Coming up on the Devil's Details, the Super Bowl's slightly more than halftime show featuring Bad Bunny, Revelation chapter 16. Who do you think the the opening act for Armageddon should be? Kid Rock. I thought he was the beast.

He's the false prophet?

Yeah. Oh,

that's who you're sending forward. Mhmm. Mhmm. It shouldn't be too difficult,

I guess. I can't even do a Kid Rock impression because I don't know how he I don't know anything about him other than other than it's okay not to know who he is. But he looks like he's he looks like he sounds like this, man.

Yeah. Yeah.

Hey, man.

Yeah. That's right.

You got it. You know everything you need to know about it. I'm canceling all my my my shows because because I refuse to to perform in this city. Also because nobody bought any tickets. Yeah.

Yeah. Good morning, Star, and welcome to another episode of the Devil's Details, a show where we dig up, decipher, dissect, deconstruct the many forms of the devil. One of my names is Lester Ryan Clark.

And I sometimes go by Keenan Diaz.

And we're just two lost souls hitchhiking down the highway to hell. And you know Mhmm. I had ordered those seven bowls. Right. I think I just wanted the seven burritos of wrath.

You just wanted seven tortillas if you wanna say that.

Yeah. And and I I made the healthier choice, and now I gotta eat these bowls.

Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, we are gonna continue on looking at our golden bowls or as we have to call it on our podcast here, the big game.

Yep. Yep. Yep. My favorite is What We Do in the Shadows. They call it the superb owl.

And I think it's all about an owl.

So you're very disappointed, I'm sure.

Yes. Yes. But, no, we are on chapter 16 of revelation, folks. This is the slightly more than halfway point, which is which makes it perfect for our slightly more than halftime show. Mhmm.

Alright. But but yeah, let's get right into it. Let's read this chapter. Mhmm. Okay.

This is Revelation chapter 16. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth, and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood.

And I heard the angel of the waters say, thou art righteous, oh lord, which art and wast and shall be because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, even so, lord god almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and the power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues, and they repented not to give him glory.

And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief, blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.

And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon, and the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air. And there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, it is done. And there were voices and thunders and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath, And every island fled away and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent.

And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great. Oh, boy.

Alright. Well, I'm glad that's over.

Yeah. Right? Mhmm. Said John as he's writing.

Over here, says, yeah, Babylon came forward and and was was done and sort of pride uncle and

Yep. Yep. Yep.

Yep. The beasts are, you know, full of darkness now. Their kingdoms are gone, and their tongues are not repaved. So great. We're done.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. We're done.

All done. Yeah. John turns to sword mouth Jesus. Is it all all all finished? Whoo.

But no, folks. This oh, boy. Yeah. This is this is where all hell literally breaks loose. Mhmm.

There these are the the bowl judgments, the the seven last plagues that complete God's wrath on a rebellious world during the tribulation. Mhmm. Unlike the seal and the trumpet judgments, were partial. Right? Remember they were affecting like a third or a fourth of the earth, right, in the population.

These bowl judgments are total, they are rapid, and they are devastating. Mhmm. This is the endgame, the final countdown to Christ's return and the battle of Armageddon.

And that's the first time we've heard that in this chapter. It's the first time we've heard Armageddon in the entire Bible. Mhmm. Mhmm. And it's the only time we will hear it.

So it does not come back again with that word.

Yeah. Yeah. And it seems to be referring specifically to the the the place and

Mhmm.

The, like, the place of battle and the battle itself.

Mhmm. Yep. Alright. Yeah. Yeah.

I guess isn't that, you know, it's like Gettysburg is a battle and a place.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm.

Waterloo. Mhmm.

Waterloo. Mhmm. Waterloo, baby. You're my Waterloo.

Yeah. Mhmm. That's it. That's exactly that's exactly what Napoleon was singing. Alamo.

Alamo. Alamo, baby. You're my Alamo.

I remember that. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep.

Yep.

Alright. So, yeah, we're leading up towards Armageddon.

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Mhmm. At the end of this chapter.

Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah. And we got this loud voice coming out of the temple.

Right? Commands the seven angels. Right? Go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. Right?

Voice comes from the temple itself. Mhmm. This is we're we're assuming this is God.

Yeah. I think so. Yes.

Yeah. God it it's like God has become the temple.

Mhmm. Yeah.

And, yeah, no more delay, no mercy, no more, you know, opportunity for repentance. The command is simple and terrifying, pour out those bowls.

Mhmm.

Alright. Now we mentioned before how this is the point of no return. Right? The the the door of grace has closed. Mhmm.

Those who, took the mark of the beast, have sealed their fate, and now, they face the full undiluted wrath of God. Mhmm. Alright. Let's take a look at these bowls individually. So the first angel pour none of these angels are named.

Right.

You would think Mhmm. It you know, the fine you know, the final chapters would be like, hey. It's Gabriel. Hey. It's Michael.

Hey. It's you know?

These would be important angels because they're doing pretty important stuff.

Hey. Remember me from the the nativity story? No. Actually, he wasn't named in there either. No.

Everybody just decided it was him. Mhmm. Yeah. But yeah. So, yeah, our first angel pours out his bowl upon the earth, and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast and upon them which worshiped his image.

So some folks see this as, like, literal, like, ulcerous sores breaking out on everyone who took the mark.

Mhmm. Sure sounds like it.

Yeah. Parallels the the the sixth plague of Egypt, right, from Exodus chapter nine verses eight to 11 Mhmm. When the boils broke out on the Egyptians. The sores are noisome, meaning like foul and disgusting.

Mhmm.

I never came across noisome as something meaning like ugly or foul.

I don't really use that term very much. Mhmm. It sounds kinda like noxious, which is Mhmm. Something that makes something, you know you you see something noxious, then you become sick.

Like Mhmm.

The the the I was gonna say real meaning, but the original meaning of nauseous is that you are making other people sick.

Uh-huh. Okay.

Yeah. It it's it's supposed to be where it was supposed to be. It originally was nauseated is what you're supposed

to say. I guess I've seen a noisome shirt or like a tie. It was like, wow, that tie is very noisome. Very noisome. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Tone it down a bit, Jeffrey. Yeah.

Ninety CE called. Yeah. Wants its noisome sores back.

Yeah. Really. But, yeah, so noisome and grievous, here meaning like painful or severe. Now importantly, only those with the mark are affected. Right?

Right. So those who refuse the mark, right, these are the tribulation saints, are protected. Right? So this kind of vindicates their decision. Yes.

Refusing the mark meant economic hardship and, persecution, but taking it means, suffering these plagues.

Mhmm.

Right? It's interesting that that we've got these the people, you know, doing the bad stuff and and siding with the bad people are before they're thrown into hell Mhmm. Are are also suffering, like, physical, like, sores and stuff.

Right. Mhmm. Mhmm. It's not enough that they they have to wait for that because, you know, this is basically too late. They're starting to have hell on earth.

Oh, okay. It's like hell is drawing them in. Uh-huh. Mhmm. Yeah.

So yeah. So they remain these these sores remain throughout the following judgments. Mhmm. They don't heal. So remember that once we get to the seventh plague Mhmm.

People are still, like, scratching their sores. Right.

