EOTW
Back when the Jehova’s Witnesses were in town talking about End of the World (EOTW) strategies, I thought I’d put together a list of previous failed EOTW prophecies. Here it remains, for all the other end of the world things that come into town now and then.
It’s particularly interesting to note that none of these predictions come close to predicting actual events, like 9/11, the killer tsunami, or hurricane Katrina, and yet people continue to believe these clowns. It’s also important to note that churches stopped supporting these predictions in the 1800s (except for the late-to-the-game Watchtower Society, oddly). Can it be that they themselves do not believe them?
All of the credit for this list goes to ReligiousTolerance.org, who put the original list together. I have copy-edited it and made it a bit more concise.
Most of the predictions involve one or more of the following:
- The second coming of Jesus Christ.
- The war of Armageddon (a massive battle in Israel).
- The arrival of the Antichrist.
- The Tribulation, a seven-year glee-fest of suffering and death.
- The Rapture, when Christians who have been born again will finally go away.
- Or, some other horrendous natural disaster.
It is impossible not to notice that all of the following predictions have failed. Predictions being made today about the future will also fail.
Failed ETOW prophecies
Note: All dates are CE (Current Era)
About 30: Prediction made by Jesus Christ in Matthew 16:28: “…there shall be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” Matthew 24:34, Christ says: “…This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” He predicts his second coming sometime during the 1st century CE.
About 60: Prediction made by Paul of Tarsus implies that Jesus would return and during the lifetime of people then living in the middle of the 1st century.
About 90: Saint Clement I predicts that the world end will occur at any moment.
2nd Century: Prophets of the Montanist movement predict that Jesus will return during their lifetime and establish the New Jerusalem in Asia Minor.
365: Hilary of Poitiers announces that the end will happen that year.
375 to 400: Saint Martin of Tours (himself a cult leader) is convinced that the end will happen sometime before 400 CE.
500: Round-number-panic-year. Antipope Hippolytus (patron saint of sick horses) and Christian academic Sextus Julius Africanus predict Armageddon.
968: Otto III interprets an eclipse as a prelude to the end of the world.
992: Good Friday coincides with the Feast of the Annunciation (believed to be the event that would bring forth the Antichrist and end-times).
1000: Christians in Europe predict the end of the world on this date. As the date approaches, Christian armies wage war against Pagans in Northern Europe to convert them to Christianity, by force if necessary. Meanwhile, some Christians give their possessions to the Church in anticipation of the end. The level of education is so low that many citizens are unaware of the year. When Jesus does not appear, the church does not return the gifts, and serious criticism of the Church follows. The Church reacts by killing some heretics.
1000s to 1500s
1000: Zombie Charlemagne? The body of Charlemagne is disinterred on Pentecost. A legend had arisen that the emperor would rise from his sleep to fight the Antichrist.
1033: Happy 1000th birthday, Jesus! His second coming is anticipated on this date.
1147: Gerard of Poehlde decides that the millennium started in 306 CE, so he predicts the end in 1306 CE.
1179: John of Toledo predicts the end of the world in 1186, based on the alignment of planets.
1205: Joachim of Fiore predicts in 1190 that the Antichrist is already out and about, and King Richard of England will defeat him, sometime before 1205.
1284: Innocent? Not so much. Pope Innocent III computes this date by adding 666 years onto the date the Islam was founded.
1346: Not so bad for an apocalypse, actually, but no dice. Black Death spreads across Europe, killing one third of the population in successive waves.
1496: Happy 1,500th birthday, Jesus! Some mystics in the 15th century predict that the end will begin this year.
1524: What, again? Many astrologers predict the end-of-the-world flood.
1533: Melchior Hoffman predicts that Jesus’ return would happen a millennium and a half after the date of his execution. He predicts that New Jerusalem will be established in Germany. He was arrested and later died in a Strasbourg jail.
