Crazies on YouTube

 STATUS: WTF

Music: Stop by Ghost K

One of the hazards of being online so much is that occassionally (or even more often) I come across a claim so demonstrably false as to be laughable. For some reason, these bother me a lot and I can't rest until I've made some comment demonstrating their ludicrousness. So it was that today I came across the Youtube video: The Book of Revelation Is Happening NOW! You Must See This! The 7 Trumpets Are Blowing!

Possibly against my better judgement, I'll embed it here so you can judge for yourself.

The claim in the video is clearly that events since the beginning of WWII correspond to 'the 7 trumpets' of the book of revelations. What I'm going to do here is show that, whether you believe in the book of revelations or not, the claims are ludicrous.

Here we go (blue times are the beginning of each section in the video).

1:00  Trumpet 1

[7] The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Beginning of WWII as the first trumpet: the video claims the war lasted exactly 7 years. The official dates for the war are Sept 1, 1939 to Aug 15, 1944 -- that's only 6 years. Yes, many events lead up to the war, but those could equally be claimed to have started as early as 1933, or even the end of WWI.

1:33  Trumpet 2

 [8] 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;
[9] And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

The second trumpet as the end of WWII: the nuclear bombs were not dropped into the sea, they were detonated in the sky over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Furthermore, as horrific as the destruction of the Japanese cities were, clearly 1/3 of all sea life did not die from it. So this claim is also demonstrably false.

2:04  Trumpet 3 (falling star that poisoned the waters)

[10] And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;

 Chernobyl? Where does the video creator get the idea that Chernobyl fell like a star from the sky? If anything, the disaster launched from the Earth into the sky, as the radiation spread. The actual text reads:

[11] And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

'Bitter' not 'poison' because wormwood is the name of a bitter plant that grows in Eurasia.

2:54  Trumpets 4-5 (darkness for 5 months)
 This section is highly interpretive, manipulating segments of these passages to use as the video producer sees fit. The relevant section reads:

Rev.8

[12] And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
[13] And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Rev.9

[1] And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
[2] And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
[3] And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
[4] And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
[5] And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
[6] And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
[7] And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

A) The actual invasion of Kuwait by Iraq last 3 days (Aug. 2-4, 1990) not 5 months. Even considering the entire occupation, the invasion would be 8 months. Furthermore, the Americans began their attack in Feb. 1991 (not Jan.) and reinstated the Kuwaiti leader Mar 15, 1991. Five months doesn't enter into this conflict anywhere.


B) while 8 months might be a long time for the sky to be darkened (by smoke from the oil wells, although they weren't lit until near the end of the conflict), the darkness hardly affected the whole world (or even a large region of it). Keep in mind that the entire sky is dark in the Arctic for almost 6 months / year, every year.

C) I guess Apache attack helicopters could look like very large locusts from a certain angle. But, the quote I found in book of revelations, King James edition, says this:

And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

 Which is significantly different from the video producer's version. The rest goes...

[8] And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
[9] And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
[10] And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

in context, it seems a lot less like apaches are being described (hair of women?).

D) now it gets really crazy. Saddam wasn't the leader of the Apaches, George Bush Sr. was. Either way, the actual name of the leader in the King James version was Abaddon (Hebrew) or Apollyon (Greek). While 'Abaddon' is a form of the word for destruction, Saddam's name is Arabic and means 'One who confronts' or 'Powerful Commander'. Neither of these are necessarily synonymous with 'destroyer'.

5:34  Trumpet 6 (the four hoursemen)

[13] And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
[14] Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
[15] And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
[16] And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
[17] And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
[18] By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
[19] For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
[20] And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
[21] Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

The version of revelations above (King James) didn't say the horsemen would gather at the Euphrates, it said they were bound at the Euphrates, and would be released from their bonds there, presumably to go throughout the world and destroy (otherwise, how to kill so many people?)

[14] Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

Furhermore:
A) who thinks tanks look like lions?
B) the producer seems to conveniently overlook the idea that there should be 200,000,000 soldiers just in the horsemen's army alone, and they killed 1/3 of men (not just combatants in the war).
C) either way, far less than 1/3 of soldiers were killed, especially on the Allies side, which should have been fighting against the horsemen's army, according to the video's producer.
D) once again, selective and incorrect interpretation of this passage:

[20] And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
[21] Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Sorceries and fornication are only two of the listed sins. In addition, Revelations doesn't state 'sexual immorality', as suggested in the video, it say 'fornication'. i.e. all unmarried sex (to fundamentalists, this is the same, to most of us, there are very big difference). Likewise, 'sorceries' could very easily mean science and technology to someone 2000 years ago, as much as witchcraft.

7:34 Trumpet 7
Not sure what to say for this one, as nothing's been stated. I guess the idea is that, if you believe the other 6 'trumpets', then you should be worried that the seventh will be blowing soon. However, since I've clearly shown the first six to be completely fabricated (and poorly), it appears we have nothing to worry about.

I always find it amusing that people believing this literally, feel they will be going to heaven. However, The Book of Revelations clearly states only 144,000 people get into heaven during the end days--out of almost 10 billion! That's less than 0.002% of all people on the planet.

Rev.14

[1] And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.

 With over a billion Christians, and millions of fundamentalists world-wide, their chances seem about as good as mine.

Anyway, for your own studies, here is a link to the King James edition of The Book of Revelations that I used. Check the claims in the video against the real item for yourself.

Insight and longevity.