13. Feel free to use my list of questions as a sort of verification questionnaire for so-called psychics. Using these questions and ones like them, you can narrow down exactly what the purported psychic claims to be able to do to ensure you’re not duped.
14. Alvarez gave his consent to have our exchange printed in this book and recorded on video for the public. You can find a brief clip of the discussion here: “David G. McAfee Interviews a ‘Spirit Psychic,’” YouTube video, uploaded by David G. McAfee, January 5, 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=17Mr9LjKrkg.
15. M. Jung-Beeman et al., “Neural Activity When People Solve Verbal Problems with Insight,” PLoS Biology 2, no. 4 (2004): e97.
16. I didn’t press Alvarez on these points because of the nature of the conversation, but it is common for people to cling to quasi-scientific buzzwords when defending their unproven beliefs.
17. Alvarez never directly answered whether it’s at least possible that he could be mistaken about his abilities. He seemed to only want to stress that he doesn’t believe he is wrong.
18. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Alvarez recognized this fact. There are many people who seek out psychics who claim to have answers, and some of them are too emotionally compromised to protect their own interests.
19. This is the power of confirmation bias in action. We seek out the voices of those who already agree with us in order to reinforce our opinions.
20. I found this phrasing interesting because Alvarez “thinks” he has the piece of paper. I find it difficult to believe that he hasn’t checked whether he still has it even one time in the years between the Boston Marathon bombings and this interview.
21. It should be noted that, while Alvarez says he is willing to undergo testing, he adds that he wouldn’t do so “where results are demanded.” Aren’t results demanded each time someone pays for a reading? Where does he draw the line?
22. Alvarez seems to contradict his earlier statement here. He originally stated, “Finding lost people, I have no ability to do.”
23. This language seems to imply that Alvarez would be fine with using cold reading as long as he says things with which people can connect, but that’s exactly how cold reads work. The client interprets meaning in vague statements that could apply to many people.
24. It seems as though Alvarez thinks it’s impossible that another psychic has knowledge he doesn’t. To me, that is quite telling of his low confidence in (at least others’) psychic abilities in general.
25. Alvarez seems to have found a way, in his own mind, to make incorrect predictions the fault of his customers. Yes, this can be “validating,” but it doesn’t get anyone closer to the truth.
26. I didn’t alter my eating or exercise patterns and didn’t make any other changes that could interfere with Alvarez’s prediction. Although “digestion issues” are common and vague, I didn’t note anything out of the ordinary within the time period predicted.
27. Angelo Labate et al., “Benign Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy,” Nature Reviews Neurology 7, no. 4 (2011): 237–240.
28. H. Banister, “Experimentally Induced Olfactory Paramnesias,” British Journal of Psychology 32 (October 1941): 155–175.
29. “Simple Partial Seizures,” Neurology and Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University, www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/centers_clinics/epilepsy/seizures/types/simple-partial-seizures.html.
30. U. Voss U et al. “Induction of Self Awareness in Dreams through Frontal Low Current Stimulation of Gamma Activity,” Nature Neuroscience 17 (2014): 810–812.
31. Elisa Filevich et al., “Metacognitive Mechanisms Underlying Lucid Dreaming,” Journal of Neuroscience 35, no. 3 (January 2015): 1082–1088.
32. Erica A. Boschin, Carinne Piekema, and Mark J. Buckley. “Essential Functions of Primate Frontopolar Cortex in Cognition,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, no. 9 (2015): E1020–E1027.
33. Brian Regal, Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2009), 29. “Other than anecdotal eyewitness accounts, there is no evidence of the ability to astral project, the existence of other planes, or of the Akashic Record.”
34. Benjamin Radford, “Astral Projection: Just a Mind Trip,” Live Science, March 18, 2013, www.livescience.com/27978-astral-projection.html.
35. R. Wiseman and J. Milton, “Experiment One of the SAIC Remote Viewing Program: A Critical Reevaluation,” Journal of Parapsychology 62, no. 4 (1999): 297–308.
36. Harvey Richman and Courtney Bell, “Paranormal Beliefs Then and Now,” North American Journal of Psychology 14, no. 1 (2012).
37. “Remote Viewing,” UK Ministry of Defence, February 23, 2007 (June 2002, disclosed in 2007). 94.
38. James Randi, “The Matter of Dowsing,” Swift 2, no. 3/4 (January 1999).
39. Jonathan C. Smith, “Preface,” Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker’s Toolkit (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010).
40. National Science Foundation, “Science and Engineering Indicators 2014,” April 2016, www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/index.cfm/chapter-7/c7h.htm.
41. Ulla Koch-Westenholz, Mesopotamian Astrology: An Introduction to Babylonian and Assyrian Celestial Divination (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1995), 11.
42. John A. Paulos, Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences (New York: Hill and Wang, 1988).
43. J. H. Rogers, “Origins of the Ancient Constellations: I. The Mesopotamian Traditions,” Journal of the British Astronomical Association 108, no.1 (1998): 9–28.
44. If we redrew the constellations today, we could end up with any number of random groupings endowed with meaning from our time period. In two thousand years, historians might ponder the significance of the “Orion Seacrest” constellation, for example.
