«Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O
inhabitant of the earth! He who flees at the sound
of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who
climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven are opened, and the
foundations of the earth tremble.»
(Isaiah 24:17-18, ESV)
«people fainting with fear and with foreboding of
what is coming on the world. For the powers of
the heavens will be shaken.» (Luke 21:26, ESV)
In our previous articles, we examined biblical descriptions and scientific explanations of future natural disasters associated with the Earth’s passage through a meteoroid–asteroid stream surrounding a dwarf planet. Specifically, we considered the collision of large celestial bodies with the Earth in the region of the Arctic Ocean and the adjacent territories.
A cosmic cataclysm of global proportions will cause major adverse changes in the Earth’s atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere, giving rise to widespread geophysical, geological, hydrological, and meteorological disasters, as well as wildfires.
The author proposes an eschatological interpretation of biblical texts concerning the fate of the inhabitants of the Earth under such catastrophic circumstances, amid hazardous and dangerous natural phenomena and processes (hereafter referred to collectively as HNPs; more than 130 such phenomena are recognized). How will the Creator of the universe fulfill His promise to this stubborn and corrupt generation? In the following manner:
«I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.» (Isaiah 13:11). Unfortunately, a world alienated from God by sin brings calamity upon itself through the evil it produces.
1. Physiological Disorders
The biblical prophets Haggai, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, and Joel foretold that on the Day of the Lord (the New Testament «Great Tribulation»), both the planet itself and "all nations," "all the people who are on the face of the earth," will tremble. Their prophecies do not describe a brief loss of balance during seismic shocks. Rather, they speak of a literal and prolonged trembling (vibrations )of the organs of the human body.
Apparently, this will result from low-frequency oscillations of the ground, water, and air caused by the movement of lithospheric plates, earthquakes, hypercanes, volcanic eruptions, supervolcanic explosions, the mass movement of meteors, ocean waves, lightning discharges, large-scale fires, and gravitational influences.
Oscillations with frequencies below approximately 20 hertz (scientifically termed infrasound) are not perceived by the human ear. Because they undergo only weak scattering and absorption, they can propagate thousands of kilometers from the epicenter, easily penetrating the bodies of humans and animals.
Under the influence of infrasound, adverse changes may occur in the nervous, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal systems due to resonance. In this case, resonance refers to an increase in the amplitude of oscillations of the body's internal and external organs when their natural frequencies (from 1 Hz to 20 Hz) coincide with the frequency of external low-frequency vibrations (0.001–20 Hz).
For example, resonance of the stomach and intestines occurs at approximately 2–4 Hz, the abdominal cavity at about 4–8 Hz, heart contractions at approximately 4–6 Hz, the kidneys at about 6–8 Hz, the vestibular apparatus at roughly 0.5–13 Hz, and the arms at approximately 2–5 Hz.
The frequency range from 6 to 9 Hz is considered the most dangerous to human life. Resonance causes vibration (trembling) of the heart, lungs, stomach, arms, legs, and lips, as well as impaired vision and hearing, pain, convulsions, vascular spasms, and elevated blood pressure. It is precisely such an extraordinary condition that the Old Testament prophets appear to describe, as though they had personally experienced it.
Thus Isaiah suddenly feels that «my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor» (Isaiah 21:3). Likewise, Jeremiah declares, «My heart is broken within me; all my bones shake» (Jeremiah 23:9). The prophet Nahum likewise reports that the heart melts, the knees tremble, and severe pain fills the loins.
The prophet Habakkuk also experienced a similar prophetic condition: «my body trembled ... my lips quivered ... rottenness (more precisely, "pain") entered into my bones» (Habakkuk 3:16, ESV). He further indicates one of the effects accompanying bodily vibration: «my legs trembled beneath me.”
High-intensity infrasound may disrupt the functioning of internal organs, cause physical injury, or even result in rupture of the stomach, lungs, heart, or blood vessels. Infrasound exceeding 180 decibels is capable of causing severe lung damage (including rupture of the alveoli) and injury to other organs. Oscillations with frequencies of approximately 10–18 Hz and intensities exceeding 100 dB may induce feelings of anxiety, depression, and panic fear.
2. Affective-Shock Reactions
Under the extreme conditions of a cascading natural disaster, the impact of psychologically traumatic factors may lead to mental disorders. According to psychotherapists, acute reactive psychoses accompanied by the immediate onset of affective-shock reactions may occur in approximately 10% to 25% of the population. Such reactions are especially likely among individuals who have sustained severe injuries to the limbs, chest, head, or soft tissues.
Being in an abnormal physical condition, witnessing the death of those around them, sensing a threat to their own lives, and hearing the cries of terrified people, many individuals will be overcome by panic fear (Fig. 1).