So it's

not like it's like, oh, now we have, you know, darkness and blood and and all of that stuff. No. We also have sores still.

Yeah. And I think this goes in tandem because, mean, you know, I think that this is the whole book is kind of all over the place in terms of whether we're talking in the past or if these things have already happened or what But have we have discussed already people who are basically begging to be put out of their misery, and they aren't allowed to do Right. They will not die. They shall not die for three and a half years or three and a half months.

Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And now they got sores. Mhmm.

Mhmm. That they will that they will not heal from the sores either.

Right. Then we got the second angel. He he pours out his bowl onto the sea Mhmm. And it became as the blood of a dead man Oh. And every living soul died in the sea.

Mhmm. I noticed Mhmm. That according to John Mhmm. All the fish have souls.

Some of the fish are souls, s o l e.

Yeah. But, yeah, specifically the blood of a dead man. Mhmm. Right? So, again, popular interpretation sees this as, like, literally transforming the oceans into, like, thick, congealed blood, like, from a corpse.

Right? Dark and putrid and dead. Mhmm. Every living creature in the sea dies. The entire marine ecosystem collapses, and the stench would be overwhelming.

And then also just economic impact. Right? No fishing, no no shipping, nothing like that. Right? Mhmm.

We've talked about hell being like a place of of, you know, fire and torture and brimstone and and all of this stuff. Right? I am terrified of the idea of hell being a world filled with death. Mhmm. Like like, literally dead seas.

Like like, just and not like empty seas, not like a desert, not like a wasteland, but just imagine if this actually happened and all of the not even like let's say that this is slightly metaphorical, and let's say that rather than the seas just being turned into blood, it being that way because all the fish, all the living things in the sea have died. Mhmm. And they're just kind of like floating on the surface or they have sunk to the bottom, and it's just a dead sea.

They're not being cleared into heaven or anything like that. I do wanna, yeah, bring up again that this is the blood of the dead as opposed to the blood of the living because we're going to start getting blood imagery as the purity of the Lord's blood, the lamb's blood. So we've had the lamb's blood before. We're going to make it explicit like we're talking about Jesus' blood in a little Mhmm. And then, yeah, the attacking of the seas is interesting because we will you know, maybe maybe you don't care about sea.

Maybe you don't care about if the fish are dead.

Mhmm.

Mhmm. Right? Because you don't you don't got no friends that are fish.

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Right. But we're gonna start talking about how that is like a depth of commerce like you were talking about. Seafaring.

Mhmm. And just the the something about I I think I think it's a specific phobia. Mhmm. Like fear of the vastness of the ocean. Mhmm.

And just, you know, there there are pictures. It's it's like one of those things you'll see online. It's like, do you have this phobia? Look at these pictures, and it'll tell you. You know?

And there's there's something about the all encompassing space,

the

vastness of, you know, the big water, the ocean, the sea. Mhmm. And and then just imagine with a snap of a finger, like, everything in there just being dead. Mhmm. Mhmm.

And just floating around in there. You know? Yeah.

Yeah. As somebody from Hawaii, I could tell you how to get over your phobia of the sea. Uh-oh. Just move away from there.

Oh.

And go to the desert.

So you got, like, the best part of the beach according to you.

Yeah. The not beach part. Yeah. Yeah. Ain't no stingrays up here.

Mhmm. Sandcastles for as far as the eye can see.

Wait. I'm not afraid of stingrays. I misspoke. Oh, okay. Jellyfish is

what I

was thinking. Yeah. Yeah. Those are scary. You should Stingrays are pretty badass.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm. You should also probably be afraid of stingrays as well.

They killed our lord.

Yes. Did. Mhmm. Jeez. But oh, no.

That that made me think, have you ever seen, like, jellyfish, like, washed up onshore?

Yeah. You get stung by them in Hawaii a lot.

And they're just, like, dead kind of, like, deflated balloon bodies just like Yep.

Yeah. Yeah. The Portuguese man the Portuguese man of wars in Hawaii. They they they're they're on the beach, and, yeah, even when they're dead, they'll get you.

Mhmm. Mhmm. One of my students, he's fascinated by those things. Mhmm. And we've been watching, like, YouTube videos and and stuff like that.

It's just it's just a floating bag of death.

That's right.

Yeah. But yeah. But yeah. There we go. So so just imagine all of that.

Mhmm. Like, just just floating around in in a in a dead sea, folks. Right. But yeah. And and, again, this this parallels the first plague on Egypt where the Nile had turned to blood.

Mhmm. This is Exodus chapter seven. But here, it's complete. It's total. Right?

Not just one river, but all of the seas. Right? Some teachers suggest this could be a red tide algae blooming or pollution. Mhmm. But most insist it's it's like miraculous.

It's like a dark Right? Right. So actual transformation into literal blood. Mhmm. But that okay.

Whenever they talk about that, whenever they talk about, like, the sea turning into blood, the curiosity gets the best of me. And I'm like, what if we what if somebody, like, took a vial of that and took it back to the lab? What type would it be?

AB negative, you mean?

Like Yeah. That's what I mean. Like but, like Or lamb's blood. Literal literal lamb's blood. Is it gonna be, like, type g o d or something like that?

Like, I'm gonna look you know? I'm gonna look under the microscope, and it's just gonna be, little beast faces, little captain howdy faces. You know? Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Well, if that weren't enough, we get our third bowl, and now all the fresh water has turned to blood. Right? So the third angel pours out his bowl upon the rivers and the fountains of waters, and they become blood. So now our fresh water sources, our rivers, our springs, our wells, all of them turn into blood.

After the seas have died, now drinking water is gone. People have nothing to drink but blood. Mhmm. Is that something like like for survival? Can you do that?

Oh, sure. You could eat blood. You could eat animal's blood. Yeah. People do that for fun.

Well, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. They turn into sausages. They yeah. You you can definitely do it.

Yep. Yep. That's one thing I'll never get over is is blood pudding. Like It's

got real blood in

it. We we we grew up watching all those versions of A Christmas Carol and Scrooge and and he goes to those, you know, those those fantastical feasts with the ghost of Christmas present and and there's blood pudding and I'm like,

oh, thank you mister Fuzzy Way again.

Been chilled blood.

Right. You don't have to work today. You get to eat blood.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's Christmas dick. It's Christmas Ebenezer.

Yeah. White people have no business talking about, like, other cultures foods. Like, literal blood pudding. Like, like, we just take some blood, and we make it, like, like, hard, like, gummy, and then we eat it. Yeah.

What? So yeah. So nothing to drink, but blood. Not but blood, but but probably that too.

Yeah. Yeah. I was trying to see either okay. So maybe we've taken the 10 plagues of Egypt and turned them into seven plagues here. Mhmm.

But here we've taken one of the seven plagues

of Egypt and split it into two of our plagues. So Right. So not just not just the Nile, but but freshwater and the but blood. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. So so the popular view is that this is kind of like poetic justice. Right?

Mhmm. So these people shed the blood of believers, of innocents, of martyred Christians, right, during the tribulation, so God gives them blood to drink. Right? They're, quote, worthy of this judgment because their crimes deserve it. Right?

