[music playing] NARRATOR: The number seven-- it may be the unluckiest number ever because seven is the number that counts down to the end times. Seven angels usher in unimaginable calamity. And seven vials hold the poisons that will destroy us all.
Each is triggered over a seven-year period that begins at the precise moment when a savior breaks the first of seven seals. For thousands of years, prophets around the world have predicted the end of days. More than one suggest the apocalypse is fast approaching.
We call this theoretical convergence between doomsday prophecies and today's events the Nostradamus effect. MAN: How will the end begin? [music playing] NARRATOR: Revelation, the final book of the New Testament, exposes a chilling timeline.
Many accept it as a countdown chronicling God's master plan to end the world. The markers of this timeline-- the seven seals. Some say these seals are being broken today.
Biblical experts suggest Revelation is a blueprint of the future outlining a deadly and destructive sequence culminating in our demise. Disaster will follow disaster until finally the forces of God and Satan face off in the ultimate battle between good and evil. There are a specific set of events which lead up to the final battle.
And these events are a great and widespread pestilence, war, destruction, plagues. They call it the day of God's vengeance against the population of planet Earth. NARRATOR: Some believe we are now entering a decisive period known as the tribulation, a time of extreme turmoil that precedes God's final judgment.
Is it possible that current events caused by both nature and man are converging with biblical predictions of the end of the world? We will neither refute nor endorse these theories, merely present the evidence. [music playing] Today, believers are seeking connections between the book of Revelation and science to determine if any of the biblical seven seals have already been broken.
But even among those who believe that they have, debate still rages. Many disagree about where our own age fits into the timeline said to be marked by the seals. Are we in the middle of the sequence as some suggest?
If so, when will the final seal be broken, supposedly igniting the end of everything? JONATHAN KIRSCH: The most religious people in the world read the Bible as the literal word of God. And the most secular people in the world, scientists who study the phenomenon of the natural world, agree completely that the world will end catastrophically and finally at some point in the future.
NARRATOR: Believers search for a way to determine whether Revelation's prophecies may be converging with both religion and today's unrest to herald the end of days. In the New Testament, the author of Revelation's divine prophecy is referred to simply as John. Like other biblical authors, John makes frequent use of one particular number in his writing.
The number seven figures very importantly in the book of Revelation almost obsessively or compulsively. The author resorts again and again to the number seven. The number seven is very significant in the Bible going all the way back to the beginning of the world when God made the Earth in six days and rested on the seventh.
NARRATOR: According to John, the number seven plays an equally crucial role in the world's end. He writes that mankind will receive the warning of its fate in the form of a scroll that is sealed seven times. But John writes of one critical caveat.
ACTOR AS JOHN: And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And a question goes out who's worthy to open this scroll and break the seals and see what's in it. [music playing] NARRATOR: According to the prophecy, the only one worthy to break the seal is Jesus referred to in the Bible as the slain lamb of God.
He comes up and takes a seven-sealed scroll out of the hand of the father on the throne. This appears to be a title deed to the universe and God's prophetic plan for all of eternity. NARRATOR: Some scholars say the prophecy of Revelation is triggered and the tribulation begins when Jesus breaks open the first of the seven seals.
This releases the first of the dreaded four horsemen of the apocalypse. According to Revelation, these dark figures will elicit an extended period of misery and destruction which some say has already begun. BRETT PETERSON: Many reasons we believe we're living in the last days.
One is famine, diseases that are out of control, severe natural disasters. Because of these things, most Bible scholars believe that we are indeed living in the last days. NARRATOR: The Revelation of the first seal says-- ACTOR AS JOHN: And I looked, and behold, a white horse.
And he who sat on it had a bow. And a crown was given to him. And he went out conquering and to conquer.
NARRATOR: It is believed that the white horseman could falsely present himself as a benevolent world leader. But in reality, he is among the most sinister figures in the Bible, the antichrist. JOYE JEFFRIES PUGH: He is emulating Jesus.
The interesting facet of it all is the bow without the arrow, the bow meaning that he has the power over the air. He's going to use the power of the air to be able to control people. But it's a silent, deceptive way of control.
