A new consortium of EU researchers is exploring options for dealing with an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Plenty of ideas are already on the table, such as deflection with projectiles or explosives and using gravity to put it off course. But the project’s complexity and costs are problematic.

The Earth’s residents can once again play the popular game of “What if?” What if a hunk of cosmic rock is out there on a collision course with Earth? An Asteroid labeled “(433) Eros” is rushing toward our planet on a course that will bring it relatively close, at least on a cosmic scale.

On the one hand, the chunk of rock—measuring 30 by 13 kilometers (19 by 8 by 8 miles)—is approaching Earth closer than any asteroid of this size has for a long time. But on the other, it is currently following a circular path far beyond the moon’s orbit.

Many people might shudder to think of these silent giants. But then they will go on about their daily business, forgetting all about (433) Eros and others. After all, in statistical terms, the chances of an asteroid that size hitting the Earth are still rather slim.

Nevertheless, there are still some people who remain focused on this threat. Among them are Alan Harris and his colleagues at a newly formed consortium working on behalf of the European Union to develop “mitigation” strategies against potential cosmic killers. Harris, a planetary scientist at the German Aerospace Center’s Berlin-based Institute of Planetary Research, is leading the three-year NEOShield project, with “NEO” being the acronym for “near-Earth object.”

In response to these worries, the European Commission recently decided to invest €4 million ($5.3 million) in the NEOShield project. An additional €1.8 million will come from scientific institutions and industry partners. Within three years’ time, the experts hope to draw up a blueprint for a test mission. If it can find a financial backer, such as the European Space Agency (ESA), the mission could be launched as early as 2020.

In the meantime, researchers are working hard to find out whatever they can about our cosmic escorts. For example, NASA plans to launch its “OSIRIS-REx” probe in 2016 to pay a visit to the asteroid “1999 RQ36.” If everything goes according to plan, the probe will return to Earth seven years later with up to two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of sample material in its hold.

-spiegel.de, 30 January 2012




Scientists the world over seem to increasingly focus their attention on outer space; in this case, targeting the threat of asteroids. Is this real or imagined? Based on a number of gigantic craters in Canada, Arizona and Germany, to mention a few, all seem to attest that asteroids did strike the earth sometime in ancient history. Yet, the tiny sum ($5.3 million) the European Commission has allotted to this project seems to testify that the alleged danger is mostly theory.

However, the increased attention to outer space may well be connected to the real thing confirmed in the Bible, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels” (Revelation 12:7). War in heaven is something totally different than war on earth. The Bible does not give more information except to report of the end result, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (verse 9). Thus, planet Earth will experience an impact of some sort coming out of heaven.

(For more on this subject, read 2012, the Bible and the End of the World, Item 2252, $12.99.)


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A religious studies class late last year at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, was unusual for two reasons. The small group of students, faculty and faithful there to hear Mormon Elder Marlin Jensen were openly troubled about the future of their church, asking hard questions. And Jensen was uncharacteristically frank in acknowledging their concerns.

Did the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints know that members are “leaving in droves?” a woman asked.

“We are aware,” said Jensen, according to a tape recording of his unscripted remarks. “And I'm speaking of the 15 men that are above me in the hierarchy of the church. They really do know and they really care,” he said.

“My own daughter,” he then added, “has come to me and said, ‘Dad, why didn’t you ever tell me that Joseph Smith was a polygamist?’” For the younger generation, Jensen acknowledged, “Everything’s out there for them to consume if they want to Google it.” The manuals used to teach the young church doctrine, meanwhile, are “severely outdated.”

These are tumultuous times for the faith founded by Joseph Smith in 1830, and the rumbling began even before church member Mitt Romney’s presidential bid put the Latter-Day Saints in the spotlight.

Jensen, the church’s official historian, would not provide any figures on the rate of defections, but he told Reuters that attrition has accelerated in the last five or 10 years, reflecting greater secularization of society. Many religions have been suffering similarly, he noted, arguing that Mormonism has never been more vibrant.

“I think we are at a time of challenge, but it isn’t apocalyptic,” he said.

The LDS church claims 14 million members worldwide—optimistically including nearly every person baptized. But census data from some foreign countries targeted by clean-cut young missionaries show that the retention rate for their converts is as low as 25 percent. In the U.S., only about half of Mormons are active members of the church, said Washington State University emeritus sociologist Armand Mauss, a leading researcher on Mormons.

Sociologists estimate there are as few as 5 million active members worldwide.

-reuters.com, 30 January 2012




The authors—Peter Henderson and Kristina Cooke—reveal additional information about Mormonism and conclude their report, “having a Mormon president could raise the church’s profile and legitimize it in other countries.”

For an abbreviated summary of the doctrine of the Mormons, James Walker writes in his book, Concise Guide to Today’s Religions and Spirituality, the following: 

The LDS church accepts four books, known as the Standard Works, as scripture: The BIBLE (King James Version), the BOOK OF MORMON, DOCTRINE & COVENANTS (D&C), and the PEARL OF GREAT PRICE. The LDS Church teaches that before becoming God, our heavenly Father was once a man on another planet who progressed to EXALTATION and became the God of this earth. He and his wife, our “Heavenly Mother,” procreated billions of spirit children who eventually were born on earth as human beings. Those men and women who are obedient to their heavenly Father’s commandments have the potential of eventually becoming like their heavenly Parents—gods and goddesses of their own earths. Their gospel, known as “the law of eternal progression,” teaches EXALTATION, a doctrine summarized by the famous couplet of their fifth prophet, Lorenzo Snow: “As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be.” It promotes SALVATION BY WORKS, teaching that full salvation depends upon personal obedience to “the laws and ordinances of the gospel.” 



This rather strange religion enjoys a large following of which many are highly educated and financially well off. Although there is not one thread of archeological, historical or scientific evidence to support the writings of their founder Joseph Smith, even educated people fall for it. 

To “do something for God,” is the foundation of virtually all religions and, unfortunately, is often heard in Bible believing Christian circles as well. The truth is that we cannot do anything for God but, praise His Holy Name, He has done everything for us. Realizing that Jesus once and for all completely and perfectly executed God’s eternal plan of salvation, should be sufficient to turn anyone away from self-help religion and to the only helper: Jesus Christ crucified.

Sin leads to death; the only alternative is the free gift of salvation, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). 

That, however, is difficult to understand for a normal human being. Here again, the Bible confirms, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

(For more on this subject, read Seven Signs of a Born Again Person, Item 1030, $1.)

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