1600s
1669: 20,000 Russians burn themselves to death between 1669 and 1690 to protect themselves from the Antichrist.
1689: Benjamin Keach, a 17th century Baptist, predicts the end of the world.
1700s
1736: British theologian and mathematician William Whitson predicts a great flood.
1792: Shakers predict end of the world.
1794: Methodists predict Doomsday.
From Blazing Saddles:
“An army of the worst dregs ever to soil the face of the west… want you to round up every vicious criminal and gunslinger in the west. I want rustlers, cutthroats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperadoes, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, half-wits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswagglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass kickers, shit kickers and Methodists” — Hedley Lamarr
1800s
1830: Margaret McDonald predicts that Robert Owen, founder of New Harmony, IN, Welsh Utopian thinker and social reformer, will be the Antichrist. He just wanted everyone to get along.
1832: Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormons, hears a voice while praying, and writes that the end would come after he turned 85. However, he is killed 50 years before that date by an angry mob.
1843: William Miller predicts that Jesus would come back on this date.
1844: William Miller predicts a new date. Now called “The Great Disappointment,” his followers sell their property and possessions, quit their jobs and prepare themselves for the second coming. The day comes and goes without incident.
1850: Ellen White, founder of the Seventh Day Adventists movement, makes end times predictions for that year.
1856: Ellen White predicts doom for conference attendees, and has a vision that the attendees would die in the second coming. Church left wondering how to explain that one when they all pass away naturally, years later.
1891: Mother Shipton, 16th century mystic, predicts the end of the world.
1891: Joseph Smith’s 1835 prediction that the end would come in 1891 falls flat.
1900s to 1930s
1914: Jehovah’s Witnesses give 1914 as the target date for the end times. When 1914 passes, they change their prediction to 1915, and then they say that it is the year that Jesus invisibly began his rule.
1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994: Other dates that the Watchtower Society or its members predict.
1919: Meteorologist Albert Porta predicts that the conjunction of six planets would generate a magnetic current that will cause the sun to explode and engulf the earth.
1936: Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God, predicts that the Day of the Lord will happen in 1936. When the prediction fails, he makes a new estimate: 1975.
1940s
1940 or 1941: In the 1930s, Australian bible teacher, Leonard Sale-Harrison, holds a prophecy conferences, and predicts end of the world in 1940 or 1941.
1948: State of Israel is founded. Some Christians believe that this event is the final prerequisite for the second coming.
1950s
1953: David Davidson writes “The Great Pyramid, Its Divine Message,” predicts end.
1957: The Watchtower magazine quotes Mihran Ask, pastor from California: “Sometime between April 16 and 23, 1957, Armageddon will sweep the world! Millions of persons will perish in its flames and the land will be scorched.”
1959: Florence Houteff, leader of the Branch Davidians, says that the end will begin in 1959. Followers, who expected to die, be resurrected, and transferred to Heaven, sold their possessions and moved to Mt. Carmel. Question: Why would you sell your belongings, when you can’t take the money with you?
1960s
1960: Charles Smyth, former astronomer royal of Scotland, writes a book in entitled “Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid,” which is responsible for spreading the belief that secrets are hidden in the dimensions of the pyramids. He says the end will start in 1960.
1967: During the Six Day War, the Israeli army captures Jerusalem. Conservative Christians believe that the rapture will happen quickly. However, the final prerequisite that the Jews resume animal sacrifices in the temple at Jerusalem doesn’t happen.
1970s
1970s: The late Moses David (formerly David Berg), founder of The Children of God, predicts that a comet will hit the earth in the mid-1970s and destroy the United States.
1972: Herbert W. Armstrong predicts the end in 1972. His followers give up their worldly possessions and expected to move to Petra.
1974: Charles Meade, a pastor in Daleville, IN, predicts that the end of the world will happen in his lifetime.
1975: Jehovah’s Witness predict (again) that the world will end.
