THE EVENT:
In Hiroshima, a small community of Jesuit Fathers lived
in a church
house near the parish church, situated only eight blocks from
the
center of the bomb blast.
When Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb,
all eight members of the small Jesuit community escaped unscathed,
while every other person who was within a radius of roughly
one and a
half kilometers from the center of the explosion died immediately.
The
church house where the Jesuits lived was still standing, while
the
buildings in every direction from it were leveled. (This
coincides with the
bombing of Nagasaki where St. Maximilian Kolbe had established
a
Franciscan Friary which was also unharmed and also had
no effects from
The Nagasaki bomb.)
Testimony of a survivor:
Father Hubert Shiffer was one of these eight Jesuit survivors.
He
was 30 when the atomic bomb exploded at Hiroshima and lived
another 33 years in good health. He recounted his experiences
at
Hiroshima during the Eucharistic Congress held in Philadelphia
(USA)
in 1976. At that time, all eight members of the Jesuit
community were
still alive.
Fr. Shiffer, on the morning of August 6, 1945, he had just
finished Mass, went into the rectory and sat down at the
breakfast
table, and had just sliced a grapefruit, and had just put
his spoon
into the grapefruit when there was a bright flash of light.
His first
thought was that it was an explosion in the harbor (this was a major
port where the Japanese refueled their submarines.)
Then, in the words of Fr. Schiffer: "Suddenly, a terrific explosion
filled the air with one bursting thunderstroke. An invisible
force
lifted me from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me,
battered me, whirled me 'round and round like a leaf in
a gust of
autumn wind." The next thing he remembered, he opened his eyes
and he
was laying on the ground. He looked around and there was NOTHING
in any direction: the railroad station and buildings in all
directions
were leveled to the ground.
The only physical harm to himself was that he could feel a few
pieces of glass in the back of his neck. As far as he could
tell,
there was nothing else physically wrong with himself. After
the
conquest of the Americans, their
army doctors and scientists explained to him that his body
would begin to deteriorate because of the radiation. To the doctors
amazement, Fr. Schiffer's body contained no radiation or ill-effects
from the bomb.
Conclusion: There are no physical laws to explain why the
Jesuits were untouched in the Hiroshima airblast. There is no
other
actual or test data where a structure such as this was not totally
destroyed at this standoff distance by an atomic weapon. All
who were
at this range from the epicenter should have received enough
radiation
to be dead within at most a matter of minutes if nothing else
happened
to them. There is no known way to design a uranium-235 atomic
bomb,
which could leave such a large discrete area intact while destroying
everything around it immediately outside the fireball (by shaping
the
plasma).
Not only did they all survive with (at most) relatively
minor injuries, but they all lived well past that awful day
with no radiation sickness, no loss of hearing, or any other
visible
long term defects or maladies. Naturally, they were interviewed
numerous times (Fr. Schiffer said over 200 times) by scientists
and
health care people about their remarkable experience. The
eight
Jesuits say "we believe that we survived because we were
living the
message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the rosary daily
in that home."
Fr. Shiffer feels that he received a protective shield from the
Blessed
Mother which protected him from all radiation and ill-effects.
Fr. Schiffer attributes this to devotion to the Blessed
Mother, and his
daily Fatima Rosary; "in that house the Holy Rosary was recited
together every day."
Of course the secular scientists are speechless and incredulous
at this explanation - and they are sure there is some "real"
explanation - but at the same time over 50 years later
the scientists
are still absolutely bamboozled when it comes to finding a plausible
scenario to explain the missionary's unique escape from the hellish
power of that bomb. From a scientific viewpoint, what happened
to those
Jesuits at Hiroshima still defies all human logic from
the laws of
physics as understood today (or at any time in the future). It
must be
concluded that some other (external) force was present
whose power
and/or capability to transform energy and matter as it relates
to
humans is beyond current comprehension; a plausibility
argument for
the existence of a Creator who left his "calling card" at Hiroshima.
At ten times the distance, about ten to
fifteen kilometers I saw the brick walls standing from an
elementary school school and I think there were a few badly burned
survivors; all died within fifteen years of some form of cancer).
(Examining pictures taken from a panoramic view from epicenter of the
blast at Shima Hospital looking for the Jesuit’s house) did show
some kind of two story house totally
intact (at least from what I could make out and it looked to
me the windows were in place!?). Also
there was a church with walls still standing but roof gone a few hundred
yards away!?
The Department of Defense never commented officially on this
and I suspect it was classified and never discussed in open literature.
I think it is possible the Jesuits were asked not to say anything
either at the time.
Biblical Precedent:
Dan 3:19 Then Nebuchadnez'zar was full of fury, and the expression
of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego. He ordered
the furnace heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
Dan 3:20 And he ordered certain mighty men of his army to
bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego, and to cast them into the burning
fiery furnace.
Dan 3:21 Then these men were bound in their mantles, their
tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were cast into the
burning fiery furnace.
Dan 3:22 Because the king's order was strict and the furnace
very hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abed'nego.
Dan 3:23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego,
fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.
(3:24) And they walked about in the midst of the flames, singing
hymns to God and blessing the Lord.
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