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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Revelation 8: Does Chernobyl really mean Wormwood? Well…..yeah, kind of

In response to the prayers of the saints – perhaps the plaintive “How long, O Lord” of the martyrs under the altar in Chapter 6 – the Redeemer and Judge completes the ingathering of the faithful and then sends fire, wrack and ruin upon the world. In what may be a glimmering of divine knowledge in the minds of mankind at large, there is widespread concern today about asteroids and comets striking the earth and ending “life as we know it”.

As my daughter Imani would say, “no duh!” When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, one planet killer after another will wipe out huge chunks of human and animal life. And there is that tantalizing reference to Wormwood, a word found nine times in eight verses of Scripture, according to scholar Dr. Gerardus Bow. The first is Deuteronomy 29:18, where Moses warns the nation that by joining itself with pagan nations “…there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood.” Wormwood always occurs in connection with judgment and the result of sin.The Hebrew translated wormwood is la-anah (H3939 in Strong’s Concordance). It refers to any bitter, poisonous plant such as hemlock (Amos 6:12) and wormwood. The Hebrew word stems from a root meaning to curse. The Greek word for wormwood, used twice inRevelation 8:11 is apsinthos, that is, absinthe wormwood (see picture). Other references: Prov. 5:4; Jer. 9:15; 23:15; Lam. 3:15, 19.

There is a story going around that Chernobyl in Russian means “Wormwood.” If so, this would seem to be a startling prophetic warning about the kind of fire that will kill people and poison waters, both of which occurred (although in decidedly unbiblical proportions) after the Russians foolishly, recklessly turned off the safety systems of their uncontained nuclear reactor and then stepped back to “to see what would happen”. Sometimes I think their behavior is a metaphor for modern society: release all controls and restraints, observe the carnage, run around with your hair on fire (literally, in this case), and then blame the science or Someone Else. Ah, well – anyway below is the actual text, and an explanation about the Wormwood/Chernobyl connection by a non-Christian journalist who wrote a first-person account in 2005 about the flourishing ecosystem in post-accident Chernobyl.

10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— 11 the name of the star is Wormwood.[a] A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl, by Mary Mycio, Sept. 9, 2005, - from the chapter is entitled “Biblical Botany”:

“…. Rimma crouched down to a short bush that had grown out of a crack between the road and the curb. It was about a foot tall, with small cottony flowers growing directly from purplish stems.
She pulled off one of the leaves and crushed it between her fingers for me to sniff the unpleasant, varnishy aroma, reminiscent of shoe polish.
“What is it?” I asked, wrinkling my nose.
Chernobyl,” she said, using the common—but incorrect—pronunciation. In fact, chernobyl with an “e” is the Russianized version of the Ukrainian word chornobyl. You won't find chernobyl or chornobyl in most Russian dictionaries, except in reference to the disaster, although the word chernobyl'nyk is used in some Russian regions in reference to the herb. But because the first version has become the commonly accepted spelling for the disaster and the nuclear station, I will use Chernobyl, with an “e,” to refer to them. I will use Chornobyl, with an “o,” to refer to the herb and the town.
“That's wormwood, right?” I asked, hoping to finally clarify the botanical question at the heart of the Chernobyl disaster's putative biblical symbolism. It is often said that the meaning of the Ukrainian word chornobyl is “wormwood,” and the suggestion that the disaster fulfilled the biblical prophecy of the Wormwood star that augured Armageddon resonated deeply with the fear of nuclear apocalypse. But the botany was actually more complex.
Svitlana took a closer look at the plant and shook her head. “No, ‘chornobyl' is Artemisia vulgaris. ‘Wormwood' is Artemisia absinthium. The Ukrainian common name is polyn,” she said, handing me a leaf from a different plant that looked much like A. vulgaris, except it was covered with fine silky hairs that gave it a whitish tinge. As I looked around, I noticed that the plants were everywhere.
I crushed it to release the volatile oil, much more pungent than the first plant.
Botanically and chemically, Absinthium vulgaris is so similar to A. absinthium that A. vulgaris is also sometimes called “wormwood,” though “mugwort” is a more common English name. In Ukrainian, as well, polyn and chornobyl are sometimes used synonymously. Both plants are hardy perennials, tolerant of poor soil and thus plentiful in the sandy lands of the Polissia region—where the twelfth-century town of Chornobyl took its name from the plant and, in turn, gave it to the twentieth-century nuclear station seven miles away. Both are bitter medicinal herbs and natural pest repellants, ridding fleas from the home, slugs from the garden, and worms from the body. And both get their pungent fragrance from thujone, an organic toxin thought to be the psychoactive agent in absinthe, the infamous wormwood liqueur banned by most Western countries a century ago. Absinthe was said to produce an unusual intoxication and was highly addictive, although modern skeptics contend that the “high” and the habit most probably came from drinking the 75 percent alcohol absinthe required to dissolve the thujone and prevent it from clouding the emerald solution.
But if the thujone in Artemisia vulgaris is dilute, it is concentrated in A. absinthium. A crushed leaf of polyn-wormwood is much more pungent than a crushed leaf of chornobyl-mugwort. It is also more bitter and much more toxic, which is why animals happily nibble mugwort but leave wormwood alone. Even other plants avoid it. A. absinthium's extremely bitter chemicals wash off the leaves and into the soil, poisoning it for other plants.
Given its natural repellant properties, many folk believed wormwood to have supernatural banishing powers. Mugwort, too, has magical properties, though none so potent. In Ukrainian folklore, both plants ward off the seductive and dangerous water nymphs called rusalkas, who lured victims with beautiful songs and then tickled them to death in crystal underwater lairs.
In Christian legend, when the biblical serpent was expelled from Eden, wormwood sprang in its trail to prevent its return. Indeed, the herb is a frequent biblical symbol for bitterness, calamity, and sorrow; its use to name the third sign of the apocalypse that opened this chapter conjured the desolation that would follow the apocalypse.
In the wake of the Chernobyl explosion, few people in the officially atheist Soviet Union had Ukrainian-language Bibles. But some of those who did noted that the word “wormwood” in the Wormwood star of the book of Revelation was translated as polyn—and was a very close botanical cousin to chornobyl. Suddenly, the biblical prophecy seemed to acquire new meaning: wormwood was radiation, and it presaged the nuclear apocalypse that would end the world. The story spread like wildfire through the notorious Soviet rumor mill and as far as Washington, D.C., where President Ronald Reagan was said to have believed it, too.

