Review - Waiting For Armageddon, Scary Documentary

>> UYGUR: Hi. Back on The Young Turks. [INDISTINCT] of progressive stars continue. Now joining
us, Jonathan Kim from Rethink Reviews. And well today, we're going to review Waiting
for Armageddon. I've got a lot of strong opinions on this. But first let's watch Jonathan's
review as usual then we'll come back and give you some amazing facts. Go.
>> The rapture in my view will happen very, very, very soon. And I--do I believe that
I will hold a grandchild? No. No. I don't--I just don't think we have that much time left.
>> EDWARDS: Things are happening around the world that led me to believe that the end
times are close. Yeah, I mean I keep up with thing going on and I have a general idea of
what can happen and in the things going on in the Middle East is a good example of that.
>> Everything has to do with Israel. Israel is kind of God's time piece, his clock. And
I don't believe that Travis will graduate. I do not believe that, you know, John will
ever reach an age to drive a car. >> KIM: what if you met someone who said the
end of the world would be the awesomest thing ever, with billions of people dying and dozens
of Katrina and Haiti-sized national disasters everyday? And this person hoped and prayed
it would happen soon. You probably want to get them in to a huggy jacket and put them
in a nice soft room full of relaxing pillows. Now imagine there were fifty million of these
people in the US with massive lobbying power and you'd have the evangelicals. A fundamentalist
Christian sect that believes the bible prophesizes this apocalypse and that all sign show that
it could happen any moment. Don't believe me? Then I guess you haven't seen the terrifying,
powerful documentary "Waiting for Armageddon" or as I like to call it Jesus camp for grown
ups. Like Jesus camp, Waiting for Armageddon does an excellent job of not taking sides
and lets evangelicals speak for themselves. And as we see, they firmly believe that current
events like natural disasters and increasing violence in the Middle East are proof that
the end of times is near. But for this prophecy to be realized, some thins need to happen
first. The Jews, God's chosen people, must return to Israel, which explains why evangelicals
love Israel so much and why they donate tens of millions of dollars every year to support
right-wing Jewish groups, lobby the US government to support Israel unconditionally, help Jews
immigrate to Israel, and oppose any peace separates between Israel and the Muslim world.
Of course when the end of times comes, all Jews who don't convert to Christianity will
be killed. So it's kind of a tough love. The temple mount which is in Jerusalem and controlled
by Muslims needs to be destroyed so a new temple can be built and the Anti-Christ can
enter it and declare himself God. That's when the World War III will kick off at a site
in Israel actually called Armageddon. And when that day comes, devote evangelicals living
and dead will be raptured. Essentially teleported from the Earth so they can sit at God's side
cheering as all the non-believers are destroyed by wars and natural disasters for seven years,
a period known as the tribulation. With the Earth cleansed, Jesus will return and create
paradise on Earth and even before the fall where evangelicals will live without sin,
and wolves will befriends with bunnies, and babies can safely play with poisonous snakes.
I'm not making this up. Waiting for Armageddon follows a group of evangelicals to Israel
where they can be re-baptized in the river of Jordan, visit the sites where the end of
times will get started, and giddily hope for the destruction of all Muslims who are beyond
salvation. You also see inside the American evangelical culture with conferences where
you can but end of times books, video games, and knick knacks. There are also speakers
like Pastor John Hagee, who endorsed John McCain in the 2008 elections. Who talks about
how joyful he is that the Earth will soon be destroyed and billions of perfectly nice
people, like me and most of you watching this, are going to die. But hey, it's not like he
said "God damn America" or something. But "Waiting for Armageddon" forces you to confront
the implications of this apocalyptic world view, one shared by Ronald Regan, George W.