The voices affirming God's righteousness show heaven agreeing that this judgment is just and not cruel. Alright? It's I mean, like, so this is one of the chapters that you're talking about, like like, oh, this is this is an example of God's unchecked cruelty.

Yeah. Even in vindictiveness.

And and and wow. And and, yeah, in vindictiveness. Mhmm. But if we thought of this as a contrapasso from our Mhmm. From our Dante season Yeah.

Because remember, they like, the wrathful, they were they were or or there was a there was a circle in hell where it it was a boiling sea of blood. Mhmm. And it was because of, they had shed so much blood up on Earth.

Right.

Right? Yeah. So I don't know. It made me think of that. Right.

But, yeah, this does create an impossible situation. Right? No clean water anywhere on earth. People must drink blood or die of thirst.

Yeah. But I I don't know. It seems like well, maybe we're not saying that the people who have the mark of the Lord on their heads can drink the blood just fine. It's like water to them.

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Mhmm. Because I mean, don't we don't say like, okay, with the mark of the beast, like like tantalus or something, every time you put your your mouth into the water, it turns to blood. That's not what we're Yeah.

Yeah. And, it it's it's not mentioned whether or not, you know, the the good or the just people have, I don't know, like a like a secret stash of like a wellspring or something. You know?

Or if their mouths would become Brita filters.

Yeah. Right? Which which would help very much. But but, yeah, then we get the fourth bowl, and this is scorching heat. Right?

So the fourth angel pours out his bowl upon the sun

Mhmm.

And the power was given unto him, I'm guessing him as the sun, to scorch men with fire. Uh-huh. And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues, and they repented not to give him glory.

Mhmm.

So we got the sun's heat intensifying dramatically either through supernatural means or through atmospheric changes maybe. Right? People are literally scorched. They're burned by the sun's heat, and also no water to drink. Right?

It's all blue. Right. Mhmm. So no way to cool off. And people are, yeah, literally burning alive under the the unbearable sun.

Mhmm. Mhmm. But Oh, yeah. And then it it doesn't say that, like, all of the little umbrellas they pull out for shade, they they turn to ash. Yeah.

You know, parapet first and then the frame afterwards Yes. As as they look directly into the camera and see that they crumble.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it kinda like sprinkles down onto them.

Right. Exactly. And there's a there's a funny little xylophone sound every time it

happens. Right.

Yeah. But, yeah, folks, notice the response. They blaspheme God. They know God has power over these plagues. They acknowledge he's causing this, but they curse him instead of repenting.

Kind of interesting. Like, you would think this would be people it's like, well, so much for global warming, you know, and and just like refusing to leave, you know, and and and, you know, like like digging in their heels. But this is like, no. I know God is doing this, and and I'm I'm cursing God that, you know, the the fact that he's doing this.

Right. And the narrator is also telling us I mean, so John narrating is is also telling us, like, it's too late for repentance anyways. It wouldn't matter. Yeah. But they also choose not to repent anyways, and he's like, well, that's that's awful of them.

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep.

Yep. And, yeah, this is this is one of the the the key themes in the bowl judgments. Right? People don't repent. They just get angrier at God.

Going back to our Dante season again, we were speculating there. We we noted how none of the residents of Dante's Hell seemed to be learning anything. They seemed to, like, have repented at all or or have learned a like, even even though, like, the Contrapasso was right there. It's like, see? This is how you were in life, and, you know, this is like the ironic punishment that you're receiving.

And it was like, it was Virgil and Dante pointing out the irony, and none of the people that they met in hell seemed to either get the joke or feel sorry at all or or want to change at all. And we Mhmm. Wondered when the idea of a permanent hell first came to be. Mhmm. And I mean, I'm sure it's it it came before Dante, but just the fact that nobody in Dante's hell was was like, oh, I've learned my lesson now.

Please let me out. It was all like, nope. Nope. It's like it's like everybody's wrong and I'm right.

Yeah. They're not even like Jacob Marley. They're not even being like, hey, Dante. Like, I I have learned my lesson now, and it's too late for me, but you should learn as well.

And then

don't be like me.

Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. And and we're seeing kind of an echo of that here. Mhmm.

What am I talking about? An echo. This is like Mhmm. This is the same first.

Mhmm. Right.

But I wonder if if Dante got a part of the idea from this. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. So so so nobody's repenting.

Right? Mhmm. But that's okay because we got the fifth bowl.

Yeah. Don't worry about it. We'll fix it with number five.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is mam bowl number five. That's a dumb joke.

I love it.

Whatever. A little bit of blood in the sea. A little blood in the sky. And it's just and it's just a little bit of blood. It's just it's just

blood all

the time. Alright.

It's all blood.

A little bit of blood, but you won't die. A little bit of blood for you to drink. Little bit of blood coming out of your sink. Anyway, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So we got our fifth fifth bowl. Fifth angel pours his bowl upon the seat of the beast. Mhmm. I'm guessing upon his throne.

Yes. I've also seen, like, his throne, but also that implies, like, his whole kingdom. You know?

Ah, okay. The seat of oh, the seat of power. Right. Right. Right.

Yeah. And his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain and blasphemed the god of heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented not of their deeds. Okay. So so yeah. So we're seeing this as as some kind of supernatural darkness falling specifically on the antichrist's kingdom.

Mhmm. Either his his, like, capital city or or, like, just his entire territory or the kingdom within the people's hearts maybe.

Mhmm.

Just just anybody who follows the beast, just darkness.

Right.

Right? So, yeah, again, parallels the ninth plague on Egypt. Right? Exodus chapter 10. A thick darkness that that could be felt

Mhmm.

Combined with painful sores from the first bowl and the scorching heat. Oh gosh. I didn't even see, it's easy to think of them all separately.

Right.

Mhmm.

As if as if it's like it's like, okay. That one's done, now this one, you know?

Mhmm.

But it's like, no. They're all they're all piling on top of each other. So so it's dark. It's hot. It's bloody.

Yeah.

Yeah. The I guess that's where it differs from, like, our our popular interpretations of the 10 plagues of Egypt, which

Mhmm.

Which tend to be shown in, like, the the 10 commandments or in the Prince of Egypt, as as in they are one at a time, and it's giving Pharaoh the opportunity to repent, and and none of them are working.

So everybody has

the next one. Here's the next one. Yeah.

Exactly. Right? Everybody has, like, like, sores or or or lice, but then when the frogs show up, like, their skin is fine. Right. Mhmm.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And also they're like, this is fine too. They're just frogs.

Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Right. That's that's all of Egypt is that meme.

This is fine.

Right. This is Just frogs. Yep. Yep. Yep.

Yeah. I don't know. I mean, like, we've we've never been plagued with frogs Mhmm. Before. I don't know I don't know how we would feel about them.

Well, I spent, you know, part of my time in Tennessee in Murfreesboro, and I had never heard of a bullfrog before I started visiting my boyfriend in Murfreesboro or in Cincinnati there. And it does it does feel when I am there that it's it's one frog croaking at me.

Oh, really?

And and it's the same frog every time, and he he is speaking directly to me. Yeah. It's how it does feel like. Yeah. Right.

And we'll just we'll just be in the middle of like dinner al fresco outside, I'll be like, do you do you all hear that? And they're like, it's a bullfrog. I'm like, oh, it's not the same bullfrog. Right?

