Of everything that is to happen before the return of the Lord, there is one event that seems nearly impossible. Isaiah, Nephi (quoting Isaiah), Joseph Smith and the Lord Himself all warn us that the "sun shall be darkened."
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. Isaiah 13:10
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 2Nephi 23:10
42 And before the day of the Lord shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon be turned into blood, and the stars fall from heaven. D&C 45:42
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: Matthew 24:29
For this to happen, the sun would either have to die 5 billion years before we expect it to or something will prevent its light from reaching the earth. As far as the sun simply shutting off, have we observed anything like this in the universe? Surprisingly, yes. If you're familiar with the term supernova we have now found its opposite.
An unnovae, or failed supernova, is when a star can no longer support itself and instead of exploding, as massive stars usually do, a black hole forms and swallows the giant before it erupts. If this were to happen to our sun we would simply see it there one minute and it would be gone the next. The black hole's gravity would hold all the planets in place but sun and moonlight would be gone and the only natural light would be the faint light from stars that are light years away. Then it would get really cold really fast and the planet would begin to freeze. The video below paints a picture of what we might expect.
The surfaces of the oceans would then freeze over and any survivors would either need to go underground or beneath the ice where liquid water would have been able to preserve some heat. Both of these would only be temporary solutions and eventually, the freezing temperatures would claim all life on the planet. Considering this, the language used regarding the return of the lost tribes of Israel is worth mentioning:
26 And they who are in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord; and their prophets shall hear his voice, and shall no longer stay themselves; and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence.
27 And an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep. D&C 133:26-27
Second, and most probable, is that something will prevent the sun's light from reaching the earth. The earth could do this itself through extreme volcanic activity which could fill the atmosphere with ash blocking the sun, moon, and starlight from getting to us. Some believe this is what happened to the Nephites when there was three days of darkness just before Christ appeared. This explanation seems to coincide with the following verse:
22 And there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land. 3Nephi 8:22
Another way the sun might be blocked is if a large high-velocity object struck the earth. In my opinion, this is probably what will happen. In order to block out the sun over the whole planet, it will take a massive event and this would definitely qualify. Not only that, but our solar system is full of potential doomsday candidates. We have the Asteroid belt, the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud which are all made up of giant bodies of rock or ice, some the size of planets.
What's interesting about the impact theory is that the earth shows signs of a pattern of mass extinctions every 62 million years and the last one that occurred 65 million years ago was when the dinosaurs were taken out by what is believed to have been a large meteorite. But what would cause meteorites to strike the earth on a schedule of 62 million years?
There is a theory that our solar system has a second star which has gone undetected by us. This evil twin would have to either be a red or brown dwarf star and theorists have given it the name of Nemesis.
As crazy as this sounds it does make some sense considering that most solar systems are made up of multiple stars. More than four-fifths of what appear to be single stars in the night sky are actually 2 or more stars orbiting what is called a center of mass. But of course nemesis isn't like our sun, it is a failed star that doesn't cast any light explaining why it has gone undetected. According to the theory, Nemesis travels through the Oort Cloud, the cloud surrounding our solar system filled with billions of large icy objects, every 26 million years hurling thousands of these objects through the solar system. These chunks of rock and ice rain down on earth destroying life on the planet and the cycle repeats 26 million years later. For example, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event occurred in 201 Ma, Toarcian turnover 183 Ma, Tithonian extinction 145 Ma, Aptian extinction 117 Ma and so on. The Nemesis star theory is one explanation for this pattern and further evidence that everything has its opposite, including our sun.
But whether the sun is covered, blocked out, or simply shuts off the people of this planet will have to physically experience the spiritual condition that has existed for far too long inside far too many people, the loss of light. But considering this, how much more beautiful will it be when the Lord returns not only bringing healing in His wings but also light back to the earth.