1978: Chuck Smith, Pastor of Calvary Chapel in Cost Mesa, CA, predicts 1981.
1980s
1980: Oh, come on. Nuclear war was all the rage. Leland Jensen, Baha’i leader, predicts a nuclear disaster, followed by two decades of conflict and ending in “God’s Kingdom on earth.”
1981: Arnold Murray, of the Shepherd’s Chapel, predicts that the Antichrist would appear before 1981.
1981: Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church predicts that the Kingdom of Heaven would be established this year, with himself as leader.
1982: Pat Robertson predicts that the world will end in 1982. The failure of this prophecy has not adversely affected his reputation.
1982: Astronomers John Gribben and Stephen Plagemann predict the “Jupiter Effect” in 1974, planetary alignment that would cause tidal waves, solar flares, radio interruptions, rainfall, temperature disturbances, and massive earthquakes.
1984 to 1999: In 1983, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, predicts massive destruction, including natural disasters and man-made catastrophes. Floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, nuclear wars etc., will destroy Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Bombay. Or, his secretary did. It’s still unclear. They were the ones responsible for spreading e-coli via salad bars in Oregon.
1985: Arnold Murray, of the Shepherd’s Chapel, predicts that the war of Armageddon will start in 1985 in the Alaskan peninsula.
1986: Moses David, of The Children of God group, predicted that the Battle of Armageddon would take place in 1986, and Christ would return to earth in 1993.
1987 to 2000: Lester Sumrall, writes “I Predict 2000 AD,” predicts that Jerusalem will be the richest city on Earth, that the Common Market will rule Europe, and that there will be a nuclear war involving Russia and the U.S., and the greatest Christian revival in the history of the church would happen, all between 1987 and 2000.
1988
Hal Lindsey, in his book, “The Late, Great Planet Earth,” predicts that the rapture will come in 1988. This failed prophecy did not appear to damage his reputation. He continues to write books of prophecy.
Alfred Schmielewsky, AKA “super-psychic A.S. Narayana,” predicts that the world’s greatest natural disaster would hit Montreal in 1988. In 1999, he is shot dead by a gunman when he answers the door. Wonder why he didn’t see that coming.
“The man who saw tomorrow“ predicts some of Nostradamus predictions. Massive earthquakes were predicted for San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Edgar Whisenaut, a NASA scientist, publishes “88 Reasons why the Rapture will occur in 1988,” and sells more than 4 million copies.
1990
Peter Ruckman concludes that the rapture would come within a few years of 1990.
Elizabeth Clare Prophet, leader of the Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT) makes a series of statements that her members believed indicated the start of nuclear war on this date. At least 2,000 followers traveled to Montana to take refuge in their fallout shelters. Interesting — there’s a CUT branch in Kirkland.
1991
Mother Shipton, a 16th century mystic predicts the end of the world.
C.M. Edwards reports that he regularly receives messages from God. One predicts devastation to the Midwest.
1992
David Koresh changes the name of the commune in Waco, TX, from “Mt. Carmel” to “Ranch Apocalypse” because he believes that the battle of Armageddon will start at the compound, and that the end will occur in 1995. After a 51-day standoff in 1993, 76 members die as a result of a fire that was deliberately set by Branch Davidians.
Lee Jang Rim, Korean Christian pastor, tells followers that the rapture would occur in 1992. Many of his followers commit suicide.
1993
Benny Hinn, an “Assemblies of God” pastor from Florida, predicted that the rapture would come in 1993, and that God would destroy all homosexuals by 1995.
Ukrainian religious movement predicts the end of the world.
The July 1993 issue of The Weekly World News contains the article, “Doomsday Asteroids,” which revealed that an asteroid would hit the earth and end all life on earth. There was no such asteroid.
Rulon Jeffs, spokesperson for The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon polygamist splinter group, told high school graduates to not attend college, because the world would end before they could finish. The group was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because of their promotion of polygyny. When he died, his son married all but two of his wives, making the son step-father to his siblings. Ew. Confused? You’re not the only one.