I'll be like, where is it? I'm like, oh, it could be like miles away. Like, oh god. It could be miles away. Somehow makes it scarier.

It's like Yeah, I think so. It knows you're there.

It knows where I am. I don't know where it is.

It's got a little fedora. Little suitcase that's about to hop on a

bus Yeah.

To you.

Right. He is the one who rivets.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Mhmm. It's very scary.

Yep. Yep. Yep. Henry killing frog. No.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But no.

I remember, like, in Japan, it would be during the summer, I guess. Mhmm. But it just, like, the night was just alive with the sound of frogs. And one of my neighbors, like, like, we were walking at night, and I was walking her home. And, like, we got we got closer to the homes and to the, like, like, the rice paddies and everything like that.

And she just, like, kinda jokingly, but, like, just, like, like, said, like, out into the night. It's like, goddamn frogs. Stop having sex in my rice paddies.

Yeah. And they just answer back in unison. Yeah. No. No.

Because that's because that's folks, the lovely, beautiful sounds of nature. You know, birds chirping, frogs ribbing Mhmm. You know, the the cicadas, the the, you know, just just the the the the fauna of this earth. It's just just things fucking.

Right.

You know?

It it just you up. Yeah. You up. Mhmm. You up.

Our lily pads have turned to blood. Makes no difference to me. You wanna you wanna you wanna get it, you know, you wanna you wanna you wanna you wanna yeah. And we're and and, yeah, so this is all happening, you know, at at the seat of the beast, right, probably like the Antichrist throne, his capital, right, his center of power. Right?

Yeah. So, again, popular interpretation sees this as Rome or a rebuilt Babylon or Jerusalem itself, right, or some other, you know, as of yet unnamed empire. Right? Mhmm. And and, yeah, they they blaspheme God.

They don't repent. Mhmm. Even even, you know, within the beast's kingdom, right, it doesn't lead to repentance, just more cursing. Mhmm. Yeah.

And why do we even do it? But I don't know.

You know what? Yeah. Yeah. These these are the people who weren't gonna repent anyway. I don't know.

Mhmm. I don't know. Mhmm. And then we got the sick the the wait. Wait.

The sixth bowl. Sixth? Oh, sorry. Well, no. I was doing a a different thing.

I was just saying the British six. Yeah. The sixth. Right? And the sixth angel pours out his bowl upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up.

So it did not turn to blood. Right? Mhmm. That the way of kings of the East might be the way of the kings of the East might be prepared. Mhmm.

So and then John sees, quote, three unclean spirits like frogs, oh,

there we

go, come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Okay. Is this three frogs or nine frogs? It's three frogs who go out of the mouth and

then go back into the next guy and cuts out their mouth.

Oh, okay.

No. I guess you're right. It's nine frogs.

It's gotta be. Right?

It's gotta be.

So I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon Mhmm. And out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Mhmm. Right? These are spirits of devils working miracles.

And see, we we have the word devil here.

Mhmm.

Right? Oh, well, no. The devil was in the the desert as well, but, like, I thought that was a medieval thing. Whatever.

But, yeah, this is not the devil. This is

Devils.

Devils.

Yeah. Yeah. Working miracles which go forth onto the kings of the earth and the whole world to gather them for to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

Right. So the Euphrates is now dry so that the great empire to the east back then, that was the Parthian empire

I saw. Mhmm.

Yeah. So that would make it so they can come in and start destroying some of these bad guys as well, or just, I guess, cause general wrath because it's not like saying the Parthians are good people either.

This is opening the way for more savage armies to to be savage.

Yeah. It's like the it's like we're describing these Parthian empire, you know, people as as a storm or as, you know, a beast or something that's just gonna come in and just kill more people.

Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And so the Euphrates River, which runs through modern Iraq Mhmm. Mhmm. Is dried up. And so perhaps kings of the East, popular interpretation says, from from Asia, perhaps China, perhaps other places to march westward towards Israel.

Right.

Yeah. You got these yeah. These I wanna talk more about these these these three frog like these nine frog like demons. Right? From the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet.

Right? This unholy trinity. Performing miracles to deceive world leaders into gathering for battle. They convinced the nations to unite against God and march on Israel. Mhmm.

Okay. So then comes the famous verse. Right? He gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Mhmm.

Right? So Armageddon or or Har Megiddo, Mount Megiddo Mhmm. Is an actual place in Israel. It's a plain where many ancient battles were fought. Mhmm.

Popular interpretation sees this as the literal location where all the armies of the world will gather for the final battle against Christ when he returns. This is the battle, humanity's last stand against God.

Right. So if you're wondering, like, why it is a plain that is called a mountain, it is because if this is talking about the historical Armageddon, this is this is a fortification mountain made by king Ahab, kind of like building up a like a risen, like artificial mountain.

Right. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep.

Yep. And, yeah, verse 15 is kind of like an aside. It says, behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments. Mhmm.

So this is this is Jesus warning us to be ready even at this late stage. Be prepared. Stay vigilant. Right? He will come like a thief.

Right? I was hoping you would tell me who this I is all of a sudden.

Mhmm.

Mhmm.

As you've been describing, yeah, all this stuff that's happening and then and then somebody says, I come as a thief. Yeah. Yeah. So you say it's Jesus.

Yeah. Is this the second time that that Jesus has referred to himself as, like, like, coming as a thief in the night?

I think a thief in the night. Yeah. That's from the gospels where where where they're saying, like, this will, you know, he will come to you as a thief in the night. Yeah. And you can't predict, you know, again, you can't predict when this will when this will happen, either the hour or the date.

Right. I got so excited, and then I was like, wait a minute. Like, I was like, oh, you know, this, like, adds to the realness of it because this is the second time this is, like, you know, like, thematically, you know, rhyming. But then I'm like, wait a minute. No.

John probably just read he he read that same passage. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

So it's not it's not like like, oh, this this means it really is Jesus because it's consistent. No. He just read

the same thing that we did. Yeah.

Every time I see like a like a an echo of the gospels, I'm like, oh, maybe there is something. No. He just

he just read it.

Right. Right.

Like he's doing with the Old Testament to say, like, oh, this is this is the fulfillment of prophecy because I'm just saying what prophecy said happened.

Right. Yeah. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Oh, yeah. Don't worry. We got another bowl.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right?

But this one okay. I'm confused about this one. So the seventh angel pours his bowl into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, it is done. Mhmm. I'm assuming in the original well, this would be Greek.

Mhmm. But I wonder if I wonder if this is supposed to be the exact phrase that Jesus says, it is finished. It is accomplished. Like, translated.

That's what I imagine so. But so we're assuming that this voice that's coming out of the temple of heaven is is god who Yeah. Also was the voice earlier. Right. But it but it just it just writes so yeah.

It just writes it's it's like, not the voice I I get from earlier saying this. It's just like he's writing as if he didn't say that other line before.

Yes. Yeah. Okay. So Mhmm. But But yeah.

Then we get unprecedented catastrophe. Right? Voices and thunders and lightnings. Mhmm. George Decay?

Oh my. Oh my.

There we go. That joke that joke flopped on both ends.

