent
wine. [John 2:1-10.]
CHRIST'S FIRST PUBLIC MIRACLE
MARRIAGE AT CANA by Giatto di Bondone, 14th century God's Son, Jesus
Christ, also having the full powers of Godhood, in a similar manner
miraculously restored the severed ear of a discordant servant -- the ear
cut off by Apostle Peter's sword -- which bloody ear then fell onto the
ground when Jesus was confronted with his final capture and impending death. To
the astonishment of all present, Jesus picked up the ear and set it back
in its place [Luke 22:49-51; John 18:10-11]. This miracle was also
performed by transforming elements -- although again coupled with godly
power! In spite of all this, Christ still allowed the guards of the
temple to take him as their prisoner to be tried and finally crucified
with excruciating pain to redeem all repentant mankind from their sins.
Elements, or matter as we call them, had to exist in some form forever without any initial creation. Otherwise
nothing could be transformed or "created" from them. 100% of all
physical things on earth are made of elements. God either exists or He
does not. We either exist or we do not. We and our beautiful refined earth plainly do
exist, and this fact remains as a physical testimony of their true
existence. Things don't just suddenly appear out of nothing!
It
is momentous that occasionally, over decades and even centuries, things
that science has long held to be true become modified and changed,
sometimes drastically, as new information is discovered and false
information is set aside. The Dark Ages of religious persecution and
terror, and the Salem Witch Trials of torturous killings are only two
infamous examples of retaining foolish false beliefs that cause much
grief and suffering for mankind.
And yes. The earth is actually round . . . . well, it's almost round!
Technically, the earth is an "oblate spheroid." It bulges out around
its equator due to its constant rapid spinning on its axis! But our
world is really not flat after all! The flat earth theory required our sun and moon to travel in a circle directly above the earth. Without greater knowledge of the stars and other celestial movements, this made perfect sense to the ancients.
- 4 - Our Close Visible Universe is Huge! To gain a more realistic perspective of the vastness of our universe of stars, note that our disk shaped galaxy, called The Milky Way, which contains our own sun and planets, is believed to contain about one to four billion stars
including our relatively small solar system and about a billion other planets.
It is about 100,000 light years across and about 1,000 light years in
thickness! [A light year is the vast distance light travels in
one year at the velocity of about 185,419 miles per second in
earthbound atmosphere, or traveling in open space about one percent
faster, which is about 186,282 miles per second!] Our Milky Way Galaxy, is 100,000 light years (LY) across and 1,000 LY thick.Yet our own solar system within it (containing our sun and eight planets including earth) is only about one light year across!
However, a single light year is a whopping 9.8 trillion miles!
Because outer space
is so vast, it is no wonder that distances in space are nearly always
measured in light years. Just one light year is an incomprehensible
distance for man to realize. If you hesitate to believe this last
statement, then set
aside just one full minute, right now, during which you close your eyes (at least part of the time)
and try to realistically visualize in your mind that you are moving
through the universe at the speed of light which is more than 11 million miles per minute!
As you move
through space at light speed you are told that you will briefly see a
small bright dot in the distance. It is the earth!. It takes only one second for that dot -- the earth -- to appear very close to you due to your light fast speed. The earth appears to zoom past you in a micro-second seen only as a flashing blur. Within one second more the earth will be behind you and become as a tiny dot to instantly disappear again. The speed of light is amazingly fast!
Continue to imagine
moving on through space at the speed of light for at least one full
minute. To do this, count to sixty slowly as you picture yourself flying through space at such lightning speed, and as you are flying, realize this: If Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, was in its orbit somewhat near to your speeding flight pathway, you might already see it in the distance. This cloud covered planet is on average about 445 million miles from earth and 11 times larger in diameter than the earth's diameter. If the earth was the size of a grape, Jupiter would be the size of a basketball!
Jupiter's close cloudy rings are bands consisting mostly of gasses, dust, and small debris created on the planet from meteorite impacts. These occasionally strike the planet’s 95 irregular shaped small moons which mostly range in size from around six miles in diameter to many around a half mile and less in size. Jupiter's temperature at the surface is a freezing minus 230 degrees F, but the planet is very hot at the top of its atmospheric cloud bands reaching up as high as 1300 degrees F. Four prominent "planet moons" orbit Jupiter.They are named Lo, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. In miles, Earth's moon diameter (D) is 2158 D. Two moons are close to the size of Earth's moon: Lo (2158 D) is an active volcanic moon, and Europa (1996 D) has a cratered surface mostly covered with water and ice. Callisto (2995 D) [barely under the size of planet Mercury (3030D)] is heavily cratered and possibly has a subsurface ocean. Ganymede (3400 D) -- larger than Mercury -- is the largest moon in our solar system. It is ice covered with a frigid temperature of minus 171 F. and much lower, and has a thin atmosphere containing oxygen.
