Strange dream about Revelations.

This is a very strange dream I had.

I wanted to write it down before I forget as well as try to piece together some of the parts.

Maybe it means something, maybe it does not, but it did seem to have some interesting points to consider regarding interpretations of Revelations.

I have tried to include all the important details and statements but as you know dreams are often fussy and remembering them sometimes difficult. So simply take all of this for what it is worth and do not put to much emphasis into it. For it does not follow much of the order or writings in revelations.

The dream started out with several people (friends, acquaintances, etc.) sitting around talking about the biblical account of revelations some pointing out why it couldn't happen others saying way it could.

Then someone said, "If revelations is real, why isn't the USA or any of North or South America mentioned?"

I spoke up saying that "I had always made the assumption that the US economy and it's power base as well as that of most of the other countries had collapsed and thus not major players in the global market at that time, thus not worth mentioning. Based on what is happening these days it might not be that far fetched."

Then someone spoke up saying "Doesn't it say something about one third of the waters, lands, oceans, ships, etc. being destroyed?"

Another person responded "Yes, in various verses."

The first person spoke up and asked, "Strange question . . . what percentage of land above water does North and South America make up of the whole planet?"

Everyone kind of looked around at each other as if saying, "I don't know."

The first person continued, "well for the sake of argument let's assume about one third."

- - - - -
- Information I looked up later -

Note: I did not include all the little miscellaneous islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that are just outside of what is considered to be North and South America. Nor did I include any part of Antarctica.

North America 24,646,412 km2 South America 17,824,513 km2

Total land size of all countries on the planet is about 148,647,000 km2

North America + South America land area = 42,470,925 km2

N.A.+S.A.% all land about 28.571%

For the sake of argument: 28.6%

33.3%-28.6% = 4.7% (short of being 1/3)

Again Note: I did not include all the little miscellaneous islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that are outside of what is considered to be North and South America. Nor did I count any part of Antarctica. The excluded parts might make up for the roughly 5% difference. (I'll leave that for someone else to calculate.)

- - - - - - - -

Then someone continued, "What if the reason North and South America are not mentioned is that there is nothing left on the continents worth mentioning?"

Another person spoke up saying, "Anything that hit the earth big enough to destroy North and South America would destroy every thing on the planet from the shock wave to the heat to the dust cloud that would be sent up into the air."

"True", another person said, "but why does it have to be one big object? Doesn't it say something about one third of the stars being cast to earth?"

"But stars can not be cast to earth they are to far away and much to large." Someone piped in.

"Yes but meteors use to be called shooting stars or falling stars."

Then some one else said, "You also have to consider that the person was trying to describe what he saw in a very horrifying event that could be understood by anyone with the technology and understanding of what they had in those days. What would a HUGE meteor storm look like and how would be the simplest way to describe it?"

Another person chimed in, "How many stars can be seen from earth?"

Someone else said, "Several Billion."

- - - - - - - - -

- Information I looked up later. -

With current light pollution levels, depending on where one is located, one can expect to see only about 2000 to about 10,000 under very ideal conditions without a telescope. With a reasonable powered telescope under "decent" low light pollution conditions it is estimated one can see about 1-2 billion stars/points of light.

For the sake of argument I am taking an average of the two extremes. (2,000+1,000,000,000)/2=500,001,000

One third of that would be 500,001,000/3 = 166,667,000

- - -

Someone else piped in and simply saying, "Let's just say a bunch of 'em."

The person continued, "Pretend you are watching a huge number of meteors coming at and striking the earth, how would you describe it so that it could be understood by people with low technology as well as maintain its meaning though multiple language translations? . . . A third of the stars being cast down from the heavens, works pretty well for me."

Someone else piped in "but that would still create a dust and fire storm that would destroy the earth if that many meteors hit the earth."

Another person said, "Who says the ones that reach the earth have to be big, with as many meteors as we are talking about suppose the ones that actually hit the earth are about the size of a ball (maybe a baseball or a basketball)? . . . even if the meteors are hitting at a spacing of only say one every half kilometer that would be devastating to the area of impact but should not put enough dust or other junk high enough in the air to do much anywhere other than the local area before the debris settles back to the ground."