1994
Apparently, Jesus and Mary have been appearing on the 13th of every month to deliver a message to a homemaker and nurse Nancy Fowler at her home in Conyers, GA. In 1994, she said that Jesus brought her a warning of the end times.
A major, though unofficial, Jehovah’s Witness prediction date.
Harold Camping, president of Family Radio predicts, on the radio, that the end of the world will happen in 1994.
1996
The book “The Return of Jupiter: End of the world in the light of the Bible,” predicts a disaster starting in the Pacific Ocean.
In 1658, James Ussher, the Irish archbishop who estimated that the first day of creation occurred in 4004 BCE, estimates that the end of the world will occur in 1996.
1997
The Vortex of the Star of David religious sect of Quebec, Canada, predicts the end of the world.
Dan Millar, of BC, Canada, and Bob Wadsworth of the Biblical Astronomy newsletter, predict the arrival of the Antichrist.
A Jewish group called the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement attempt to place a cornerstone of a new temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Rapture Ready website predicts that the tribulation would be triggered by that event. Police officers prevent access to the Temple Mount.
The Sacerdotal Knights of National Security issue a report that “A space alien captured at a UFO landing site in eastern Missouri cracked under interrogation by the CIA and admitted that an extraterrestrial army will attack Earth on November 27 with the express purpose of stripping our planet of every natural resource they can find a use for — and making slaves of every man, woman and child in the world!”
Superdave the Wonderchemist predicts the end.
The July 1997 issue of The Weekly World News reports that the biggest end-of-the-world scare since the Cuban missile crisis is circulating through Washington. The story alleges that President Clinton has called a secret meeting with leading Bible scholars, and that a confidential Pentagon memo predicts a worldwide cataclysm. In actuality, it was a non-secret meeting.
The July 1997 issue of The Weekly World News carries a statement by a spokesperson of the International Association of Psychics alleging that 92% of their 120,000 members have had the same “end time” vision. They predict that humanity will disappear around the year 2001.
And, last, but certainly not least, Heaven’s Gate was an UFO cult in San Diego, California, which was led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles. Seven of the male members of the group underwent castration in Mexico, as a way to maintain their ascetic lifestyle. On March 26, 1997, police discovered the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult, all of whom had died by apparent suicide. The believed that the earth was about to be “recycled,” and that the only way to survive was to leave it immediately. They were against suicide, but believed that if they hated earthly existence enough, they could make it to the “Next Level.” All 39 were dressed in identical black shirts and sweat pants, brand new black-and-white Nike athletic shoes, and armband patches reading “Heaven’s Gate Away Team.”
1998
Vijay Kumar predicts that World War III will erupt when a full-scale nuclear attack is launched against the U.S. and its supporters by Muslim countries. Iraq would lead, and eight nuclear bombs will explode in eight cities of USA within one day.
Noah Hutchings, president of the Southwest Radio Church and spokesperson for the Watchman on the Wall predict that the tribulation will begin sometime in 1998.
Edgar Cayce predicts that the earth would have a new pole this year, and cause a massive disruption to the oceans and the earth’s crust, worldwide tidal waves, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
150 followers of a Taiwanese Christian-Buddhist spiritual sect, God’s Salvation Church, move to Garland, TX to await God’s arrival. They expect that God will broadcast a commercial on Channel 18, and will then be reincarnated into a man. Their leader, Hoh-Ming Chen, selects Garland because it sounds like “God land”. News reports indicated that the group plans to commit mass suicide if God does not appear. God forgot to purchase the airtime.
Evangelist Marilyn Agee predicts the rapture would happen on Pentecost, and believes it will trigger Armageddon.
Two Christian pilgrims from an American fundamentalist group are detained at Ben Gurion airport, for allegedly planning to attack the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Their goal is a massive religious conflict, and ultimately, Armageddon.
