J.R. Church Classic from the November 2005 issue of Prophecy in the News magazine

I started by opening my computer to an astronomy program and poked around. I was curious to see what was happening in the sky 6,000 years ago.

Did mankind evolve as the evolutionists say? Or are we the product of intelligent design? If God created this universe…  and created man, how can we prove it?

Most conservative Christian theologians believe that Adam was created in 4004 BC. Furthermore, Jewish scholars observe the new moon of September or early October as the birthday of the world. They claim that the first day of Creation happened on Rosh Hashanah, the new moon of late September.

There was one sure way to find out. I used a Starry Night Pro astronomy program and changed the date to September 4004 BC. Next, I began to look for the new moon. On the computer screen, the evening sky appeared, and I moved the scene around to the west. Then, I began to click through each day until I came to the new moon. It appeared as a crescent just above the western horizon shortly after sunset… and the date was Sept. 25, 4004 BC.

Of course, there was no moon or sun on the first day of Creation. They were not created until the fourth day. But God would have created them in a fourth-day position so that we could back up to the first day and find the sun and moon where we would expect them to be. Otherwise, the rabbis would be celebrating the new moon of autumn as the fourth day of the month instead of the first!

I could see the new moon of Sept. 25, 4004 BC, on the computer screen, but did that evening occur on a Sunday? There was only one chance in seven that it did.

Starry Night Pro also has a virtual calendar with the phases of the moon for each month. If I could just figure out how to take it back 6,000 years, I could see if Sept. 25, 4004 BC, was on Sunday. Try as I might, there was no easy way to back up the computerized calendar except to simply click on the “year” button. So, I backed up the years, one at a time… for 6,000 years! My poor finger punched the computer key over 6,000 times before the month of Sept. 4004 BC finally appeared. But it was worth it! To my amazement, Sept. 25, 4004 BC, happened to be on a Sunday.

While I had the computer’s virtual calendar open, I looked around at 4003, 4005, etc., and found no other new moons on Sunday, so I was rather confident that I had the correct month and year. But how could I prove that Sunday, Sept. 25, 4004 BC, was the correct date for the first day of Creation? Could I find some corroborating evidence that could prove divine design? Was there something special happening in our solar system that day that could help?

I remembered that Jacob gave a prophecy about Judah having the symbol of a lion and decided to check it out. In Genesis 49:9-10, Jacob attributed the symbol of Leo, king of the jungle, to Is-rael’s royal tribe and then made an interesting statement. He said:

“The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come” (Gen. 49:10).

The Hebrew term for “feet” is regeleo, which when separated into its components contains the words “regal” and “Leo.”

That’s pretty convincing evidence that Jacob had Leo in mind. The star between the lion’s front feet is Regulus, from which we get the terms “regal” and “regulation.” Leo’s chief star also happens to be in the handle of a sickle that proceeds up through the head and out of the mouth of the lion.

I noticed that Jacob said, “the sceptre shall not depart,” indicating that Judah’s sceptre was al-ready there when Jacob prophesied about it. I had not considered that before. I had previously thought that the verse only contained a prophecy that would be fulfilled in Christ, the promised “Shiloh.” Yet, Jacob said that Judah’s sceptre was already there awaiting the arrival of “Shiloh.”

Was the sceptre already in Leo? That is, did this constellation always represent the king of the Earth? If so, when did it happen? Curiosity caused me to rotate the computer screen toward Leo to see what I could find. I was still looking at Sunday, Sept. 25, 4004 BC. As I gazed upon Leo, in what I considered to be the first day of Creation, I saw the four outer planets grouped together in the constellation, as if God had laid them out in a straight line before kick-starting their orbits! There was Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The chances that all four outer planets could be that close together on that date was nigh unto impossible… unless, of course, they were placed there as a sign that this universe was created by intelligent design.

