Joseph Herrin (09-26-2011)

Comet Elenin

This present post comprises part 7 of this series. I had intended to write about Comet Elenin months ago, but many more matters and experiences came into my life, and I was not able to bring to completion that which was on my heart to set forth in writing. Nevertheless, I have had many correspondences with various saints who have written to ask me about Comet Elenin, or to send me articles regarding it. These queries continue to come in many months later. I believe I have had at least four separate individuals write to me on this subject in the past few days, so I wish to set forth some information so that the saints can be better able to test this issue.

To state that the claims surrounding Comet Elenin have been spectacular, and incredible (in the most literal sense of the word), is to speak conservatively. Comet Elenin has been attributed as the cause of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Concepcion, Chile, as well as the successive earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand and Sendai, Japan. There have been many voices suggesting that the government of the United States has been involved in a massive cover-up and disinformation campaign, as they know that Elenin will produce an “Extinction Level Event” on the earth, and do not wish to panic the populace. Some of these voices suggest that the government has been preparing their own survival bolt holes, while misleading the public about the impending destruction of the earth.

Such claims sound like a Hollywood script. Indeed, Hollywood has produced movies with a very similar plot, including Deep Impact and Armageddon, both of which were about comets or asteroids that were on a collision course with the earth. Some have actually pointed to these movies to bolster their claims of impending calamity, pointing out parallels to details in the movies and the facts surrounding Comet Elenin.

For example, the discover of the comet “Wolf/Biederman” in the movie Deep Impact was a young boy named Leo Biederman. This is compared to the fact that Comet Elenin was discovered by a man whose first name is Leonid. Additionally, the same movie refers to the impending disaster produced by the collision of the comet with the Earth as ELE (pronounced Ellie), which stands for “Extinction Level Event.” This is compared to the theory that has the dinosaurs being wiped out by a similar impact millennia ago.

That the discoverer of Comet Elenin has a last name beginning with the letters “ELE” has been interpreted as a prophetic sign that this comet will produce a similar effect upon the earth as was portrayed in the movie.

Some extreme conspiracy websites that get into fantastical theories that are devoid of any hard science or practical skepticism, have further postulated that Comet Elenin is not a comet at all, but is actually Planet X, which is often referred to a Nibiru, or that it is a brown dwarf star. Those who ascribe to the  Nibiru theory have produced a complete anagram of the name Elenin, suggesting that it stands for “Extinction Level Event – Nibiru Is Near.” Although this is clever, it is mere conjecture, and as all things, such claims need to be tested both through whatever science is available to us, as well as through more spiritual means (examining the testimony of Scripture and listening to the voice of the Spirit.)

Elenin has been in the news for quite a long time now as it was discovered back on December 10, 2010. Conspiracy theories and doomsday prophecies have been circulating on the Internet for at least the last six months. As they have become more widely disseminated they have attracted greater speculation and more voices have begun to jump on the Elenin disaster bandwagon.

Due to this Internet notoriety, some Christians have also begun to take note of Comet Elenin, and this has led to a new wrinkle. There are some who have plotted the course of Elenin using such software programs as Starry Night which are able to project astronomical data into the future and focus in on individual heavenly bodies. They have traced the course of Comet Elenin as it would be viewed from earth, and have concluded that it will serve as a sign of great importance as it passes through the constellation Virgo (Bethulah the Virgin), where a conjunction of Saturn and Venus will also be taking place.

Various interpretations have been given of what this sign might mean. One writing that was forwarded to me came from a man with a Messianic Hebrew perspective and he suggested that it is a prophecy of the restoration of the two houses of Israel, Joseph and Judah, or the Northern and Southern kingdoms. Other writings that have shown this same transit of the comet through Virgo suggest that it is a sign of the appearance of the Manchild of Revelation 12, or the return of Christ. Some even suggest it marks the beginning of the Great Tribulation, since its appearance is coinciding with the Feast of Trumpets. As with all such things, there is always a temptation to interpret events according to our belief system and expectations. In other words, men are prone to see what they want to see in such signs.

This fact actually has formed the basis for much of what I have shared previously in this series Under the Microscope. I have cautioned the saints against being swayed by bias as they encounter the myriad of conspiracy theories and prophecies that are swirling about the Internet at this time. Such claims are increasing, and they are not likely to go away. It is requisite that the saint who would walk in truth while avoiding the panic and hysteria of the masses, be well grounded spiritually, patient in testing all things, and not prone to embracing every idea that comes along simply because it appeals to some bias, or desire of the soul.