Oh, good. It's rhyming. Yeah. Literally.

I was voices and thunders and lightnings. And yeah. No. Didn't work. Didn't work.

Whatever. Mhmm. Yeah. But, yeah, a great earthquake such as such as was not since men were upon the earth. So mighty an earthquake and so great.

Right? A great city divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away and the mountains were not found and there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent. Mhmm. That's a talent.

Is that like a coin?

A talent is a natural aptitude or skill. No. He possesses more talent than any other player.

I knew it. I knew it.

No. It is a former weight and unit of currency.

Oh, okay. There we go. Yeah.

Phyllasian merchants would use.

Ah, those Phyllasians. Mhmm. Yeah. Okay. So so this is done.

Echoes. Yeah.

It echoes, but they're not the they're not the same word I'm I'm seeing in Greek.

Ah,

okay. But they but they are everyone's reading them as that

as they're meant to be the same thing.

In the Greek, is saying completion.

Ah, okay. Mhmm. So so maybe John was trying to do a callback, but he didn't.

It's like it, though. Yeah. And then and then which is a similar word, a related word, but it's not the same word, is here for done.

Okay.

Alright. There we go. Yeah.

Well, there we go. Yeah. And the islands sink, the mountains disappear, the earth's topography has completely changed. Mhmm. Yeah.

Oh, a talent weighs about 75 to a 100 pounds. Mhmm. So hailst yeah. Hailestones this size would would pulverize whatever they hit.

Oh, yeah. Mhmm.

Yeah. So, yeah, there we go.

Yeah. You just wash your car, and then one of them's come along.

I know. Yeah. Right? So much for global warming. Alright.

Don't worry. Those tariffs will take care of these hailstones.

Mhmm. Got a tariff on talents. A town tariff. But, yeah, this is this is, you know, so this is the popular interpretation. Right?

God has had enough, and he is he is meting out judgments. Right? Right. And Armageddon is next. Right?

Right. Yeah. But okay. Now let's take a scholarly look at this thing. Mhmm.

So for John's first century audience, mark of the beast, right, again, means, participation in the imperial cult

Mhmm.

And those who, accommodated empire who worshiped Caesar. The sores could represent the consequences of that accommodation. Right? The corruption, the moral rot, the spiritual and social disease that comes from serving oppressive power. So when you build your life on empire, you become infected with its sickness.

The sores are visible, painful manifestations of what empire does to people who serve it. It corrupts them, makes them sick, quote, unquote sick. Right? It eats away at their humanity. Mhmm.

So we could look at them. Yeah. We could look at it as a metaphor. Mhmm. Right?

You you have become a sick person. Right? Right. Mhmm. Yeah.

And for contemporary readers, the sores on the mark bearers represent the consequences of accommodating with with this empire. Right? Those who've given their their ultimate allegiance to nationalist ideology, right, who've participated uncritically in exploitative systems, who've who've built their identities around that kind of power. Right? They they bear that type of mark, and it makes them, quote, unquote, sick.

Right? The sickness shows up in anxiety, in moral injury, in cognitive dissonance. Mhmm. We've got a lot of that. I've I've been learning about cognitive dissonance Mhmm.

Kind of firsthand and the hard way, just in, you know, the the folks I I deal with on a day to day basis. Right? Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah.

The desperate need to defend the indefensible. Right? Like, what does that do to you? Like like, what does that what does that do to your soul? Right?

Like like, constantly, like, no. No. No. You know, and defending, you know, someone or or an an institution that is just so corrupt. Right?

It it it it must, like, like, wear away at your at your at your mind and your soul.

Yeah. Well, we'd like to think of it that way. And then because we can't see a soul, we it's very, like, gratifying to see to think that you could see a person crumbling from the inside or Right. You know, Trump's hand bruises that are probably caused by him over medicating himself with aspirin. If you've seen that, we we have people online are like, like, he's he's crumbling from the inside and, you know, maybe, you know, probably not.

But it's very it's very nice to think so, I think,

for people who are like, you know.

Yes. No. You've seen that, though.

Oh, yes. Yes. And every now and then, you know, just just a a little flutter of hope.

No. Probably not. Probably they are, you know, the best doctors in the world are keeping them propped up. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Best

goddamn 88 goddamn doctors.

Right. But you you'd like to it's comforting to think of moral rot manifesting itself as physical

rot. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm just saying, doctors Mhmm. You guys can be heroes. I'm not I'm not mean oaths. They oaths. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. They got oaths. I got oaths. Got your oaths

Pursuing along with this. Yeah. Yeah.

Mhmm. Mhmm.

I'm not saying you should do anything on purpose. Uh-huh. You know, things you know, we all make mistakes. You know? We forget to to mix things properly.

We give

a little too much of the of the aspirin. I

don't know. No. He's already got that going on. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. You've seen that though. He's like, yeah. My doctor told me, like, thirty years ago to take aspirin so that I take three times as much as he says, and Yeah. Yeah.

That's not a recommendation anymore that

people No. No. No. Yeah. Because he wants nice thin

blood. Right? That's what he says.

Did we talk about did we talk about Rasputin on this thing?

The hemophilia? Not on this one. No.

Okay. Okay. So, folk, I'm I'm just fascinated by this. Rasputin, apparently, like the ultimate flim flam man. Mhmm.

You know, just come you know, just this this this yokel, this stumblebum from from Siberia, you know, gets in with with the royal family, becomes kind of like their pet holy man, their pet wizard kind of. Right. Right? And it's all because their son, the the young prince Alexei Mhmm. Is is very, very sick with something that they don't understand.

We understand it today as hemophilia. Mhmm. Meaning, like, your blood is very, very thin. Mhmm. And if you you bump or bruise or or or, god forbid, like, a cut or something like that Right.

It's it's over for you. Mhmm. But even without that, like, you're you're just, like, very, very sickly and weak Right. A lot of the time. And in roles Rasputin, and he's like, I will I will heal this boy.

Get the doctors away from him. And and he he he he shoos the doctors away, and suddenly Alexei is is getting better and and Right. Is healing under Rasputin's care. And so the royal family is like, oh, we gotta keep this guy around. He Mhmm.

You know, he he makes Alexei feel better and look better. And and apparently, this is a theory. Nobody knows for certain. But apparently, what might have been happening was aspirin was like a new drug back then, and doctors were using it kind of like as a cure all. Just like Right.

And you get some aspirin and you get some aspirin and you get some, you it's like, you got a headache. Here's some aspirin. I like, oh, your arm fell off. Here's some aspirin. And it's like, oh, you have this horrible thin blood disease.

Here's some blood thinning aspirin and and it was making Aleksey worse. And when so when Rasputin likely unknowingly Sure. Was, like, shooing the doctors away Mhmm. He was actually, like, allowing Aleksey to heal. Right.

Yeah. And then that that that's what they think was happening was that Mhmm. And and, like, it went so far as to, like, they could call Rasputin on the phone or just, like, by telegram and and, you know, he would be like, just to make sure the doctors don't go near him. And he's like, oh, it's amazing. He can heal him from, you know, from afar while he's on vacation.

Mhmm. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. Which he probably didn't even understand what that he was he was doing that.