A certain analogy may be drawn with the prophecy of Isaiah: «Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!» (Isaiah 24:17, in another translation: "I see danger, a dreadful pit, and traps set everywhere for people.").
The prophet further declares that the foundations of the earth will be shaken, and that: «He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare» (24:18).
Psychiatrists believe that individuals who have suffered physical or psychological trauma may develop an acute reactive psychosis – a temporary psychotic disorder in the form of an immediate affective- shock reaction (ASR) or a hysterical psychosis. This pathology may manifest itself as reactive stupor, psychomotor agitation, or a twilight state of consciousness.
Psychogenic reactive stupor is characterized by the loss of the ability to stand (astasia) and/or to walk (abasia). In a state of astasia-abasia, which may persist for up to twenty days, the muscles lose their ability to maintain sustained coordinated contraction. As a result, the affected individual is able to remain standing only while leaning against a wall. If the person manages to move about, it is usually with great difficulty, exhibiting an unsteady, limping gait and frequent stumbling.
The following description by the Old Testament prophet remarkably resembles the symptoms that modern psychiatry classifies as the clinical picture of astasia-abasia: «We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight» (Isaiah 59:10).
Affective-shock reactions in hazardous disaster zones may occur in a stuporous form or as a fugue-like reaction. The latter is characterized by a disturbance of consciousness and by disorganized, purposeless movements, in accordance with the following prediction:
«they reeled and staggered like drunken men» (Psalm 107:27). The Lord will take away the understanding of rulers:
«They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man» (Job 12:25).
Affective-shock reactions are often accompanied by autonomic and somatic disturbances, including facial flushing, tachycardia, and tremor. The prophets Nahum, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Isaiah, and Daniel describe these physiological disorders in pre-scientific terms:
"their faces are aflame," "their faces grow dark," "shame is on all faces" (facial flushing syndrome); "the heart trembles" (tachycardia), "the heart melts" (bradycardia); "trembling seizes me," "my lips quivered" (tremor); "my breath was stopped within me" (bronchial spasm).
3. Generalized psychogenic Stupor
Under conditions of hazardous natural phenomena and processes (HNPs)—namely, terrifying natural cataclysms and frightening physiological disturbances – affective-shock reactions may develop into a more severe form.
Psychiatrists refer to this condition as catatonic-like psychogenic stupor, a state of profound inhibition characterized by complete immobility. The affected person loses the ability to move because of the sudden paralysis of the arms and legs, loss of muscle tone, immobilization, numbness, and catatonia-like symptoms.
Reactive psychosis may also assume a collective character. Thus, warning of the destructive force approaching on the Day of the Lord, Isaiah foresees that: «Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt» (Isaiah 13:7). This may be interpreted as a description of mass psychogenic stupor.
Ezekiel likewise prophesies both the complete weakening of the hands of those who survive the disaster by fleeing to the mountains and the trembling of their legs: «All hands are feeble, and all knees turn to water» (Ezekiel 7:17, we say they "turn into "something like cotton wool").
Generalized stupor, as a psychogenic reaction to physical and/or psychological trauma causing dissociative motor disorders, often begins with a sudden collapse. In biblical language, a person is described as being "caught in a snare," as though "a trap has seized his heel," or as one whose "feet have become entangled in a net."
The prophet sees that «they are full of the wrath of the LORD» and lie at the head of every street like helpless antelopes caught in a net (Isaiah 51:20). Those who have fallen remain motionless, paralyzed by fear; adopting a fetal position, they no longer react to the events unfolding around them.
Despite the complete functional integrity of the musculoskeletal system, the victims are unable to move either an arm or a leg: «Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life» (Amos 2:14). More literally, the passage may be rendered: "the strong shall lose all his strength."
Because these disasters constitute a complex combination of hazardous natural phenomena and processes, severe reactive psychoses may manifest either in a stuporous form or in the form of a twilight state of consciousness. As it is written: «so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see» (Deuteronomy 28:34, ESV). In biblical terminology, this psychogenic fugue-like reaction is described as "madness," "darkening," or "the loss of wisdom and understanding."
4. Blindness, Deafness, and Mutism
Among the severe manifestations of acute reactive psychoses are dissociative sensory disorders: psychogenic blindness (hysterical amaurosis), psychogenic deafness, and mutism. These pathologies arise not as a result of mechanical damage to the optic nerves, the tympanic membrane, or the vocal cords, but rather as a consequence of neurodynamic inhibition of the corresponding cortical centers of the brain under the influence of severe psychological shock.
For example, emotional shock, life-threatening circumstances, and severe physical and/or psychological trauma may give rise to affective-shock reactions (astasia, abasia, stupor, and twilight states of consciousness), as well as hysterical psychoses – temporary functional neuropsychiatric disorders.
