John Martin’s 1834 version of the Deluge
COGwriter
Several years back, Pope Francis warned, contrary to scripture, of another great flood:
Pope warns of another ‘Noah’s Flood’: Even though the Bible says it will never happen
Hashem said to Himself: “Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done. Genesis 8:21 (The Israel BibleTM)
March 3, 2021
In a recently published book, Pope Francis warned that global warming could bring about a “second great flood.” Some critics were quick to point out that his statement seemed to contradict the promise made by God never to bring another flood. But one expert explained taht the pontiff’s statements were actually entirely consistent with the Biblical text.
Pope Francis: Global Warming May Case “Repeat of the Great Flood”
In “Dei vizi e delle virtù” (Of Vices and Virtues), published in Italian on Tuesday, Pope Francis warned that humanity could face a repeat of the Great Flood that wiped out almost all of humanity in the generation of Noah.
“A great flood, perhaps due to a rise in temperature and the melting of glaciers: that is what will happen if we continue on the same path,” Pope Francis said to the Italian priest Fr. Marco Pozza who transcribed the pope’s statements.
Pope Francis explained that the first flood was the result of God’s wrath against the sins of humanity. In the book, he urges world leaders towards ‘prudence’, saying it is the role of governments to “stop and think” before acting rashly.
Pope Francis said that the flood was due to God’s wrath “against injustice, against Satan… against evil”.
“The wrath of God seeks to bring justice and to ‘cleanse.’ The Flood is the result of God’s wrath, according to the Bible,” he said, explaining that it is not God’s will to destroy mankind. “God unleashed his wrath, but he saw a righteous man, took him, and saved him.”
“The story of Noah shows that the wrath of God is also a saving one.”
The pope noted that the Biblical account has been substantiated by science.
“The flood is a historical account, archaeologists say, because they found evidence of a flood in their excavations,” he said. https://www.israel365news.com/187836/pope-warns-of-another-noahs-flood-even-though-the-bible-says-it-will-never-happen/
Yes, the great flood was a historical event.
And yes, while the world will NOT be destroyed again by a great flood, there WILL BE A MAJOR DEVASTATING FLOOD IN THIS CENTURY:
12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place (Revelation 6:12-14).
17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. 19 Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. 20 Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great (Revelation 16:17-21).
11 And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven … 25 And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory (Luke 21:11, 25-27).
Essentially, the Bible shows that the earth will be scorched with heat, there will the greatest earthquake of all time that will level mountains, and that heavenly bodies will fall to the earth as well as apparently into the sea. And this will be followed by the sea and the waves roaring. And if most of the frozen waters have melted by then, the height of these roaring waves apparently will be enough to destroy most who live on islands.
According to the Bible, these prophesies are certain to come to pass (Revelation 22:6).
The following may also be of interest:
Priest Balthassar Mas (17th century): “I saw a land swallowed up by the sea and covered with water. But afterwards, I saw that the sea receded little by little and the land could be seen again. The tops of the towers in the city rose again above the water and appeared more beautiful than before, and I was told that this land was England.” (Dupont, Yves. Catholic Prophecy: The Coming Chastisement. TAN Books, Rockford (IL), 1973, p.32)
While we cannot rely on Roman Catholic private prophecy, the above is consistent with Pope Francis’ warning. The above may have several interpretations. Figuratively, it may mean that Protestant England is to be destroyed and will become Greco-Roman Catholic. Or it may simply mean some type of tsunami will affect England. Or nothing like that will happen. We will see.
That being said, does the amount of water on and in the Earth support the view of the Genesis flood of Noah’s time?
Yes.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), it estimates there are 321,000,000 cubic miles of water in, on, or above the Earth. The USGS has also calculated:
About 3,100 mi3 (12,900 km3) of water, mostly in the form of water vapor, is in the atmosphere at any one time. If it all fell as precipitation at once, the Earth would be covered with only about 1 inch of water. https://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html accessed 08/26/18
So, since there is estimated to be over 100,000 times that amount of water, then the world would be covered by over 100,000 inches or over 1.5 miles of water. With the ground more leveled in Noah’s time than now, the Earth would have been covered (furthermore, I suspect that the USGS estimates are low for Noah’s time, because of atmospheric loss since then).
Consider also the following:
While about 71 percent of the earth is covered with water, 96.5 percent of it is saline and undrinkable ocean water. Surface water is constantly being recycled through evaporation and rainfall. Even the water we use from wells is mostly recycled as part of this process.
But if, as more scientific studies suggest, “primary water” deep beneath the mantle or crust of the Earth exceeds the amount found in all the planet’s oceans, there is hardly a shortage. If it can be extracted to the surface through natural processes or through deep-well drilling, supplies would be unlimited for a thirsty world.