Concerned Christians, a doomsday cult led by Monte Kim Miller, who was an anti-cult activist in the 1980’s, predicts that a disaster will wipe Denver, CO off the map. He predicts his own death and subsequent resurrection in 1999. They leave Denver and relocate to Jerusalem, but Israeli police arrested members of the group and deports them, motivated by fear that the group may commit mass suicide.
The House of Yahweh, Abilene™ predicts that an end-of-world scenario will start. By mid-2001, they predict that 80% of the world’s population will have been killed as a result of nuclear warfare.
Natalia de Lemeny-Makedonova writes “Eternal Laws — New Mankind — Spiritual Transformation,” and predicts that Immanuel will be born in Slovakia, and that the earth will be catastrophically purified.
A survivalist from Arkansas spams a warning to mailing lists predicting that, a massive nuclear war will begin in the U.S. He recommends readers to get out of large cities and prepare to survive.
Centro, a Philipino organization, predicts that the world will come to an end. They recommend that their followers retreat to safe places.
Edgar Cayce predicts that a secret underground chamber will be discovered between the paws of the Great Sphinx. Inside, there will be documents revealing the history of Atlantis. This revelation will trigger the Second Coming of Christ.
Sefano Gobbi, a Roman Catholic priest, predicts in 1989 that the end of the world will happen in 1998.
Gary D. Blevins predicts in his book, “666: The Final Warning,” that Ronald Reagan will be cast into a lake of fire, the rapture will occur, Jesus will return to earth and Satan will be bound in a pit for 1,000 years in 1998.
The site “Nostradamus: Prophecies of our century,” predicts that Russia and Muslims will attack NATO and the rest of Europe.
1999
Orville T. Gordon (a.k.a. Nodrog), leader of a Texan group called Outer Dimensional Forces, expects that UFOs will come from outer space, remove the ODF groups from earth, and destroy the United States with a great flood. It is not clear where all the water would come from.
A nuclear war will erupt in the Middle East. Members of The Order of the Solar Temple believed that they would gather at Jerusalem in a celestial paradise. They believe that members who had previously died have already been transported some 9 light years to Sirius.
Hon-Ming Chen founded God’s Salvation Church in Texas. They believe that a nuclear war will destroy parts of Earth in 1999. They identify a nine-year old boy as the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, and that if they can link him up with the Jesus of the West, 100 million lives will be spared.
Edgar Cayce predicts that Armageddon will arrive, the earth’s axis will shift, and England and Japan will sink in to the ocean. Major U.S. cities will be destroyed. Atlantis will rise from the ocean.
Sukyo Mahikari, a secretive Japanese group, predicts that “mankind might be annihilated by the baptism of fire.”
Spokesperson for El Salvadoran Nelly Hurtado claims that the Virgin Mary has appeared that a comet will appear in the sky in 1999 as a sign of the end, and that World War III will break out and the Great Miracle predicted at Garabandal will occur.
Father Alexander McKenna claims that the Virgin Mary spoke to him in the Chapel of the Apparitions in Portugal. Her message is that, unless people abandon Atheism, sin, war and hatred, most of the world’s population will be destroyed before the end of 1999 in a nuclear and environmental disaster.
A 16th century Kabbalistic text predicts that in the Jewish year 5760: “the depths will rise up and flood the world, and there will remain the Land of Israel, which will be like the Ark of Noah.”
According to a 1997 issue of Sun Magazine, Pope John XXIII predicted in 1962 that visitors from outer space will arrive in chariots of flaming steel.
Dr. Morris Plammer says that a photo of an asteroid, leaked to him by “highly placed friends” within NASA, measuring 20 miles in diameter and traveling about 20,000 miles/hour, will hit Earth. The photo allegedly contains markings in the shape of a satanic face.
Evangelist Dan Bohler predicts that the Clinton Administration will fail. He predicts that there will be tanks in every American city, and bombs going off in Washington DC.