I share these words of caution not with condemnation, but as one who has been chastised by Yahweh for failing to discern between truth and error in the past. Experience, if we will permit it to be so, can be a most effective instructor. The errors of our past can serve to keep us from similar errors in the present and future, if we will take the lessons to heart and apply them in humility. I have confessed openly my own foibles of judgment when I was led astray by the hype of doomsday scenarios and prophecies of calamity to come which had some appeal to my soul.

The earliest such event I can remember was the Y2K bug that a great many voices suggested would spell the downfall of modern civilization. If we do not divide between soul and spirit we will be led astray, as many were in that day who sold homes and built bunkers out in some wilderness area, stocking up with food rations and guns and ammunition. When Y2K turned out to be a non-event, the folly of many became evident, though due to pride very few prognosticators of doom ever admitted their error. The matter was swept under the rug, but the consequences of such an approach became evident over time. Those Christians who did not own up to their error and misspoken words were given over to a spirit of delusion and have become susceptible to ever increasing deceptions, seemingly lacking the ability to test anything at all. Yahweh gives grace to the humble. It is therefore ever necessary to publicly confess our error, and repent of it, when we have misspoken publicly about some event.

That there are aspects of the Comet Elenin conspiracy theories, doomsday reports, and prophecies that appeal to aspects of the soul of man is evident. There are a great many who mistrust the government today, and I admit there is very good reason to do so. The kingdoms of this world are presently ruled by the Prince of the Power of the Air, who is also known as Satan, and the Great Deceiver. The day has not yet arrived where the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and Christ. The earth still lies in the power of the evil one. Those in positions of ruling authority in this fallen world system exemplify Satan’s nature, and he is a great deceiver.

Nevertheless, it is not wisdom to attribute deception and conspiracies to governments, or anyone else, without properly testing the subject first. Mankind needs very little help in being led astray into error. Not every report from government agencies are false, nor are those outside the government known to be paragons of truth and virtue. In America, the government leaders are elected by the populace, and it is my judgment that both the leaders and the followers are largely cut from the same cloth.

Jeremiah 5:31
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so!

As Solomon said, “there is nothing new under the Sun.” Corrupt nations produce corrupt leaders. To expect anything different defies common sense. Should we really expect that a nation that has murdered more than 50 million babies in the womb at the altar of convenience and sensuality; that has filled the world with images of pornography, rebellion, and violence, that champions homosexuality; and has come to endorse torture and unlimited imprisonment without legal recourse, would not have a truth problem among the citizens as well as among its leadership? It is necessary to test all things that are proclaimed whether they originate within, or without the government.

Following is a graphic I received in an article this morning. The information displayed has been passed along the Internet for many months now. The data provided is intended to suggest a link between Comet Elenin and major earthquakes that have occurred.

It is suggested that on the date of each of these earthquakes that Comet Elenin was aligned with the Earth, the Sun, and at times some other planet within our solar system. It is further suggested that these alignments have been the cause of earthquakes, though the mechanism, or science, demonstrating cause and effect has not been in evidence.

A comet the size of Elenin has very little mass. Its core may be no larger than a few meters, and even if it measured kilometers across, its mass would be so small that it would have little influence on surrounding bodies. If gravitational attraction is supposed to be the instrument leading to such massive earthquakes, then Elenin would have to be truly massive to exert enough influence at such great distances to have any effect at all upon the earth.

Note that when the earthquake occurred in Chile, Comet Elenin was more than 6 AU distance from earth. An AU (Astronomical Unit) is the approximate distance from the earth to the Sun. In miles, one AU is about 93 million miles.

If one considers that the Moon that orbits the Earth is at its closest approach a mere 225,000 miles from the Earth, and it has a diameter nearly one quarter that of the earth, it would require a truly massive object 6 AU distance to have any measurable impact at all upon the earth. (The moon at its closest is only .0024 AU distance from the Earth.)

If the Moon were set at a distance of 6 AU from the earth, we would never have any effect from its gravitational pull. There would be no rise and fall of the ocean tides, nor any distortion of the earth’s crust. The distances would simply be too great for an object of such a small mass to have any effect upon the Earth. Consider also that the largest planet in the Solar System is Jupiter. This giant planet has a mass by itself that is 2 and ½ times the mass of all the other planets combined.

