The Capture of the Moon
Astrophysicists generally believe that the Moon formed in orbit some four billion years ago when a planet-sized body crashed into the Earth and a portion of the ejected material coalesced, gradually drifting out to its current orbit. But several ancient records imply that the Moon was not always present.
In Job 25:5 the grandeur of the Lord who “makes peace in the heights” is praised and the time is mentioned “before (there was) a moon and it did not shine.” referring to the effect of capturing the Moon. Also in Psalm 72:5 it is said: “Thou wast feared since (the time of) the sun and before (the time of) the moon, a generation of generations.
Based on these references, cyclic catastrophism posits that the Moon was captured into its present orbit during the Younger Dryas (YD), which is dated typically from 12,700 and 11,500 years Before the Present (BP). Although the onset and conclusion of the YD involved major changes on the Earth, there is evidence of a number of intermediary encounters during the YD, each of which may have contributed to the reduction of the Moons orbit.
The ‘capture theory’ has been discounted by modern astrophysicists, using the argument that there is no mechanism by which the high velocity of the passing Moon could be reduced sufficiently for it to be captured. However, the cyclic catastrophism scenario, drawn from ancient texts of many cultures and the Bible, make very clear just such a mechanism. Every one of more than one hundred close planetary encounters that occurred during the Bronze and Iron ages involved reorientations of the spin axis of the lithosphere of the Earth. These provide an explanation for the earlier capture of the Moon.
Massive bodies approaching the Earth tidally ‘lock on’ to a large mass anomaly on in the lithosphere, namely uplifted ‘Tibetan-Himalayan’ complex. Because the lithosphere ‘floats’ on a several-hundred-kilometer depth of the liquid outer core, the asthenosphere, its motion is completely isolated from the mantle and the solid iron core from which the magnetic field of the Earth originates. This is clear from modern deep seismic measurements that show the lithosphere and mantle are currently revolving at slightly different rates about unique axes.
As the fast moving Moon, or perhaps the Moon and its primary, swept by the Earth it tidally locked onto the Tibetan-Himalayan complex and impulsively torqued the lithosphere of the Earth so that, without changing its rotation rate, its spin axis was inverted ~180 degrees. The energy expended in shifting the spin axis of the lithosphere acted as an angular-momentum/energy ‘sink’ reducing the Moon’s velocity and enabling its capture. Consistent with this picture, the onset of the YD occurred so rapidly that the Greenland Ice Cores (GRIP) do not resolve the event. The onset was characterized by a known, sudden drop in temperature of 10 °C, based on trapped atmospheric oxygen isotope ratios, the proxy for temperature.
This rapid inversion of the lithosphere caused the oceans to flow from their basins across entire continents at 1000 km/hr. Deposits of many millions of dead animals around the world have been dated to this period. A number of species became extinct at that date and great deposits of bones have been found lying broken and twisted with those of extant animals. These deposits were immediately covered and soft tissue preserved in a way that can only be explained by the immediate deposition of ocean-floor sediments. Paleontologists wonder at the way in which many bodies, even those of giant mammoths, were torn apart. This was the result of the ocean’s sweeping across the land, described in one ancient account as carrying millions of massive tumbling boulders before it – like the teeth of a giant monster. Moreover, animals normally found only in temperate climates were found quick frozen, indicating that the mantle shift had suddenly cast them from a summer to a winter habitat.
