[Apologetics] Sign From Heaven? Meteor Changed History

[Dianne Dawson]

http://channels.isp.netscape.com/whatsnew/package.jsp?name=fte/meteorchangedhistory/meteorchangedhistory&floc=wn-nx
   
  Sign From Heaven? Meteor Changed History 
  A team of Swedish geologists has found what it believes is the crater made by a meteor that streaked across the sky and crashed into the Earth in 312 AD. If they're right--and carbon dating has already backed them up on it--this is a meteor whose presence may have changed the history of the world, asserts the BBC News Online.
  The scene: Central Italy in the year 312 AD.
The main character: Constantine, who was preparing to invade Italy in a battle with Maximinus Daia for control of Rome.
The plot: A celestial vision that changed history.
  Before the battle, Constantine looked heavenward and saw a blazing light streaking through the sky. He interpreted the shocking sight to mean only one thing: It was a message from the Christian God, a kind of celestial vision. Constantine immediately converted to Christianity. He ordered his soldiers to paint the "Chi-Ro" symbol of Christ on their shields. 
  Eusebius, who was one of the Christian Church's early historians, wrote about the conversion of Constantine. He described the vision as a "most marvelous sign" and "a trophy of a cross of light in the heavens above the Sun, and bearing the inscription 'conquer by this.'" 
  The battle for Rome was very lopsided. Maximinus' troops defending the city were four times as strong in number as Constantine's troops. But Constantine was the victor, and he became the Roman emperor. He ordered that persecution of Christians cease and gave Christianity official status--a big boost for a fledgling religion.
  Fast forward to 2003: The Swedish geologists, led by Jens Ormo, located the crater that they say was formed by the impact of a meteor as it slammed into the Earth. Radiocarbon dating places it around the year 312 AD. 
  Ormo speculates that Constantine's celestial vision was actually that meteor. Such meteors occur only once every few thousand years, but Constantine had no way of knowing this. Ormo told the BBC News that the meteor would have smashed into the Earth with the force of a small nuclear bomb and would have been accompanied by a mushroom cloud and shockwaves.
  And here is where the BBC News ponders this fascinating question: What if the meteor hadn't streaked through the sky above Italy on that day just before that decisive battle? 
    
   Constantine might have lost the battle without the divine inspiration he used to his advantage to become the victor.   
   If Constantine did not become emperor, Christianity would not have received state patronage.   
   The establishment of the papacy in Rome may never ever happened.


Like a deer that longs for running waters so my soul longs for you, O God.

Ps 42:1
 
 



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