45. James B. Kaler, “Alrescha (Alpha Piscium),” Stars (University of Illinois), stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/alrescha.html.
46. James B. Kaler, “Kullat Nunu (Eta Piscium),” Stars (University of Illinois), stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/kullatnunu.html.
47. Matt Williams, “Zodiac Signs and Their Dates,” Universe Today, August 26, 2016, www.universetoday.com/38076/zodiac-signs-and-their-dates/.
48. Amara Graps, “What Is the Speed of the Solar System?” Ask A Solar Physicist FAQs, Stanford SOLAR Center, solar-center.stanford.edu/FAQ/Qsolsysspeed.html.
49. Dr. Sten Odenwald, The Astronomy Cafe, sten.astronomycafe.net/the-astronomy-cafe/.
50. M. G. Bucholtz, The Lost Science: Esoteric Math and Astrology Techniques for the Market Trader (iUniverse, 2013).
51. “Were you born on Aug. 7, for example? Astrologers tell us that is smack-dab in the middle of the sign of Leo, which extends from July 23 to Aug. 22. Thus, one born on this happy day is certainly a classic Leo, correct? Wrong. You are actually born while the sun was in Cancer. Similarly, April 7, which is said to be strong Aries, is actually in Pisces.”—James Randi
52. While astrological claims have never been demonstrated scientifically, some initial-stage studies have found correlations (not causations) between personality traits and the season of a person’s birth. X. Gonda et al. “Season of Birth Shows a Significant Impact on the Distribution of Affective Temperaments in a Nonclinical Population,” European Neuropsychopharmacology 24, 2 (October 2014): S345.
53. Isn’t this true of just about everyone?
54. Well, this couldn’t be more wrong.
55. What does that even mean?
56. I suppose that’s technically true.
57. Pisces characteristics and profile from Tarot.com. Emphasis added.
12
PREDICTIONS, PATTERNS, AND (UNFULFILLED) PROPHECIES
“What is driving the tendency to discount Joseph Smith’s revelations is not that they seem less reasonable than those of Moses; it is that the book containing them is so new. When it comes to prophecy, antiquity breeds authenticity. Events in the distant past, we tend to think, occurred in sacred, mythic time
.”
—Noah Feldman
End-of-world prophecies are, at least in part, extensions of the fear of our own death. Just as we are aware that we will one day die, we know that humans won’t be here forever—and we often imagine scenarios in which the earth is destroyed. These predictions aren’t rare. In fact, it seems like every year there’s another fringe group declaring the end of the world.
In the modern era, we hear about prophecies all the time. If it isn’t a prediction from a psychic, it’s a vision from a cleric. If it’s not a vision from a cleric, it’s a dream from a philosopher. And if it’s not a dream from a philosopher, it’s an ancient text that someone has imbued with new meaning. These alleged depictions of the future are popular because they captivate the imagination and, occasionally, the public at large.
THE (MANY) ENDS OF THE WORLD
In 2014, the four blood moons prophecy,1 based on biblical teachings and promoted by Christian ministers including John Hagee, Mark Biltz, and Irvin Baxter, grabbed national headlines. Baxter, the president of Endtime Ministries who ran with the theory, predicted that “a major event affecting the Jewish people” would come to pass between April 15, 2014, and September 28, 2015, when lunar eclipses “fall on Jewish feast days.” While Baxter got a significant amount of media attention, and Biltz and Hagee made a lot of money from their best-selling books, Blood Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs and Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change, respectively,2 the eclipses came and passed without incident. The eBible Fellowship then sought to resurrect the 2015 Armageddon prophecy just days after the final blood moon, claiming the world would be “annihilated” on October 7 of that year,3 but that guess failed, too, as the day passed and the earth remained intact.
Before blood moon fever, many believers bought into a misinterpretation of the famous Mayan calendar that claimed the world would end on December 21, 2012. And prior to the so-called Mayan Apocalypse, there were many similar claims, including those made by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who predicted the end of the world could be in 1975,4 and by Christian Preacher Harold Camping, who thought that the Rapture would occur on May 21, 2011. Camping thought all the good Christians would be sent to Heaven, leaving the rest of humanity to suffer Hell on Earth. But we are still alive and well and, reminiscent of archaic prophecies of the past, December 21, 2012, and May 21, 2011, featured no Earth-devastating disasters like those anticipated by believers in the Mayan myth and Camping’s many followers. Despite the fact that Camping believed (as many do) that the world would end in his lifetime, he died on December 15, 2013.
You may have heard that Camping and his Family Radio Worldwide predicted a similar Armageddon-like event in 1994, and that’s true, but these types of prophecies are not unique to Camping or those who promoted the blood moon prophecy. In fact, Tim LaHaye, an evangelical Christian and author of the Left Behind series, prophesied along with many others a “global upheaval” on January 1, 2000, but that never happened either.5 Herbert W. Armstrong, the founder of Worldwide Church of God, also predicted that 1936 would mark “the end of the Times of the Gentiles.”6 Six years later, after his earlier guess went unrealized, Armstrong said Armageddon “must be at least three or four years away.”7 Armstrong amended his dates frequently, later predicting the Rapture in 19828 and then “most certainly during the decade of the 90s.”9 Armstrong died in 1986 having seen none of his apocalyptic prophecies fulfilled.