The Students of the Seven Seals (aka Branch Davidians) predict that disaster will strike in the form of warfare, earthquakes, blackened skies and other horrors. They believe that their late leader David Koresh will return to earth to raise the dead, judge humans, and start over in Jerusalem.
Roman Catholic visionary Robert Hartman predicts that the end happen before 2000, in a month that contains two full moons. The last opportunity for this to happen was 1999.
Ed Dames, president of PsyTech predicts that solar flares will strike the earth during the Easter. People living in caves or underground might survive, but everyone else would die. He also predicted that space aliens would arrive to rescue survivors. He spends the weekend hiding out inside a lava tube in Hawaii.
J. Adams predicts that when the Dow Jones reaches 10,000, a world war will be automatically triggered, followed by the utter destruction of America and the Western powers.
Terry Peterson, Canadian Evangelical Christian, has a vision in 1989 involving continent-wide earthquakes, centered in California, which will plunge the state into the ocean.
Evangelist Marilyn Agee predicts that the rapture will happen on Pentecost. Earlier, she had predicted that it would happen on the Pentecost of 1998.
M.J. Agee writes in the “Bible Prophecy Corner” that, because Noah had a 7-day warning of the flood, we will receive a 7-month warning of the rapture. He cites the signing of the Wye Memorandum peace agreement by Israel and Palestine 7 months prior to Pentecost.
Bryan Elder, an Arkansas hydraulics specialist, predicts that an alignment of the planets will burn up the earth.
British “Nostradamologists” predict a world catastrophe.
The site “Nostradamus: Prophecies of our century” predicts that World War III will begin when Russia and Iran launch a nuclear and chemical assault on Europe.
Eileen Lakes predicts that the planets of the solar system will be arranged in a “Grand Cross” configuration, causing interplanetary magnetism, which would cause the earth’s poles to flip, resulting in earthquakes, tidal waves, volcanic eruptions, and world-wide flooding. She predicts that the pole-shift will cause people to become insane, and arctic area would form in the tropics.
Nostradamus predicts that a “great king of terror” will come from the skies, which some have interpreted as a nuclear missile strike. 20% of the adult population of Japan believes the King of Terror prediction.
God’s Salvation Church in Taiwan predicts that Jesus will come to earth in a spaceship during a nuclear war. Members of the church will climb aboard the spaceship in Miller, IN. They predict that the rest of us would have a less-than-joyful time.
Japanese author Akio Cho predicts, based on the writing of Nostradamus, that the world will end at 5 p.m. on Monday, July 26, when the distance between Earth and Neptune decreases.
According to the latest interpretation of Biblical prophecy by some followers of the Branch Davidian sect, 5 months of torment will begin as the sixth seal is opened in the book of Revelation. They believe that David Koresh will return 200 million horsemen and slaughter most humans on earth.
According to the Sun Magazine, the Anti-Christ is alive today and living in the Middle East. They predict that, during a solar eclipse, he will show himself, and there “will be the ultimate war.” “Prophet” Matthew Dumbrell of Britain expects the world to end at 12:50 p.m., or just before teatime.
Thomas Chase predicted that something “big could hit” Earth and cause 5 years of chaos.
Jeron Criswell, TV “psychic” and narrator of the cult movie “Plan 9 from outer space” predicts that the world would cease to exist. But, He died in 1982.
Russian scientist Vladimir Sobolyovhas of the Rerikh Academy analyzed prophesies made by Russian saints, by Nostradamus, and others, and announces that the earth’s axis will suddenly tilt about 30 degrees, submerging Scandinavia and Britain in a big flood, but somehow spare Siberia. He predicts that aliens will intervene and lead the world into the fourth dimension. Apparently, the aliens are now on earth, but in hiding. Sounds like someone watched “The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai” too many times.
