Remember back on October 23 of 2007 when I talked about a guy who said the Bible tells us that the volcano on the island of La Palma will collapse, causing a tsunami to devastate the US east coast?
He said it would (most likely) happen on December 25, 2007.
Um, yeah.
Here’s what he said in his pamphlet:
A month before April 1st, the volcanic island of Sicily erupted followed by a lunar eclipse that turned the moon red. The dust cloud from La Palma is also predicted to turn the moon red. The most likely date for this event is Christmas Day (25th December) 2007. The night of the 24th is the date of a full moon and Christmas Day celebrates the birth of Jesus.
The whore of Babylon is outlined by Hudson Bay (Canada), riding on the scarlet beast (Labrador) as described in the book of Revelation. This suggests that North America is the Biblical Babylon which is predicted to fall when an angel throws something like a large millstone into the sea. When La Palma erupts, the unstable part of the island will fall into the sea resulting in a mega-tsunami that will affect the east coast of America.
Shocker of shockers, he was wrong. It’s been a week since his deadline, so I’m thinking he was wrong. I’m thinking he was wrong anyway, but evidence is evidence.
This is a valuable lesson to would-be doomsday prophets: never ever give an actual date for your end times. You’ll only Lieder yourself. Or should that be Juliened?
Whatever. Let’s hope that 2008 sees a decline in these types of cosmic scaremongers. But if they pop up, and they use astronomy to bolster their claims, then I have some real doomsday scenarios for them… or at least their careers as hucksters.
Thanks to new BABLoggee Dave Hanson for reminding me of this.
December 31st, 2007 at 10:46 am
I predict that tomorrow, a great many people will awake with very sore heads and foggy memories.
My “psychic powers” are so strong, they operate well beyond the tattered framework of the Bible.
December 31st, 2007 at 10:50 am
“The whore of Babylon is outlined by Hudson Bay (Canada), riding on the scarlet beast (Labrador) as described in the book of Revelation”
…Hudson Bay and Labrador? That’s pretty limited to call Babylon North America. It sounds more like he calls Quebec a whore…
December 31st, 2007 at 10:54 am
the prophet may be false, but the profits are real.
Thank you! I’ll be here all week!
December 31st, 2007 at 11:04 am
If everybody had an ocean
Across the u.s.a.
Then everybodyd be surfin
Like californi-a
You’d seem em wearing their baggies
Huarachi sandals too
A bushy bushy blonde hairdo
Surfin u.s.a.
You’d catch em surfin at del mar
Ventura county line
Santa cruz and trestle
Australias narabine
All over manhattan
And down doheny way
Everybodys gone surfin
Surfin u.s.a.
December 31st, 2007 at 11:05 am
So you’re saying that it’s now safe to come out of my tsunami/volcano/comet collision shelter to celebrate the new year, Phil? I hope so, it gets stuffy in here.
December 31st, 2007 at 11:29 am
Silly BA, you assume he is using the Gregorian calendar, everyone knows when it comes to time of doom, the prophets ALWAYS switch to the Hellfrozeover version of the calendar.
December 31st, 2007 at 11:32 am
I foresee Earth having weather today (and will continue into tomorrow). But as a modest prophet I must admit that at times I’ve been wrong.
December 31st, 2007 at 11:32 am
Did I say December 25, 2007? I meant December 25, 2017!
My bad.
Happy New Year!!!
December 31st, 2007 at 11:37 am
“…Hudson Bay and Labrador? That’s pretty limited to call Babylon North America. It sounds more like he calls Quebec a whore…”
Quebec would be…. Le Whore of Babylon
December 31st, 2007 at 11:57 am
“…Hudson Bay and Labrador? That’s pretty limited to call Babylon North America. It sounds more like he calls Quebec a whore…”
If the shoe fits?
December 31st, 2007 at 12:05 pm
What the? Hudson’s Bay is the outline of the whore of Babylon? Labrador is the Beast? Last time I checked a map, Hudson’s Bay, looked like, well, a big bay! Labrador always kind of reminded me of an Iguana’s head. But that still doesn’t qualify it as the beast. Hmmm, sounds like it may be time to break out the Kool-Aid.