29 comments:

  1. Behold I AM Coming Back soon!!
    and My reward for you...
    Be strong and of good Courage
    in the Lord Jesus
    Don't be found slipping and Idle for I come
    like a thieve in the night when you least
    expected....Fear GOD and given Glory everyday and night of your life,Come Lord JESUS COME!!
    AMEN,AMEN,AMEN...

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  2. Your blog is interesting but you fail to address the aspect of the star falling. Stars are essentially radioactive and the link is too strong to dismiss. The naming of the plants although informative has little bearing on the understanding of the prophecy. In history there is a rippling of greater revelation. Although the Chernobyl disaster may not be the event prophesied in Revelation, it does reveal the true nature of wormwood as radioactive poisoning. Whether man made or extra terrestrial is yet to be revealed.

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    1. T H E R E I S N O C O N N E C T I O N

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    2. Did you notice that Stars are not radioactive? the Sun is made from Hydrogen, and it does Fusion, not fission which is something very different.

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    3. It doesn't have to be an actual star, it could just as easily be an asteroid. Anything that came from space would likely be descried as a star because they had no other word to describe it. Nor did they have any knowledge of what asteroids were.

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    4. A missile falling from the sky could be a star or asteroid.Remember what we know today is not the same as in the past.

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  3. Interesting blog! I am studying Revelation in BSF right now and blogging as well. www.roseseilerscott.wordpress.com I had heard this connection years ago when we visited Europe. My husband also visited the Ukraine about 10 years after the nuclear disaster and people were still cautioned not to go near the river or drink any of the water. Radiation could certainly be seen to make the waters bitter!

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  4. The star is a symbol. The only symbol, that was available to the profet thousands of years ago to describe a nuclear reaction that takes place both, in giant stars and on a molecular level.

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    1. Stars dont do Fission, they do Fusion which isnt a radioactive reaction

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    2. The sun has a variety of nuclear fusion actions going on and the sun is a star.

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  5. The star is a symbol. The only symbol, that was available to the profet thousands of years ago to describe a nuclear reaction that takes place both, in giant stars and on a molecular level.

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    1. How Chernobyl shook the USSR
      https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36139863
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union

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    2. The star is the USSR. Maybe?

      Revelation 8:11 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.

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  6. Loved your informative article! Was cross referencing scripture in Book of Revelation. Wormwood...I see. God Bless You

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  7. Treatment for Pemphigus includes Coconut Oil, Vitamin coconut oil contain fatty acids which significantly reduce inflammation throughout the body.

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  8. Repent... God's people is taken in Rev7 before God's wrath in Rev8. Repent and be saved in the name of Jesus Christ... It not to late "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believe should not perish..." Believe and be saved.

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  9. stupid christians LOL GOD ISNT REAL FAGS

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  10. Is there any significance to the nuclear powered satellites, some of which so have been falling to earth for over 25 years, look like shooting stars when they fall?. Check it out, most of them land in the ocean. One of the plutonium bearing satellites landed in the Great Slave Lake in northern Canada.

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  11. What's the current status of Worm Wood in Russia

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  12. I think a third of the water was poisoned there.. more evidence?