Stefan Paulus, author of “Nostradamus 1999,” announces that he has decoded the final prophecies of Nostradamus. A meteor will hit earth, causing tidal waves, earthquakes, hurricanes, clouds of dust and salt, bad weather, political unrest, famine, and rampaging puppets. The Anti-Christ, an Islamic dictator, will declare war on Western countries. In 2002, World War III will begin. By 2030, only one third of the world’s population will remain alive.
Shoko Asahara, leader of the Aum Shinri Kyo cult which gained notoriety with its sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subways, predicts that Armageddon will happen, like, now.
September 9, 1999, or 9/9/99. “9999″ has been used in some computer programs to terminate programs. Thomas Chase predicts that this will cause a worldwide electrical failure, bringing disaster and chaos, triggering a world economic depression, and naturally, bring on the Antichrist.
Philip Berg, of the Kabbalah Learning Center, predicts that a great ball of fire will hit earth. However, if enough individuals enlighten and purify themselves with his teachings, the disaster may be eliminated.
“The Prophet” predicts that the Jerusalem Temple will be rebuilt, and that ritual killing of animals would have resumed within this Third Temple, triggering the “abomination of desolation,” and the rapture. The Prophet has since stated that he has retracted the prediction of the rapture and the abomination, and has withdrawn from the prophecy business.
A Japanese writer, Toshio Hiji, interprets Nostradamus quatrains to predict an alien attack. The aliens will be led by Satan but will be fought by human armies and “good angels.”
Sun Magazine listed a prediction of “Bible expert” Dotson Meade, who predicts that “something will happen… war which will end the world… storms… earthquakes… final battle…” & etc.
Brookhaven National Laboratory fires up their Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) to full power, simulating just-post-Big Bang conditions, and reaching a 10 trillion degrees C. The Sunday Times of London warns that the RHIC could destroy the earth, and even the entire universe, through chain reaction.
2000
Many Christian individuals and groups have long anticipated that Christ’s return would happen in 2000. Many of them believe that this event would be preceded by a 7-year period called “the tribulation.” They expected that this interval would start in 1993, and that terrible things would start to happen.
The long lost “Bethlehem Prophecies” predict that one half of the earth’s surface will vanish under water in the blink of an eye. The cause may be a meteor or comet.
Michael Drosnin, author of “The Bible Code,” finds a hidden message in the Pentateuch that predicts that World War III, will start in 2000 (or perhaps 2006).
Hal Lindsey no longer makes specific predictions about the end of the world. In his book, “The Late Great Planet Earth,” he predicts the battle of Armageddon in 2000, and the second coming of Christ in 2007. But also 2048, in case that doesn’t work out.
According to Time Magazine, the Christian Coalition “speculated that President Clinton might use the chaos that Y2k unleashes as an opportunity to seize dictatorial powers.”
Dory Tan, one of the “visionaries” associated with the Greensides’ Farm in Ontario, Canada, has been receiving messages from the Virgin Mary. She says that the year 2000 is a “deadline” for Christian preparation. Ms. Tan received a message that there are many events to occur before the end of 1999. The Virgin says that what is happening in Kosovo is nothing compared to what is coming.
According to the Weekly World News, long lost “Bethlehem Prophecies” predict an epidemic that will wipe out humanity in 2000.
N.W. Hutchings of Southwest Radio predicts the end of the world during 2000.
January 1, 2000, a date for the mathematically challenged. Most people believe that the next millennium begins on 1/1/2000. It starts on 1/1/2001
Sun Magazine reports that Pope John XXIII predicted, in 1961, that Doomsday will begin with nuclear war in Europe, started by an extremists du jour Libyan terrorist group.
William Cooper, head of a militia group in Arizona, predicts that the secret chambers of the Pyramid at Giza will open, its secrets will be revealed, and Satan will become a public celebrity.
Thomas Chase predicts that the Y2K bug will cause a worldwide electrical failure, trigger a world economic depression, and bring on the Antichrist.