“It’s actually the confirmation that there is a very, very large amount of water that’s trapped in a really distinct layer in the deep Earth,” said Graham Pearson, lead author of the 2014 study and a geochemist at the University of Alberta in Canada. “It translates into a very, very large mass of water, approaching the sort of mass of water that’s present in all the world’s oceans.”
More scientists and researchers are coming to the conclusion that some of this “primary water” is still breaking through to the surface as a result of earthquakes just as the Genesis account of the Flood explained how the entire world was once covered with water. They are also theorizing that the vast reserves of highly pressurized “primary water” are actually causing quakes – again, just as the biblical Flood account described in Genesis 7:11 when “all the fountains of the great deep [were] broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”
Of course, many people today consider that account simply a myth, legend, superstition.
What does science say?
It’s left with two options for what accounts for all of the Earth’s water:
- It came from extraterrestrial sources – namely comets and asteroids;
- The Earth itself is actually manufacturing water
The latest studies pointing to vast reserves of fresh water – or “primary water” – are being used to lend credence to the second option. Why? Because the previous theory could not begin to explain how water equivalent to or exceeding the water in all of the Earth’s oceans could have found itself deep beneath the planet’s mantle.
So maybe there is another explanation – God made the water. …
Andrew Snelling, a Ph.D geologist from Australia who serves as director of research for Answers in Genesis. He, too, noticed these recent studies and came to conclusions similar to my own.
“It is ironic that secularist scientists are still seeking to explain where the Earth’s water came from,” he writes. “For many years now, they have endeavored to fill in the difficult-to-explain pieces of their ‘story’ about how our home Earth ‘just happened’ to become so habitable for life over the course of its supposed billions-of-years history. Secularists believe the Earth condensed from clumpy matter flung out of the solar nebula 4.56 or so billion years ago. It was thus originally a hot, molten blob that cooled. They used to suggest that most of the water came from inside this cooling Earth, but not enough to fill the oceans we have on the Earth’s surface today. A once popular theory was that comets (which are essentially large, dirty snowballs) collided with the Earth and deposited their water on its surface.”
But that explanation, as I wrote, could not possibly explain oceans of water deep beneath the surface of the planet. With the new evidence for just that, a new explanation was needed – especially because the discovery would, in fact, lend scientific credence to the Genesis account of Creation and the explanation for the Flood. After all, the Flood account specifically says that much of the water broke free from deep inside the Earth.
“Of course, these same secularists and Bible skeptics say, as predicted in 2 Peter 3:3-6, that there never was a global flood on the Earth, even though it is still 70 percent covered in water, which averages more than two miles deep,” writes Snelling. “But ironically, they also say that, due to the many evidences of massive water erosion on Mars, there was a watery flood ‘of Biblical proportions’ on that planet in the past, even though that planet’s surface is dry today!”
Snelling, too, sees the recent studies as evidence of the biblical Flood account.
“The Bible’s description of that outbursting event is merely confirmed by the latest findings of the secular scientists,” he writes. “So the waters that came from inside the Earth, combined with the waters in the original, created oceans to produce the Genesis Flood.” http://www.wnd.com/2017/09/water-science-and-the-bible-2/
The Bible teaches:
7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. (Genesis 7:7-11, NKJV)
11 When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. (Genesis 7:11, NLT)
Water from the flood included rain as well as the waters below the ground coming up.
As far as deep water goes, consider the following:
February 18, 2023
The Russian project produced a lot of geological data that expanded what we know about the Earth. The Kola superdeep borehole gave a direct look at the structure of the crust …
But the most fascinating find from the Kola Superdeep Borehole was when they ran into flowing water several miles deep beneath the surface. Before that, nobody would have thought that liquid water could exist so deep beneath the surface. https://www.indianpolitics.co.in/a-dig-towards-the-core-of-the-earth-uncovers-a-lot-of-scientific-secrets/
Well, those of us who believe the Bible always accepted that there could be water very, very, deep as that is consistent with what the word of God said was involved with the flood of Noah’s time.
Let it also be pointed out that the highest mountains we have today were NOT as high at the time of Noah’s flood. Interestingly, it was reported about a year ago that Mt. Everest is a couple of feet higher than it was in 1999 (see https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/12/new-height-of-mount-everest-announced-by-china-and-nepal/). Essentially the movement of tectonic plates tends to lift some mountains up, while earthquakes can bring their height down. The Bible hints of a massive tectonic shift after the flood during the lifetime of Peleg (Genesis 10:25, approximately 2200 B.C.), and that shift appears to have caused many mountains to rise greatly from then until present.