BTW, as 2012 approaches, I think we are only going to see an increase in this type of “crack-pottery”. Speaking of 2012, I thought you did an excellent job of debunking the whole Mayan Calendar theory. Unfortunately, many will not have listened to reason. The thing that really concerns me about these so called “end-times” cultists is how perilously close they could be to leading many people the way of Heaven’s Gate.
December 31st, 2007 at 12:25 pm
That’s a rich quote. It is dense with erroneous thinking, like a neutron star of nonsense.
If, like me, you like to use critical thinking skills to examine this stuff, it is almost hard to know where to start. There are so many juicy tidbits to question.
I also like the Google ads that accompany this posting. They lead to end-times websites with similar thinking styles.
December 31st, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Yep, definitely Gregorian calendar - he mentions that December 24th is a full moon, which it is on the Gregorian calendar. On the Julian calendar, the moon on December 24th (6th Jan Gregorian) is two days before new.
December 31st, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Ah, Michael, you mean on Coast to Coast? One of my big projects once I’m done editing the book is to put up a good series of pages on 2012. There’s lots of interest and it needs to be debunked!
December 31st, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Yes, on C2C, That was actually the first time I had heard that explanation of the calendar going through repeating cycles, and it makes total sense.
December 31st, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Speaking of forecasts, has the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 17,000 yet?
December 31st, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Who is more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him? There’s profit in being a doom-sayer though. And the world is full of fools. Really, it takes true guts to pen a date!
Remember that guy, Brown I think was his name, who correctly predicted the LA earthquake of 1989? For those who don’t, he actually got the date right on! He was using tidal forces and some sort of periodicity as his basis. He made that unbelievable prediction and then his next one didn’t happen. Then he died before the year was out. Experts kept saying that his methods weren’t reliable and, well, they weren’t. But he nailed that one! He wasn’t trying to tie his methods into any religion. It was purely scientific …just untrustworthy.
At least he had the good sense to add a disclaimer to all his predictions! Heh. What it proved to me, though, is that tidal forces *could* have some effect on the potential for an earthquake event. But there are honestly so many variables involved I don’t believe anyone will be able to accurately predict them ever. It would be like trying to predict the weather. :o)
December 31st, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I hadn’t seen this before, at least not as a whole. I think I’ve heard “rumblings” here and there of tsunami on the east coast, but it was more of a “if the volcanoe were to go, we would get a huge tsunami and a huge disaster since many would not be able to escape”. Much more of an emergency plan on how to deal with it IF it happened.
Curious about someone actually saying it was going to happen, I followed the link to the earlier blog, and from there to the guys website. Except not. I found the blog entry easily (I just clicked), but it appears the website has been removed, or moved and no forwarding address left behind. Hopefully the guy came to his senses and pulled it. A tsunami of common sense so to speak. I hope, I hope, I hope…we’ll see I guess.
December 31st, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Tenacious, with all of these guys making predictions, someone is going to get one right some day. I think it’s more coincidence than anything. There was a guy who wrote a book, “88 Reasons The Rapture Will Occur In 1988.” The guy made tons of money, and people sold property. when it didn’t happen, he claimed to have made an error in calculation, and wrote, “89 Reasons the Rapture Will Occur in 1989.” After that, he stopped writing.
Slightly off topic, but wanted to ask a question of BA: Have you heard of this guy, John Walsen? He’s making videos of supposed “Machines” in orbit. He’s apparently using an 8 inch scope and taping various shaped objects in orbit. I’ve seen them at Rense’s site, but wondered if you had a comment on it?
December 31st, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Reason 89: It didn’t happen in 1988.
December 31st, 2007 at 2:49 pm
I just finished reading “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”, which has a great excerpt about a doomsday cult (further detailed in the book “When Prophecy Fails”).
The cult had a very specific date when a catastrophic flood would hit, plunging the entire world below water (please ignore the physical impossibility).
Of course, said date came and went without a flood, nor their spacemen saviors. But instead of them disbanding in shame, they actually became _stronger_ as a cult, going to the media and starting a huge recruitment drive. The exact opposite of what you’d expect. (They did eventually crumble after two more major failures).
