Of Battles and Boils: What Would REALLY Happen if the Earth Suddenly Stopped Rotating?

2 Kings 20:

1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,

3 “Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him:

5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD.

6 I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’ ”

7 Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.

8 Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the LORD on the third day from now?”

9 Isaiah answered, “This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”

10 “It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.” 

But it gets worse. Joshua stopped the Earth in it's tracks for a whole day and there was no going backwards.  It just slammed to a stop!

Joshua 10:

12 On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”

13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 

(Once the Earth stopped, I do wonder how the author could figure out it delayed sundown "about a full day."?)

14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a human being. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!

Surely...….

Of course, both of these accounts are cosmological nonsense. In those days it was assumed that it was the Sun that moved around the Earth. We know this is not so. So in reality it would be the Earth that would needs stop dead for a moment and then rotate backwards about 40 minutes into the past for Hezekiah  or in the case of Joshua's "Long Day" simply stop for a whole day  and evidently INSTANTLY!    

But for the Earth to stop dead in it's rotation, well......

Any way you look at it, it spells disaster

http://thescienceexplorer.com/universe/what-would-happen-if-earth-stopped-spinning

"Have you ever wondered what would happen if the Earth stopped spinning?  You can probably guess that it would not result in anything good, in fact, it would be disastrous.  If the Earth stopped spinning suddenly, most people on Earth would die.  If the Earth slowed down gradually, it would be absolutely devastating, but there is a chance some people could survive.  Here is what would happen.

If Earth Suddenly Stopped Spinning

Our atmosphere is rotating at the same rate Earth is spinning: approximately 1050 miles per hour at the equator, with the speed decreasing the further north or south you go from the equator.  The rotation is effectively zero at the north and south pole.

If the Earth suddenly stopped rotating, the atmosphere would still continue moving at 1050 miles per hour, and anything not attached to bedrock would be ripped off the surface of the planet.  This includes rocks, trees, buildings, people — all thrown sideways at a speed of 1050 mph (at the equator).  Could you imagine the oceans being pushed inland with that speed?  Oceans would travel approximately 17 miles (28 kilometers) inland in just 60 seconds.  Yikes.  If you are undergound far enough, such as a subway, or at either pole, you might be okay.

If Earth Gradually Stopped Spinning

You may be thinking that, if Earth gradually stops spinning, we won’t be flung around like rag dolls and everything will be okay.  Wrong!  It would be a disaster.

Oceans

Our Earth is not a sphere; it is bulbous, meaning it bulges at the equator (Earth is 26 miles larger around the equator than it is from pole to pole), all thanks to its spinning motion.  If the Earth gradually slowed, the bulging water from the oceans would begin to move away from the equator towards the poles.  Once Earth stopped spinning completely, leaving it as a sphere, the oceans would flood most of Earth leaving one giant megacontinent around the middle of the planet.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere rotates in sync with the Earth, however with Earth’s rotation slowing, the atmosphere begins to follow the flow of the oceans toward the poles.  This flow would eventually lead to air being thicker at the poles and thinner at the equator.  There would exist only four spots around the mid-latitudes where humans could survive.

Geological Disturbances

Earth is comprised of three main layers — the core, the mantle and the crust.  Since each layer is composed of different material, as the Earth’s rotation slows, each layer will slow at a different rate, creating massive friction between the layers.  This friction would result in earthquakes where there had never been earthquakes before and enhanced volcanism, especially on the ocean floor.  Once earth stopped spinning, the geological disturbances would decrease.

Laodicean Jones Goes Golfing

Former Church of God (Seventh Day) president discusses Church of God history and Herbert Armstrong

Robert Coulter

Former Church of God (Seventh Day) president 

discusses Church of God history and Herbert Armstrong 

"...Mr. Armstrong and the CG7

Mr. Coulter talked extensively about Worldwide Church of God founder Herbert W. Armstrong and Mr. Armstrong's relationship with the CG7.

He referred to Mr. Armstrong's statements that, although he was ordained in the CG7, he was not a member of the CG7.

"It is kind of unusual to claim to be a minister of the church in which you are not a member," Mr. Coulter said.

Mr. Coulter proceeded to mention points of what he considered evidence that Mr. Armstrong was indeed a member of the CG7.

In Mr. Armstrong's autobiography, he noted, Mr. Armstrong wrote that he was ordained to the ministry in the CG7 by the authority of the Oregon State Conference.

In that same book, Mr. Armstrong reproduces a picture of the second certificate of his ministerial license.

Nothing but the truth

"Now he makes this statement," Mr. Coulter said of Mr. Armstrong: "I was ordained by, and under the authority of, the Oregon Conference of the Church of God, separately incorporated; not by the Stanberry, Mo., headquarters.'

"As far as that goes," continued Mr. Coulter, "that's true, but it doesn't tell the whole truth."

In his autobiography, Mr. Armstrong wrote: "I had never joined the church whose headquarters were at Stanberry, Mo."

Mr. Coulter sees two possibilities to explain puzzling statements by Mr. Armstrong about his CG7 membership or lack of it.