Due to your high speed, as you come very close to passing across Jupiter you will not be able to spend much time marveling at its thick varied color clouds which form ether-like
orbiting rings. You can see that its four main rings are peppered with what appears to be small dark spots -- they are flying rocks and debris -- carried amidst the great banded sections of slowly flowing colors ranging from yellow, blue, purple, brown, gray and orange. You watch the planet slowly grow larger and then unnervingly colossal in size! Jupiter's "Great Red Spot" is a gigantic ongoing storm with an unknown cause -- the largest storm in our Solar System. It took you 39.8 minutes zipping through space at the speed of light to arrive very near Jupiter! Unlike flying past earth which flashed past you in a fraction of a second, when you sped by enormous Jupiter, in spite of its mountainous size, you passed the planet at very close range in about 11 seconds! Then, for the next 4 or 5 minutes you would watch Jupiter gradually grow smaller and smaller as you continued flying further away in space.
Visiting Jupiter by flying at light speed would have taken you about 40 minutes to reach the planet, and then another 40 minutes to return to earth. I'm sure that after reading about this
envisioned flying experiment you will agree that traveling at light speed even for 60 seconds covers an astonishing distance that is truly mind
boggling! Keep in mind that this illustrative light speed journey happened only within a small section of our solar system!
-5-
Big Bang Theory promoters also assert another revolutionary result of Big Bang's ballooning explosion. It is that all of the
universe's contents that became formed (galaxies, stars, planets,
moons, asteroids, space dust, etc.) are altogether still moving in space outwards
from the original location of the Big Bang, or at least are moving
outwards or are "expanding" for some other unknown reason. Expanding Universe Theory Illustration
Theoretically, the created Big Bang universe and it's contents have
already "expanded" continually for the time period of about 14 billion
years after the initial Big Bang occurrence before reaching our present
time period! Theoretically, the Big Bang universe is continuing to
expand and travel on, along with all its physical contents, during our
present time period of the world; and it will continue expanding on and
on into the future perpetually! Therefore,
Big Bang Theory adherents have coined a phrase referring to the
universe surrounding us as being a "continually expanding universe." Our entire close universe may be moving altogether as one unit
Recently, our most
powerful telescopes have discovered that a few very very far distant
galaxies, barely visible, appear to be moving away from us at high
speed. These galaxies are too far away for us to be absolutely
certain of this apparent high speed receding movement. Or, could it be
that our entire close universe is instead moving away from these far
distant galaxies at a high speed? If our earth along with our solar
system and
thousands of other visible galaxies in our observable close universe are
also all moving together as one gigantic unit through space, as earlier
speculated, we would be completely unaware that our close universe is
moving altogether along with us!
In a
similar manner, we are physically unaware that our earth is spinning at
more than 1,000 miles per hour at its equator in order to make a single
revolution that we call one day! Yes, sometimes we are standing on
top of the spinning earth, and other times standing upside down on the
bottom side! But, due to gravity and the large size of our earth, we are
not physically aware that we are speeding or spinning, or are upside
down at all! And, obviously the earth has a top or bottom only when we
define it to be so based upon our own location and physical position at
that time.
Is
the theory that our universe was created with a "Big Bang" and is "a
constantly expanding universe" any more fantastic to accept than
believing that our entire close universe contents are moving altogether
through space in a huge orbit, or possibly around some "center hub star
group"? Today's
star science has mostly dismissed the notion that Alcyone, or any other
major star, could be a central hub star in our near observable
universe. Yet, some inauspicious astronomers continue to wonder if Alcyone
-- or the Pleiades -- being so close to us -- could be some sort of center point in our close
universe, and that the far far distant galaxies previously referred to
which appear to be moving away from us at high speed are too
far away to actually be a connected part of our ordinarily observable close
universe contents.
Additional inquiry about the Pleiades central hub positioning reminds us that in ancient mythological times a star named Atlas
(a bright star situated very near the seven main Pleiades stars) was
said to be cursed to carry the heavy burden of bearing the weight of the
entire universe. A strange belief indeed! Mayan legends also reverenced
Alcyone which they identified as a star of central power by calling it
“The Great Central Sun.” So we see that at least some astronomers of
ancient eras believed in the unique independent position of the Pleiades
star group.