Turns out the strengthening of their beliefs is because most had quit their jobs, been disowned by their families, given away all of their possessions, etc. They couldn’t come to terms that they had been wrong, and had lost so much. They made up a multitude of excuses rather than face tremendous humiliation.
A quote from one of the two “leaders” of the cult, four hours after realizing the floods weren’t coming: “I’ve had to go a long way. I’ve given up just about everything. I’ve cut every tie. I’ve burned every bridge. I’ve turned my back on the world. I can’t afford to doubt. I have to believe. And there isn’t any other truth.”
I’ve heard similar stories of folks who lost their life savings to Nigerian-419 scam artists, yet refuse to believe their friends and family and police when told how it happened. They still expect the big payout, years later.
My friends, this is the level of self delusion we’re up against.
December 31st, 2007 at 5:36 pm
2012? What’s supposed to happen then? I think I forgot.
And by the way, clevedan, it would be La whore. Whore is a feminine name, so “La” fits better than “le”.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:01 pm
>The whore of Babylon is outlined by Hudson Bay (Canada),
>riding on the scarlet beast (Labrador) as described in the
>book of Revelation.
Um, I’m no geography bee winner, but those two bodies don’t even touch. I mean, there is Quebec in the way. >_>
Anyway, I did see a Discovery Channel special about La Palma and how its strata are laid down could possibly mean that a volcanic eruption or an earthquake could cause the western side of the island to slide into the Atlantic. This would displace a huge amount of water and send a tsunami measuring hundreds of feet high into the east coast of NA. I love watching those disaster shows. I’m not sure why. They did say however that the thing might never happen or that if it did, it’s thousands of years off most likely. That guy probably saw the same show and started writing his pamphlet before the credits.
I think something that would be more intriguing is a megavolcanic eruption of the caldera of Yellowstone. That was like a movie-style Discovery Channel special. I’m surprised they didn’t try that. It would disrupt life the world over.
January 1st, 2008 at 6:56 am
I agree with PsyberDave, the Google ads are great! I’ve two end-time sites, followed closely by one for a cheap holiday to the Canaries!
What amuses me is, why does the end of the world always involve America? They never predict that large portions of the UK will get flooded due to precipitation of biblical proportions.
January 1st, 2008 at 2:34 pm
The whole peninsula on the east side of Hudson’s bay is called Labrador - the eastern part of it is in the province of “Newfoundland and Labrador” and the western part is in Quebec - but Quebec claimed a larger part of the Newfoundland section and at times draws up maps with boundaries showing it inside of Quebec - it’s the sort of place where fantasies about language, culture and history play a big role in politics.
January 1st, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Confused again, and the year just started.
How is it possible for the writer of the book of Revalation to even have an Idea 2000 years ago about the shape of Hudson Bay much less the riding of the Scarlet what-have-you over in North America when they never got out of the Middle East?
Are they the decendants of Atlantis after all?
I agree that he started writing the pamphlet during the Discovery Channel show. Can you make any money at this? I’m retired and have lots of time on my hands. I could come up with some kind of conspiracy rooted loosely in Bible speak, about moon aliens and volcanos, and bad JuJu, fire and brimstone… wait… Aw hell. Scientology has that one taken already.
But I do have time on my hands, or you could just send money…
January 1st, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Need I point out that he did say “MOST LIKELY” to happen on Dec. 25, 2007.
For the record, I predict that next Friday will most likely fall on last Tuesday.
Go ahead, prove me wrong.
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:57 am
It hardly needs saying, but I wish more Christians would come out strongly against this sort of pseudo-Biblical nonsense. It’s easy enough to point out passages like Deuteronomy 18:21-22 (all quotes NIV).
“21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD ?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”
or Jeremiah 28:8-9
“8 From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. 9 But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true.”
In other words, just like in the scientific method, ONE FALSE PREDICTION is all it takes to reject a prophet (or hypothesis). If more people applied these passages not only would it make it harder for the hucksters to ply their trade, it might also give people a better idea about what constitutes a falsifiable hypothesis. You aren’t going to turn all the theists into atheists or agnostics, so making them more critical thinkers is a step I think we can all agree on.