"Mr. Armstrong showed a pretty serious lack of understanding of our polity, of our organizational policies of the Church of God (Seventh Day). He did not seem to understand. It might be that he didn't realize that the Oregon State Conference operated under the auspices of the Stanberry."

"The other possibility is that he didn't want to admit being a member of a church that he came to hold in contempt."

Mr. Coulter emphasized that he believes Mr. Armstrong held the CG7 "in a certain derision or contempt ... He certainly was not willing to admit to having had much of a relationship to it."

Sometime between Mr. Armstrong's conversion in 1927 and his baptism, "he would have had to accept membership in a congregation of the Church of God (Seventh Day) because when you become a member of our church you become a member of the conference. You do not join [only] a state conference. You do not join the general conference directly."

Even a person who was considered to be an "isolated member" would still technically have to be an official member of some local congregation, Mr. Coulter said.

"When Mr. Armstrong received a ministerial license from the Oregon State Conference, he was receiving it by the authority of the general conference, because the Oregon State Conference, even though it was incorporated locally, was actually authorized and operated under the auspices of the conference whose headquarters at the time was Stanberry, Mo.

"So either he was ignorant of that or did not want to admit it. That's the only explanation I have for that."

Severed all ties?

Although Mr. Armstrong "gives the impression" in his autobiography that by 1933 he had severed all ties with the CG7, "here is something that I don't think is revealed," Mr. Coulter began.

He said Mr. Armstrong was a close associate of Andrew N. Dugger and that Mr. Armstrong looked upon Mr. Dugger as a mentor.

In 1933 Mr. Dugger "led a rebellion in the Church of God (Seventh Day)" after failing to gain office during a conference of August 1933. "On Nov. 4, 1933, Andrew Dugger and several colleagues organized a separate conference at Salem, W.Va., to compete with the conference at Stanberry, Mo., which was the original one organized in 1884."

Mr. Dugger and friends tried to create the illusion that the new Salem headquarters was the legitimate successor to the original organizers of the CG7, Mr. Coulter said.

"As evidence, [Mr. Dugger] used the name General Conference of the Church of God, and he issued a volume of the magazine that carried the same volume and number as the magazine that was published in Stanberry, Mo."

Set apart

The new Salem conference could boast of several "unique features" that set it apart from the Stanberry conference, Mr. Coulter said, "and this is where Herbert Armstrong comes into play here."

Salem organized around a structure that Mr. Dugger called "Bible or scriptural organization." This terminology referred to a board of 12 men whose objective was to oversee the spiritual life of the church.

The Salem-based folks elected a board of seven men to conduct the business of the church.

They identified 70 elders, ministers or evangelists "who would go out to carry out the gospel endeavors of the Church of God (Seventh Day)."

They stated that the church's world headquarters was to be in Jerusalem.

They decided to "appropriate apostolic succession for its authority to govern in this manner and to function as it was supposed to function...."

"...Clean and unclean

Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Coulter continued, did not receive his credential immediately because "there were some ministers in the Salem organization who needed to have him clarify his position on the clean and unclean foods."

When Mr. Armstrong replied that he believed in abstaining from unclean meats for health reasons but not because he believed eating unclean meats was a sin, the conference issued his credential.'''"

Laodicean Jones

UCG 20+ years on and it still is struggling to find its focus as ministers

It has been 20 some years since UCG declared itself the new and improved "Worldwide Chruch of God". It actually had a good chance to do something great by correcting abusive errors and bad treatment of members. But where are those changes? The same men who abused members and kicked them out of the church when they disagreed with the changes were coming down the pipeline simply jumped ship for a continuing paycheck and continued on being the jerks so many of them were.

So here we are in 2019 and the United Church of God is not so united. It files to attracted new members, like most of the other COG's. They still cannot adjust their message to 2019 minds and still rely on old models and preaching from 30-40 years ago. Just how many times so members need to hear the same canned sermon?

These are some of the topics being examined by the boys in Cincinnati in their conference:

What impedes us from being “joined and knit together?” Are there things that we can do now to change that?

Do you feel valued for what you personally “supply?” Are you given opportunities to contribute the skills you have to offer?

COG members were always considered "commodities" for what they could supply and contribute towards the church.  Never once were members ever considered equals and children of God. Rarely were members talents out to good works.  The church had a great way of devaluing talents and many times deliberately berated members at what they were good at and often forced them to give it up, including jobs and education tracks.

What is currently in place that helps you work most effectively? Is there anything that could be improved upon or added?

Are we growing in love as a home office staff, within our church, and within our community at large? What specific things can you point to? What barriers do we face?

Are there things we do that are inconsistent with our Vision statement?

Is the home office team conveying the vision of the Church to all our members effectively and does the message we send encourage and enable them to fulfill it?

Are we conveying God’s vision for humanity in a loving, genuine, and compelling way?

Do we have a culture that is welcoming and loving to new believers?

How do we as individuals fulfill the vision of the Church?”