Right. He probably thought he had healing powers. Well, probably. He was probably insane.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Mhmm. Mhmm. Lover of the Russian queen. Mhmm. Ra ra ra spoutine.

You know that song?

No. I've never heard that.

So rah raspoutine, lover of the Russian queen. Oh, no. Now it's in my head. Oh, god.

I didn't do it.

Yep. Yep. Yep. Did it to myself.

Get some aspirin.

Yeah. Should. Because I get some nice thin blood.

Nice thin blood. Beautiful.

I know how we can how we can fix the the the rivers and the oceans full of blood. We'll just pour some aspirin in there. It'll be beautiful. Be nice and thin. Yeah.

And the fish will all have summer bodies. That's right. But, yeah, water's turning to blood, you know, represents Rome drowning in the blood. It has spilled. Right?

The empire had that killed saints and prophets. Right? Those who spoke, you know, the truth, who witnessed faithfully. Right? Mhmm.

Now has nothing to drink but blood. Right? It's poetic justice. Right? Know, you built your empire on bloodshed.

Now you're choking on it. Right? Living soul dying in the sea represents, you know, the death of Rome's maritime power, its trade networks, its naval dominance, right, all built on violence, all collapsing in blood. Mhmm.

Right? And Right. And that might that's potentially why we have it twice. So in the, you know, in the the sea and then also in the rivers because it's that important,

like Right.

To, like, underline how Rome is getting its power, like, overland and oversea.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. And, for us today, right, like like water's turning into blood, that could be, you know, empire choking on its own violence. Mhmm.

The empire, you know, built on Native American genocide, African slavery, endless wars, global military domination. Right? All that blood has to go somewhere. And when the consequences come home, right, when when the violence, you know, that is exported returns, when the exploitation catches up, when when environmental destruction hits Mhmm. It is like drowning in blood.

Right? You know, oceans and rivers are are already contaminated with the the consequences of exploitation. Right? Literal pollution, but also like moral contamination of violence. Right?

Fresh water turning to blood means even the sources of life are poisoned by empire's violence. Right? You can't build power on bloodshed and expect clean water. Right? The the blood you spilled becomes what you have to drink.

Mhmm. Now we got our fourth bowl. Right? Causes the sun to to scorch people with intense heat. Right?

Mhmm. This could represent the burning of Rome. Mhmm. There was the great fire of sixty four CE that was within a living memory of of the first readers, or more broadly, just the increasing pressure and and suffering as empire begins to collapse. Mhmm.

When systems start to fall, people suffer. Economic collapse, social breakdown, violence, the scorching heat could represent that intensifying pressure. But notice, people don't repent. They blaspheme. When when empire begins to fall, those invested in it don't acknowledge their error.

They double down. They get angrier. They blame others. They curse the truth tellers. They attack the prophets.

They rage against anyone suggesting that the system is the problem. The sun scorching them is empire's consequences becoming unbearable, but they refuse to see it.

Right. That would be interesting if it is meant as a comment on the the great Roman fire. Right? That's the if I remember correctly, that's that's where a lot of, like, the persecution of early Christians ramped up, where they were like, hey, we necessarily know Wally fires get started, urban fires, or it might be a failure of our infrastructure or our services. But no, it's the Christians who did it because the Christians live in such squalor because they're just dirty sort of people.

Then they start the fire there. So Yeah. If if it is that, then it's like, okay. You know, you say that it's because of us and you make these lies about it, now it's just back onto you.

Right. Right. Yeah. And, yeah, for for for us, the the the scorching sun is literally climate change. Right?

The environmental consequences of industrial capitalism and endless growth ideology, right, burning everyone alive. But more broadly, it's all the ways empire's consequences are becoming unbearable. Right? Economic inequality, creating suffering, systematic systemic violence intensifying, social breakdown accelerating, and the response, blasphemy. Right?

Mhmm. Not like like blaspheming against God, but like people rage at climate activists instead of, you know, instead of, fossil fuel companies. Right? They attack those pointing out the systemic problems instead of addressing the systems. They get angrier and more extreme in defending the very systems that are scorching them.

The heat is unbearable, but they won't repent. They just curse louder. That makes more sense to me. Like, if you know like, you you literally know God is is, you know, sending these, you know, plagues upon you and you instead of repenting, you curse him. Mhmm.

The the the source and and the person who can turn them on and off, you curse him. Right? Mhmm. But in this modern view, like climate change actually happening, people suffering from climate change or people suffering because, you know, they've been bamboozled by a corrupt politician and now their health care is gone or whatever. Mhmm.

And instead of getting mad at the thing, getting mad at the people pointing out the thing, getting mad at climate activists. I can see that, like, very, very clearly.

It's like, oh,

shut it.

It's like, know and we we just joked about it. Right? Like, so much for global warming, like, when there's, know, like, snow and hail and stuff like that. That that seems that's an example of that. You know?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We've known about climate change since the, like, the seventies and Mhmm. Been warning about it, like, the greenhouse effect since then.

And, you know, my whole life, as I've cared about this, I've heard people say things like it's it's not that's just made up. It's not real, or

how do

we know that, etcetera. And then gradually, it starts to change because, I mean, now people are experiencing that. People who have lived for that long can tell the difference, the summers and the winters are all completely fecocked. They're not how they used to be. And I've heard it change to like, well, Okay, it's happening, but maybe it's not because of the way that you say it is.

And then, Okay, well, maybe it is happening. Is because of the way you say it is. Who are causing it? But how can we make changes so suddenly and and, you know, and all sorts of stuff. It it just yep.

It's not it's so much harder to say, like, oh, I was wrong and let

me Right.

Commit myself to that than say, like, oh, no. I was always right at at heart in some way.

You were like like like no. No. No. You were right, but you were right for the wrong reasons or you were right the wrong way. Right?

Or something like that.

Right? Yeah. You've always yeah. I mean, it's difficult to to be like, no. I I I was just ignorant of of this and, you know, of science.

And also, I mean, to give them some kind of grace, is pretty hard to admit that the world is not forever. It's not a dream. That's a big sea chain in people's minds from fifty years ago.

Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah.

And so you can see, you know, people, like, being being in that, like, anger stage of denial. Yeah. Right? Like, being like, no. No.

And and that just kind of, like, intensifying. It's just like, well, yeah, that's what you say. Well, I'm just gonna go out onto the porch with my two aerosol cans and show you. Mean, people literally do that.

They roll coal. Have you

seen that? Mhmm.

Oh, what? Are people who hook their car up specifically to pollute. What? And they call it rolling coal, and it makes this really disgusting black smoke out of it. I don't know how popular it is anymore, but five years ago it was really popular and there'd be guys revving their engines like that and trying to, oh, I see a Prius next to me or something, so I'm going to bother them by blowing smoke in the air and

Oh, wow.

Rolling coal.

Okay. Well,

yep. And they get so much pussy.

Sure. Sure. Just the biggest cock.

They're just drowning in it. Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Right. No. But they certainly they certainly think that. I think that. Yeah.

No. No. No. As soon as you were describing this this hypothetical man, I was like, you know, I'm straight, but I wanna like, you give me this guy's number? Because I need to I need to meet him.

Right.

He's irresistible. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. Destroying our atmosphere.