The symptomatology of such psychoses may include loss of vision (Fig. 2), hearing, speech, and emotional numbness. Excessive activation of the sympathetic nervous system may inhibit visual perception at the level of the cerebral cortex, resulting in temporary hysterical blindness (the so-called amaurosis or functional blindness).
Indeed, the Bible contains an eschatological warning for those who do not listen to God and do not obey His commandments: «The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness ...» (Deuteronomy 28:28–29).
Zephaniah warns of visual impairment during the Lord’s judgment on His day: «they shall walk like the blind» (Zephaniah 1:17). Isaiah and Job see this prophecy fulfilled: «We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes» (Isaiah 59:10). In modern clinical terms, such individuals could be described as suffering from amaurosis while simultaneously remaining in a state of astasia-abasia.
The most common of the hysterical psychoses may prove to be psychogenic deafness – a loss or marked reduction of auditory sensitivity despite the absence of any actual damage to the hearing organs. This hearing impairment results from a protective psychogenic inhibition within the cerebral cortex, whereby the psyche blocks out the terrifying sounds associated with catastrophic events.
Because this disorder is characterized by a temporary and selective inability to hear the surrounding world, Isaiah calls out: «Hear, you deaf» (Isaiah 42:18). The psalmist David laments: «But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear» (Psalm 38:13). Likewise, the prophet Micah foretells: «their ears shall be deaf» (Micah 7:16).
Psychological trauma may also be accompanied by spasms of the intrinsic muscles of the larynx. For this reason, hysterical hearing impairment is often associated with a reversible loss of vocal sonority, causing speech to be reduced to a whisper (hysterical aphonia), or with a complete loss of speech (mutism).
A similar condition may be recognized in the prophet's prediction: «from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper» (Isaiah 29:4, ESV). David likewise describes a state resembling mutism: «But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth». (Psalm 38:13).
5. Death from Natural Catastrophes
Mass physiological disorders, affective-shock reactions, and hysterical psychoses will occur amid terrifying cataclysms—natural disasters of exceptionally great magnitude with the most severe consequences. Such extraordinary calamities will include:
- Extremely powerful earthquakes throughout the globe;
- Widespread forest, grassland, and peat fires, as well as pervasive wildfires;
- Volcanic eruptions and supervolcanic explosions unprecedented in recorded history;
- The combustion of air over land and sea as a result of flammable gases released from gas hydrates and geological formations;
- Massive rockfalls, landslides, scree avalanches, mudflows, lahars, snow avalanches, and glacier collapses;
- Giant tsunamis, megatsunamis, and teletsunamis, together with severe local fluctuations in the levels of seas, oceans, and other bodies of water;
- Hypercanes, storms, tornadoes, squalls, and vertical vortices with extreme wind velocities;
- Very large hailstones and prolonged hot acid rainstorms lasting for many days;
- The flooding of nearly all territories in many countries;
- Prolonged round-the-clock darkness, with the sky obscured by a dense veil of ash falling continuously for many days.
In addition, impact-generated plasma waves with initial temperatures exceeding 10,000°C, large-scale fires driven by hurricane-force winds, and the burning of forests, natural gas, and petroleum will transform the planet into a roaring fiery furnace.
«For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven» (Malachi 4:1). «And the peoples will be as if burned to lime, like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire» (Isaiah 33:12). In one translation, the latter passage is rendered: "people will burn until their bones are reduced to lime."
If these images are understood literally, they may correspond to the consequences of a large-scale cataclysm, including unprecedented volcanic activity, as seen in the vision of the Apostle John: «By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths» (Revelation 9:18).
Indeed, a third of the Earth's population may perish from fire (burn injuries), smoke (asphyxiation), and sulfur (poisoning by sulfur-containing gases), all of which accompany volcanic eruptions and explosive volcanic events. This would include many Israelites as well: «In the whole land, declares the LORD, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive» (Zechariah 13:8). 
As a result of a great impact-induced earthquake (Fig. 3), 7,000 people will perish even in the already depopulated city of Jerusalem, according to John's vision. Yet not only Jerusalem – cities throughout ALL nations will be destroyed.
Evacuation from megacities and other populated areas on the eve of the catastrophe will not guarantee survival. According to Isaiah's prophecies, during the earthquake those fleeing will fall into suddenly formed fissures, crevices, trenches, and pits.
It will be even more difficult to escape death from hot blast waves, giant hypercanes, and ubiquitous tsunamis; survival will be nearly impossible amid the widespread flooding of vast territories.