Scientists realize that there is enough water for the great flood of Noah’s time, though most will not make that connection publicly.
While biblical critics have suggested that Noah’s flood was only a local matter, last year some researchers claimed there is evidence to support a great flood that affected the Chinese, prior to the start of later Chinese civilization:
August 5, 2016
A Chinese myth that speaks of a flood so high “it threatens the very heavens” may be rooted in fact after all.
Some 4,000 years ago, legend says, the flood tore through a large are of central China washing away cities and inundating farmland.
Enter a hero named Yu the Great, who earned his sobriquet by spending decades organizing a campaign to dig canals to channel the floodwater, supposedly passing his home three times as he traveled the region, but never setting foot inside until the job was done.
Yu was so revered for these public works that he passed into legend as emperor of China’s supposed first dynasty, the mythical Xia Dynasty.
Now, researchers in China say they may have found evidence that the great flood that sparked the myths was, in fact, a real event on the region’s Yellow River. https://weather.com/science/news/scientists-find-evidence-china-legendary-great-flood-was-real
Analysis of the crushed skeletons of children have revealed that an earthquake 4,000 years ago could be the source of a legendary “great flood” at the dawn of Chinese civilisation.
A Chinese-led team found remnants of a vast landslide, caused by an earthquake, big enough to block the Yellow river in what is now Qinghai province, near Tibet. …
The authors put the Yellow river flood at about 1920 BC by carbon dating the skeletons of children in a group of 14 victims found crushed downstream, apparently when their home collapsed in the earthquake. …
The evidence of a massive flood in line with the legend “provides us with a tantalising hint that the Xia dynasty might really have existed”, said one of the authors, David Cohen of National Taiwan University.
Deluges feature in many traditions, from Hindu texts to the biblical story of Noah. In pre-history, floods were probably frequent as ice sheets melted after the last ice age ended … https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/05/chinas-great-flood-tests-on-childrens-bones-support-4000-year-old-legend
“The flood is pouring forth destruction. Boundless and overwhelming, it overtops hills and mountains,” goes a quote attributed to the legendary Emperor Yao. “Rising and ever rising, it threatens the very heavens.”
If civilization was to survive, the people needed a hero who could tame the floodwaters and restore the land. That man was Yu, founder of China’s first dynasty, the Xia. Over the course of decades, Yu organized a dredging campaign, dug channels that would carry the water back to its source, and pioneered a tradition of great Chinese public works.
“He brings order out of the chaos and defines the land, separating what would become the center of Chinese civilization,” said David Cohen, an anthropologist and early Chinese history expert at National Taiwan University. “He is essentially establishing the political order and the ideologies of rulership.”
It is a powerful foundation myth, but many believed that was all it was. Some 4,000 years after the flood was supposed to have happened, historians had found no archaeological evidence of its effect or firsthand accounts of its destruction. There are no historical artifacts from Yu, or the Xia dynasty he founded. All researchers had to go on were stories written long after the fact, dramatized and politicized to justify the ends of those who wrote them.
Until Wu Qinglong, a geologist at Nanjing Normal University, found signs of the flood in the sediments beneath his feet.
In a new paper published Thursday in the journal Science, Wu and his colleagues describe geological evidence for a catastrophic flood on the Yellow River in about 1900 B.C. — right around the time the “Great Flood” was said to have taken place.
“This expands our understanding,” said Andrew Sudgen, deputy editor of Science, “not only of civilization’s origins, but also the environment in which ancestral societies emerged.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/08/04/legends-say-china-began-in-a-great-flood-scientists-just-found-evidence-that-the-flood-was-real/?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_1_na
The Bible tells of a massive worldwide flood that occurred (Genesis chapters 6 -8). This seems to have been around 2325 B.C. (see Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End?).
Since carbon dating has its flaws (it assumes a constant rate of change in all areas which has proven to be incorrect), it could be that the remains found were related to the flood in Noah’s time, or perhaps a different, more local flood, that occurred a few centuries later.
However, there is other evidence in China that the Chinese were aware of the biblical flood.
Notice a couple of statements in the Bible concerning the flood:
1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. (Genesis 7:1).
20…in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water (1 Peter 3:20).
A Chinese word chuán for a type of boat is made up of symbols as described:
|
|
|
|
| Boat |
= 8 |
+ Mouth |
+ Little Boat,
Vessel |
It may be of interest to note that one of the Chinese symbols for flood (chong) is a combination of an inverted symbol meaning “first Earthly branch” and eight (the term for eight may instead mean “person remaining””–that of itself is interesting as the symbol for eight and “person remaining” look about the same–recall that on the ark there were only eight persons remaining alive).