I mean, like, that's so alpha. God. Anyway so, yeah, like like, that makes more sense to me.

Mhmm.

And then, okay, yeah, we got the fifth bowl. Right? Brings darkness specifically on the seat of the beast, right, the center of imperial power. People Mhmm. Are in such pain, right, from the sores and the heat and and all that stuff, right, that they gnaw their tongues, yet they still blaspheme and don't repent.

Right? Mhmm. But, yeah, this is this is this is darkness falling on Rome itself. Right? The center of power plunged into chaos, confusion, the inability to see or understand what's happening.

Right? When empire's capital, its throne, its seat of power is darkened, it means that empire has lost its way. They it can't see clearly. It is stumbling in confusion. The darkness is moral, spiritual, political.

Rome has become so corrupt that it can't even see the truth anymore. And Mhmm. The pain is so great that people gnaw their tongues, yet they still won't repent. They're so invested in empire. They'll suffer any agony rather than admit the system is the problem.

I I mean, it just has me, like, today thinking about didn't didn't more Epstein files just get released?

About a million more pages. Yeah. So it's they haven't gone through them all.

Yeah. But, like, like, those are already being and I heard, like, they released some

Mhmm.

And then, like, immediately tried to delete them. Yes. And and, you know, surprise, surprise, they didn't get deleted. Like, people found them and and and got them. But, like, we have people in charge who don't understand that nothing is ever deleted.

Like, once it's up, it's up. There's there's somebody watching with a button with a record, and it's, you know, it's like, it can be up for a second and it and it's up forever. Right?

Right.

And I'm just I'm I'm seeing people all around, like, the more proof of, you know, of all the evil and all the atrocities, you know, committed in those files and people, like, getting angrier because it's harder and harder to to defend, but they will, by God, defend it. You know? Mhmm. And that's just you know, that that makes sense. The gnawing of their tongues.

They're like, like, why does why do these these files have to keep getting released? This is making it hard to defend this guy. Right. Oh, yeah. That's that's chewing on their own tongues.

Mhmm. Well, sometimes the antichrist lives in a place like Las Vegas Uh-huh. Where we're from and, yeah, and seems to love the dark and provides some, you know, really interesting, you know, visuals where all of that is destroyed and, you know, the whole seat of his power is is destroyed.

Right. Right. I thought it was in the stand. Yeah?

Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about.

Oh, yeah. There we go. Yeah.

In the stand. He lives in Vegas. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

He's a he's a neighbor of mine. Every time I

was you know, like, when I'm reading that and they they they mention a casino, I'm like, I've been there.

I've been there. It sucks. Yeah. Because they're all the

old old. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

None of the

modern ones. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep.

Yep. So how about the sixth bowl? The sixth bowl. Sixth. The sixth.

Right? So Euphrates dries up. Right? Yeah. Spirits gather.

Yep. We got three or six frogs. Mhmm.

No. No. No. Three or nine.

Three or nine frogs. Yes. Oh. And they come out of the mouth of the dragon and the beast who clearly are two different entities at this point.

Yes. And the false prophet.

That's good. And the false prophet who is a separate entity from the beast and the dragon, who is not the antichrist.

Because the beast is the antichrist.

Oh. Okay. Great.

So the beast is the antichrist. That's three of them.

Yeah. The dragon is the devil. There's at least The beast is the antichrist. Okay. And the false prophet

Is the false prophet. Is the

false prophet, even though he should be the antichrist because Jesus was a prophet. That makes more sense. John.

Alright. Well, then we're gonna add one more bad guy in a little bit, which is the horror Babylon in the next next chapter. Okay. So there are at least four bad guys. Then the question is, sorry, we get to get out of ourselves.

And then she rides a scarlet beast, and I don't know if that's the same as this beast or not.

Can't be. Maybe.

Can't be. That beast, Alright. This is this is for next week, obviously. But, yeah, but that beast has that beast's a little bit different than our beast so far. It's it's Scarlet.

Uh-huh.

It has, get this

Uh-huh.

Seven heads.

What?

And 10 horns.

John?

Okay. So right now, don't know if that's this this beast or not.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. But anyways, we don't know if there's three frogs or nine frogs.

Yeah. It's three to nine.

No. It's three, six, or nine. It's not it can't be five frogs or seven frogs.

You say that, Keenan. But you you you nor I are the beast, the dragon

Mhmm.

Or the false prophet? No. Or are we?

Maybe. You

know, like like Mhmm. If if you are the antichrist, when do you find out?

I think in the womb.

Yeah. Right? You must. Mhmm. Because I'm I'm I'm hoping I don't you know, it's like, I wake up one day and I get an email.

It's like, hey. So are are you ready? I'm like, oh, shit. Like like, we we had a meeting about this. We talked about this.

I showed you the PowerPoint. Like, were you paying attention? I'm like, yes. And then I have to lie my way through the apocalypse?

Well, yeah, what if they told you that we did 24 episodes debunking some of the popular misconceptions about Revelation, but that was doing the devil's work?

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Oh. So the Antichrist.

Right. Okay. So we're like because the greatest trick the devil ever played was making people listen to our podcast.

That's right.

There we go. Yeah. But yeah. Okay. So so we got we got the the Euphrates drying up.

Right? I mean, obviously, this is this is, you know, the eastern boundary of the Roman Empire. Right? Beyond it were, the Parthians, like you said, Keenan. Mhmm.

You know, and this is Rome's great enemy. Right? So drying up the Euphrates meant removing this barrier, allowing for invasion. Right? These frog like spirits gathering, nations for battle could be, you know, Rome's, paranoid militarism.

Right? Seeing enemies everywhere, mobilizing for war, gathering forces, for great battles. Right? Armageddon har Har Megiddo Mhmm. Was that plane in Israel, you know, for those famous battles.

Right? Mhmm. So John is saying, right, empire's paranoia and militarism will gather all its forces for a final confrontation thinking they'll win through violence, but it you know, its gathering is actually to their doom. They're they're being assembled for judgment, not victory. Mhmm.

That reminds me of like, at the very, very beginning of Dracula, Harker comments on how the roads are in, like, really, really bad repair. Mhmm. And he says they are this way because if the people try to repair the roads, the enemy army will think that they're preparing for war and then they'll just like have the war.

Uh-huh.

So they have to keep the roads in disrepair on purpose. Uh-huh. Because, like, they don't wanna, like, spook the other army because it's they're getting ready. And, you know Mhmm. Yeah.

So Right. The the Transylvanians are like, the whoever hates the Transylvanians at that moment, like the Wallachians or whatever, they're oh, the Transylvanians are too backwards to build roads for any reason except for war. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Interesting. Mhmm.

Yeah. But yeah. And and So so for us today, folks, right, Euphrates drying up represents removing barriers that protected our empire. Right? Geographical advantage advantages, economic dominance, technological superiority, all of it is eroding.

Right? The the quote unquote kings of the East represent rising powers challenging American hegemony. Mhmm. Either the frog like spirits gathering nations for battle could be propaganda, the war drums, the nationalistic fervor that drives nations toward conflict. Right?

Demons working through the mouths of of others like speech propaganda. Right? You know, of of dragon beast false prophet. Right? To convince everyone that more war, more militarism, more violence is the answer.