The Pleiades also attract the attention of astronomers because they are an uncommon "open cluster" of stars. Such stars are believed
to all be formed from the same dust cloud, rather than being formed
separately in a random chance grouping as most all other stars are
believed to evolve. The Pleiades stars maintain noticeably more
independent stability due to being less affected by each other's
gravity. Having these unique features and being located relatively close
to our own solar system, it is no wonder that historically some
civilizations came to accept as fact that the Pleiades and its brightest
primary star, Alcyone, are the "center stars" of our close known
universe.
Open Star Clusters
(O.S.C.s) have been relatively rare to identify in the past due to a
typical galaxy's amazingly huge size and dense saturation of stars.
However, recent powerful telescopic mapping projects have now identified more than a thousand O.S.C.s within our own Milky Way Galaxy. Our galaxy, considered to be among the smaller galaxies in size, still encompasses an estimated one to four billion stars!
- 6 -
You might already know that all stars are actually what we call “suns.” Therefore,
our own sun is a star. Being a rather small star, its size or mass is
actually very large when compared to Earth. It is 1.3 million times
larger than the Earth! The diameter of our sun is almost a million
miles, while that of Earth’s is only a little under 8,000 miles. No
wonder our present powerful telescopes cannot focus closer onto planets that are revolving around some other distant suns!
The distance around our Earth’s equator is 24,901 miles. Therefore, to
get another perspective of how far light travels in space in just one
second, outer space light could speed around our Earth about 7 times in
one second! That's about 420 times in one minute! As previously
mentioned, the spin speed of Earth at its equator is just a little over
1,000 miles per hour. Fortunately for us, Earth's clouds and atmosphere spin right along with it! At the same time that it is
spinning, it is also quite amazing that our Earth is also moving at the
astonishing velocity of about 67,000 miles per hour in a constant
slightly elliptical orbit around our sun. Even at that high speed, our
sun is so large that it takes the Earth a full year to complete a single
orbit!
What
if our atmosphere did not also spin along with the Earth's spin
speed, but stayed in place with hardly any spin movement? A category 1 Hurricane
produces winds of 74 to 95 miles per hour which always causes major
damage to the towns and cities they pass through. The strongest winds
ever recorded, which fortunately have been only a very few, are category 6 Hurricanes which
have been recorded to reach around 185 miles per hour. These are winds
that can rip and carry away most everything from cattle to cars. They
tear away nearly all housing and buildings, uproot nearly all trees,
cause devastating floods, destroy electrical and other infrastructure,
and ruin much more.
If the Earth's
speeding atmosphere suddenly slowed down and was hardly moving, then the Earth's high spin speed would turn the Earth's atmosphere into extreme
high winds with forces of up to more than five times that of a category 6
hurricane! These winds would soon scour the entire Earth and its seas.
Such winds would quickly and completely decimate the Earth, throwing
thousands upon thousands of tons of soil, rocks, and seawater quickly
into the atmosphere. It would most likely deface the entire Earth and
destroy every living thing on it within only a few hours!
There are 525,600 seconds in one year. So according to astrologists, light in outer space travels about 9.8 trillion miles in just one light year! Such speed and distance in light years is beyond realistic human comprehension. Two million light years — yes, two million light years! — from our galaxy is the next closest one, the Andromeda Galaxy. The stars visible to our naked eyes on clear sky nights are only stars found within our own galaxy! Powerful telescopes have also discovered numerous galaxy clusters, each cluster said to be composed of about a thousand galaxies! Yes, all of this is obviously much more than mind boggling! Galaxies are gigantic disk like accumulations of about 100 to 400 billion stars each! A galaxy cluster is a galaxy group consisting of about 1,000 closely set galaxies! How can such trillions upon trillions of magnificent star formations exist? It seems impossible! Star Time Travel Into the Past!
It
is momentous that in spite of our earth being so small and seemingly
insignificant in comparison to the vast starry universe extending far
beyond us, some prominent earthly events have been historically marked
by extraordinary local star events. Some of these occasions have been
discovered due to recent advances in creating more powerful celestial
telescopes and computer technologies. It is astonishing to know that astronomical computer programs of today can show exact star positions in the near heavens for any given date and time in Earth’s known history!
Consider This Amazing Example
It has been documented that at about noon, April 1, [Nisan 14 by the Hebrew calendar] in 33 A.D. — which is the time that Bible scripture says that Jesus Christ was lifted up upon his cross in crucifixion — the noonday sun at Jerusalem was positioned exactly below a certain major star [meaning that if a person in Jerusalem could see through the sun, this star would be visible directly behind it].
