What is the Wormwood spoken of in the Book of Revelations?

What is the "Wormwood" spoken of in the Book of Revelations?

Originally published in 2007

PURPOSE

The purpose of this document is to clarify a justifiable confusion regarding the mention of Wormwood in the Book of Revelations 8:10-11. In the Douay-Rheims version of the Holy Bible we read:

And the third angel sounded the trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning as it were a torch, and it fell on the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters: 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.

INTRODUCTION

We have received a letter which reflects the most logical misunderstanding. The letter follows:

A third of all waters being poisoned with something that kills those who drink it requires more than some dust from a comet. Yet a search of the web turns up all sorts of bizarre explanations. See the wikipedia summary (1).

These explanations are contrived and do not work, but after 1986 the meaning should have been made obvious: Why does nobody point out that Wormwood (the plant) is called Chernobyl in Slavic languages? Re-read the above reference, and substitute “Chernobyl” for “wormwood”, and suddenly it is clear what it is about the waters that kills those who drink them.

We shall try to clarify the confusion.

BACKGROUND

The first item to call to the Faithful's attention is that in the Holy Scriptures written in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Ukrainian we can see that the word "wormwood" or its translation appears written in two different ways: In English, for example - as a proper noun, with a capital "W", and as an adjective , with a lower case "w". [In Spanish the word is "Ajenjo".]

This immediately tells us that the star (actually, a celestial body) has the name of Wormwood and upon impact will turn the waters wormwood-like. Biblically speaking what is wormwood-like?

The Biblical usage of the word "wormwood"

We can get an idea about this from the other Books and Verses where the word has been used:

Proverbs 5

4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.

Jeremias 9

15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

Jeremias 23

15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts to the prophets: Behold I will feed them with wormwood, and I will give them gall to drink: for from the prophets of Jerusalem corruption has gone forth into all the land.

Lamentations 3

15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood.

Lamentations 3

19 Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood, and the gall.

Amos 5

7 You that turn judgment into wormwood, and forsake justice in the land,

Amos 6

13 Can horses run upon the rocks, or can any one plough with buffles? for you have turned judgment into bitterness, and the fruit of justice into wormwood.

Obviously, Biblically speaking, "wormwood" is something bitter, quite undesirable.

DETAILS

Let us review the presence of the word "wormwood" in Mythology (2)

Now, in the mythological domain [let us remember that God uses every possible channel to communicate to His deaf and blind children] we find:

«Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) is a perennial plant or shrubby plant found all over the world. Its appearance is characterized by deeply-incised leaves and small yellow flowers. Literally and somewhat metaphorically, wormwood often grows in waste places. The leaves are bitter-tasting, and so the word wormwood is also defined as a description of something grievous and bitter.»

«Historically, this herb has been utilized for a variety of purposes. Wormwood has been used as a medicinal herb, as a vermifuge (an agent that dispels intestinal worms), as a protection against the plague, as a deterrent for vermin (especially fleas), and as the star ingredient in the infamous drink of absinthe, to name a few. The application I find the most perversely curious is the ancient Egyptian documented use of wormwood as part of a treatment for pains of the anus that had been caused by demons. (3) (See Ancient Egyptian historical uses for more details on that one.)»

«Its Latin name (Artemisia absinthium) illustrates that the herb was named after the goddess, Artemis, the goddess of hunt from Greek mythology.»

Let us now address the relationship with the word "wormwood" and "chernobyl".

Through the courtesy of one of our cooperators who is from, and still lives in, Ukraine we learn:

Wormwood translates to Ukrainian and Russian as Polyn' ("полин" or "полинь" in Ukrainian; and almost the same - "полын" or "полынь" in Russian).

Chernobyl (in Ukrainian - "Чорнобиль") is another name for Wormwood, scientifically Chernobyl is one of the types of Wormwood. (4)

Chernobyl was rather old but not big city, first noted in 1193 year (5) and existed till catastrophe.

This place was chosen for the nuclear plant because it was quite close to Kiev to transfer produced electricity and close to river Prypjat to take from it water for cooling.

The city received this name because of plant "chernobyl" - one of the types of wormwood - which is quite wide spread there.

In the Ukrainian translation of Bible word "Polyn" [полин] is used:

Амос 5: 7 вони змінюють суд на полин, і кидають правду на землю.

And in Revelations this word also has capital letter:

Об'явлення 8: 11 А ймення зорі тій Полин. І стала третина води, як полин, і багато з людей повмирали з води, бо згіркла вона...

Russian translation has the same word used.

God, in His infinite Goodness and Attentiveness chose to underscore the above in the manner that Only He can do. Just as we were gathering the information to prepare this document we read the following news report (6):

Peru meteorite strike leaves 200 ill

2007, Tue Sep 18, 7:12 PM ET

About 200 villagers have fallen ill from mysterious gases that spewed from a crater after a meteorite crashed in southeastern Peru, but no radiation has been detected, officials and scientists said Tuesday.

Scores of residents of the farming village of Carancas began vomiting and complaining of headaches and dizziness after the space object struck the area Saturday, creating an eight meter (26-foot) deep, 20 meter (65 foot) wide crater.

"We have determined with precision instruments that there is no radiation," engineer Renan Ramirez of the Peruvian Nuclear Energy Institute told AFP.

Ramirez said the illnesses may have been triggered by sulfur, arsenic or other toxins that may have melted in the extreme heat produced by the meteorite strike.

"It is a conventional meteorite that, when it struck, produced gases by fusing with elements of the terrain," he said.

As we conclude this section we feel compelled to mention that during an interview with Conchita (7), the main Garabandal visionary, the following is revealed:

Q: Many years ago you told us the event of the Warning begins with the letter "A". Since Our Lady never told you not to reveal it, can you now mention it?

A: She did not forbid it, but I don't know why I haven't said it and I don't feel as though I should say it now.

Could it be that the "A" they are referring to is the "A" of Ajenjo - Wormwood in Spanish the language used by Conchita in her conversations with the Virgin Mary? Or is it just another "coincidence" as the ones we mention regarding key dates of World Wars I and II (8)?

CONCLUSION

Even if we did not know that the Earth will be hit by a meteorite, as it will, the above would indicate that such was the exact meaning in the Book of Revelations.

The "Chernobyl" apparent coincidence has the "fingerprints of God" all over it just as the events of September 11, 2001, were just a preview of Step No. 1 (9) - A Divine Preview.

CREDITS

We wish to give "Credit where credit is due" - and it is due - as it should be - to God Almighty for having moved TJ to ask the questions He wanted us to publicly address and to ZM for having clarified the Chernobyl angle from his unique vantage point - a Ukrainian native.

NOTES

(1) Source (wikipedia.org)

(2) Source (feeverte.net) (no longer available in 2021)

(3) satan's Coup d'Etat

(4) Source (wikipedia.org) (in Ukrainan)

(5) Source (wikipedia.org) (in Ukrainan)

(6) Original Source no longer available but news are also reflected here and here

(7) The Warning

(8) World War I and II "coincidences"

(9) Sequence of Events