2 Kings 2:11-12
Behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof . . .
There has been much speculation as to what this story in the Bible might have been describing. A “whirlwind” obviously is a tornado, and we know that many people have been caught up in such cyclones to have been found later: sometimes far away, most of the time dead, sometimes miraculously alive. From the point of view of Elisha’s colleagues in the school of the prophets, they did not believe that Elijah went to Heaven. They urged Elisha to send out search parties to find Elijah’s body, assuming as most reasonable people would that tornadoes do not take you to God’s heaven, just up into the sky to drop you down somewhere else to your death (2 Kings 2:16,17).
Elisha was reluctant to send out a search party because he had seen something else: a transport craft of some kind. He called it a “chariot of fire.”
Enjoying, as we do today, the knowledge of space travel and the observation of re-entry vehicles, our modern technology gives us a better understanding of what might have happened. It is possible to build spacecraft that can “burn” without being consumed. Re-entry vehicles, of course, do it all the time in their descent into Earth’s atmosphere at a high rate of speed. Like meteors, they heat up upon descent and burst into flames. Most meteors are consumed; re-entry vehicles have been protected by shielding to prevent the conflagration from destroying the craft and the people inside. They look like “a chariot of fire.”
Hollywood has recreated this phenomenon – in CGI formats, of course – in making its movie productions that are fun to watch. “Gravity” comes to mind [I got to watch that one with 3-D glasses], especially its closing scenes in which the astronaut character, played by Sandra Bullock, in dramatic fashion scarcely survives the descent.
Many of the miraculous events described in the Bible probably have “scientific” explanations, but not necessarily coincidental explanations. As in this case of Elijah the Prophet being sucked up into a tornado and falling to his death in a mountain ravine where his body could not be found: that would be a random or coincidental event. But Elisha’s visual of the “chariot of fire,” that suggests a spacecraft, and, of course, an intelligent manipulation of natural forces for human celestial transport. “Beam me up, Scotty.”
If there are advanced intelligent beings with technology which to us seem to be angelic powers or wizardry, it certainly would encourage us to think that there is someone out there who can help us survive the Great Eschaton of 2046 AD. But maybe not. My guess is that a solar nova will mess up their technology just like it will ours. Unlike the scenario described in the movie “Knowing” starring Nicholas Cage, an Earth evacuation by sympathetic space aliens on the eve of a solar nova would be doomed to failure. Even at the speed of light, a space craft would not be able to escape the effects of the nova’s solar flash and the electronic disruptions which would destroy any advanced craft long before the nova itself.
In other words, if you want to call this proposed evacuation a “rapture,” it has probably already happened because such a craft would need to clear the inner solar system right about now to avoid life-threatening damage from the deadly “prelude” to the nova itself. More on that another time.
Now, as Christians, we believe in cosmic personalism: there is a Creator who has omnipotent power over His creation who can suspend natural law as He sees fit. This God can answer prayer. But as theologians such as Isaac Newton have known from long ago, God cannot suspend a natural law if it is an attribute inherent to His own nature. In other words, God is compelled by His own holiness to restrain His omnipotence and not answer the prayers of His creatures if there is not a sufficient, intelligent reason to do so. He cannot act arbitrarily and independently of Himself – a fundamental contradiction.
The notion of “a clock cycle” in nature – great or small – cannot be overcome arbitrarily. Like the hypothetical changing of history if we can go back through a time machine, one altered event in the past, however minute, changes everything else. It is sometimes called “The Butterfly Effect,” and there is actually a movie by that name with Ashton Kutcher as the lead actor which explores that proposition.
Life is an eternal principle in the universe and God is compelled by His holiness to protect life. But the forces of nature cannot work unless they are allowed to follow their pre-ordained patterns which make nature, nature: something native or aboriginal to itself. Vogt has demonstrated that all the stars in all the galaxies nova according to a synchronous system. The clock is simply the certainty principle in natural law. For life to survive, God cannot suspend the clock-cycle because it is the certainty principle which makes life possible at all. God’s only option is to shield life from the destruction of that event in nature. The notion of a “shield” is what is behind the doctrine of atonement. The doctrine of atonement (which literally means, “a covering”) or “shielding” is an eternal principle which is manifested in many forms throughout nature because it is an eternal principle in God’s being.
Very often, atonement requires human participation. For salvation, the believer must confess, repent and be baptized. Noah had to build a boat.
Consequently, while the transhumanists will want to rewire the human genetic code for purposes of immortality, or the Evangelicals might want to be raptured, or others might want to time-travel in the Diehold or escape in flying saucers, we believe that humans must find “shielding.” A “chariot of fire” is something which utilizes fire to become immune to the effects of fire.
Firebrick does not burn because it has been burned already. Geopolymers are effective against heat and fire because they are made from spent lava flows from the ancient past (basalts and clays) and slag from a foundry (e.g. fly ash). More on this another time.
No matter what you do to prepare, you will need God’s help to survive before, during and after the nova. What have you got to offer God in the brave new world which follows? What will give Him the “sufficient, intelligent reason” to work a miracle on your behalf?
Perhaps you do not believe in God and do not believe that God will have anything to do with your survival. Most people will not agree with you; I do not agree with you. Call that weakness if you want, but I believe in the efficacy of prayer. It is not a superstition.
If Noah is any guide, the Bible says he was chosen because he was “perfect in all his generations.” According to the Book of Enoch, he was a star-child. I have been developing the theological background to the notion of a “star-child” in my Peshers, the most recent one being the Pesher for St. Stephen’s Day. Survival Praxis is not the forum for discussing something that is of a doctrinal nature. But you should know that I am not looking for a Rapture, or a Diehold, or a space ship to save me in the Great Eschaton of 2046 AD, but I am hoping to find Divine help. I think I have found a path in Grail theology.
— JWS, February 27, 2022
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