A triple conjunction is rare, and for Saturn to have the first of a triple conjunction with Regulus on Sept. 25, 4004 BC, could not possibly be a coincidence. This rare conjunction came on the very day that was later observed as Rosh Hashanah, the new moon of September, and it was on a Sunday, thus fitting the biblical parameters as the first day of Creation. This was not the second or third conjunction but the very first one of three that year.

As I considered Saturn’s conjunction, I wondered why Jacob had said, “The sceptre shall not depart… until Shiloh come.” This conjunction, then, must be the initial event that placed the kingship on Saturn. According to the cosmologies of ancient civilizations, Saturn was regarded as the king of Earth “…during its Golden Age” (World Book Encyclopedia). Even though the tale of Saturn’s kingship is found in corrupt mythologies, the fact that it had a conjunction with the “royal” star in the “king of the jungle’s” constellation on the first day of Creation lends credibility to the concept that its conjunctions were there to celebrate the creation of Adam, the first king of this world.

Jupiter was in Pisces, the constellation attributed to the house of Jacob! While thinking on this, I was reminded that Balaam had said that Israel was like a lion and that a “star” would come “out of Jacob.” We looked it up in Numbers 24. Balaam said:

“He couched, he lay down as a lion, as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee” (Num. 24:9).

“I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel” (Num. 24:17).

On the first day of Creation, Jupiter was in the constellation attributed to Jacob. But how did Seth know about Jupiter and Saturn since he was not born for another 130 years? Could he have witnessed a repeat of these conjunctions in Leo? Maybe so. When Adam was 501 years old, all five outer planets met in Leo. First, Saturn had a conjunction with Regulus on May 5, 3502, BC; then Jupiter had a conjunction with Regulus on Aug. 1, 3502 BC, and finally, Jupiter and Saturn had a conjunction on June 27, 3501 BC, in which they were so close, they almost became one light in the night sky! Could this have been perceived as a battle between Jupiter and Saturn over the sceptre in Regulus? Could it have given rise to the prophecy that a new Messiah-King would replace Adam? And could it have also given rise to the mythology that Jupiter defeated Saturn and took his throne?

I would suggest that the final replacement of King Adam came with the birth of Jesus Christ, who was referred to as the “last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45) and is destined to become King of kings and Lord of lords.

In Revelation 12, a virgin is clothed with the sun, and the moon is under her feet. I feel confident that John was telling us that Christ was born on the night of the new moon of September. That is when the sun is in Virgo, and the new moon is near her feet. If so, then the most logical date for the Savior’s birth would be Sept. 11, 3 BC. Backing up nine months for the incarnation in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit would bring us to late December in 4 BC. Adam would have been 4,000 years and three months old.

My conclusion according to the astronomical events on Sept. 25, 4004 BC, it seems evident that God created the universe in six days, beginning on Sunday. He created Adam on Friday and rested on Saturday. The seventh day was named after Saturn, the king planet during Earth’s “Golden Age.” It seems apparent that Saturn represented Adam’s reign over the Earth, a reign that failed in every regard. For 4,000 years, Adam’s race waged war continually.

But, with the triple conjunction of Jupiter and Regulus, beginning on Sept. 11, 3 BC, the new Messiah-King was born. This “last Adam” offers eternal life for all who will believe.

These astronomical events cannot be a coincidence. They show a grand Divine design and an intelligent designer. That means our future is bright. God is in complete control. All who repent and receive Christ will enjoy the glory of a great future forever!

J.R. Church

J.R. Church

Prophecy in the News Founder

In November of 1979, Prophecy in the News launched its worldwide ministry from Oklahoma City, founded by J.R. Church, a Texas pastor with a heart and a vision for Bible prophecy, as well as reaching the world with the Gospel.

Church’s colleagues in the ministry, Noah Hutchings and Dr. David Webber at Southwest Radio Church, helped introduce J.R. Church to the fans of their far-reaching radio ministry and provided support as he built his prophecy ministry from its Oklahoma City base.