Wormwood: The Immaculate Despotism

"Then the second angel sounded; And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter." (Revelation Chapter eight versus, 8 -11. Taken from The Word of God - Alive & Active, The American Bible Society).

In the above passages, what in the hell on earth is the prophet John seeing as he describes these two separate catastrophic events? Is it possible that the prophet had a little too much wormwood spiced liquid to drink and thusly saw alcoholic induced illusions, or, perhaps the prophet was truly given a heavenly message as he contests? If this is indeed a heavenly message sent to inform and instruct mortals, then why has it been given so vaguely and left so open to any type of interpretation, and for what people, and what generation of those people was this massage transmitted to John so that he may broadcast it to teach enlightenment?

As a first step in seeking to understand what the prophet is conveying one must define a few of the terms that John has used in these descriptive passages. Using the American Heritage Dictionary as our source, we see that the term Wormwood is defined as being "(1). Any of several aromatic plants native to Europe, yielding a bitter extract used in making absinthe and in flavoring certain wines. (2). Something harsh or embittering." Also from the same source we find that the term Absinthe is defined as being "(1). A green liqueur having a bitter licorice flavor and a high alcoholic content. It is prepared from wormwood and other herbs." And also from our source Licorice is defined as being "(1). A plant of the Mediterranean region, having blue flowers and a sweet, distinctively flavored root."