“So, you’re talking, like the first century?” Carl asked.

“Yeah, Carl. That’s when it was written,” Dave answered. “Probably around eighty or ninety A.D. So, the things taking place today were actually foreseen by the prophet nearly two thousand years ago.”

“Wow!” Carl exclaimed. “What comes next?”

Charley smiled and continued. “Next, after the meteor falls and the ships are sunk in the Pacific, we’re told about another angel who gives a signal for a star called Wormwood to fall to earth and poison a third of the waters of the sea. So, at that point we see another tragedy taking place because the people who drink that poisoned water will all die.”

“Wormwood?” Lori asked. “What is that?”

“Nobody really knows for certain at this point, Lori,” Charley said. “But God may have given us a clue. You remember back in the eighties when the Ukraine was part of the old Soviet Union? There was a nuclear power plant located at the city of Chernobyl near Kiev. Well, that plant malfunctioned, and when it did, a lot of deadly radiation escaped into the environment. Many people got sick or died—eventually tens of thousands of people were affected by it. Clouds of radioactive material traveled as far as Western Europe, England, and Ireland. It was a real tragedy.”

“But, Charley,” Carl interjected, “I don’t get it. What has the nuclear accident at Chernobyl got to do with Revelation and Wormwood?”

“That’s why I said God may have given us a clue to the mystery, Carl. You see, Chernobyl in Russian means Wormwood.”

Carl and Lori stared at each other. Then Carl turned to Charley. “Do you mean that Revelation is talking about poisonous radiation getting into the drinking water?” Carl asked, then quickly answered his own question. “Of course, I see it now. This meteor that’s about to hit somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean may very well start setting off earthquakes all over the world.”

Lori picked up the thread. “And those earthquakes could cause meltdowns in nuclear power plants all over the world!”

“Good Lord!” Carl exclaimed. “The radiation fallout could kill millions!”

“Which is precisely what the groups protesting nuclear power plants have been trying to tell us for years,” Dave Busby chimed in.

Carl fell back in his chair, took a deep breath, then continued, “Charley, this apostle John couldn’t possibly know anything about nuclear power plants and radiation fallout. Everything fits, but how did this guy learn all these things?”

Dave said, “Don’t you see, Carl? John probably didn’t have a clue, but God knew about nuclear power. After all, He put the sources of power there to begin with. John for sure understood bitter, poisonous water.”

“That’s right, Dave,” said Charley. “For one thing, he read about that in the Old Testament, which told the history of Israel. John used the term bitter water instead of nuclear radiation, but I believe that God slipped in the code word, Wormwood, which could only be understood by people living at the end of the age—people who lived after the Chernobyl meltdown.”