This star has been known since the very early ages of Earth’s history on ancient star maps by the star name Elnath. Elnath means “the wounded or slain.” Later star maps placed the star Elnath — a bright 1.7 magnitude star still visible to the naked eye — as the northern horn tip of the constellation Taurus the Bull, calling it Beta Tauri, by which it is known in our time of history. Elnath is calculated to be about 130 light years from Earth. This hot blue-white star Elnath was, in Christ’s day, located in the head of the constellation Aries the Ram (a ram is a male lamb). Thus, without question this star’s name and position directly above Jerusalem at noon (the approximate biblical recorded time of Christ’s crucifixion) clearly signified “slain male lamb”! Jesus Christ was known, of course, throughout most Bible history long before his birth as the Lamb of God. A Star Directed Three Faithful Kings to the Lamb of God
A
new star appeared and stood far above the place of Christ’s birth
leading faithful wise men journeying a great distance from the east to
find and worship the prophesied Messiah who would bring a great new
light of salvation to the world. [Matthew 2 ; B of M Helaman 14:5].
Although the exact rising time and duration of that star is unrecorded,
it remains a time honored heavenly symbol of his divine God-ship.
Amazingly, throughout known history no other bright "new star" has ever
been seen to suddenly appear in the heavens.
Remarkably,
the infant Jesus was also cared for at the time of His birth In the
same manner as baby sheep were often cared for. In the shepherd covered
hills that surrounded the area of Bethlehem, Christ’s birthplace,
shepherds often wrapped (swaddled) newborn lambs in cloth and placed
them in hollowed-out rock mangers.
Such mangers were often made from limestone rock. Rock mangers would be
heated in or near a campfire at the open end of one of the many
limestone caves that the shepherds would often find and use for their
camp, and for sleep and shelter. Placed Inside a solid stone manger, a
helpless newborn lamb would stay warm all night long during the cold
early spring weather. It is unfortunate that traditional Christian history has depicted the infant Jesus in a wooden trough within a wooden stable!
Over
centuries of time, some historical reality gets lost, or at least gets
bent out of shape from its true identity, and becomes gradually
transformed into incorrect false history! It
is sad to know that much true information about Christ's life and His
gospel teachings is overlooked or is lost, but at least we still have
the world history of the Bible!
Few
people know that the Bible is the oldest, most read, has the most printed copies published, and is also the most authentically witnessed
book on earth!!! Of course, it consists of many smaller historical books gathered together over many centuries.
By the way, do you know that Jesus the Christ referred to himself in Bible scripture as the Bright and Morning Star? [Revelations 22:16] Throughout
past centuries, in temples and on religious alters, male lambs were
sacrificed by prophets of God and other faithful followers of God in
similitude of the Savior’s forthcoming sacrifice. In
preparation for their freedom from slavery in Egypt, the Children of
Israel were directed by prophet Moses to paint their door posts with
lambs blood. This “saving” symbol would notify God’s destroying angel to
“pass over” their home and save them from the death that Moses warned
Pharaoh would come upon all the firstborn in Egypt if he would not
release the enslaved Hebrews. Later, unblemished male lambs
became offering meat to celebrate this “Passover” event after the
prophet Moses had miraculously led God's faithful people out of slavery
and across the Red Sea.
Did you know that Jesus’ death on the cross was also witnessed by another unique celestial event? It was about three hours after Christ was nailed to the crosspiece beam and "lifted up" onto the cross-post [in
scripture “at about the ninth hour” in Hebrew time (Matthew 27:46; Mark
15:33; Luke 23:44-45)] when Jesus announced, “It is finished.” Christ
then bowed his head in mortal death. about five hours later, a lunar eclipse [this event
occurs when the earth's shadow eclipses, or darkens, the moon] began in
Jerusalem. This ancient eclipse overshadowed
the full moon by the time it arose over Jerusalem beginning at 8:10
p.m. [5:10 p.m. Greenwich (England) time] that evening.
Needless to say, these unusually rare and only recently recognized celestial events occurring with such precise timing are stunning symbols. For astronomers and Christians who have discovered these research findings, the heavenly signs solemnly witness of the divinity of the heaven sent mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. A full Full Moon Lunar Eclipse turns the moon color
into golden, copper, or on rare occasions blood red!
- 8 -
John’s Vision of An Angel Having
Christ’s Everlasting Gospel
Christ’s beloved apostle, John, became known as John the Revelator for
good reason. As a prophet and faithful apostle of Jesus, in visions
while he was imprisoned on the island of Patmos, John was shown many
future events -- especially circumstances pertaining to the very latest
times of Earth’s history. His revelations were compiled in the biblical
book known as The Revelation of John or simply “Revelations.”
