We now examine the story, not to approve or disapprove it, but to see whether such a thing is possible. Read on and come up with your own opinion. Note that we are only looking at the possibility of such a photo being taken by Hubble telescope. This does not mean that we am supporting the story or refuting it. Indeed, we wish to leave you to make your own opinion.
Weekly world news magazine credibility
This magazine is known to exaggerate stories and to publish some really controversial articles. However, it also publishes some true stories. So we cannot trash this story just because it first appeared in weekly world news magazine. It is worthwhile to consider other aspects of the story
Is the photo a space photo?
If the photo published in this article is actually from space, then 99% of doubt of whether it is of New Jerusalem or not is eliminated. Dr. Masson, the scientist who is said to have smuggled the photo from NASA says that they aimed the telescope at a cluster of stars.
I am not an expert in photography, but if you scrutinize the photo carefully, you find that the city is surrounded by stars if at all it was taken in space.
The only people who really know whether this photo is actually a space photo is Dr. Masson, the scientists who allegedly took it to weekly world news magazine, and NASA scientists, the ones who are said to have taken the photo. Since I have not been able to contact any of these people, it really is difficult to verify whether the photo was taken in space or not.
If the photo is really a space photo, then it could most likely be the Celestial city of God because it is clear that what is in the photograph is not a star, a planet or any other known heavenly body.
Since we are only examining the possibility that such a photo could have been taken, let us continue examining other aspects of the story as well
Can the New Jerusalem, the celestial city of God, be seen as a star from earth?
Certainly yes! We see stars because they emit their own light and so does the city of New Jerusalem. New Jerusalem emits its own light.
For an object to be visible from earth, the distance from earth does not matter as long as the light from that object reaches the earth.
According to the bible, the city does not have a sun or moon. The glory of God is its light
Rev 21:23
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it and the lamb is the light thereof.-KJV
Is the New Jerusalem physical in nature or not?
This is important because if the city of New Jerusalem is not physical in nature, then it can neither be seen with our physical eyes nor its photo be taken by a telescope. It is clear from the bible that the city is made of physical materials such as gold which implies that the city must be physical in nature. The wall, the foundations and the great street of the city are all made of precious metals.
Revelation 21:18-19
And the building of the wall of it was Jasper. And the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the walls of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.- KJV
The size of New Jerusalem and its distance from earth
If an aero plane passes overhead at night, you are able to see the light emitted by it. If that aero plane was to go higher up from the surface of the earth, eventually you won’t be able to see any light from it and that is only after moving a few kilometers up. This is because of its small size. Yet our eyes are able to see, without any aid, stars that are millions of light years away. This is because of their large size.
The further away an object is from the surface of the earth, then the bigger it needs to be and the more the light it needs to emit for it to be seen from earth.
The city of New Jerusalem is much smaller than most of the stars that you see on the sky. To be more precise, it is much smaller than our planet earth. Remember that here we are not talking of the entire heaven where God lives but of the City of New Jerusalem. The city of New Jerusalem is currently located in heaven. Of course, heaven is much larger that the city itself. The photo seems to be of the city itself rather than the entire heaven.
The size of the New Jerusalem is described in the bible as follows
Revelation 21: 15-17
And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. – KJV
The new international version converts the above measurements to be 2,200km long and wide and high and 65 metres thick.
To get an idea of how big this is, the average diameter of the earth is 12,742km.
Since the height, width and length of the walls of the city of New Jerusalem is given, the best statistic to compare with our planet earth is volume. From the measurements of New Jerusalem described above the volume of New Jerusalem is 1.0648x 1010 km3.
According to Wikipedia, the volume of the earth is 1.08321×1012 km3. This implies that the earth is 169 times larger in volume than the city of New Jerusalem!
Given the size of New Jerusalem, in order for it to be observable from earth, it must not be very far from planet earth or it must be extremely bright or both. The bible neither tells us how far heaven is from earth nor how bright it is.
Perhaps, testimonies of those who have been to heaven and back can give us an idea. Seneca Sodi seems to indicate that the City is either within the solar system or not far from it. On his way to heaven, he asked the angel how far heaven was from earth and the angel answered him “not far”.
He also indicates that the light there is far superior to that of the sun.
If Seneca Sodi’s testimony is anything to go by, then it may be possible to take a photo of the City of New Jerusalem.
I quote part of his testimony as written by Elwood Scott in his book “Paradise, the Holy City and the Glory of the Throne”
“No sooner had I taken my seat in the chariot than I found I could converse with the angels with perfect freedom. There seemed to be a kind of comprehension of ideas without the effort of words; and yet we spoke as spirits speak. I have often heard words spoken while in the body which were wholly in the ear of the soul, and yet most distinctly understood when there was no audible voice whatever — the same as at St. Paul’s conversion: he heard a voice distinctly in his inner consciousness while those who journeyed with him saw no man from whom the voice came.
