Rare Jupiter position: a sign?

Dear friends

See (1) the Associated Press article below, followed by (2) an excerpt of an article I wrote in 1997 about the planet Jupiter being linked to the Messiah

Jupiter to be brightest at midnight on New Year's Eve

BY ADRIAN SAINZ

Associated Press Writer

MIAMI (AP) -- Revelers celebrating the New Year will be treated to a rare sight in the clear midnight sky Jupiter at its closest and brightest.

According to astronomer Jack Horkheimer, the largest planet in the solar system will be overhead at midnight on Dec. 31, reflecting the sun's light down on people from Beijing to Boston.

``Wherever you happen to be New Year's Eve, Jupiter will be overhead at midnight,'' said Horkheimer, executive director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium. ``If you're in New York City watching the apple drop, you'll be able to see Jupiter above the apple.

``In London ... Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Jupiter will be overhead.'' Horkheimer describes Jupiter's position as being in opposition, or directly opposite the sun as seen from Earth. Its light will not flicker, and the phenomenon will be more dramatic in the Northern Hemisphere, he said.

The last time the gaseous planet with the large red spot was in opposition and overhead at midnight on New Year's Eve was in 1752. The next time that will happen is in 2084 -- 82 years from the event.

``If you miss it this time, you're going to have to be awfully young to see it again,'' Horkheimer said.

As the sun sets on Dec. 31, Jupiter will rise in the northeast and will slowly climb in the sky until it reaches its highest point at 12 a.m. on New Year's Eve.

Adding to the uniqueness of the event, an almost full moon will be trailing Jupiter to the East, ``bathing the landscape in brilliant cosmic light,'' Horkheimer said. And, as long as the night is clear, sky-gazers will be able to see Saturn, the second-largest planet, nearby, nestled among the shiniest stars of winter.

``People will be able to see more bright objects in the sky than they probably ever do,'' said Horkheimer, who has been an astronomer for 35 years and is the host of the television show ``Star Gazer.''

The cosmic coincidence could be viewed as symbolic, a shining light on the path of renewal after a tumultuous and tragic year, with those watching sharing in an intellectual and spiritual experience, he said.

``It's kind of a poetic way to tell us that perhaps next year will be a lot brighter than the past year,'' said Horkheimer.

http//www0.mercurycenter.com/breaking/docs/009242.htm

Excerpt below of my 1997 article, "Signs in the Heavens," describing en event that took place SEVEN years and a few months ago

There is more evidence that the 21 fragments of the Shoemaker-Levy Comet that slammed into the planet Jupiter on July 16-22, 1994 was a heavenly sign of Messiah's soon return. The total force of the 21 collisions is estimated at 100 million megatons of TNT (World Book Encyclopedia); the first collision alone at 200,000 megatons, more than all the combined nuclear arsenals of the world, leaving a hole in Jupiter half the size of the Earth.

Historically, the planet has been linked to the Jewish Messiah. The nine planets of our solar system may symbolize the pattern of the nine-lamp Hanukkah menorah. Jupiter, the fifth planet, is in the position of the "servant lamp," an apt symbolism of Messiah (we know as the "suffering servant"). According to J. R. Church, at the time of the collision, Jupiter was near Scorpio (a serpent in the Egyptian zodiac, symbolic of Satan and the antichrist) and moving toward the lamp of Libra. Church suggests the signs may indicate that Lucifer may be trying to seize the lamp and become the light of the world in place of Christ! He also points out that the moon was under Virgo on the night of July 16, 1994, and that Revelation 12 states that the moon is under the feet of Virgo when the great red dragon tries to "devour" the Messiah, all this portraying warfare in the heavenlies.

The date of initial impact, July 16, is significant. It was the anniversary of the date of the very first atomic explosion on Earth at Alamogordo, New Mexico, (exactly 49 years earlier, a good biblical number of 7 X 7) when one scientist exclaimed, "My God, we have created hell."

But July 16-17, 1994 is even more significant. It overlaps with the 9th of Av on the Jewish calendar, a date that historically has meant destruction and tragedy for the Jews, and is commemorated by them as a dark day. The Midrah states that God marked the 9th of Av as a day of catastrophe and declared it an eternal day of mourning. Both Solomon's and Herod's Temples were destroyed by invaders on that very same day.

July 16 and the 9th of Av do not always coincide. Friend Randy Bullock has discovered that the first fragment of Shoemaker-Levy hit at exactly 411 p.m. eastern time, or 1111 p.m. Jerusalem time, July 16, exactly five hours into the 9th of Av. That brief overlap, he states, "is a very poignant one to remember war and destruction."

Why? He checked his Hebrew calendar starting with 1920 through 2020 and found that the two dates overlap only six hours every 19 years, one of which was on July 16, 1994.

Further calculations revealed only a 1 in 27,759 chance of the overlap occurring at the time the comet hit Jupiter. In view of all the historical symbolisms involved, it is extremely unlikely that the timing was a coincidence. It is more likely that this is a "sign" in the heavens, revealing to those who have ears to hear the soon rise of antichrist and the "time of Jacob's trouble" just ahead.

This is speculation, but it may be no accident that the comet collisions extended over seven days, possibly representing the seven years of the Tribulation. The 21 separate comet collisions may represent the seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls of Revelation. Also, the seven-day collisions ended July 22, the very day before the Jewish joyous celebration of Tu Be-Av, which I am told could symbolize the Millennium.

(Added note seven, seven, seven. Hmmmm. Seven years, seven months and seven days from that event will be in February, 2002.  Just a thought.)

Jim