EDITORIAL

 

          This is issue number 105 of The Biblical Astronomer and it is the first issue printed entirely in color.  In light of this momentous occasion, not to mention a plethora of readers who were not on board from the beginning of this publication, it appears an appropriate time to review the history of this publication.

The Biblical Astronomer was not the original name of this publication, and your current editor was not its founder, either.  I became editor in 1984 with issue number 38.  At the time, the publication was called The Bulletin of the Tychonian Society.  It became The Biblical Astronomer in January 1991 with issue number 55.  The first issue of The Bulletin of the Tychonian Society was number sixteen, in May of 1977.  From issues five (1971) through fifteen, it was called The Bulletins of the Tychonian Society.  Prior to issue number seven, however, the numbers are confused.  It is not too difficult to put them in proper order, however by eliminating the numbers of the enclosures.

Issue number one appeared in 1967 as a 33-page booklet entitled The Heart of the Matter: An Approach to a Study in Scriptural Cosmology.  It was written and published by the founder of the Tychonian Society and editor of the publication through 1983, the late Walter van der Kamp.  It was, of course, not numbered, and the numbering system began in earnest with number six in 1974.  The second issue appeared in booklet form in 1968 and was entitled, Airy Reconsidered: an Approach to the Problem of Demonstrating a Preferred Frame of Reference.  It had with it a typed letter entitled “He hangeth the Earth Upon Nothing.”  Walter numbered it no. 3, but the final numbering sequence he adopted ignored the numbered letters. 

The actual issue number 3 (with a circled four on it) was an enlarged revision of number 2, with the modified title of Airy’s Failure Reconsidered: the Truth behind the Veil of Facts.  The 18-page booklet appeared in 1970.  It, too, had a letter in it, which on its back had a copy of a review of the booklet.  The review was by Dr. George Mul-finger, then of Bob Jones University and now long deceased.  It appeared in the July-August issue of the Bible-Science Newsletter.   

Number four (with a circled five) was the first issue to bear the name Bulletins of the Tychonian Society and marks the beginning of the Society.  It was a handwritten edition dated March 1971.  Number five (with a circled six) appeared in August of 1973 and it, too, was handwritten.  Issue six (numbered so on the masthead) appeared in August of 1974, was typed and xeroxed, and marks the start of a more or less regular publication schedule. 

Walter van der Kamp sired the modern geocentric movements, and there are several.  His is now 36 years old.  Your editor has been a geocentrist for 26 of those years.

          A quarterly in color is, of course, more expensive than one in black and white.  For that reason we have decreased the number of pages in this issue.  It saves money in postage, for one thing, not to mention printing cost. 

 

          A large section of this issue is devoted to coverage of the small comets.  This is so because the small comets may play a significant role in the Biblical accounts of creation and the Flood.  It is possible that the small comets are leftover residue of the waters that once covered the earth as mentioned in Genesis 1:1-2.  It is also possible that the small comets may be a legacy of the time the windows of heaven opened to provide the waters for Noah’s flood.  These things are explored in the article, but much of the coverage is devoted to present the proofs of the existence of the small comets.  Modern astronomers are not yet ready to embrace their existence despite observations from space and the ground. 

 

          Panorama also presents new evidence for a young solar system, and it seems that one of evolutionists’ most promising hope for finding life in the solar system refuses to cooperate.  Also, find out the latest about the James ossuary.  And was there an atomic blast in India 4,000 years ago?  Read Panorama and find out.

 

Important notice:  The office of the Biblical Astronomer will be closed from July 12 until August 8.  Orders and correspondence received between those dates can not be processed during that time.