Did you know that John beheld in vision a planned return of Christ’s true gospel in the latter times of earth’s existence?
This reestablishment of Christ’s gospel to the Earth would be at a time
when His true gospel teachings, ordinances, and priesthood authority
would be so corrupted that a restoration of them all would be necessary
to provide valid salvation to all who earnestly seek it. John wrote:
”And I
saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the Earth, and to every nation,
and kindred, and tongue, and people.” [Revelations 14:6].
This
angel of God that John saw was to restore Christ’s gospel back to the
earth to eventually be established as His true church worldwide amidst
the hundreds of different so-called Christian churches of the latter-day
times. Because these churches would hold onto evolved false concepts of
Christ’s true salvation doctrine, many of their teachings and even
their creeds would be confusing and erroneous as a result of having lost
the true priesthood authority granted only by Jesus Christ. Prophet Amos also foretold of latter-day times when men would “seek” God’s true word “and shall not find it.” [Amos 8:11-12].
No wonder an angel of God was destined to restore Christ’s true gospel to the Earth! If
only just one of these numerous latter-day Christian churches had
Christ’s true gospel doctrine and valid ordained priesthood and
baptismal authority, such as His early apostles had been given! Then,
there would be no need for an angel of God to restore that gospel back
to the Earth!
God is our father. We are created in his image, male and female, as
the scriptures testify [Genesis 1:27]. God loves us more than we can
imagine. The Savior said, “...seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall
be opened unto you.” [Matthew 7:8]. If we earnestly seek to be
righteous and please God, our spiritual Father, then this righteous
effort alone will prove our true intentions to God, and thereby also
provide us enough faith to confidently ask God for his help and support
in all aspects of our lives! Apostle Paul stated, “Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him.” [1 Corinthians 2:9]. The way we grow in love toward God is to experience special blessings that we know have been sent to us by God.
This happens automatically when we earnestly change our lives to
include a desire to repent of all evil and keep his commandments.
Through prayer we can listen for God’s spiritual promptings and truly be
inspired to find that pathway of greater happiness that God can help us
to follow. He will rescue us from evil. He will answer our prayers
continually as we faithfully repent of errors and sins and continue to
change our lives into lives that are pleasing to him and to ourselves.
- 9 -
When
God’s angel reveals and restores the true gospel of Jesus Christ from
heaven as biblically prophesied in the vision given to Christ's apostle John, how will a person know for certain that this Bible prophesy has
been fulfilled and that His true gospel is back again on the Earth? God is a loving Father to all of His children! Surely God will help
every honest soul to find Christ’s true gospel after it is restored to Earth, if they faithfully ask in faith for His help to find it!
Great News! Christ’s True Gospel Has Been Restored!
Did
you know that there is another sacred history book besides the Bible
that also witnesses of God’s true gospel restoration? This book which
anyone can read for free, or may even have as a free gift, contains a religious and secular history of the early inhabitants of the Americas.
It contains the fullness of Christ’s true restored gospel, and is a
powerful second historical witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ!
In many wonderful episodes, this sacred history clearly discloses His
teachings and ordinances. Much like the Bible, the book also consists of
many smaller books written by prophets of God who Jesus ordained to
teach His gospel among the peoples of the Americas.
Did you know that during His ministry in Jerusalem, Jesus referred to these people of the western world by calling them his “other sheep”?
As the God of the whole Earth, and their shepherd also, he physically
and spiritually cared for them in like manner. Jesus Christ miraculously
healed and taught God’s will and laws to His prophets and faithful
followers in this western part of the world too.
Addressing
His disciples in Jerusalem, Jesus spoke of His sheep living in the yet
unknown and undiscovered lands of the Americas, which land the eastern
world, as yet, knew nothing about. In fact, it
was universally accepted without doubt by most of mankind that the
world was flat, and that all of its continental lands had been
discovered. Most ancients even feared that if a ship sailed too far from
land it might fall off the earth! Jesus did not speak any details to
those of Jerusalem about His sheep in the Americas, but this much he did
tell them: “...other
sheep I have which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and
they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.”
[John 10:16]. This
ancient book of scripture and history tells much about Christ’s visit
to these “other sheep” of the unknown western world, which visit took
place when Christ appeared to them in the Americas after his
resurrection. It covers the vast time span of about a thousand years,
from about 600 B.C. to about 400 A.D., and contains over 500 pages (yes,
it takes more than a few hours just to read through it entirely!). It
is written mostly in first person by many different prophet writers. This ancient book of scripture was originally inscribed on metal plates. It has now been translated into 111 languages! 91 are entire book translations!