I now asked, “Are you really and truly angels of God, about whom we have read and sung and heard so much while in the world?”
“Truly we are,” they replied, “but of our birth you know nothing, for in fact we were not born but created; not in the earth but in celestial regions. We have learned our lessons in the past eternities in the presence of God; but we are glad to be your servants and helpers now, and this has been our glad service ever since man was created upon the earth, but we can tell you more about ourselves at another time.”
I replied, “We have been strangers until this time, but you make me feel great confidence in your ability to safely guide the chariot. I have been looking for this time for many years, but did not know it was so near.”
“Oh,” said the charioteer, “you need have no fears, I will conduct you safely to your eternal home.”
“I looked out of the chariot again and saw we were passing with indescribable speed. The earth with its cities, towns and mountains were vanishing like a spector in the distance. We soon seemed to have the moon under feet as we mounted the pillars of the heavens. We had much conversation on the way. I found the angels most tender and lovely beings, so full of instruction and helpfulness; my soul loved them exceedingly. I felt as though I was acquainted with the heavenly kingdom, for the angels had told me so much. As I would look abroad from the chariot window, the stars could be seen everywhere just as I had always seen them from the earth; I knew then we had not gone beyond the regions of the solar system, so I asked the angel: “Where is heaven?”
“Oh,” said he, “it is not far away. The earth is the first habitation of man, and while he is of the earth he is earthly in his nature. Heaven is the future and everlasting habitation of all those who have prepared themselves for it. You will soon find that my words are true that heaven is not far away. Your Father’s love and care have provided both these worlds for you. Your heavenly home is your real home. The earth was only your birthplace, the place of your beginning. But when God gave you eternal life He connected you with all heavenly realms, for He gave you His life which has always been. “Look and see,” said he, for I was in the deepest consideration of these things for they meant so much to me now.
I looked abroad; we were just entering a region of bright clouds something like a glorious, glowing, earthly sunset, only far superior. The time had been very brief indeed, but we were actually slowing up in the great suburbs of the eternal kingdom.
The Hubble telescope- how powerful is it?
The Hubble is the only space telescope that the world has. It has been able to observe objects as far away as billions of light years away. To get an idea of what this means, if an object is one billion light years away, then it would take light one billion years to reach earth from that object! It only takes eight minutes for light to reach the earth from the sun.
According to www.hubblesite.org, a website dedicated to Hubble operations,
“In order to take images of distant, faint objects, Hubble must be extremely steady and accurate. The telescope is able to lock onto a target without deviating more than 1/1000th of an arc second, or about the width of a human hair seen at a distance of 1 mile.”
Is it true that the Hubble was repaired in mid December 1993 as stated in the article?
Yes. It is true that repairs took place on Hubble in 1993.
According to weekly world news magazine article, repairs were complete by mid December and the first images after repair were beamed to earth on December 26th 1993. This corresponds with the information in www.hubblesite.org which says that the repairs were complete by December 9.
The Hubble website says that the images were released (not beamed to earth) by NASA on January 13th 1994 which means they must have been beamed to earth between 9th December 1993, the date when the repairs were complete, and January 13th 1994, the date the photos were officially released. December 9th 1993, the date given by weekly world magazine, is between these dates and therefore a possible date of the beaming of the photos to earth.
Weekly world news magazine published its first article on the images on February 8th 1994 and again on September 10th 2009.
There is no contradiction in any of these dates.
On December 2, 1993, the Space Shuttle Endeavor carried a crew of seven into orbit for a mission that would involve five days of spacewalks and repairs. They removed the High Speed Photometer and replaced it with COSTAR. They replaced the original Wide Field/Planetary Camera with the newer WFPC2. They performed a host of other tasks, replacing solar panels, fuse plugs, and other hardware. By December 9, they were finished.
NASA released the first new images from Hubble’s fixed optics on January 13, 1994. The pictures were beautiful; their resolution, excellent. Hubble was transformed into the telescope that had been originally promised.
Conclusion
The conclusion is yours to make of whether the photo is of the New Jerusalem, the celestial city of God, or not. However, from the facts examined above, it could true that a photo of New Jerusalem can be taken and especially by a powerful telescope as Hubble.
If indeed the photo is of the Celestial city of New Jerusalem, then the implications are profound. It would be a proof that the bible is the only true word of God as it is the only book that probably describes the city of New Jerusalem so clearly and so well.
If the photo is not of the celestial city, that does not change the truth. The truth remains that the city of New Jerusalem still exists as described in the bible. Another truth is that when we die we are destined to go to either hell or heaven depending on whether we received Jesus as our Saviour or not when alive on earth (New Jerusalem is currently located in heaven). This decision, my dear reader, is entirely yours to make. The sooner you make it, the better. Be blessed.
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