Atmospheric methane rapidly increased during and after the 1,300-year Younger Dryas due to its release from gas hydrates within ocean beds. Fluctuations in the electrical conductivity of GISP2 ice on the scale of <5-20 years have revealed rapid changes in the dust content of the atmosphere during the YD. This ‘flickering’ was due to volcanic eruptions triggered by additional perigee passes of the Moon which occurred during the YD, each of which probably contributed to the reduction of its orbit. The termination of the YD, characterized by a sudden increase in temperature, is called the YD/Holocene transition, marking the beginning of the warm geologic period in which we live. This second inversion of the lithosphere required a lesser impulse because the present orientation of the lithosphere, rotating in the same sense as the mantle is the more stable. The very stable temperatures we have experienced since that transition are an unmistakable indication of the stabilizing effect of the Moon in its current orbit. In contrast, the ice ages, which characterized the period prior to the YD onset, exemplified the instability of the Earth’s spin axis prior to the acquisition of the Moon. The slower increase in atmospheric methane which occurred after the YD/Holocene transition, was due primarily to the establishment of much more abundant animal life in the new, warmer climate. A lesser release from the ocean beds at that date might be expected due to a lack of recovery time for the gas hydrates after being completely depleted at the onset of the YD.
The capture of the Moon was not a random event. It was an essential part of Yehovah’s great plan for the rejuvenation of the Earth and the establishing of mankind. The Hebrew Torah even describes the event as the ‘pairing’ of the Moon with the Sun, referring to the ‘coincidence’ that both the Sun and the Moon subtend exactly the same angle as seen from the Earth. This was done so that their combined tidal effect would cause the greatest possible internal convulsions within priori-Mars when it orbited geostationary above Mt. Kailas, enabling its entire atmosphere, oceans, crust and the seeds of innumerable flora to be blasted across the 33,000 km to the Earth during the Vedic Period, 3687 to 687 BC.
The ancient historian, Herodotus, related his conversations with Egyptian priests on his visit to Egypt some time during the second half of the fifth century before the present era. Based upon the history of their culture, the priests told him that the period following their first king covered three hundred and forty-one generations, and Herodotus calculated that, three generations being equal to a century, the whole period was over eleven thousand years, coinciding with dates of the Younger Dryas. The priests asserted that within historical ages and since Egypt became a kingdom, “four times in this period (so they told me) the Sun rose contrary to his wont; twice he rose where he now sets, and twice he set where he now rises.” In the cyclic catastrophism scenario the second pair of inversions of the lithosphere were due to close encounters of proto-Venus with the Earth after its explosive birth out of Jupiter 6,000 years ago. It is truly amazing that these monumental events have escaped the ken of the modern mind. But this is just another example of Yehovah’s great power – Gen 3:7 “ … [He that] shutteth and no man openeth; … ” It is only as we approach the ‘end times’ that His greatest miracle, on behalf of mankind is finally being revealed.
Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.
[…] Although less certain than the remainder of Cyclic Catatrophism, I posit that the Moon was captured in its current orbit during the Younger Dryas (YD) stadial (12,900 to 11,600 years BP), and that these dates marked two consecutive ‘over-turnings’ of the the rigid outer shell of the Earth. One simple corroborating fact is that the YD immediately preceded the Holocene era, the present warm, stable period of the Earth, acknowledged to be the most important influence of the Moon. At that date the inner solar system comprised two living planets, the Earth and one which I call priori-Mars. Venus and Mercury were not present. (See: The Capture of the Moon) […]
Summary of The Cyclic Catastrophism Scenario | Acksblog said this on June 26, 2014 at 3:39 pm
That’s right. The Upper Dryas was thousands of years before the advent of mankind, which occurred when priori-Mars first approached the Earth, 6000 years ago.
John Ackerman said this on May 12, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Tim,
Not literal days
The sequence of events is:
!. Capture of the Moon at YD
2. Destruction of sub-human species by two close passes of proto-Venus
3. First encounter with priori-Mars, full of super-intelligent life, which had been knocked out of its ancient orbit by proto-Venus – (priori-Mars = the Biblical firmament)
4. The elohiym come down from priori-Mars and create man (Adam?) in their image
Thus the great lights (Sun and Moon) were created first, the firmament next and then Adam.
John Ackerman said this on February 27, 2009 at 6:04 pm
I don’t recall the reference in Job, but I do remember Genesis I, 14-19:
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years,
15 and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.
16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth,
18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
So, it would seem that the moon has been there from Day 4–before Adam showed up.
Tim G said this on February 25, 2009 at 3:35 pm