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The Angelic Restoration Took Place
So where did this ancient historical scripture book come from? In
1820, this sacred history book, originally written in a hieroglyphic
style of writing on thin metal plates bound with metal rings, was found
hidden in a hillside near Palmyra, New York, by
Joseph Smith, a young boy of only 15 years of age at that time. Joseph
claimed it was delivered into his custody by one of the book’s last
writers, an angel-prophet by the name of Moroni.
Moroni, emitting spiritual power and intense light from his person,
appeared to Joseph and spoke with him explaining God’s work relative to
translating and making the scriptural message of the contents available to mankind in this latter-day time of the world. We now know that Moroni was the angel that Apostle John saw in his vision of the latter times!
This ancient history book which Angel Moroni directed Joseph Smith to find is entitled The Book of Mormon (“Mormon” being the name of one of its last prophet authors, and also Moroni's earthly father). Moroni was sent back to the Earth in our latter-day time period as a resurrected being or glorified angel to help restore Christ’s true gospel teachings, which are revealed in much beauty and expressive detail in the Book of Mormon.
Inasmuch as this historical book of scripture was brought forth by the
will and power of God, its true gospel messages and witness of Jesus
Christ as the Savior of Mankind is ordained to be spread throughout the
world to all of God’s children in every nation, tongue, and people where
it may be received.
Having this book now means having the true gospel teachings of Jesus Christ and being directed to his true church. The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the name, by revelation,
that Jesus Christ has given to his church of saints in this latter-day
time of its restoration. As any serious student of the Bible knows,"saints" are identified in the Bible as the true followers of Jesus Christ and his gospel as faithful members of his church.
Since the organization of Jesus Christ's latter-day church which formally took place in April of 1830 in Fayette, New York, the church has expanded in membership to more than 17 million members worldwide.
This growth has been greatly impelled due to a marvelous ordained
voluntary missionary force directed by latter-day prophets and apostles
of Jesus Christ. In a similar manner, before ascending into heaven, the
Savior lovingly commanded his original apostolic missionary forces saying to
them, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations ... to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, Lo, I am with you always ... "
[Matthew 28:19-20] Christ's
apostles visited numerous cities along the Mediterranean seacoast. His
disciples set foot in Greece, France, and Italy. Then, in many other
nations including as far west as Spain, Britain, and Ireland. In the
east, Christ's missionary forces preached in many small nations, also
including Syria and Iraq. The people of Northern Africa, Ethiopia, and
Egypt heard about Christ, and some also of India. Today, there are areas
in India where 89% are Christians belonging to churches that evolved
from Christ's original gospel church which is believed to have been
first established in India among 12 prominent India Saint families in
Kerala, India, by apostle Thomas. Kerala today, is a very beautiful
coastal State of India. It includes two magnificent national parks, and
covers a small section of the southwestern tip of India.
Christ's missionaries were loyal followers of his directive to teach his gospel and baptize those of all nations. His priesthood ordained missionary forces traversed cities, towns, and countries found in most of the known world.
- 11 -
Modern day missionaries representing Jesus Christ’s restored church today mainly consist of
faithful young men and women between the ages of nineteen to
twenty-five. Many receive foreign language training before being
assigned to countries or areas where they must learn to speak the native
language of the people.
Jesus Christ’s gospel restoration message is thereby continually being presented by tens of thousands of missionaries! Ordained missionaries are
sent to God’s children of all races and creeds in all the nations of
the world wherever missionaries are permitted to go, to offer the
blessings of baptism and membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
 |
| Latter-day Saint Missionaries in Ghana are asked questions about Christ's restored church |
Lady missionaries knock on doors to offer handouts about Christ Anciently,
through His prophets God commanded his followers to build beautiful
temples where sacred ordinances and covenants could take place to
joyfully bless his faithful children. Among several other temples, Herod’s
Temple was inspired to be built anciently by God’s prophets. Jesus
referred to Herod’s Temple as “… my Father’s House...” [John 2:16].
Model Depiction of Herod's Temple located anciently on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem Today,
the Lord in like manner, has again provided sacred temples for his
Saints who have covenanted through baptism to faithfully serve one
another, as he himself has exemplified, and who endeavor to always keep
His commandments.