Bush, and dozens of congressman. It means that evangelicals are against peace in the
Middle East. Not for political reasons but in the hope that more hostilities there will
spark a holy war that will engulf the entire world. That 9/11, Katrina, and the earthquake
in Haiti are actually good things like Pat Robertson says "God's punishment for the wicked
and a sign that he'll soon pick up the pace." It means it doesn't matter if pollution and
climate change wreck the environment since that's what God wants to happen and Jesus
is going to clean it up anyway at the second coming. And if you try to stop any of these
calamities from happening you're interfering with God's plans. It's said that we should
be tolerant to people's religious beliefs, but why should we legitimize a fundamentalist
sect like the evangelicals that calls for the destruction of the planet and the horrible
death of all who don't follow it? If we're going to treat fundamentalist Islam as a corrupted
unmitigated evil, shouldn't we treat evangelicism as the other side of the same coin? Like Jesus
camp, evangelicals who have seen waiting for Armageddon actually like the movie and see
it as an accurate reflection of their beliefs. If we want to avoid a self-fulfilling apocalypse
maybe we need to start seeing evangelicals the same way they see themselves. Im Jonathan
Kim and this is a Rethink Review. >> UYGUR: All right. Look. I've been going
on and on about this for a long time and the problem, Jonathan, is that every--"Oh Cenk,
come on. They're not going to do anything. They don't really believe that. They're very
small. You're getting worked up over nothing." Right? But now look, 50 million is a gigantic
number. Now, but first, it's not all 50 million that believe this. Right?
>> KIM: Not quite. From what I found, they said that about one third of American's 50
million--40 to 50 million evangelicals believe in this and it's a particular school called
dispensationalism. >> UYGUR: Right. Now, one third of 50 million
is still a gigantic number. >> KIM: Yes about a 15-ish million.
>> UYGUR: Right. Now, how much effect do they have on policy?
>> KIM: Well, actually the Center United for Israel or a--yeah, let's see what it's called.
It's a Christian United for Israel which is Pastor John Hagee's organization who endorsed
McCain. They have a massive letter writing campaign when the Annapolis talks were going
on. They sent 14,500 emails and made a lot of calls. And also have a lot--when CUFI wouldn't
had it's opening, see Rick Santorum was there, Sam Brownback, Tom DeLay, Ken Mehlman, and
actually Joe Lieberman was there and actually compared John Higee to Moses saying the support
of Christian Zionism is critical to Israel's security and strength and to America's security
and strength. Moses--I mean Higee is a leader of multitude. So its still Lieberman, so you
know it's mainstream. >> UYGUR: Right. So now when the road map
came out, I remember some of these guys were against peace. I mean is that literally true?
>> KIM: Yeah. They're against giving even an inch of land up to the Palestinians who
they feel that have no right to be on that land and also that they want--in the bible
there, it is that Israel is supposed to be troubled right up until the end. So there
can be no peace. They actually want more war. And what John Higee advocates for is for Israel
to attack Iran and then basically, whether US helps or backs them up or not. And then
Russia will the--will become the leader of the Arab states who will then wage a war on
Israel and then Europe, and the US is going to jump in and that actually happens at Har
Megiddo which is a mountain, which is Armageddon. >> UYGUR: All right. So we're going to understand
something. And it--when they say, "Oh Muslims"--you know, we got the Muslim terrorists. And they
believe in violence. And it's part of their religion. It's not just that there are some
terrorist that are Muslim. It's that Islam promotes this kind of violence, I here that
all the time from the right-wing. But what we're ignoring is at least 15 million Americans
who think we should have world ending violence and that we should have--the United States
Policies of the Government should be to push for cataclysmic violence that nearly ends
the world. Is that roughly right? >> KIM: Yeah. And it actually does end the
world. And that also, natural disasters are a part of this too. That there should be more
natural disasters that--I mean Higee said "New Orleans that was actually a good thing."
That was punishment. Pat Robertson obviously with Haiti says, "No this is--you know, this
is God's Judgment. This is supposed to happen and in the movie. There's--people say these
are like birth pangs. They're like contractions and as we get closer, there's going to be
more and more of those and that's a good thing. >> UYGUR: Now Pat Robertson is a certifiable
lunatic. And he thinks that they had the earthquake in Haiti because they made a deal with the
devil in the 1800's. It's a true story, he assures us. Okay. Now, but think about this
effect, Pat Robertson has a law school, okay, Regent University Law School, right? I mean
it's the university and then there's the law school part of it. How many of those people
from Regent University wound up in the government? There couldn't be any, I mean, run by this
lunatic. They never made it into government right?
