V RaptureChrist Newsletter
February 1, 2003

Don Farmer of Lufkin, on the outskirts of Dallas, said he heard booming sounds lasting for a period of 10 to 15 seconds similar to the noise of dynamite exploding.

"But we still didn't realize what was happening and then we heard the racket, the sound as it passed by, reverberated and reverberated for several minutes like an earthquake or something."

Other witnesses say the explosion, which occurred when the Shuttle Columbia was descending at an altitude of 40 miles, made house windows rattle.

Eye witnesses state they could see flaming trails of debris breaking into pieces.  Linda Steed says her family was looking at the shuttle as it flew over her home.

"When it got nearer we could see flecks or pieces of something coming off of it because we thought it was just burners or something," she said.

Bowie County Sheriff's office dispatcher Jodine Langford said many viewers, including several police officers, reported seeing "a ball of fire."  "They saw it go out and then break into pieces," she said. (Witnesses' reports)

The explosion was felt as far away as Shreveport, Louisiana, where residents reported seeing and feeling the explosion.

All of these eyewitness reports point to an act of terrorism.  The reasons are:

1) The rocket fuel was spent in the takeoff 16 days ago.

2) There was hydrazine onboard to power the electrical system, but not enough to cause an explosion of this magnitude.

3) A bomb on board the space shuttle could be detonated by a radio signal.

4)  The first reports said that they had no communication from the shuttle of anything going wrong.

5) A few tiles falling from the shuttle has been experienced in past flights. This has never been a problem.

Government agencies were called into emergency duty. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge supervised the "cleanup" effort. He called officials in five states, including Texas, where most of the debris was found. 

NASA warns that residents should avoided touching any remains from the shuttle, as they could be contaminated with toxic propellants.  They also want people to report immediately the location of any remains to the local authorities. The whole area is being treated as a crime scene.

Prime Minister Sharon said "It is days like this that bring Americans and Jews together"  This event was precipitated by the fact that Ilan Ramon was the first Jew in space. His parents were Holocaust survivors.

For the terrorists this is payback. For everyone else it is another victim like Daniel Pearl. Ilan Ramon represented a target for the Islamic Fundamentalists who say that Christians and Jews are the enemy.

Sharon said what he said because he knows who did this. Deep inside we all know who did it. This is another 9-11, now in space. The news media says "this is not an act of terrorism."  But how can they know this without an investigation? 

They do not want people to believe that we are once again being attacked by terrorists. 

The terrorists have chosen to attack important icons that represent America, for example the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and now the Space Shuttle.

It is now an everyday occurrence in Israel that a bus blows up, almost a daily routine, but never before has terrorism occurred in space. This event has once again shocked and horrified us, much like the destruction of the twin towers.

We know for a fact that last year terrorists in Kenya tried to destroy two Israeli passenger jets with missiles, but thank God, they were not successful.

But the terrorists want to continue a war against America and Israel. Islamic terrorists refer to America as "The Great Satan."

The technical details of what happened today will be sorted out in the days ahead.  We know that the shuttle was not destroyed by a missile because people on the ground would have seen the flash of light. 

It could have been an onboard explosive device, because a radio signal can reach 38 miles and detonate a bomb. Onboard the space shuttle there was hydrazine a very flammable substance that could have helped create the large explosion seen from the ground.

The US government is proceeding with caution.  Governor Bush of Florida said “First of all, the cape is closed. It's in shut-down mode.”  “There are some national security implications to all of this that have to be sorted out.”

We may blame terrorists, but Christians realize that the one behind all of this is Satan himself.  Terrorists function only as his peons. Satan knows he has little time before God removes his presence from this Earth.

Revelation 12:12
Therefore rejoice, heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the devil has gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time.