[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.