In an online book called “Recovering the Lost World” (2010), the author Jno Cook explains that all the ancient literature, mythologies, and legends speak the same story worldwide: that the moon, Saturn, and Mars were once much closer to the earth; enough to cause horrific chaos, including the biblical account of the Flood. As outlandish as it sounds, this would explain almost every question about ancient calendars and why they changed worldwide twice between 720 BC and 685 BC. It was during this time that the axis of the earth shifted enough to turn the land of “milk and honey” into baron rock and dust over time – “climate change”! Al Gore would be proud.
According to a book called “The Mars-Earth Wars” (1996) Mars had five “flybys” so close to the earth that it was the cause of the flood, shortening the length of the lunar month to 29.5 days, and lengthening the solar year to 365.25 days. I cannot refute their claims, but it does provide an understanding to how the length of time in Scriptures of old were different than today. Immanuel Velikovsky also wrote in “Worlds in Collision” that the old Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, Egyptian, Chinese, Roman (during the time of Romulus), Hindu, and Mayan calendars contained twelve 30-day months. This fact eludes scientists today because they refuse to look at these ancient writings as true accounts and dismiss them as sloppy mathematics. Even an astounding, well-known book describes Mars’ moons (which are far too small to see with the naked eye – today that is). Gulliver’s Travels, written in 1726 by Jonathan Swift, in the “Voyage to Laputa”, the astronomers discover two moons of Mars. Today, scientists credit the discovery of the moons of Mars to Asaph Hall, who discovered them in 1877, 150 year after the writings of Jonathan Swift. Because Jonathan Swift’s book is indeed fiction, they chalk it up to coincidence. However, the names were given Phobos meaning panic/fear and Deimos meaning terror/dread that, according to Greek mythology, traveled with their father Ares (Mars), the god of war, into battle. How did the ancient Greeks know what Jonathan Swift knew? All over the world, the legends, stories, and myths, depict Mars are being fearful and evil. According to these books, the closer Mars would get to the earth on its flybys, huge earthquakes would occur and massive lightning strikes between the two planets would occur. Everyone on the planet would certainly witness this kind of event. The stories, naming, and visibility of Mars’ moons were chronicled.
As shown in Psalms 82:5 KJV, the foundations of the earth are out of their courses. Because of the sins of man, God changed His perfect dance of the earth, moon, and sun into chaos for a while. He did changed it again for Hezekiah and Joshua by making the shadow on the sun dial go back ten degrees and hold the sun and the moon in place for the length of almost a day, respectively. Science cannot explain this because they reject the notion that the current placement of our solar system wasn’t always so.
Even during Jesus’ crucifixion something occurred. The “eclipse” could not have been the moon because the moon is full during Passover, which means that the earth is between the moon and the sun. So what caused the darkness?
Matthew 27:45 KJV “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.”
It is my belief that the darkness was God. When He visited Abram it was in a horror of great darkness and God spoke to Moses from a thick darkness.
Genesis 15:12 KJV “And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.”
Deuteronomy 5:22 KJV “These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.”
God has promised that all the chaos would return in the last days. Here are a few verses:
Isaiah 13:9-13 KJV “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.”
Joel 2:30-31 KJV “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.”
Luke 21:25-26 KJV “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”
Revelation 8:12 KJV “And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun 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, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.”
Now if you read this last verse carefully, you’ll notice that the only way to have the sun, moon, stars, night and day shine a third less, would be if the earth’s rotation increased by eight hours. Therefore, a day would no longer be 24 hours, but 18 hours long. So horrific will the last days be that Jesus Himself states:
Matthew 24:22 KJV “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”
If you do some homework, you’ll come across an idea that Hezekiah was the first to increase the calendar, but if you read Scripture, Hezekiah repaired that Temple and called Israel and Judah to repent. This happened in Nisan and they did not finish sanctifying the House of the Lord nor themselves until the sixteenth of Nisan – after the date they should have had the Passover. Not having kept the Passover for so long, Hezekiah calls all of Israel and Judah to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover in the second month, the month Iyyar. So many people came that they had to enlist the help of the non-priest Levites to help with the sacrifices. They kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days and when it was finished, asked to keep an additional seven days with great joy. Many claim that this is proof that the calendar changed. I do not believe this to be true because the changing of the sun’s shadow didn’t happen until many years later. Sadly, there is a lot of open debate on this topic in the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin), but that is because they choose their oral traditions over Scripture, or more accurately, their traditions blind them. I just want to point out that this story shows that though God commands men to keep His word, He is flexible and forgiving when it comes to the matter of the heart; whether it be humbled and repentant or not. (II Chronicles 29-32 KJV; II Kings 18-20 KJV; Isaiah 36 KJV)
Finally, Scripture implies that the calendar will revert to a 360-day year again. Daniel prophesied that when the antichrist desolates the temple, 1290 days would pass before the end. Daniel 12:7 KJV and John in Revelation 12:14 KJV speak of time, times, and half a time. Revelation 11:2 KJV and 13:5 KJV speak about the passage of 42 months before the end. Revelation 11:3 KJV says the two prophets will preach for 1260 days, and in 12:6, the “woman”, i.e. Israel, would be carried away and protected for 1260 days. If a “time” is a year, then a “time, times and half a time” would be 3.5 years. 1260 days is exactly 3.5 years in a 360-day year, as is 42 months containing 30-day months! But Daniel says from the desolation to the end is 1290 days. If you count from 1 Nisan 3.5 years you get 1 Tishri, the day I believe Jesus will return to begin His reign on earth, at the Feast of Trumpets!