The countries most severely affected by temporary inundation will include Canada, the United States, Mexico, the nations of Central America, Europe, Russia, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, as well as many other countries in South America, Africa, and Asia. Countless people will drown, as in the days of Noah, concerning which Jesus Christ warned: «the flood came and destroyed them all» (Luke 17:27).
According to the prophets Zephaniah, Hosea, and Isaiah, people, animals, birds, and fish will perish. Modern scientists assess the collision of an asteroid approximately 15 km in diameter – similar to the one that formed the Chicxulub crater – as an event capable of causing a mass extinction of living organisms on Earth.
According to the proposed reconstruction of these events and the author's expert assessment, as many as 8 billion people may ultimately perish, meaning that only slightly more than 10 percent of humanity would survive.
6. Death from Disease
As a result of the catastrophe, enormous quantities of both fine and coarse aerosols will be released into the atmosphere. The air will become unfit for breathing because of toxic compounds of nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen, as well as micro- and nanoparticles of dust falling from the sky in place of natural precipitation, in accordance with the eschatological prophecy:
«And the LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed» (Deuteronomy 28:24). This dust will contain extremely fine glass-like particles which, upon entering the lungs and circulatory system, may lead to disease and death ("until you are destroyed").
Drinking water will also become a cause of death for those who survive the natural disasters. John saw that after a great star fell upon a third of the rivers and springs, «many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter» (Revelation 8:11). More precisely, the water became poisonous because of sulfuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids, as well as dissolved sea salts; in general, it was a dense dark-red liquid resembling the blood of a corpse.
Its blood-red color would be imparted by iron oxides originating from vaporized meteoric bodies, bolides, and asteroids, as well as from the ferralitic soils of various continents. Examples include the deserts of Australia, the Rub' al Khali on the Arabian Peninsula, the Kyzylkum of Central Asia, and the Kalahari of Southern Africa. Their red dust would be carried across all continents by hypercanes, typhoons, and hurricanes.
Contaminated drinking water, the decomposition of human and animal corpses, the decay of dead inhabitants of rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans, together with the mass proliferation of insects, would give rise to numerous infectious diseases, including epidemics of dysentery, cholera, malaria, tuberculosis, and others.
The biblical prophets foresee the following physical conditions: men and women becoming bald; wounds festering; bodies covered with sores; inflammation of the thighs; skin swelling with purulent abscesses before rupturing; skin blackening and clinging to the bones; inflamed eyes; a dried-up tongue; and the decay of the flesh.
The Apostle John states that a fourth of the Earth's population will die from violent death, famine, wild beasts, and epidemics (rendered as “pestilence” in many English translations). On that day, those who remain will say: «Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?» (Deuteronomy 31:17; Fig. 4).
7. Drought, Cold, and Famine
Within the framework of the proposed scenario, after the end of the continuous forty-day acid rainfall, the planet will enter a global drought lasting for many years.
This drought will be caused by a decrease in water temperature and, consequently, by a reduction in the intensity of evaporation from the surface of the World Ocean as a result of the so-called "global dimming." This effect will be produced by a continuous cloud of ash, dust, soot, cinders, sulfate particles, and other aerosols that will envelop the entire globe.
Instead of rain, dust will fall from the sky for several years. Shrubs and trees that escaped destruction by fire will wither, according to Joel (Joel 1:10–12, 15; Fig. 4). Whatever a person sows will decay (v. 17) in soil covered with ash and salt, while whatever manages to sprout in the darkness will either dry up or freeze.
The temperature of both the surface waters of the seas and oceans and the air over land will decline significantly. Across nearly the entire territory of many continents, a so-called "asteroid winter" will set in.
A great famine, like that in the days of the prophet Elijah, will strike the darkened Earth. Up to five billion people may die from starvation, the lack of safe drinking water, and disease. Instead of bread, meat, and milk, the survivors will have wormwood, poisonous mushrooms, and bitter water; their food and drink will be filled with bitterness, as though mixed with gall.
According to the biblical perspective, humanity has filled up the measure of its lawlessness and has already stored up wrath for itself «on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed» (Romans 2:5). Neither astrologers, nor fortune-tellers, nor seers will be able to save the planet from the calamities to come:
«for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;
there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away» (Hosea 4:1–3).
From the beginning of the cataclysms, within a period of forty-two months, so many living beings will perish that, according to the biblical forecast of the end of the age, no more than one-tenth of the world's population will remain alive. With the destruction of modern civilization, all of its abominations will disappear as well.
A higher moral law exists, and no one is permitted to violate it with impunity. Yet the Lord does not desire the death of the sinner, but rather that he turn away from his evil ways and remain alive. Then the new generation will be blessed – every nation and every person – if the Lord over them is the God who created the world.