More than 335 magnificent temples are now found throughout the world! Similar to the ancient synagogues of the Holy Land, today there are also many tens of thousands of church meetinghouses primarily dedicated for Sabbath Day worship. All of these lovely buildings are built from the monetary and labor contributions of Christ’s church members worldwide.
 |
| A chapel in the Philippines |
Church Meetinghouses, or chapels of worship, of widely varied architecture are found in towns and cities of many nations throughout the world to bless the faithful Latter-day Saints of God.
 |
| Magnificent stained glass windows in the Paris France Temple |
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 |
The peaceful Celestial Room of the Paris France Temple
|
 |
Washington D.C. Temple in Kensington, Maryland U.S.A
[Photo: Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0] |
 |
Laie Hawaii Temple U.S.A
[Public Domain Gh 5046] | |
|
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| Santa Domingo Temple, Dominican Republic |
Peshupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints truly is a worldwide church today.
It offers to all mankind as brothers and sisters — regardless of color,
race, or creed — a lifestyle of extraordinary goodness filled with love
and goodwill to all. We are all children of an Eternal God of Infinite
Love.
Please take the first opportunity you can
to discover more about Jesus Christ's true restored church. In
countless cities, towns and countries, there are “Branches” or “Wards”
of Christ’s church where a church building or chapel exists for church
members to meet on Sabbath days.
You are invited to find a location near you, where you can attend one or more of their meetings. You will be warmly welcomed! Missionaries
are also available to answer your questions and explain more about
Christ's true church and its restoration upon the earth in this latter
time of the world. If desired, you can easily locate a church chapel or meetinghouse nearest you. Just click here on LDS.ORG Then at the site home page scroll down a little to the blue box entitled "All are welcome Visit a church near you." Enter your full city, town, or street address in the box to immediately receive the address or addresses of chapels closest to your location.
You may also obtain much valuable information about the heaven restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by visiting online.
For online access right now, click here: ChurchOfJesusChrist.org
Mysteries of the Universe Soon to Be Revealed!
As we,
God’s children, contemplate the breathtaking magnificence of our vast
world and our “close universe” (which is defined as the universe of
stars and celestial objects that are visible within the view of our
most powerful telescopes), we cannot help but wonder about what impact
any revolutionary new knowledge of the heavens may have upon us and our Earth.
Modern
nations make continuous advances in technology intended to ever enhance
man’s happiness and progress. Yet morally, mankind still has a long way
to go to achieve universal peace and prosperity. Never
has our world been completely free from violent wars,
selfish injustice, greed, and the evils of hate and terror. Selfishness,
pride, and arrogance continue to stifle the universal kindness and
charity that could create a utopian world of universal love and mutual
prosperity among all of earth’s inhabitants. May we ever continue to
find ways to help promote love and peace.
Amazing
advances in astronomy are soon expected to revolutionize many currently
held views about laws of physics and our surrounding universe. Today, the largest existing infrared single aperture telescope in the world is Spain’s Gran Telescopio Canarias. Located at the top of a high mountain in the largest of Spain's Canary Islands, At a cost of $180 million, its huge 34 foot diameter mirror officially began views in 2009. The GTC can find galaxies as far away as about 500 billion light years. That's10 times deeper into space than any other earth grounded telescope. This telescope has added much to the star knowledge gained from the formerly largest “Hubble Telescope” — a powerful eight foot mirror telescope that has orbited our earth for more than 30 years unveiling many new and revolutionary insights about the moons, stars, and galaxies of our heavens.
