Joseph’s Prophecy-“Forty days shall not pass and the stars shall fall from heaven”

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Spectacular Meteor Shower Might Repeat
by John P. Pratt

There might be a truly spectacular meteor shower during the pre-dawn hours of November 18, 1999. But it is not expected to rival the impressive meteor shower which occurred when the saints were expelled from Jackson County, Missouri in 1833.

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Have you ever wanted to see a truly spectacular meteor shower? There is a chance that the annual shower during the pre-dawn hours of Nov 18 will be truly magnificent this year. If that night is clear, it may well be worth the effort to be watching the sky beginning soon after midnight, especially if you live in Europe or the eastern United States. But no matter where you live, you still have a chance to see the best meteor shower that you may ever see. The intensity of meteor showers is notoriously hard to predict. The official forecasts from a variety of meteor scientists for the number of meteors range from “only a few” to “we may get rates as high as 7,000 per hour.”[1] If the “falling stars” are seen at even one tenth that latter rate, it would mean seeing a meteor about every five seconds. The normal rate is one every minute or two, so it could be rare treat indeed. Not even binoculars are required; simply face east in a comfortable reclining lawn chair, and enjoy!

Several meteor showers occur on about the same day every year, when the earth passes through the orbit of a comet. When the earth, traveling at some 18 miles per second, encounters the pebble-sized debris left by the comet, those particles race through our upper atmosphere and heat up and glow intensely, appearing to be “falling stars.” The chance for a major meteor shower is best in the year or so after the comet has passed by. The comet associated with this shower has a 33-year period. Exactly 33 years ago in 1966, a wonderful display occurred, with over 100,000 meteors being witnessed during the peak hour. That is about 30 meteors per second! That was the first meteor shower to rival the “Night the Stars Fell” in 1833, which was a memorable event in L.D.S. Church history. The rest of this article summarizes several eye witness accounts of that night, both from LDS Church members and from other reliable witnesses recorded by scientists, for whom it marked the beginning of modern meteor science.

Reports from Latter-day Saints
“all the firmament seemed enveloped in splendid fireworks, as if every star in the broad expanse had been hurled from its course…”
Parley P. Pratt

As the saints were being driven from Jackson County, Missouri, in November, 1833, several hundred refugees lay on the banks of the Missouri River, many sleeping on the ground under the open sky. They were awakened about 2 a.m. on November 13th to witness one of the most spectacular showers of meteors in recorded history, which has been referred to as “the night the stars fell.” Elder Parley P. Pratt, an LDS apostle, was there and described it:

“About two o’clock the next morning we were called up by the cry of signs in the heavens. We arose, and to our great astonishment all the firmament seemed enveloped in splendid fireworks, as if every star in the broad expanse had been hurled from its course, and sent lawless through the wilds of the ether. Thousands of bright meteors were shooting through space in every direction, with long trains of light following their course. This lasted for several hours, and was only closed by the dawn of the rising sun. Every heart was filled with joy at this majestic display of signs and wonders. . .” [2]

Edward Stevenson, who joined the church shortly after the event, described the event and also mentioned the effect on nearby enemies of those saints:

“I witnessed the falling stars–which was the grandest and most sublime sight eye ever beheld. No fear entered my mind, but joy rather than awe; this was in the fall, September I believe. If ever stars in the heavens had been on the move, it could not have excelled the sight. It appeared to me as some of the meteors, or stars, came down near to the surface of Silver Lake, on the banks of which I stood. And what makes it still more interesting was that a mob had assembled in Missouri to mob the Latter-day Saints who had just been driven from Jackson County, Missouri, and were in their tents, canopies, wagons and etc. on the banks of the Missouri River. God frightened the mob by this one of the signs of the last days so that great fear came upon the people, and the mob fled saying that the judgment day had come.”[3]

Eliza Lyman also mentioned the effect on the enemies of the Church:

“The next day we crossed the river into Clay County…. It was here that I saw the stars fall. They came down almost as thick as snowflakes and could be seen until the daylight hid them from sight. Some of our enemies thought the day of judgment had come and were very much frightened but the Saints rejoiced…” [4]

