Houston, We Have a Problem

Years before the publication of "The Bible Code", Jerry Woodfill was finding hidden meaning in the Bible. Of course, so has everyone else. What makes Woodfill's interpretation interesting is that he was a NASA engineer on the Apollo program. As you might guess, this means that he finds space exploration tidbits salted away among the parables. What makes his findings really interesting is his record for crying wolf. You see, Woodfill was no ordinary engineer - he was the Apollo 11 Warning System Engineer. It was his system that kept flashing the "1201 Program Alarm" that indicated that Neil Armstrong should abort the descent.

Woodfield waxes eloquent about the "amazing correlation" between the moon landing and a verse in the Old Testament. What is this verse? Obadiah 1:4, which reads (in the King James Version): "Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD."

Get it? Eagle. Stars. What more could you want?

Woodfill explains it all

Returning to the words of the Prophet Obadiah, an EAGLE would SET ITS NEST AMONG THE STARS. As the ancients looked heavenward, the Moon was said to be among the stars. Obviously, no biological creation of God, even an eagle, can achieve escape velocity of seven and a half miles per second. Additionally, eagles require oxygen which is absent in outer space. Therefore, Obadiah’s eagle must be a spaceship named Eagle. Certainly, it would not be the Soviet’s craft. The American eagle embodied all that communism opposed: free enterprise, Christianity, the independent freedoms of citizens. The Soviet’s ship would have been the BEAR, their regime’s mascot.

Creepy, eh? It gets better

There is then a valid application of the number 13 to a space mission. Does it demonstrate God’s plans and purposes as an after-the-fact element of testimony? Using 13 in a Bible sense shows forth praise for what God accomplished. This requires knowledge of thirteen’s meaning in scripture. As a frustrated college math student, I inventoried Bible stories that dealt with numbers. Thankfully, this exercise dealt with arithmetic not the advanced differential equation course I failed in my junior year. The story of Joshua’s army marching around Jericho for seven days came to mind. Turning to the account, I read: "On the seventh day, Joshua marched around Jericho SEVEN TIMES." A quick tally of Jericho orbits was once each day for six days then seven orbits on the seventh day. Six plus seven equals 13 times. And what happened? There was an explosion of sorts, the sudden destruction of massive stone fortifications. The walls crumbled in response to the Israelites’ shout. This certainly was a convincing Bible definition of thirteen as far as Apollo 13 was concerned : DESTRUCTION, COLLAPSE, perhaps, AN EXPLOSION. Even Joshua’s march around Jericho matched Apollo 13’s intended orbit around the Moon. Furthermore, the name Jericho in Hebrew means MOON.

Woodfield isn't finished, though

But most remarkable are the first words spoken from the Moon, "Houston, Tranquillity Base, the Eagle has landed." The word, Houston is derived from hus meaning spirit and ton meaning town or place of dwelling. In a spiritual sense, Armstrong unknowingly communicated to the place where the Holy Spirit dwells.

Actually, Houston (the city) is named after Sam Houston, first President of the Republic of Texas. Houston's (the person) name is Scottish and derives from the Old English spelling of Hughstown, which was a settlement south of Glasgow. Woodfill's site also discusses the Mayflower, Christopher Columbus, and the Challenger, all with the same insightful presentation.

In the end, it must be admitted that Woodfill is mostly harmless. The only people likely to take it seriously have already drunk the Kool Aid. At least he doesn't deny the Moon landings took place, he only claims that they were biblically presaged.