NARRATOR: According to the prophecy's supposed timeline, the antichrist could be at work today using diplomatic skills and powers of persuasion in an apparent effort to bring nations together in peace. But his goal is the exact opposite. He will lead humanity directly into Armageddon.
There will be individuals that will come and will lead people astray in mass. Some modern scholars suggest that one of the great deceivers was Hitler who was followed by masses and committed great atrocities. The antichrist will come.
And there will be armies led that will create devastation and destruction. NARRATOR: After the first seal breaks, a domino effect begins. According to Revelation, the second seal of the scroll is broken immediately after the first.
This will reveal a red horseman. JOYE JEFFRIES PUGH: Now, the red horse is quite interesting in the fact that he's carrying a sword. The red horse has always been thought to mean a World War.
NARRATOR: Today, the red horseman could be a military leader capable of launching modern wars resulting in the deaths of millions throughout the world. Could the breaking of the second seal trigger the use of weapons of mass destruction between nations of opposing ideologies? Some interpreters believe a rogue nuclear power, possibly North Korea, could be the red horseman.
They fear it could launch an attack that would ignite a nuclear holocaust. JONATHAN KIRSCH: There are people, and not a few people, who use the book of Revelation as a source of inspiration to do good on Earth today. And they would argue if you think the battle of Armageddon will be a nuclear war, then let's do something about nuclear disarmament.
NARRATOR: As the prophecy unfolds, breaking open the third sealed summons the black horseman. ACTOR AS JOHN: Scales in his hand and I heard as it were a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius. NARRATOR: At the time John authored Revelation, a denarius was a Roman silver coin, often the equivalent of a laborer's daily payment.
Some biblical experts see a connection between the passage's black horsemen and today's volatile global economy. JOYE JEFFRIES PUGH: There is going to be devastation economically. The Bible tells us that it will take a man's total wages for a day just to feed himself, to buy a day's food supply.
DAVID JOHN MARLEY: I believe that the market crash of 2008 was the worst since the Great Depression in terms of the foreclosures on people's homes. I think that's why people can see this as the breaking of the third seal the collapse of banks, the bankruptcy of some major American corporations, and the worldwide nature of the economic collapse. It wasn't just one country.
It was most of the industrialized world. NARRATOR: Some believe the black horsemen could symbolize a crisis ignited over the unbalanced distribution of global wealth. Today, just 2% of the world's population owns more than half of all wealth.
And the poorest control just 1%. Some fear this inequality could be a recipe for revolution. Finally, the fourth seal is broken and according to the Bible unleashes the most frightening of the four horsemen.
DAVID HOCKING: This is where it says power was given under the fourth part of the Earth to kill with sword, hunger, death, and the beasts of the Earth. Let's suppose that there's 8 billion. That means 2 billion people are going to be killed.
And we're just starting the tribulation. NARRATOR: Some link the fourth horseman to famine and food shortages currently sweeping the globe worsening according to some by the acceleration of global warming and the worldwide economic collapse of 2008. Is the prophecy of Revelation truly unfolding today?
Have the first four seals already been broken? If this is accepted as true, much worse suffering is to come. Could explosive forces beneath one of America's most popular national parks unleash a catastrophe beyond our imagination?
[music playing] Drmatic upheavals are occurring around the world today. Some believe that Revelation, the final book of the New Testament, reflects this extreme period in the form of a timeline portending a global apocalypse. The timeline is measured by the breaking of seven seals.
And for believers, the breaking of the seals is irrefutably linked to today's escalating turmoil. We live in a time where we have witnessed horrible, tragic, catastrophic events, the most obvious of which is the terror attacks on 9/11. That event agitated a fresh upwelling of prophetic gloom.
Surely, these are events that were predicted in Revelation. NARRATOR: But are divine forces actually beginning to break the seals? Is there any evidence that supports this hypothesis?
Clues may be found in the text of Revelation authored by John. STEVE GREGG: John sees the Christian martyrs in heaven crying out, God, how long before we're vindicated for the blood that was shed on our part? NARRATOR: This speaks to a fundamental belief underlying not only the timeline in Revelation, but also Christian faith, which states believers will be saved by the grace of God.