“I arose, and to my great joy, beheld the stars fall from heaven like a shower of hailstones…”
The Prophet Joseph Smith

The Prophet Joseph Smith also included the event in his history of the church, taken from his eye-witness account in Kirtland, Ohio, recorded in his personal journal. He explained that the still future sign of the Second Coming will be even more impressive:

“November 13. About 4 o’clock a.m. I was awakened by Brother Davis knocking at my door, and calling me to arise and behold the signs in the heavens. I arose, and to my great joy, beheld the stars fall from heaven like a shower of hailstones… “Some at times appeared like bright shooting meteors, with long trains of light following in their course, and in numbers resembled large drops of rain in sunshine. These seemed to vanish when they fell behind the trees, or came near the ground. Some of the long trains of light following the meteoric stars, were visible for some seconds; these streaks would curl and twist up like serpents writhing. The appearance was beautiful, grand, and sublime beyond description; and it seemed as if the artillery and fireworks of eternity were set in motion to enchant and entertain the Saints, and terrify and awe the sinners of the earth. Beautiful and terrific as was the scenery, it will not fully compare with the time when the sun shall become black like sack-cloth of hair, the moon like blood, and the stars fall to the earth–Rev. vi:13 (italics added). [5]

It is clear from the final sentence of this quote that the Prophet interpreted the phenomenon only as a precursor to the great sign which would later be given of the Second Coming of Christ. LDS leaders, such as Oliver Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon followed his lead, and even shortly afterward noted that the sign of the falling of the stars would be a future event. [6]

Philo Dibble, a prominent member of the church at that time, recorded the following observations made by Joseph Hancock, the brother of Levi Hancock, near Kirtland, Ohio, on that night:

“On one occasion Joseph was preaching in Kirtland, sometime in the fall of 1833. Quite a number of persons were present who did not belong to the Church, and one man, more bitter and skeptical than others, made note with pencil and paper of a prophecy uttered on that occasion, wherein Joseph said that ‘Forty days shall not pass, and the stars shall fall from heaven.’

“Such an event would certainly be very unusual and improbable to the natural man, and the skeptic wrote the words as a sure evidence to prove Joseph to be a false prophet.

“On the thirty-ninth day after the utterance of that prophecy, a man and brother in the Church, by the name of Joseph Hancock,… and another brother were out hunting game and got lost. They wandered about until night, when they found themselves at the house of this unbeliever, who exultingly produced this note of Joseph Smith’s prophecy and asked Brother Hancock what he thought of his prophet now that thirty-nine days had passed and the prophecy was not fulfilled.

“Brother Hancock was unmoved and quietly remarked, ‘There is one night left of the time, and if Joseph said so, the stars will certainly fall tonight. The prophecy will all be fulfilled.’

“The matter weighed upon the mind of Brother Hancock, who watched that night, and it proved to be the historical one, known in all the world as ‘the night of the falling of the stars.’

“He stayed that night at the house of the skeptical unbeliever, as it was too far from home to return by night, and in the midst of the falling of the stars, he went to the door of his host and called him out to witness what he had thought impossible and the most improbable thing that could happen, especially as that was the last night in which Joseph Smith could be saved from the condemnation of a ‘false prophet.’
“The whole heavens were lit up with the falling meteors, and the countenance of the new spectator was plainly seen and closely watched by Brother Hancock, who said that he turned pale as death and spoke not a word.” [7]

This latter account includes a prophecy which does not appear to have been recorded elsewhere, and which, being a third-hand report is unlikely to be correct in every detail. [8] It is included here only as a parallel account of the stars falling. In particular, the detail that the skeptic looked “pale as death” is specifically noted in other accounts which reported that there was sufficient light on that moonless night even to discern the color of a man’s beard.