Jupiter and Earth Size Comparison

Jupiter at its closest approach to the Earth is 555 million miles distance. This is slightly less than the distance of Comet Elenin to the Earth on the date of the Chile earthquake. On the date of the Christchurch earthquake, Elenin was even further away. It is inconceivable that an object with as little mass as a comet, at such great distances, could have any impact upon the earth, either through gravitational attraction, or any other supposed force. Even if Elenin were a brown dwarf star (I know of no evidence to support such a conclusion), its mass would likely be similar to that of Jupiter, and perhaps even less. The mass of Jupiter is actually used by astronomers as a comparative unit when speaking of the mass of brown dwarf stars.

So, what effect does Jupiter have upon the Earth due to its influence less than 6 AU away? Does it cause earthquakes? Does it even effect the tides of the ocean? The answer to both questions is “no.” Even though the planet has such a great mass, it is simply too far away to have any appreciable effect. Jupiter has approximately 1/1000th the mass of the Sun, and it is nearly six times further away. If, as scientific observations have shown, Elenin is indeed a comet, and a minor one at that, its mass is infinitesimally less than that of Jupiter, and it cannot reasonably be expected to exert any influence upon the Earth.

There are ways to test this conclusion. If the earthquakes listed are the result of another heavenly body exerting a gravitational pull upon the earth due to an alignment, or close approach, then this influence would easily be observed by looking for distortions of the ocean tides. The tides are produced due to the gravitational influence of the moon. Therefore, any unusual gravitational force strong enough to cause large earthquakes would also produce an alteration of the tides. Where are the reports of unusual tides that coincided with these earthquakes, and alignments of Elenin? I have seen none. (The tsunami caused by the Japan earthquake was not the result of tidal changes. It was caused by a sudden upthrust of the Earth under the ocean. Although some people call Tsunami’s “tidal waves,” this is a misnomer. Tsunami is literally translated as “harbor wave” and they are unrelated to the ocean’s tides which are caused by the influence of the moon’s gravitational field.)

A sister in Christ forwarded to me a writing suggesting that Comet Elenin has been responsible for earthquakes, and could produce a great cataclysm tomorrow (September 27th) which the article states is also the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets on the Hebrew Calendar. Following is an excerpt.

Quakes that are produced by alignments are NOT created by gravitational pull but rather by Electro Magnetic Troughs – which contains what is known as portals. Some active and others inactive.

The Earth is connected to the sun by one of these troughs in a fixed manner. Like wise, it appears that Elenin is connected as well, yet not fixed.

It is much like the electro magnetic globes you can buy at one of those unique gift shops. Which is actually called a plasma ball. When you place your finger to the globe it draws most the charge to your finger. When the Earth passed through this unfixed trough, forming an alignment with the Sun, it is believed that it triggered the large earth quakes.

As the distance between Elenin and the sun shortens, the trough widens as
it gets shorter. The difference would be comparable to a garden hose that is 50 feet long to that of a 24 inch water main that is only 5 feet long. This trough connecting Elenin to the sun will be at it’s greatest capacity on September 11th as this will be the date that it is closest to the Sun. 16 days later, on the 27th, it will come between the Sun and Earth at approximately 1/3 of an astronomical unit away.

Though the Earth will NOT be between Elenin and the sun on this alignment like the previous ones, it appears that Elenin could super charge the trough between the Earth and the sun as it passes through it. Basically acting as a syphon and thrusting huge amounts of electro magnetic shock waves to earth. Then as Elenin continues on it’s trajectory, earth DOES come between Elenin and the Sun again. Having this alignment come on the 27th of September may not sound like a significant date to many but it literally falls on the feast of trumpets of Yahweh’s prophetic calendar! What if this event is the actual beginning of the blowing of the trumpets in Revelation?
[End Excerpt]

According to sources I have checked (Karaite Korner, etc.) Rosh Hashanah (Yom Teruah) actually begins at sundown on the 29th, and will be observed during daylight hours on September 30th. So there is some discrepancy in the dates here.

Coming across a report such as is found in the words above, would you normally be inclined to test the statements uttered before accepting them? The author is not an expert in these matters, though he writes with a lot of confidence. One must ask whether such confidence is justified. Is the writer merely presenting conclusions that result from his own personal bias that have led him to adopt theories and hypothesis favorable to his pre-judgment of this matter, and to make claims that are unwarranted? Christians should certainly apply themselves to fact check claims as far as possible.