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  13. "the Russians foolishly, recklessly turned off the safety systems of their uncontained nuclear reactor and then stepped back to “to see what would happen."

    This is complete and utter nonsense. The Russians were doing a stress test on the reactor. There was no "recklessness". The operators went through a careful procedure to simulate a loss of power to the reactor to make sure that safety procedures worked properly. This is routinely done in reactors all over the world. The problem was that the reactor had an unforeseen design flaw that caused a surge in power output and a feedback loop that caused the reactor to explode.

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  14. Wormwood is a nuke... lemmi explain. Chernobyl means wormwood obviously (named after the poisonous flower called wormwood). Chernobyl was a nuclear disaster that poisoned an entire landscape with nuclear fallout. What else causes nuclear disasters? Nukes, which can also cause fallout.

    The chernobyl disaster would obviously not have looked like a falling star, but if you've ever seen what a nuke looks like as it's falling, you'd probably describe it as just that, a falling star. A nuke is bright, white, and flickers like a star as it hurtles towards the ground. Symbolism? Nah, think of it as a literal interpretation of something, someone who was too primitive to understand what he was witnessing in a vision, saw.

    He described exactly what he saw the only way he knew how. Where we would see a nuke, he saw a star, and the only information he was given beyond that was the name wormwood. As for where the word "bitter" comes in to describe the water, I believe it was the Greeks that used that same poisonous flower to describe the bitterness of something.

    In short, it is my belief that God intended for us to draw the connection between the poisonous flower wormwood, and the poisonous radiation of a nuke, and the devastation and fallout it leaves behind. A lot of things in revelations are symbolic, yes, but a lot of other things are just a person who has never seen our technology and current society before, and just does his best to describe it based on things he is familiar with.

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  15. Anyone who refuses to acknowledge fulfilled prophesy is of Lucifer.

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  16. Wild speculation is not helpful as a witness to the lost or as a lasting encouragement to those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. When interpreting any scripture if the plain sense makes sense look for no other sense lest you come up with nonsense and scripture will as a rule interpret itself elsewhere often near the verse in question.

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  17. it could mean multiple individual re-entry vehicles using a man made weapon to bring judgement but does the God who made all things need man to accomplish His will. Would not a radioactive or poison chemical containing asteroid sent by God Almighty do just fine?

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  18. Remember the admonishing of Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 through chapter 4 verse 5. Timothy was a young minister but that admonishing is good for all who are in Christ Jesus. Do not bring shame to His name.

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  19. ATTN : Brothers and Sisters IN CHRIST !!!!!!

    GOD , Our Sweet Heavenly Father , ALPHA & OMEGA,
    IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION ......
    Please ALWAYS TRUST His Holy Spirit in guidance and Truth of Revealing Revelation to your
    spirit . Jesus is THE TRUTH , THE LIFE & THE WAY
    Please let NO Man Deceive you By ANY MEANS..
    LEARN TO TRUST what the Lord Reveals to you ALWAYS... Always Pray Before Reading Scripture that the Lord may bless you with
    WISDOM IS THE PRINCIPAL THING, Therefore get Wisdom ; With all thy getting get Understanding. (Proverbs 4:7)
    As far as the confusion with the word "STAR"...
    Scripture only references "STARS" as ANGELS...
    Secondly it's the 3rd Trumpet 🎺 the Angel is Sounding , so we very well know it's not a nuclear bomb. If 1 country released one then ALL
    countries will follow . It would be
    M.A.D; Mutually Assured Destruction for the Entire Planet... As we know that cannot and will NOT happen because that part prophecy called ARMAGEDDON belongs especially to God ... Common sense tells me that it would destroy a hell of a lot more than **just making a third of the waters bitter, besides that leaves no room for the following 4 ANGEL'S & The Sounding of Their 🎺 TRUMPET'S.....
    YES I believe Chernobyl was and is the 3rd Trumpet...
    I pray that you Christians are reading scripture every single day as you are required by the Lord. If you are not reading scripture then how do you know who our Lord is? It is a requirement it is all throughout the Bible how necessary it is to know the word of God. All I can say is that we are far past the third trumpet Gog of Magog is about to happen prophecy was just fulfilled on that so were many many other things. If you're just now starting to read scripture I advise you to work 24/7 on your relationship with Christ by getting to know him through the living word. Do not worry about prophecy if you are not familiar with scripture.
    Having fear of the Lord,
    Is the beginning of wisdom. Once saved always saved that is the biggest lie from the devil and if you do not know the word of God you're only lying to yourself. God says my people perish for lack of knowledge, knowledge is truth, the only truth is scripture, John 1:1 , in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word is God..... I pray that all of you stay on the straight and narrow path so that you may enter the gates of heaven in Jesus Christs name. Amen

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