Scientific Reports of Eye-witnesses

“…apartments, where persons were sleeping, were strongly illuminated, and some were aroused under the apprehensions that their dwellings were in flames”

Let us now consider accounts by other credible witnesses, which both show that the phenomenon was witnessed over all of the eastern states and also emphasize just how spectacular it was. Professor Denison Olmsted of Yale University collected and published the following eye witness accounts. [9] The event was so significant that one recent researcher has noted that “The early morning storm of meteors seen in the eastern United States on November 13, 1833, marked the birth of modern meteor astronomy.” [10]

Here are some excerpts from Prof. Olmsted’s collection:

The Columbian Centinel in Boston reported: “This morning there was the appearance of a thick shower of fire. It was occasioned by the incessant falling of innumerable meteors … about half as thick as the flakes of snow in one of our common snow falls.”

“their brilliancy was so great, that we could, at times, read common sized print, without much difficulty”

The Salt River Journal in Bowling Green, Missouri, published “Above all, around the firmament–thicker than the stars themselves, which were uncommonly bright, large and beautiful–we beheld innumerable fire-balls… Though there was no moon…their brilliancy was so great, that we could, at times, read common sized print, without much difficulty, and the light which they afforded was much whiter than that of the moon.” The report added that “the very countenances of men wore the aspect and hue of death…” and that “There was a grand, peculiar, and indescribable gloom on all around.” It went on to report that “there was scarcely a space in the firmament which was not filled at every instant with these falling stars…” and that “at times they would shower down in groups–calling to mind the ‘fig tree, casting her untimely figs when shaken by a mighty wind …'” The report also agreed with others that, “there was not a space in the firmament equal in extent to three diameters of the moon, which was not filled at every instant with falling stars; all of which left luminous traces from five to ten degrees in length, that lasted for seven or eight seconds…”[11]

A civil engineer at West Point wrote that “[some of them] shot along like falling lamps, followed by a small short and pointed flame so brilliant as to pain the sight for an instant. In sensible magnitude these might be compared to the morning star, and in intensity of brilliance to lightning.” He recorded one “red fiery ball of perhaps one fifth the moon’s apparent diameter.”

The President of St. John’s College, Annapolis, stated that “The light was so intense that apartments, where persons were sleeping, were strongly illuminated, and some were aroused under the apprehensions that their dwellings were in flames…. In the words of most, they fell, like flakes of snow. … It was well ascertained that several of the meteors appeared to burst into numbers of smaller stars as they fell … One in particular, is stated by several, to have been as large as the moon ...”

“there was not a space in the firmament equal in extent to three diameters of the moon, which was not filled at every instant with falling stars”

A chemistry professor in Maryland observed: “…the scene was altogether brilliant beyond conception … the meteors in numbers exceeding the visible stars, and in intensity of light often rivalling the rays of the full moon.”

A medical doctor traveling all night in North Carolina reported that the “most magnificent meteor … appeared somewhat larger than the full moon rising” and that its track “was visible at least twenty minutes.”

Thus, many witnesses all over the entire eastern part of the United States recorded this spectacular event.

Let’s Be Watching

The Lord has told us to be watching for the signs of his Second Coming: “And it shall come to pass that he that feareth me shall be looking forth for the great day of the Lord to come, even for the signs of the coming of the Son of Man.” (D&C 45:39)

One of those signs is that the stars shall fall from heaven, which might well refer to a great meteor shower. The Prophet Joseph Smith implied that that event would be even more wonderful than the Night the Stars Fell in 1833. Should not we be watching the skies, hoping to see that marvelous occurrence? The morning of Nov. 18, 1999, gives us an opportunity to practice watching, in anticipation of the day when the true sign of His Coming will be given. https://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/1999/meteors.html


 