The rest will suffer God's wrath as unfathomable mayhem comes to destroy everything we know. According to Revelation, that mayhem intensifies as the sixth seal is broken. Many link it to the onset of unprecedented natural disasters.
John writes-- ACTOR AS JOHN: When he broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sky was split apart like a scroll, every mountain and island were moved out of their places. NARRATOR: On July 15, 2009, a magnitude 7. 8 earthquake struck off New Zealand's Western coast, twisting the south island's tip 12 inches closer to Australia.
It was one in a series of recent powerful and seemingly more frequent templars. New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, and the Western edge of North and South America all precariously surround the Pacific tectonic plate. This circle makes what is known as the Ring of Fire.
This vast rim is a seismic danger zone that may be poised for a catastrophic earthquake of unparalleled magnitude. THOMAS HEATON: The largest earthquake that we're aware of happened in Chile in 1960. In May of that year, they had a magnitude 9 and 1/2 earthquake.
And that magnitude 9 and 1/2 earthquake shook a 600-mile long stretch of Chile for five minutes. In the days following the earthquake, several of the local volcanoes began erupting. And they were undoubtedly triggered by the earthquake.
NARRATOR: Volcanoes may also place the Pacific Rim and Western United States in grave danger. The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes. One of them, Mount St.
Helens in Washington state, erupted in 1980. HUGH ROSS: The Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980 was the most destructive volcano in the history of the United States.
One reason why it caused so much damage is stuff built up underneath it. And you had a cataclysmic eruption. It was an explosion.
NARRATOR: The powerful eruption killed 57 people. It also destroyed 200 homes, 27 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway. Does Revelation describe a massive eruption as the consequence of breaking the sixth seal?
Believers say yes. But which are the most powerful volcanoes on Earth? A so-called super volcano under Yellowstone Park last erupted 640,000 years ago.
Scientists have deduced that a new eruption is long overdue. HUGH ROSS: Super volcanoes-- these are eruption events that are thousands of times greater than what happened at Mount St. Helens.
That last event 640,000 years ago deposited thick ash over about half the area of the 48, the United States, wound up creating a dust cloud that enveloped the whole Earth and changed the climate of the Earth. NARRATOR: If the Yellowstone super volcano erupts, the resulting ash could block out the sun for 40 years. THOMAS HEATON: A volcano the size of Yellowstone would put tremendous amount of dust in the atmosphere, aerosols in the atmosphere.
Hydrogen sulfide would go into the air, change the reflectivity of the sunlight on the Earth's surface. We'd expect decades of major global cooling in that case because of those aerosols. In addition, tremendous amounts of ash would be spewed out across the United States.
NARRATOR: Other cultures have also prophesied alarming geologic catastrophes. BRETT PETERSON: The Indians, Cherokee and Hopi and others, saw the world eventually coming to the point where it would break apart with a mighty earthquake. NARRATOR: If the sixth seal actually does correspond to today's natural disasters, Revelation emphasizes that the calamities will become so powerful and widespread that no place on Earth will be safe.
STEVE WOHLBERG: Will it matter if we live in Europe or Asia or Australia or North Idaho? The bible's very clear that it's going to happen all over the world, that humanity just can't hide from the final events. I believe that those that live in the country will have it a little bit easier than those that live in the city.
But ultimately, it's coming wherever we are. NARRATOR: Believers in Revelation accept that no horrors in history will compare to those coinciding with the first six seals. But they also believe that these horrors will be dwarfed by those corresponding to the seventh and final seal.
John writes that when the seventh seal cracks, it is followed by an ominous silence. STEVE GREGG: The silence in heaven is due to everybody being in awe of what's about to take place. NARRATOR: According to Revelation, God will offer humanity a merciful respite, but it will not last.
Some believe the text warns that an extraterrestrial body is on a collision course with Earth and that it will cause a cataclysm the magnitude of which mankind has never experienced. Revelation-- long considered the most controversial book in the Bible. In its cryptic language, many see a timeline for destruction on an unprecedented level.
