September 23 Rapture Theory Picks Up Steam Online, But It's Wrong
He's almost certainly wrong.
Some people work on the fringes of the scientific establishment because they’re breaking new ground that threatens the authority of religious or political institutions. Some people are on the scientific fringe because they’re not good scientists. Galileo Galilei, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Johannes Kepler all faced intense adversity for their scientific beliefs but were later vindicated.
Time might not be as kind to David Meade, a self-styled Christian “researcher” who says that Saturday, September 23 will mark the beginning of the end of the world. And he’s not the only one. A video on the YouTube channel for the Evangelical Christian publication Unsealed details the astrological indications that correlate to a passage in the Book of Revelation. The video has been viewed more than 2.5 million times in the past month.
Here’s the short version: Those who believe that the rapture will begin Saturday say the relative locations of Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Venus, as well as the constellations Virgo and Leo, all match up with the beginning of Revelation 12. That passage reads, “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.”
In addition to Saturday’s unique astrology, it also marks 33 days since the total solar eclipse that crossed the continental United States in August. This number, according to Meade, holds great significance for Bible numerologists.
“Jesus lived for 33 years. The name Elohim, which is the name of God to the Jews, was mentioned 33 times [in the Bible],” Meade tells the Washington Post. “It’s a very biblically significant, numerologically significant number. I’m talking astronomy. I’m talking the Bible … and merging the two.”
Needless to say, even though the Bible serves as a meaningful religious text that informs the lives of nearly one-third of all people on Earth, it’s not a scientific text. As such, mainstream Evangelical Christians don’t think people should listen to Meade.
“There’s no such thing as a Christian numerologist,” Ed Stetzer, a professor and executive director of Wheaton College’s Billy Graham Center for Evangelism, tells the Washington Post. “You basically got a made-up expert in a made-up field talking about a made-up event.… It sort of justifies that there’s a special secret number codes in the Bible that nobody believes.”
On Meade’s website, he explains his beliefs further, with writings and videos about a planet called Nibiru or Planet X that plays a significant role in the coming cataclysm. Inverse reported in August that people thought Nibiru would collide with the Earth on the day of the eclipse … back on August 21. In case you weren’t sure, that did not happen.
Meade’s site has the feel of many other conspiracy theory websites: logic that feels compelling to people who already bought into the theory but makes little sense to those who aren’t already convinced. There’s a good bit of content about how the deep state is sabotaging President Donald Trump, too.
“You know, President Donald Trump has an IQ of 156 and he has access to information that is light years ahead of the rest of us. Everybody needs to just relax and watch! He has the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee working on it. He has his own people working on it. He’s going to have, as the saying goes, the ‘last laugh.’ Sit back and enjoy the ride,” the page reads.
Do with that what you will. Long story short, feel free to make plans for Saturday.
If you liked this article, check out this video about the “Flat Earth” movement making a comeback.
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