- - -

- a later calculation - (based on the numbers above):

166,667,000 meteors North America + South America land area = 42,470,925 km2

42,470,925 km2 / 166,667,000 = 0.254 km2 (or a meteor hitting about every one quarter of a kilometer)

note: this is only assuming land hits, none hitting in the oceans. If we used an impact area including the ocean it would widen the hit spacing.

- - -

Another person said, "not to mention in cities that have several tall buildings side by side . . . how many of the buildings would the meteors go though before hitting the ground?"

About this time I woke up.

Another calculation:

If we were to assume an area of about one third of the earth were to be peppered by a meteor storm that would be about 120 degrees of longitude lines.

If we assume that such an event were to start in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that would be about the 30-degree longitude line. 120 degrees (1 / 3 of the earth's surface) to the west would be the 150-degree longitude line that runs though the Pacific Ocean just east of Hawaii.

As I said it was a strange dream, but it does (at least to me) give a lot of ideas and points to think about.

I should probably point out that . . .

I am not one for worrying about "gloom and doom" prophesies. I figure when it happens, it happens. But from time to time it is interesting to talk about and consider various possibilities.

Personally I think we should all be prepared to meet our maker everyday. For anything (from the simplest silly thing, to a major traumatic accident) could happen today, tomorrow, next week that could cause us to meet Our Maker long before the descriptions in Revelations happen.

Hopefully nothing ever happens to any of us . . . but . . . if it should . . . the real question is, are we really ready TODAY to meet our Lord face to face should the unexpected happen?

My personal thought is to plan for, building our life and livelihood as though we will live forever. However, at the same time live our life in such a way, following the teachings of Our Lord, that should something happen that causes us to meet Our Maker today we have nothing to worry about either.

Just something to think about.

This is the list of countries I used to get the land area for North and South America.

Land area by country

North America 24,646,412 km2

Anguilla _______________102 km2
Antigua and Barbuda _____443 km2
Aruba _________________ 193 km2
Bahamas _____________10,070 km2
Barbados_______________ 431 km2
Belize _______________22,966 km2
Bermuda _______________ 53 km2
British Virgin Islands _____ 153 km2
Canada _____________9,984,670 km2
Cayman Islands ________262 km2
Clipperton Island__________6km2
Costa Rica _______________51,100 km2
Cuba _______________110,860 km2
Dominica _______________754 km2
Dominican Republic _____48,730 km2
El Salvador ____________21,040 km2
Greenland ___________2,166,086 km2
Grenada _________________344 km2
Guadeloupe _______________1,780 km2
Guatemala _______________108,890 km2
Haiti _______________27,750 km2
Honduras _______________112,090 km2
Jamaica _______________10,991 km2
Martinique _______________1,100 km2
Mexico _______________1,923,040km2
Montserrat _______________102 km2
Navassa Island _______________5 km2
Netherlands Antilles ___________960 km2
Nicaragua _______________120,254 km2
Panama _______________78,200 km2
Puerto Rico _______________8,870 km2
Saint Barth'lemy ___________ 21 km2
Saint Kitts and Nevis________ 261 km2
Saint Lucia_______________ 616 km2
Saint Martin _______________54 km2
Saint Pierre and Miquelon ____242 km2
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines _________389 km2
Trinidad and Tobago _______________5,128 km2
Turks and Caicos Islands _______________430 km2
United States _______________9,826,630 km2
U.S. Virgin Islands _______________346 km2

Total 24,646,412 km2

South America 17,824,513 km2

Argentina _______________2,766,890 km2
Bolivia _______________1,098,580 km2
Brazil _______________8,514,877 km2
Chile _______________756,950 km2
Colombia _______________1,138,910 km2
Ecuador _______________283,560 km2
Falkland Islands
(United Kingdom) _______________12,173 km2
French Guiana_______________91,000 km2
Guyana _______________214,999 km2
Paraguay _______________406,750 km2
Peru _______________1,285,220 km2
South Georgia and
the South Sandwich Islands
(United Kingdom) _______________3,093 km2
Suriname _______________163,270 km2
Uruguay _______________176,220 km2
Venezuela _______________912,050 km2

Total _______________17,824,513 km2

Again Note: I did not include all the little miscellaneous islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that are outside of what is considered to be North and South America.