>> KIM: Only 150 of them made it in. That was during the Bush Administration.
>> UYGUR: So 150 lunatics trained by their main lunatic, Pat Robertson, who all book--you
know, presumably generally speaking, believing this idea of "Let's destroy the world" made
it into the Bush Administration, including famous ones like Monica Goodling and some
of the others. But you know, Jon, you know why they had those people in. One, they're
idiots that are used to talking orders and they don't question. If Pat Robertson says
he talked to God, they're stupid enough to believe it, okay? And number two, they're
young, they don't know any better. So Karl Rove can come up and go "Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Fire the US attorneys." They--don't worry about legal problems, just fire them and put
in political ox in their place God said so. >> KIM: Yeah, exactly. It's doing God's work.
You're getting rid of the impure judges who are not going to do what God wants. So--I
mean that's the dangerous things. When you feel that what you're doing is God's work
and being commanded by God, who--you're not--who are you going to listen to? Are you going
to listen to anybody else? Are you ever going to compromise for a second?
>> UYGUR: All right, now tell me how the red cow gets involved in all of this nonsense.
What's the--why the red cow. What is that? What's going on?
>> KIM: Okay. Apparently in the book of numbers, there's a mention that for the messiah to
come, you need to make an offering of a perfectly red cow that has no other colored hairs. Even
two other colored hairs are too many. And apparently, there hasn't been a red cow born
in Israel for about two thousand years. And, but everyone is on the look out for one. In
1997, there was a cow born that was named Melody or the--it's a Jewish word for like
a musical note and David Langdon of the secular Israeli Newspaper Haaretz said "The heifer
is a four-legged bomb." That basically--this could be--people could see this as a sign
that "Oh, so God gave us this red cow so He's ready for us to destroy the dome of the rock,
to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. So that way, we can rebuild the third temple and then we
can purify ourselves with the ashes of this red cow. And there's an American named Clyde
Lott who raises Red Angus cows. And is basically--and he went over to--he went to Israel and he
saw sort of what their cattle was like. And he said "Well, they're not--they don't have
very good breeding. They're never going to get a red cow this way. And so he wants to
send over planes with 140 heifers per load. And the first shipment was scheduled for August
1998. But I wasn't able to figure out what happened to this, to this red cow project.
>> UYGUR: Well. You know, let's hope of course that they can get that red cow so they can,
you know, spread its ashes and get the holy voodoo going on and obviously. Now look, but
here is the--you know. And I know you said they're getting close and stuff ready for
after Armageddon and, you know, it's rise of other guys that dress up as knights and
they really think they're medieval kings. I mean, just, you know. But at least, those
guys don't actually believe it. These lunatics believe it.
>> KIM: Right. I mean it's so--basically [INDISTINCT] what's called the temple movement where--which
is right-wing Christians and hardcore right-wing Jews who are basically preparing for--to destroy
the dome of the rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and then already have trained Jewish priest
be able to go in and do all of the rituals and make the sacrifices that will be needed
to, you know, so the Anti-Christ can come in and, oh, actually the Christians believe
that the Anti-Christ is going to come in and declare himself God three and a half years
into the tribulation which is like the world war and--but they believe that the Jews think
that it'll be the first coming of the messiah and so He'll come in but He's going to be
the Anti-Christ and then the Christians will say "Ha, see? You guy didn't listen to us.
Our guy is the real messiah." And then, 144,000 Jews are suppose to convert to Christianity.