Right? Armageddon isn't a literal future battle. It's it's the pattern of empire gathering its forces for final confrontation. Right? Thinking military might will save it when actually this this gathering is what ensures its destruction.

Right? When empires mass their armies thinking, you know, force will solve everything, they're actually assembling for their own destruction. And then we got the seventh bowl. It is done. Right?

Total collapse. Right? So seventh bowl poured out into the air, and then the voice says it is done. Right? So for first century readers, right, it is done meant Rome's judgment is complete.

Right? The empire will fall completely. The earthquake represents total social political upheaval. Right? The great city, right, Jerusalem, divided into three parts might refer to divisions within the Jewish community or destruction, you know, during that that sixty six to seventy CE war.

Yeah. That's the one where the temple was raised, the second temple.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Cities of the of the nations fell meant the collapse of Rome's urban network.

Mhmm. When the empire falls, its its cities also fall. Babylon, aka Rome, receives the final judgment. Right? Islands fleeing and mountains not being found represents, you know, the complete transformation of the world when empire collapses.

Right? When the biggest empire is no longer the biggest empire, that affects all other countries of the world. Mhmm. Right? And so maybe not, like, actual physical, like like, geography, like, shifting around, but, like, the focus of power and and and the power vacuum is is gonna change some things.

Mhmm.

Alright. So, yeah, like like all the the structures, the institutions, the landmarks that we think are permanent will be gone. Right? Climate change is literally transforming geography. Economic collapse will transform society.

Nothing will be the same. The massive hail could be consequences so heavy that they crush. Right? Climate catastrophe, economic collapse, social breakdown all at once, and people will still blaspheme. They will blame immigrants, minorities, liberals, socialists.

Right? Anyone except the empire that they served. Right? To to the very end. Right?

Empire's servants curse the truth tellers rather than repent.

Yeah. Notice who those people hate. Yeah. Cat people. Mhmm.

Podcasts. Well, the right kind of podcast.

Yeah. Yeah. That that, you know, they do have a point there. We are the scum of the earth. Is.

It has been established. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. But, no, I mean, I don't know.

Did I did I make you feel better or worse, Keenan? Because you were talking about, like, you weren't sure how, you know, we were gonna spin this on spin this contemporarily.

Oh, well, he's still he's still torturing people with the worst plagues on earth and not letting them change their minds or anything.

But is it God or is it like us doing it to ourselves?

No. It's God. I guess. Yeah.

I mean, you know, existence of God.

I can't do that.

You

know? I can't make frogs come out of people's mouths. I tried.

Maybe. I was just gonna say, maybe you haven't tried hard enough.

Yeah. Yeah. But the the self destructive nature of the end of empire is very interesting.

Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. I think so. Interesting.

Mhmm. And and boy, I wish I could be interested in it from a distance.

Yeah. I did see some Yale Divinity professors talk about the about the the self destructive nature of empire in Revelation. So Mhmm. Yeah. So it's not just you, Lester.

Oh, good. Yes. Good. I mean, not good.

No. It's very good.

Yeah. Well yeah. It was one of those things that's like, oh, man. I wish I weren't right. I wish there was a literal dragon coming down and being like, woah.

A little much easier. You just tickle the dragon and

take his gold. Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm. Maybe he's like the reluctant dragon from that Disney show.

Oh, yes. Yeah. Right. Well, I'm gonna send you in the group chat Mhmm. Without without context.

I'm gonna send this to you and our buddies, Ian and Kyle Uh-huh. Some Renaissance art of the the three frogs coming out of the mouths of the bad guys here.

Oh, okay. That's interesting. Do you want my reaction on the air?

Okay. Let me let me send this this first text that's Mhmm. That's about rolling coal.

Okay.

Alright. And I'll send this other picture. Boop.

Alright. Let's take a look here. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah.

That guy deserves all the sores on his body that he can get.

The rolling coal guy?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, but

folks, I gotta share this this other picture. My goodness. I can't see who who did it, but it's all in Greek. So it looks

like iconic. And, yeah, there's a blue beast and a red dragon, which is more like snake like. No no Yeah. No wings or anything.

Right. Right.

The false prophet looks just like a normal guy,

but he looks like he like Harpo Marx. Yeah. We got more harpo like like, was he just, like, always there?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or maybe Harpo Marx has just been making fun of Renaissance art this whole time. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. But he looks like he's this guy wearing pajamas who Mhmm. Constantly has his right hand hidden in his loose flowy parts of his crotch.

Oh, like like Napoleon.

Well, okay.

I was

gonna say he's he's, you know

Oh, I see the other hand. I don't see the other hand. I see what you mean.

It disappeared. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's horsey.

It's working on the red dragon.

Yes. And and three giant red scaly and happy looking frogs forging their ways out of their mouths. So

Yeah. They're all they only got smiley.

They are having themselves a good old time.

You would think I mean, like Mhmm. Because the purpose of this Mhmm. Is to like, this is Keenan, this is the end of everything. They're like like, the skies will rain blood. There there will be fire.

There will be there will be suffering and sores and little happy frogs. Little happy frogs. Little happy frogs. Oh.

Three, six, or nine frogs.

I guess I guess I guess the artist here decided three.

Right. Just one out of each, which is not what the text says.

Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right.

I love I think this is the tale of the beast. Mhmm. Mhmm. Because everyone's having everyone's having a good old time. Mhmm.

You know? And and it it's it's like they all it's it's like one of them.

Mhmm.

It's like the beast. Mhmm. Told a joke and and and the dragon and the false prophet laughed so hard that frogs came out

of their

mouths. And the beast's tail is just like, I told him not to tell that joke. He promised me that Mhmm. We would go to this party, and he would not tell that joke. It is very offensive.

It's very offensive. He does not respect me. I need to Right. Find a new body because this relationship is not working.

Right. There there needs to be some changes.

Mhmm. Mhmm. But you can see you see what I mean? Like, they're all

having fun. Oh, yeah. And

that poor tale is just like, this is like, I I did this to myself. I should have set boundaries. I should have, you know

I thought I made myself clear. And so either it is their fault or my fault.

Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm. Fool me once. Shame on you.

Mhmm. Fool me 666 times.

Yeah. Frogs come out the mouth.

Oh, yeah. But yeah. Okay. Well, okay. I'm glad we ended on that picture, and I'm definitely gonna gonna share that.

Yeah. Folks, this this has been another episode of the Devil's Details. I've been Lester Ryan Clark. You can summon me on all the socials as Lester Ryan Clark.

And I've been Keenan Diaz, and you can invoke me on Letterbox at Instagram at Howdy Keenan.

Yeah. For more of our shows and other really cool podcasts, head to truestory.fm, or you can drop us a message at banana for scale mail, that's mail,@Gmail.com. We got our Facebook listen group, banana for scale. That's a community for all of our shows, including this one. It's a private group.

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Alright, folks. Hope that frog in your throat clears up. Mhmm. Until next week, love and hisses.

And I just saw that some people call Kid Rock Hick Hop.

It's absolutely perfect. Again, not having heard any Kid Rock songs.

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Just like but with a name like Kid Rock and looking like he does, yes, Hick Hop is is perfect.