Today every failed Judgment Day prophecy and scientific discovery is another reminder of how unnecessary superstition has become in the modern era, but many evangelical Christians, Muslims, and nonreligious people alike still continue to believe that Armageddon is imminent and cause damage as a result. Prophecies—biblical or not—are vague predictions that have no intrinsic meaning, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be harmful. I can’t count the number of times I’ve met a believer who said maintenance of the earth is “completely unnecessary” because Jesus will return soon to save his followers.
PROPHECIES OF JESUS
These types of End Times prophecies don’t solely exist within Christian communities, but they have largely become synonymous with the tradition nonetheless. That’s because prophecies have been very popular within Christian sects since the religion’s inception. In fact, the first documented (failed) prophecy within the Christian faith was said to have been foretold by Jesus himself, and is represented in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.
Though the would-be Mayan Apocalypse and the May 21, 2011, prophecies did not reach mainstream Christian teachings, the idea of Jesus returning for a large-scale Rapture in the near future is very much a common notion held within modern churches, including Catholic and Protestant sects. Camping and many other Christian leaders simply put a date on the anticipated event. Most followers of the Abrahamic religions believe in some sort of Rapture or End Times prophecy, but when someone says it will happen on a certain day, the idea is often written off by many as ridiculous. It’s an interesting phenomenon considering what Jesus had to say about the issue.10
Let’s take a look at the end of the world prophecies that have their basis in early Christianity. In the New Testament, the Rapture begins in 1 Thessalonians 4:15–17:
… we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
This Rapture is just one step in a much larger Armageddon-like event, which is outlined in the Book of Revelation and other New Testament works, but when does Jesus say this will occur? On May 21, 2011, as Camping’s followers believed? Or in 1995 as David Koresh’s followers, the Branch Davidians, would have told you? Actually, Jesus seems to indicate that his return and “Second Coming” would take place within one generation. In Matthew 24:34, Jesus is recorded as saying:
… Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened..
Many Christian apologists attempt to disregard this as an interpretive error. In other words, they suggest the word “generation” may have been in reference to the generation of the Hebrew people, or some variation of this. Unfortunately for this argument, the Messiah’s intentions are clarified in the book of Luke. In Luke 9:26–27, Jesus reportedly says:
Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.11
At least from the text, it appears Jesus certainly meant that he would return while some of his first followers were still living—and there is no known resolution for this false prophecy put forth by Jesus. Since these early times of the Christian faith, every generation of believers has felt that the end is near, and it is for this reason that these Armageddon myths continue to spring up year after year. But I often wonder how many Christians are aware of exactly what the Book of Revelation teaches, and how many realize how far-fetched and violent the Second Coming actually is.
The Bible teaches that, in the prophesized Second Coming, Jesus will descend from Heaven on a white horse wearing a robe dipped in blood. The Prince of Peace will then wage war and defeat the Anti-Christ (the beast) and Satan the Devil in the Battle of Armageddon. According to scripture, a sharp sword will come out of His mouth, so that he may “strike down the nations” and “rule them with an iron scepter.” Christians believe that Jesus will cast the devil into the Abyss and seal it for a thousand years, and that He will resurrect human bodies from their graves, letting the good live again and condemning the evil. There are dragons, beasts with ten horns and seven heads, angels, and a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. Christians believe that t
his event could happen at any time, and many believe it will happen within their own lifetime.12 Of course, modern believers can choose to interpret these claims as fantasy or however they wish. But it’s clear that many early Christians took them as a prophecy to be fulfilled in the future. It should be noted that the authors of the Book of Revelation use the words prophecy, prophesy, prophesying, prophet, and prophets 21 times in various forms throughout the text.
The notion itself is ancient, but prophecies may be more common today than ever before. The good news, however, is that the Rapture predictions from the modern era, including those by Camping, Hagee, Baxter, and others, can now join the growing number of unfulfilled Christian prophecies that began with the one foretold by Jesus Christ in the Bible. These once-popular ideas will be tossed out alongside other end-of-the-world predictions from our past, including those by Heaven’s Gate, Charles Manson, Martin Luther, Christopher Columbus, and Pope Innocent III.13
From the Christian prophecies outlined above to the all-too-popular 2012 Mayan Calendar misinterpretation, End Times predictions with differing origins have dominated religious discourse throughout the ages. All of these prophecies, however, share one key similarity: to date, none of them have proved to be true, and each predicted Armageddon day has passed by rather uneventfully.
OTHER PROPHECIES IN RELIGIOUS TEXTS
If a holy text aligned with scientific findings, as many believers claim about their books, then we would expect to see discoveries prompted only by a reading. But that’s not the case. Instead, we get vague “prophetical” assertions that can’t be successfully used to make an accurate and recognizable prediction before an event. That’s why the arbitrary prophecies found within all religious texts have been shown to be just as predictive as those of a professional cold reader.
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