The NASA Hubble Space Telescope Launched into its position in space from Kourou, French Guiana on December 25th 2021, and now orbiting near our own sun, the James Webb Space Infrared Telescope contains an amazing 21 foot folded mirror that was first unfolded after settling into its planned orbit. At
70 x 48 feet in size and weighing 14,000 pounds, this telescope is
orbiting in clear space permanently revolving around the sun about one
million miles from earth! For an extensive and detailed history and disclosure of
this amazingly powerful telescope search "James Webb Space Telescope" at Wikipedia.com. James Webb Space Infrared Telescope
[January 2024] The NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has been unveiling much new data about our close universe. For example, many closeup views of stars have led to the conclusion that every star has at least one planet revolving in orbit around it! Most of these planets are so distant that they cannot be observed close enough to be identified other than they simply exist and orbit around a certain identified star. These planets that are beyond our own solar system are called Exoplanets. Those we can identify as Exoplanets due to our much more powerful telescopes are continually being discovered, named, and cataloged. The list already exceeds 5,000. Exoplanets mostly range from about 1.5 to 2 times the size of Earth, and are believed to
be the most abundant size existing in the Milky Way. "Super-Jupiter" Exoplanets are also found -- these are gas giant planets much larger than Jupiter, the largest
planet in our Solar System. .jpg) Proxima Centauri B (PCB) is the closest Exoplanet to Earth,
Still a very far distantance -- it is 4.2 light years away! In spite of of the vast distance away from us, the powerful James Webb Telescope has snapped some amazing pictures of PCB. Slightly larger than Earth, PCB Exoplanet orbits around the star Alpha Centauri B -- a small binary Red Dwarf star found in the constellation Centaurus. It is a small star, but it is the brightest star in the constellation with a magnitude of -0.27. It is also the third brightest star seen from Earth mainly because Centaurus is the closest constellation to the Earth. Only the stars Sirius (1.44) and Canopus (.062) outshine it! Yet this bright star is only 12% the size of of Earth's star -- the sun! The PBC Exoplanet -- the star's only circling planet -- makes an orbit around the star in 11 Earth days time. Compare this to the orbit of Earth which takes about 365 days to circle our sun. Doesn't it seem strange that the same half of Earth's circling moon always faces Earth due to Earth's strong gravitational pull? Similarly, one side of the PCB Exoplanet always faces its sun! In spite of this "always day" on one side, and "always night" on the other, the PCB Exoplanet appears to have water, atmosphere, wind, and other conditions that might allow some forms of life to exist there that we are not yet able to recognize. It's truly an amazing telescopic discovery!
-14-
Finally, on board to be completed in 2023, the Giant Megellan Telescope will
use seven of the largest mirror segments ever made to create an 83.5
foot diameter mirror! With an astonishing total mirror weight of 119
tons, the GMT will magnify even more and penetrate even deeper into unseen space with image power and
resolution far superior to that of any previous telescope including
even the James Webb!
Closeup of GMT Telescope inside its housing
The GMT giant telescope model
PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- “The Giant Magellan Telescope begins the four-year process to fabricate and polish its seventh and final primary mirror. Together, the mirrors will collect more light than any other telescope in existence [and will even out-power the James Webb Infrared SpaceTelescope by reaching four times further into the universe]. Last week, the University of Arizona Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab closed the lid on nearly 20 tons of the purest optical glass inside a one-of-a-kind oven housed beneath the stands of the Arizona Wildcats Football Stadium. The spinning oven will heat the glass to 1,165°C so as it melts, it is forced outward to form the mirror’s curved paraboloid surface. Measuring 8.4-meters [27.2 feet] in diameter, the last mirror [see photo below] will cool over the next three months before moving into the polishing stage.” This huge telescope is expected to be completed, tested, and become fully operational around the year 2029. The gigantic GMT is expected not only to discover more distant galaxies, stars and Exoplanets, but also to reveal much more about them. This will include knowledge obtained from analyzing light from galaxies and Exoplanet atmospheres to
determine various life conditions, element compositions, and other
data.
What amazing and wonderful new knowledge we will soon have about our amazing and mysterious universe of stars and planets!
END OF BOOK
©2019 M. H. Malan All Rights Reserved (Telescopic and other time sensitive information
updated February of 2024)
The author of this Ebook trusts you have been enlightened
and blessed by its content, and hopes that you find opportunity
to share this "heavenly information" with your family and friends.
You may also read for free online The Book of Mormon, the religious history book written by prophets of the early Americas; or the Bible, the most published book in the world and also most witnessed religious history book. As you probably already know, the Bible consists of two parts,The Old Testament and The New Testament. At the site, you can click on and read either one of these two books. To do this click here on LDS.ORG
Then scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on "scriptures"
The Book of Mormon and You
If you are among the fun loving and starry eyed,
here below is some star related poetry you might
enjoy.
The Crescent Moon by Amy Lowell
Slipping softly through the sky
Little horned, happy moon,
Can you hear me up so high?
Will you come down soon?
On my nursery window-sill
Will you stay your steady flight?
And then float away with me
Through the summer night?
Brushing over tops of trees,
Playing hide and seek with stars,
Peeping up through shiny clouds
At Jupiter or Mars.
I shall fill my lap with roses
Gathered in the milky way,
All to carry home to mother.
Oh! what she will say!
The Falling Star by Sara Teasdale
I saw a star slide down the sky,
Blinding the north as it went by,
Too burning and too quick to hold,
Too lovely to be bought or sold,
Good only to make wishes on
And then forever to be gone.
“Blinding the North” — The steady glow of the “Northern Lights” vanishes
as the bright flash of the falling star momentarily
displaces even that powerful celestial light.
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