After the flood, humans stayed together and built a tower:
1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:1-4).
But God did not care for this:
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (Genesis 11:5-7).
It is highly likely that when people saw others speaking foreign languages, that they thought that somehow, something at this tower affected their mouths. The Chinese symbol of a tower is made up of symbols as described:
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tower |
= Grass |
+ Clay |
+ Mankind |
+ 1 |
+ Mouth |
The tower of Babel was built with bricks (grass and clay) and humans originally had one language (or mouth). It is possible that this symbol is showing that the ancient Chinese recognized a connection to the biblical tower of Babel. The Bible shows that after God confused the languages in Babel that He scattered humans all over:
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth (Genesis 11:8-9).
The Bible also mentions:
25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan (Genesis 10:25).
Now whether it was just the scattering of humans that occurred in Peleg’s time, or that the earth had continental divisions at that time is not completely clear. What is clear, however, is that humans did separate, essentially by language and ethnicity, thousands of years ago.
When I tried to copy each of the Chinese characters into this post, they did not copy properly.
To see them, however, simply go to my article China, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 1: Genesis and Chinese Characters.
That article also has evidence, via Chinese characters, that the ancient Chinese knew about Adam & Eve and more in Genesis.
Of course, other cultures tell of a great flood:
The greatest tale of all is that of the Flood. Noah finds his roots in older legends. Three hundred Flood narratives are known, from the Americas to Australia (from whence comes the tale of the frog that swallowed the world’s water only to spew it out when the other animals made him laugh). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/steve-jones/7887202/Gods-floods-and-global-warming.html
The biblical accounts can be trusted, even if certain ‘experts’ wish to pretend that they are only tales.
There was a flood that affected the entire world. And yes, scientists realize that there is enough water for this to be so.
Some items of potentially related interest may include:
Islands and Bible Prophecy What’s ahead for islands? What does the Bible prophesy about them? Here is a link to a related video: Islands and Biblical Prophecies. Here is a version in Spanish: Las islas en profecia.
China, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 1: Genesis and Chinese Characters Where did the Chinese people come from? This article provides information showing that the Chinese peoples must have known about various accounts in the Book of Genesis up until their dispersion after the Tower of Babel. Here is a link to a version of this article in Spanish: ¿Prueban los caracteres chinos la exactitud de la Biblia?
Have the Turks and Chinese Just Found Noah’s Ark? Some have so claimed. If true, this could change how much of the world views events from the Bible.
Is God’s Existence Logical? Is it really logical to believe in God? Yes! Would you like Christian answers to give atheists? This is a free online booklet that deal with improper theories and musings called science related to the origin of the origin of the universe, the origin of life, and evolution. Here is a link to a related sermon: Evolution is NOT the Origin of Life. Two animated videos of related interest are also available: Big Bang: Nothing or Creator? and A Lifegiver or Spontaneous Evolution?
How Old is the Earth and How Long Were the Days of Creation? Gap Theory? Does the Bible allow for the creation of the universe and earth billions of years ago? Why do some believe they are no older than 6,000 years old? What is the gap theory? Were the days of creation in Genesis 1:3 through 2:3 24 hours long? Here are links to two sermons: Gap Theory: Doctrine or Modern Heresy? and Genesis, ‘Prehistoric man,’ and the Gap theory. Here is a link to a related article in Spanish: ¿Cuán vieja es la Tierra? ¿Cuán largos fueron los Días de la Creación? ¿Teoría de la brecha?
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, and The Mystery of YOU.
Where Did God Come From? Any ideas? And how has God been able to exist? Who is God?
How is God Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient? Here is a biblical article which answers what many really wonder about it.
Has time been lost? It Saturday the seventh day of the week?
Study the Bible Course Want to learn more about the Bible? This new course is for you! It is also available in French (Leçon 1 En francés), Kiswahili (Somo 1 Katika Kiswahili), Mandarin Chinese (首页 › 中国), Tagalog (KURSO SA PAG-ARAL NG BIBLYA), and Spanish (Lección 1 En castellano).
Read the Bible Christians should read and study the Bible. This article gives some rationale for regular bible reading. Here is a link in Mandarin Chinese: 读圣经 Here is a link in the Spanish language: Lea la Biblia.
Bible: Superstition or Authority? Should you rely on the Bible? Is it reliable? Herbert W. Armstrong wrote this as a booklet on this important subject.
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2031 or 20xx? There is also a video titled 6000 Years: When will God’s Kingdom Come? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