All this talk of electromagnetic troughs and portals sounds mysteriously like science fiction. I decided to do a search on the words “electromagnetic troughs and earthquakes” to see if there was any science behind these claims. I found very little. There were a couple of articles that revealed that very preliminary studies are being considered and conducted to see if there is a relationship between electromagnetic fluctuations and earthquakes. The articles stated that it was hoped that studying this subject might lead to a predictive capability for earthquakes. The articles also revealed that such a link was controversial, and that the source of electromagnetic fluctuations preceding earthquakes was not assumed to be due to an outside influence (such as a heavenly body), but could be a by product of subterranean forces associated with an earthquake.

What I did not find was any scientific evidence that would support the confident assertions of the author of the piece forwarded to me. There is no body of evidence to support the contention that earthquakes are produced by electromagnetic troughs in the heavens. Also the statement that Elenin “appears” to be connected to the Sun by one of these troughs is not backed up by any evidence whatsoever. The author simply makes the claim without providing any data, or source material, to fact check his conclusions.

As I have watched this Comet Elenin story unfold over the course of many months, I have observed that the Christian community has gotten involved with it due to other websites giving the subject such heightened attention. I have had to ask whether this attention was justified. What, after all, makes Comet Elenin special? Although comets visible to the naked eye on earth are fairly rare, comets themselves are quite common. It is estimated that there may be as many as a trillion comets in the solar system. Although few are visible to the naked eye, there are many more that are observable with telescopes and other observation equipment. Every year, amateur astronomers discover more than 100 never before seen comets. Elenin was just one of more than 100 discovered in the past 12 months. Why then has it received such inordinate attention?

The attention given to Elenin cannot be due to it being spectacular in appearance. At its brightest in August of this year it was recorded as having a brightness of 8.3 magnitude*. To put this in perspective, this is 5 times dimmer than the human eye can see. At no time has Comet Elenin ever been visible from the Earth with the unaided human eye. If Comet Elenin is to be interpreted as a heavenly sign, as some Christians are now suggesting, it must be considered a very minor sign, and in my opinion it is no sign at all if it cannot be seen by the human eye.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Elenin

Some men have gone to great lengths to describe Comet Elenin’s passage through the Constellation Virgo. I have seen illustrations taken from various computer software programs. I have two such illustrations that follow. Both are taken from different versions of the Starry Night software. They depict the view of the heavens as seen from Jerusalem on the night of September 29th, which is Rosh Hashanah/Yom Teruah. Note that although this software does depict the location of Comet Elenin in this constellation, it does not disclose the fact that the comet will not be visible to the unaided eye. Furthermore, it has been reported in the past week or two that it appears that Elenin may have already begun disintegrating as it approached the Sun*. Therefore, there may not be anything left of it to observe, even with a telescope.

* http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/128708798.html

Note Elenin’s location near the neck of Virgo.

In the descriptions and interpretations of this “possible sign” in the heavens, the authors have described the moon as being under the feet of the virgin. In neither depiction does it truly appear that the moon is “under” the feet of Virgo. Rather, it is alongside the feet. There are numerous such discrepancies where things are stated to be aligned, but the reality is somewhat different.

Having considered these writings, I am not persuaded by any of the arguments that Elenin is being used by God as a sign of great things happening at this time. If Yahweh were truly indicating the restoration of the two houses of Israel, the birth of the manchild, the return of Christ, or the beginning of the Great Tribulation, I believe the heavenly sign would be observable to the human eye.

The only reason I can arrive at for so many giving such attention to a comet that cannot even be seen, and which has quite possibly already begun an intense disintegration into nothingness, is that they were caught up in the hype that has surrounded this subject. Considering that the hype was itself extremely spurious from the beginning, with the first reports appearing on very disreputable conspiracy sites, I believe we simply have an example of much ado about nothing.

I John 4:1
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

People of God, I do not deny that we live in a very unique time in history. Yahweh is about to accomplish many things. There is a need to be watchful. Judgments are being loosed in the earth. Christchurch has been shaken twice now, and Christ’s church must also be shaken. There will certainly be many true signs of things that are coming, and many difficult days lie ahead, but let us be patient and test all things for many false reports and claims are being circulated. The sons of God are called to be wise as serpents, yet harmless as doves.

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Joseph Herrin
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