Some argue the timeline will end suddenly, violently, in this century. We live in a world that is changing profoundly and fast and that is facing threats that seem apocalyptic to us. We worry about global warming, overpopulation.
It's necessary only to open the newspaper or turn on CNN to see headlines which in the eyes of some readers of Revelation will be sure proof that the biblical prophecies are coming true at last. JOYE JEFFRIES PUGH: Just think about in the last couple of years. We have seen devastating hurricanes.
We have seen devastating tornadoes. We've encountered earthquakes very high on the Richter scale. If you look at how fast they are happening and how much closer together they are coming, as we get closer to the end of days, they almost will come right on top of each other.
NARRATOR: The prophecy within Revelation suggests that as the seven seals of the apocalypse are broken one by one, we move closer to the end of the timeline. [explosion blasts] Some biblical experts contend that the seals have already begun to break, setting the stage for a final cataclysm. If this is true, what could happen and when?
Exactly where are we on the timeline? JONATHAN KIRSCH: There will be terrible suffering, wars, illness, a series of disasters, catastrophes, that will be visited on Earth on human beings living on Earth as the end of the world approaches. And in the end, we will witness the final destruction of the Earth on which mortal human beings live.
NARRATOR: But what forces will bring about this final destruction? How would we know that the most important seal of all, the seventh, has been broken? Revelation says the final punishment for mankind's evil will be heralded by the peals of celestial trumpets.
You see seven angels each having a trumpet. And they come forth and then begins the series of the trumpet judgments. NARRATOR: Some believe that these judgments will be natural disasters of unprecedented magnitude.
They look to science for answers as they theorize that the cryptic text in Revelation may allude to physical forces on or beyond Earth. Some New Testament scholars say that this and biblical references to fire falling from the sky could be interpreted as asteroids. A collision between an asteroid and the Earth may be the catastrophic event predicted in another verse from Revelation.
ACTOR AS JOHN: The third angel sounded his trumpet. And a great star blazing like a torch fell from the sky. The name of the star is Wormwood.
NARRATOR: Some believe that Revelations author John is not specifying a star in this passage but a comet or asteroid. It is widely accepted that ancient observers could not have understood the difference between various types of celestial bodies. And while no stars are named Wormwood, there is strong scientific evidence that an asteroid strike could play a major role in the mass extinction of life on Earth.
HUGH ROSS: Astronomers now believe that all three generations of dinosaurs, triassic, jurassic, and cretaceous, were brought to extinction at least in part by extraterrestrial collision events, giant comets and asteroids striking the Earth. If something that big were to happen, humanity wouldn't survive. NARRATOR: Today, a collision between Earth and an asteroid just a few miles in diameter may release as much energy as a thousand nuclear weapons detonated simultaneously.
[explosion blasts] HUGH ROSS: Winslow, Arizona, a crater that's almost a mile in diameter-- that was caused by a rock that was only a hundred feet across. If one of the larger ones like say something a thousand feet across were to hit a populated area like New York City or Los Angeles, the energy release would be such that it would wipe out the entire metropolitan area of any one of those cities. NARRATOR: Destructive power of this magnitude was evident in an historic impact event in 1908.
An extraterrestrial body likely a comet or asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded over central Siberia, flattening over 700 square miles of the Tunguska forest. The region was so remote that only one death was reported. As recently as 2006, a half-mile-wide asteroid large enough to cause catastrophic climate change and disrupt the world's agricultural production came within just 24 hours of smashing into Earth.
In space terms, a near miss. Astronomers today are tracking hundreds if not thousands of asteroids and comets out there that could make a close pass of the Earth. About as large as they get is about a kilometer across.
And so yes, there is a serious effort to track those. Because if they were to strike the Earth, it could cause a lot of damage. [music playing] NARRATOR: But even astronomers using advanced tracking instruments say it would be all but impossible to prevent a collision.
Even if they could calculate years in advance that a large object was destined to strike the Earth, no technology currently exists to deflect it or protect us from its impact. Some believe that the horrific aftermath of such an impact is described in this passage from Revelation. ACTOR AS JOHN: 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.