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Notes
1 Joe Rao, “The Leonid Meteor Storm: Is This the Year?”, Sky and Telescope 98:5 (Nov. 1999), 29-35.
2 Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Co., 1985), p. 83.
3 J.G.Stevenson, ed., Autobiography of Edward Stevenson, (1986), p 5.
4 Eliza Lyman, B.Y.U. Studies, p.4.
5 DHC 1:439, from Times and Seasons 6, p.898.
6 For example Oliver Cowdery (Evening and Morning Star, Dec. 1833, p. 116) and Sidney Rigdon (ibid., Jun 1834, p. 161).
7 The Juvenile Instructor, 27 (Jan. 1892), p. 23.
8 If the Prophet did preach publicly in Kirtland exactly 40 days before Nov. 13, 1833, it would have been on Friday, Oct 4, 1833, the day prior to his departure for a mission to Canada. That seems unlikely, because such a remarkable prophecy which was fulfilled in such a spectacular manner would almost certainly have been recorded by others. Instead, the “skeptic” was apparently the only one who recorded the prophecy. On the other hand, Joseph Hancock was a faithful member of the church who would hardly have fabricated the account. It seems more likely that the Prophet encountered the skeptic on Oct. 5, after he had left Kirtland. Apparently the skeptic lived well outside of Kirtland because his house was discovered while Bro. Hancock was lost and was too far from his home for him to return that night. Perhaps the skeptic was at Lamb’s Tavern in Astabula, about 40 miles from Kirtland, where the Prophet spent that Saturday night (DHC I:416).
9 Denison Olmsted, “Observations on the Meteors of November 13th, 1833,” American J. Sci. Arts 25 (1834), 354-411.
10 D.K. Yeomans, “Comet Tempel-Tuttle and the Leonid Meteors,” Icarus, 47, 492-499 (1981).
11 This data would imply a rate of at least 50 meteors per second.

©1999 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.


Leonid meteor shower to light up night sky
By Kate Tobin CNN Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Italian astrophotographer Lorenzo Lovato captured this Leonid fireball in 1998.

(CNN) — The annual Leonid meteor shower is set to rain space dust over Earth for the next few days, putting on a show for night skygazers. Astronomers disagree as to when the shower will peak — some say Wednesday, others Friday.

Every year at this time, Earth passes through the dusty debris trail of the comet Tempel-Tuttle. As the tiny meteors — most no bigger than a grain of sand — hit earth’s atmosphere, they burn up in a fiery streak. They are also known as shooting stars.

It generally takes a couple of days for Earth to pass completely through the debris cloud, and it is hard to say exactly when the shower will peak. Scientists do not expect this year’s shower to be particularly spectacular, with only 15 to 20 meteors per hour visible under optimal conditions. But exactly how intense the shower will be has been notoriously hard to predict accurately.

Comet Tempel-Tuttle orbits the sun once every 33 years. It last passed close to Earth in March 1998, laying down a fresh debris trail. As a consequence, astronomers predicted the 1998 and 1999 Leonid meteor showers could be spectacular. The 1998 event was a disappointment, with only about 250 meteors per hour observed at the shower’s peak. But the 1999 Leonids met expectations, with the shower becoming a storm of nearly 4,000 meteors per hour over Europe and the Middle East.

Skywatchers who hope to catch the show should try to get out to an area where the sky is dark, away from city lights. While the Leonids are so-named because they appear to come from the area of the sky where the constellation Leo is found, the best way to view them is to find a place with a good unobstructed view of the whole sky. No telescopes or binoculars are necessary.

In those years when the shower reached “storm” proportions, meaning thousands of meteors per hour, the streaks of light filled the whole sky.

Obviously, cloudy weather could ruin the whole show.

While meteor showers may make for entertaining skygazing, the risk of getting hit by a meteorite is practically zero. The largest of the Leonid meteors — a very small number — might be the size of baseballs. But after striking the atmosphere at 44 miles per second, few if any will survive long enough to hit the ground.

Meteor showers do pose a slight risk to satellites in orbit. Even the ones the size of a grain of sand, because they are moving 200 time faster than a speeding bullet, could damage a satellite beyond repair if it were to hit it just right. Another danger from the impact of a meteor on a satellite is an effect called “charging” in which the collision creates a tiny cloud of electrically charged gas, called plasma, that can short out electrical systems.

Many satellite operators take precautions during meteor showers, such as angling sensitive optics away from the oncoming meteors, or turning solar arrays on edge to the shower.

However, NASA scientist Don Yeomans noted that the risk of a satellite getting “taken out” by a Leonid is quite small, less than 0.1 percent. He said satellites are more at risk every day from man-made space junk. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/11/16/meteor.shower/index.html


ASTRONOMERS HAVE REVEALED THE BIGGEST METEOR SHOWER EVER RECORDED IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM 12/26/2018

On our planet, we’re quite in luck if we see a few hundred meteors an hour during a meteor shower. But if you were on Mars about three years ago, nevertheless, you would have witnessed something extraordinary – 108,000 meteors per hour, the biggest meteor shower ever in recorded history on any planet.