The rest will die. >> UYGUR: Right. When you get into the details
of different teams that believe in this non sense you know, it's "No. We represent the
Lord of Canterbury." Okay. I know. Im sure you're right, okay? But this is the real dangerous
part. These--like as I saw your review, and I know a lot of these facts, but some of them
are new to me. As I look at it, I thought it's only a matter of time before they destroy
the dome of the rock because it doesn't take everybody to do it. It just needs a couple
of guys. Right? And if they destroy the dome of the rock, this is going to be an enormous
self-fulfilling prophecy because then of course the Muslims are going to be enraged and then
you're going to have war and then you're going to go "See?" No, not see. You genetically
bred a stupid red cow and exported it in to Israel, right, and you blew up the thing your
self. That--there's no "See?" Okay. You started the dumb ass war. And then, you know, the
thing that drives me crazy as I said before is on top of all of this planed grotesque
violence, Muslims are the violent ones. They're planning to blow up the Muslim mosque, but
the Muslims are the violent ones. And then after you blow up their mosque, when they
react, you're like "See? They're so violent." >> KIM: Right. No, I mean there's a woman
in the movie and kind of a young couple. She's like "Blood will be--there will be rivers
of blood as high as a horse's bridal and like we're going to be God's army. We're going
to be carrying swords." Things like that and this is considered normal. I don't--I mean
I don't see why this ain't considered a doomsday cult. Why it's not like heaven's gate. You
know. >> UYGUR: It is. It's just--and our politicians
are scared. They're, you know, incredibly weak and generally pathetic, right? So I mean,
when you see lunacy, you have to say this is lunacy. You can't--but they're like "Oh
my God, the evangelicals Christians. Oh, I'm so scared." Right? That's the Democrats of
course. The Republicans love it. Where do I I sign up? Violence? World war? I'm in.
I'm staying. >> KIM: Well that's the thing. It's that mixing
of the biblical prophecy as well as just neocon. Hey, let's take over the Middle East and get
all the oil. You know. It all kind of goes together except for, basically the, these
bible prophecy people say "Oh no, but that'll only just be the start. Middle East oil, that's
only where it begins, it'll get bigger from there until everyone, except for us, is dead
and we're going to be watching from the clouds to like cheering.
>> UYGUR: All right. Now finally, I just want to make it absolutely clear. This is obviously,
obviously not all the Christians in the country. It's not even all of the evangelicals. It's
a third of the evangelicals known as these dispensationalists, right? Now having said
that, there are some bad percentages as to how many believe in Armageddon in the country
and some of the other numbers that are very, very frightening. So give us that to conclude
on this. >> KIM: 36% of all Americans believe that
the bible is God's word and should be taken literally. 59% say they believe that events
predicted in the book of revelation will come to pass. Almost one out of four Americans
believe that 9/11 was predicted in the bible and one out of five believe that he or she
will live long enough to see the end of the world.
>> UYGUR: Yeah, those people are wrong. And that lady in the beginning, you know, I love
the two. The lady is like "Oh no. No grandchildren. Not going to happen. I mean it's around the
corner." Right? I saw the red cow. Okay... >> KIM: Also what I think is crazy is, you
know, that they say the bible predicts all of these things, but the bible never says,
"You know, you should maybe wash your hands before you eat. You won't get sick," or "Maybe
you should boil your water," or "Have--hey, this internet thing is coming soon." None
of that is--and now there are so many things that are not predicted in the bible, yet they
grab on these few little things that are the most violent imagery you could imagine.
>> UYGUR: Yeah, and because they're looking for that. And so, you know, and then the guys
says "Oh, I--oh, no--I could--I read. I'm up on current events so it's obvious that
Armageddon is coming." Look, I--the 59% number is the one that scares me. And you know they
think that the Armageddon is going to happen like it says in the bible. Now luckily, it's
not all 59% who act on it or who actively encourage, okay. Again I want to be clear
on that. But 15 million Americans is a very, very large number. And what's even scarier
is how they intimidate mainstream politicians into going along with their non sense. So
it's a--waiting for Armageddon, great movie. >> KIM: Right. It's very powerful. Very good.
>> UYGUR: And it's important that you get educated on this so you know how to fight
back with reason, logic, truth, facts, et cetera. Okay? So everybody check out Rethink
Reviews having to post you tube. >> KIM: And Rethink Reviews.net
>> UYGUR: And Rethink Reviews.net. Jonathan Kim, it's always a great pleasure.