NARRATOR: If a large asteroid or comet were to strike Earth in our lifetime, it would send millions of tons of debris into our atmosphere for years. This would virtually imprison us in a cloud of dust, cut off from the life-giving sun. Is this the scenario described in Revelation?
In any case, its author writes that more trumpets will blast, and even greater anarchy will unfold. And so this starts tremendous calamity. Says now came out of the smoke locusts upon the Earth.
NARRATOR: According to Revelations, when yet another trumpet sounds, a giant army will pillage the Earth. Its mission-- ACTOR AS JOHN: To slay the third part of men and the number of the army of the horsemen, two hundred thousand thousand. NARRATOR: Many experts interpret this to mean that an army 200 million strong will wage war against its enemies, slaughtering populations across the globe.
But who could summon such a massive force? [music playing] STEVE GREGG: Mao Zedong had gone on record saying that China could field an army of 200 million men, which happened to be an interesting correlation to the number in the Book of Revelation. NARRATOR: Even fringe believers do not suggest that the Chinese militia is an army of Satan, only that an army of 200 million is actually possible.
Whatever the allegiance of this formidable force, Revelation states it will destroy one third of the Earth's population. But according to the text, even greater tribulations will follow. What will happen when the antichrist finally reveals himself to the world?
[music playing] Many biblical experts believe our current age coincides with a doomsday timeline. Some fear we may be swiftly approaching its end and are trying to decipher exactly where in this countdown we supposedly find ourselves today. For them, a clue that the seventh and final seal may be broken perhaps lies in another book of the Bible.
Daniel chapter 12 verse 4 talks about in the time of the end. It says knowledge shall be increased. We've seen an escalation of knowledge that is unprecedented in the history of the world.
We have satellites. We have internet, fiber optics, all the technology of these days. And to me, it's very clear when I look at world events that we're definitely getting close to the big day.
NARRATOR: The dark prophecies in the Book of Daniel are also reflected in Revelation, that the tribulation will build in intensity as seven angels one after another sound trumpets that signal distinct catastrophic events. When the seventh trumpet sounds, it heralds the most horrific events of all orchestrated by Satan and two earthly allies. JONATHAN KIRSCH: One of the most striking features of the book of Revelation is that it's filled with Satanic villains.
The principal villain is Satan himself who is depicted in Revelation as a dragon with many heads and many horns. But he has two helpers on Earth who are referred to as the beast from the sea and the beast from the land. All of them are understood to be symbolic references to human beings who will put themselves in service to Satan, who will hold positions of earthly power, who will lead earthly armies into battle.
NARRATOR: Biblical experts believe the beasts from the sea is Satan's chief emissary, the antichrist. The beast from the land is another figure, Satan's aide, known as the false prophet. JOSEPH ROBERT CHAMBERS: You have an unholy Trinity-- the devil, the antichrist, and the false prophet.
And the devil is trying to make the world believe he's God. And the antichrist is trying to make the world believe he's Jesus. And the false prophet is trying to make the world believe he's the Holy Spirit.
So you have an anti-Trinity that operates really powerful during those last 3 and 1/2 years. NARRATOR: Experts of biblical prophecy suggest that this unholy Trinity builds a world of followers by deception while conspiring to seize control of heaven and Earth. But who are these two allies of Satan?
The identity of the antichrist has been debated for nearly 2,000 years. JONATHAN KIRSCH: Muhammad was seen as the antichrist. Martin Luther thought that the pope was the antichrist.
The pope thought that Martin Luther was the antichrist. The English thought that Napoleon was the antichrist. In the 20th century, we've had many, many candidates-- Hitler and Mussolini, Lenin and Stalin.
NARRATOR: The famed 16th century seer Nostradamus also wrote of the antichrist. But there is no consensus among his interpreters about whom he may have identified. Some biblical scholars suggest the antichrist described in the Bible as a beast from the sea may indicate that he will rise from a country bordering antiquity's principal body of water, the Mediterranean Sea.
Revelation states he is destined to confront Jesus Christ but not before a critical series of events takes place. MICHAEL BAIGENT: Christian fundamentalists see three definite signs before Jesus will return. The first was the gathering of all the Jews in Israel.