This meteor shower was a result of Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) zipping past the planet on October 19, 2014. We were lucky to have a spacecraft in circling the planet back then, and what they observed was unbelievable. http://www.physics-astronomy.com/2017/09/astronomers-have-revealed-biggest.html#.XRe5RuhTk2w

Joseph Smith Prediction of Stars Falling From Heaven

Philo Dibble records Joseph’s prophecy and it’s spectacular fulfillment.

“On one occasion Joseph was preaching in Kirtland in the fall of the year 1833 [October 5]. Quite a number of persons were present who did not belong to the Church; and one man, more bitter and skeptical than the others, made note with pencil and paper of the prophecy uttered on that occasion, wherein Joseph said that ‘Forty days shall not pass and the stars shall fall from heaven.’

“On the thirty-ninth day after the utterance of that prophecy a brother in the Church, Joseph Hancock and another man were out hunting game and got lost. They wandered about until night, when they found themselves at the home of this unbeliever, who exultingly produced this note of Joseph Smith’s prophecy and asked Brother Hancock what he thought of his prophet now that thirty-nine days had passed an the prophecy was not fulfilled.

“Brother Hancock was unmoved and quietly remarked, ‘There is one night left of the time and if Joseph said so, the stars will certainly fall tonight. This prophecy will all be fulfilled.’

“The matter weighed upon the mind of Brother Hancock, who watched that night and it proved to be the historical one known in the entire world as ‘The Night of Falling Stars.’

Artist's Rendering of the November 13, 1833 Leonid Meteor Shower

“He stayed that night at the home of the skeptic unbeliever, as it was too far from home to return by night; and in the midst of the falling of the stars he went to the door of his house and called him out to witness what he thought impossible and the most improbably thing that could happen, especially as that was the last night in which Joseph Smith could be saved from the condemnation of a ‘false prophet’.

“The whole heavens were lit up with the falling meteors and the countenance of the skeptic as he viewed the spectacle was plainly seen and closely watched by Brother Hancock, who said that he turned pale as death and spoke not a word.

“After that event the unbeliever sought the company of any Latter-day Saint. …. Not long afterwards, too, he sent for Joseph and Hyrum to come to his house, which they did.”

This leonid meteor shower took place on November 13, 1833, and is still regarded as one of the most spectacular showers in recorded history.

Source: http://www.moroni10.com/mormon_history/joseph-smith-stars-falling.html
Parry Edwin. “Philo Dibble Narrative.” Stories about Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City, 1934


This was the famous meteor shower noticed by so many Americans, including Joseph Smith, November 18, 1833 (“. . . beautiful, grand, and sublime beyond description . . .” History of the Church I:439).  Interestingly, on page 235, Thompson also describes a lesser-known display which shot past the Kirtland Temple years later . .

In eighteen hundred thirty-eight,
As I will now to you relate—
‘Twas on the eighteenth day of May,
About the closing of the day,
A brilliant thing I did espy,
‘Twas passing through the eastern sky:
A ball of fire it seemed to be,
A fiery stream behind I see.
This sign in heaven passed along,
As you will learn by this my song;
Until it passed the house of God,
Who’ll scourge this nation with his rod.
Then it was parted, roll’d in balls,
And vanished out of sight of all.

Illustration of the temple above taken from Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio . . . (Cincinnati, 1848 ed.), p. 283. It was NOT published in Thompson’s Evidences described here and therefore does not appear in this volume; shown here for background interest only.

Thompson defines “the house of God” as “The Temple in Kirtland, Ohio” in a note at the bottom of the page. Joseph Smith was in Missouri at this time, no Church periodicals were published that month, and I find no reference to this fiery Kirtland phenomenon in LDS Church history except this first-hand account by Charles Thompson now at hand.

Source: http://www.rickgrunder.com/Books%20for%20Sale/Thompson/thompson.htm