As it were a Great Mountain...

Rev 8:8 KJV  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

Rev 8:8 YLT  And the second messenger did sound, and as it were a great mountain with fire burning was cast into the sea, and the third of the sea became blood,

Rev 8:8 ALT  And the second angel sounded [his] trumpet, and [something] like a great burning mountain was thrown into the sea, and the third of the sea became blood.

Rev 8:8 ASV  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

KJV is the King James Version, YLT is Young's Literal Translation, ALT is the Analytical Literal Translation, ASV is the American Standard Version.  Verses copied from e-Sword.

Why do people think that this describes a massive meteorite, such as an asteroid, striking the earth?  In what, even remote, way do the words, "as it were a great mountain" describe a rock falling from the sky?  How does an asteroid coming from space look like a mountain?  Obviously, it is silly.  A mountain is upon the Earth, not in the sky!  If it looks something like a mountain, it must be on the surface of the Earth.  It looks something like a great mountain because it is a great mountain!  The only question, then, is why is it described, "as it were" a great mountain?  Consider; how many super-volcano eruptions do you think John was witness to in his lifetime?  As far as we know, not a single one, possibly not even an ordinary volcano.  So, if, in a vision, he sees something like a great mountain "burning with fire", then perhaps he is seeing a mountain all on fire, covered in rapidly flowing, glowing lava, numerous vents furiously exploding with eruption after eruption, and rock, glowing lava, ash and dust being hurled into the atmosphere, possibly miles into the sky.  Would he think it was just an ordinary mountain?  Obviously not.  Would he know that it was a mountain at all?  Difficult to say, but being that he was most likely unfamiliar with what he was witnessing, he had no choice but to describe it as he saw it, and not based on any knowlege of what he might have thought it was.

The mistake many people make is to assume that the word, "cast", means it came from the sky.  There is nothing in the scripture to even suggest this, and on top of it all, the very word translated from the ancient Greek as "cast" (Strong's number G906) was precisely the same word used in the ancient writ when the words of the Lord, Himself, were translated to give us the following verse:

Mat 21:21 KJVR  Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

Are we to assume, then, that the Lord meant that one with even a tiny seed of faith could make the mountain leap into outer space and then fall from the sky into the sea?  Perhaps one could but it does seem rather pointless, and it may seem silly to put it like that, but that is how I see it when people translate the verse from Revelation 8:8 into something about an asteroid.  The very verse that Yeshua spoke makes it clear what is meant, for the Lord never spoke frivolously about anything and all that He said was said with purpose, usually much more than we see on the surface, and I believe that He was aluding to a coming great catastrophe when He made the above mentioned statement.  He was giving us a clue.

Should we think, then, that this burning mountain that is cast into the sea will be the result of the activities of the two witnesses?  No, this is not likely to be the case, unless their power is received from God a sufficiently long time before their public testimony begins, so in that regard the actions of the two witnesses in this case cannot be ruled out, but there is nothing in scripture that I am aware of to support that view.  The fact that the scripture describes the two witnesses receiving power seemingly right before they begin their task (although the scripture does not precisly place the moment of the event) only suggests that they are not responsible for the burning mountain.  There are also numerous other natural catastrophes and a great war that come before the time of the two witnesses, so perhaps it is safe to rule out their involvement in this event, at least for now.  More than likely, it is the Lord Himself who, by His perfect faith, speaks the word and the mountain is, hence, cast into the sea.

So, how does it turn one third of the waters to blood, kill one third of ocean life and destroy one third of ships?

Simple enough, really.

The Pacific Ocean is one third of the seas.  It is also the most volcanically and seismically active region on Earth.  Now, imagine if you will, a Krakatoa-like event, where a large, volcanically active island has an erupting volcano, exploding violently, fiery glowing lava covering all its slopes, rapidly flowing into the surrounding areas and into the sea, vents blasting huge amounts of ash, lava and rock into the sky, quite a sight, indeed.  Then, an almighty explosion ruptures the entire mountain and causes it to fall away into the sea, much like the side of Mount St Helens fell away, but on a much grander scale.  The cause?  An enormous surge in subterranean pressure, perhaps also a massive earthquake, and a whole series of volcanos, both above and below the surface of the ocean, from north to south of the Pacific rim of fire, rupture in an unprecedented frenzy of explosions, like nothing else since the days of Noah.

Huge quantities of sulfurous compounds pour into the ocean brine, acidifying the waters and, due to increased density, sinking to the floor where the earth is rich in various forms of iron-containing ores.  The sulfuric acid breaks down these compounds and leaches much of the readily available iron into the water and, as it mixes, rising to shallower depths, its recombination with oxygen forms various red oxides of iron, turning the Pacific Ocean, one third of the seas, into blood, for it is iron and oxygen that makes our blood red.  The acid and the oxides kill all living things, one third of all ocean life, and upon the Pacific are one third of all ships, their iron hulls coroding away rapidly, the ships destroyed, contributing even more iron oxide to the horrifying red tide.  Perhaps there are also massive plumes of red algae which only add to the catastrophe, but such will not be needed should this situation actually occur, and perhaps the algae would not even survive.  In any case, the ocean turning red from iron oxides is much closer to being blood than merely the presence of algae.

This description, though told here like a story, is all too possible and, perhaps, will be all too real in the not too distant future.  Perhaps.