And that, of course, has happened 1948 when the state was declared. The second was the taking by the Jews of Jerusalem. And that, of course, happened during the war of 1967.
The third is the rebuilding of the temple. NARRATOR: The temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army in 70 AD. For nearly 2,000 years, devout Jews have prayed for its reconstruction on the sacred Temple Mount.
But this location is now home to one of Islam's holiest shrines, the Dome of the Rock, completed in 691 AD. The Dome of the Rock was a barren location. And the Muslims located what they believe to be the spot of Muhammad's ascension to heaven.
I find it highly unlikely that Israel would destroy the Dome of the Rock and build a temple in its place. The international community I don't think would permit that. NARRATOR: Despite the formidable realities, many still believe the temple will rise again as prophesied.
BRETT PETERSON: According to the Bible, when the antichrist goes into the temple rebuilt by the Jews and proclaims himself God, this will be the last human event on this planet. [music playing] NARRATOR: Revelation describes that as the antichrist and the rest of the unholy Trinity seduce mankind, a final horrific series of disasters strikes. The biblical text describes them as seven vials containing the poison of God's further wrath.
STEVE GREGG: And they are similar to the trumpets. In fact, they follow pretty much sequentially the same pattern of hitting land and ocean and rivers and the air. But instead of doing about a third part damage, they do total damage.
NARRATOR: Revelation depicts this wave of disasters as the final sweep to exterminate all those who refuse to follow God. The scenario described is gruesome. When the angels release the contents of their vials, pestilence and disease run wild.
The outbreak Revelation describes is on such a magnified scale that it would dwarf the greatest pandemic crises global health organizations have ever faced. JAIME SHAMONKI: We are in the midst of a pandemic right now. The H1N1 or the swine flu virus is in a pandemic alert state of six by the WHO.
This is a flu which has crossed species. When a flu is able to cross species, it not only can access far greater people who have never been exposed to it before and so don't have any immunity. We've never seen this before.
So far it still is producing mild symptoms. But if this particular flu virus undergoes the antigenic drift, it could increase in severity. It could establish greater virulence.
And that would be a major public health problem. NARRATOR: H1N1 swine flu may strike up to 40% of Americans by 2012 and kill several hundred thousand. US health officials hope to provide inoculations for 200 million Americans.
But resistant viruses much more potent than swine flu could push mortality rates up into the 80th and 90th percentile, taxing health organizations beyond their ability to cope. This may mean we would be virtually defenseless against a plague of such extreme proportions. A global medical crisis could be amplified by yet another catastrophe chronicled in Revelation where seas become blood and the blood of animals and humans mingle.
Some interpreters say this part of Revelation's prophecy suggests the world's water supply will be rendered undrinkable possibly by the rotting, plague-ridden bodies of millions of victims. The biblical text states that other poisons follow from each vial until the world is nearly desolate. Some suggest this may already have begun in the form of a naturally-occurring process called algal bloom also known as red tide.
It is a phenomenon that can turn water crimson. A high concentration of microscopic algae produces harmful neurotoxins that can kill fish, birds, and marine mammals. Spread globally, millions would die.
Some suggest this will be the punishment for our failures as environmental stewards of the planet. When Jesus comes, he will destroy those who destroy the Earth. And I see that phrase destroy the Earth as predictive of a global environmental crisis where humanity through its pollution and deforestation contributing to the destruction of the resources of the planet.
NARRATOR: If Revelation is a blueprint of mankind's end as many believe, billions will lie dead at the climax of the tribulation. The Book of Revelation is like a lens or a magnifying glass or a telescope through which we can peer and ponder this great mystery of endings. Revelation is full of monsters.
It's full of catastrophe. It's full of villains and evil figures. And surely, the author of Revelation was a great creative genius who understood how to stand in a room and address an audience and provoke that kind of anxiety and fascination that we also feel when we sit in a movie theater.
NARRATOR: But the apocalyptic scenario in Revelation does not end with the climax of the tribulation. The devastated Earth will be the stage for one final battle. The forces of the antichrist will face off with the army of Jesus, but this son of God is not the prince of peace millions of us think we know.
[music playing] Have all seven seals of the apocalypse forecast in Revelation been broken? Is it possible we have counted down to a supposed Armageddon? Some say today's world events prove this biblical timeline may be deadly accurate as is the prophesied location for the epic battle.
The world's three major religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, converge in the nation of Israel. Given the region's long violent past and present, some interpreters believe it is a likely flashpoint for a pivotal conflict, the battle of Armageddon. DAVID HOCKING: Some people think that the plain called the plain of Esdraelon, a big agricultural area between Samaria and Galilee and Israel, some people believe that's the valley of Megiddo, the valley of Armageddon.
NARRATOR: Megiddo's location at the crossroads of a vital ancient trade route made it a coveted prize among warring factions in antiquity. Biblical scholars believe that its long history as a key battleground inspired Revelations author John to designate it as the site of the ultimate showdown between God and Satan. According to Revelation, Jesus will emerge from the heavens on a white horse to lead God's assembled forces.
But the text portrays him as anything but the benevolent Savior known to his followers. ACTOR AS JOHN: His eyes are a flame of fire. And he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood.
From his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may smite the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron. MICHAEL BAIGENT: Now, it's utterly impossible to reconcile the Jesus of the Book of Revelation and his bloodstained robes and his leaving blood for hundreds of miles around the battle site, with the gentle Jesus, the loving Jesus of the sermon on the mount.
The two are not the same figure. NARRATOR: Revelation describes how the warrior Jesus advances with his army against the antichrist and his forces, culled from the nations he has deceived into worshipping him. The forces of good ultimately prevail over the unholy Trinity after their years of deception.
They'll be cast in the lake of fire. The devil will be cast in that, false prophet, the antichrist, and all those who took the mark of the beast. NARRATOR: So ends Revelation's description of the Battle of Armageddon.
Drwing any correlation between this biblical prophecy and current events is problematic as it speaks of supernatural figures clashing in a supernatural context. But in one profound sense, the prophecy and the present may be converging. MICHAEL BAIGENT: Something like 60% of Americans believe the events in the book of Revelation will come to pass.
Now, this is extremely dangerous because how can we not say that if we believe something that we don't act in such a way as to make it happen? If we believe that there's going to be a big war in the Middle East, and Jesus is going to come back and save the world, then we might just let our behavior be affected by that belief and allow it to occur. NARRATOR: It is an intriguing possibility.
At its heart is what can be considered a curious fatal attraction to Revelation's prophecy. The great tradition of Revelation over 20 centuries is that every new generation comes to the text, reads it, and is convinced that it describes events that will take place in their own lifetime. It is a habit of our mind in Western tradition to look for signs of the end.
And I believe it's a habit that was formed literally by what we read in Revelation. NARRATOR: But surprisingly, this inclination among millions may not stem from a morbid fascination with mayhem. Instead, it might be rooted in the perception that Revelation ultimately is a story of hope.
STEVE GREGG: Inevitably, there'll be a general judgment of the world and all that. But at least if it happens in our day, the end of all evil will be seen in our lifetime. MICHAEL BAIGENT: This leading period is one of great pestilence, plague, wars, economic collapse, destruction.
It's a period of great suffering to all the people who have to live through it. But at the end Jesus comes. The final battle is fought.
Satan was defeated. It all becomes worthwhile. The fact remains that we have this idea of the final destruction of evil.
NARRATOR: But if the horrors of Revelation truly come to pass, will evil's demise be of any satisfaction to the few who survive? According to the biblical text, they will find comfort in a remade world. ACTOR AS JOHN: And God himself shall be among them.
And he shall wipe away every tears from their eyes and any mourning or crying or pain. [music playing] All those things seem to be pointing at that there is a time that is going to come that something very bad, very catastrophic is going to happen. And I don't think that there's a way for us to escape that.
I really think that this is going to happen just as it's been prophesied to happen. NARRATOR: Only time will tell. Based on human behavior over the past 100 years, it seems likely that millions in this generation will look to Revelation for clues about the apocalypse wondering when and how the end will begin.