Villagers in Papua New Guinea join the Rainbow Church movement, which predicts that the world will be plunged into darkness. However, by financially supporting the church, its members will be spared from the chaos of the millennium and eventually be rewarded.
The Weekly World News reports that thousands of Christians are reporting sightings of angels swarming the Holy Land. Get that flyswatter.
Gary North, a Christian Reconstructionist, predicts doomsday.
According to Weekly World News, the CIA has caught a space alien who is the only survivor of his world, a planet 200 light-years from Earth. He reports that God is “furious with His creations everywhere.”
According to Weekly World News, Edgar Cayce predicts that a cosmic storm will hit the earth, and 1,000 mile per hour winds and temperature swings will kill morons millions, and solar flares on the surface of the sun will peak, causing power failures, and other disasters.
Ronald O’Brien predicts that a “dark cross” will be suspended in the stratosphere, and that people in a town in Spain would be cured of infirmities and disabilities, and of course, armageddon will come and 4 billion humans will die. Kind of makes the curing moot?
According to the Weekly World News predicts that massive solar flares will “scorch the sky,” and a billion people will be permanently blinded.
The book “5/5/2000 — Ice, the Ultimate Disaster,” describes how the first alignment of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in 6,000 years will cause total devastation.
Rebecca Harrison (a woman), a.k.a. St. John (a man) predicts that Jesus will return, and three years later, Armageddon will take place.
The “Great Conjunction” of Jupiter and Saturn in front of Taurus occurs. Some consider this to be the return of the Star of Bethlehem, and expect a supernatural event.
Marilyn Agee predicts the rapture. Later, she postponed the date three times, then gave up.
According to Weekly World News, Mother Seaton (Elizabeth Ann Seaton) predicted in the early 19th century that Washington, D.C. will be bathed in an evil stench which comes from the bowels of Hell. The political leaders who stay behind in the city will be driven mad. Sounds like a typical summer in D.C. to me.
According to Weekly World News, a scroll written by Confucius predicts that a massive solar flare will erupt, burning and blinding millions.
Melody Mehta predicts that the Martian moon Phobos will be displaced from its orbit and will strike Earth.
Robert Hallman predicts the rapture. He describes some aliens, “the grays,” as “Satan’s soldiers.” Based on the book of Daniel, “Ephraim” predicted that the Battle of Armageddon would begin on this date. He later postponed it. Alas.
Daniel Adam Millar predicts that the Antichrist will declare himself God and start the battle of Armageddon.
Phil Stone believes that the biblical story of the Exodus will be replayed on a worldwide basis for four days, and sea levels will rise.
Efraim Genootshap claims to be the reincarnation of the biblical prophet Elija, and that he has the responsibility of gathering the lost twelve tribes of Israel in preparation for the Tribulation. He leads the Efriam Society, a Netherlands-based Christian group who also predicted the end.
Michael Rood predicts that Gog and Magog will attack Israel sometime in the fall.
Yisrayl Hawkins, the leader of the House of Yahweh predicts that the Israeli Peace Accord will be the start of the Tribulation.
Jim Searcy, pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church predicts the end of the world, and says that Prince Charles is the Antichrist.
Byron Weeks predicts that Americans will get a national ID card, and martial law will be enacted, as separatists and patriots are rounded up. The U.S. will be plunged into nuclear war and be destroyed.
According to Weekly World News, Nostradamus predicts a giant asteroid will hit the earth, starting fires that will burn up the entire planet. Again.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon polygamist splinter group predicts the end of the world. Hundreds of members pull their children out of school. Church leaders predict that towns along the Utah-Arizona border will be lifted into the sky. The group has been excommunicated from the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because of their practice of polygyny.
According to the Sun Magazine, Pope John XXIII predicted in 1962 that Christ would appear in the sky over New York City. Jesus was expected to announce the creation of paradise.
2001
Retired psychology professor Charles Spiegel predicts that the ancient land of Atlantis will emerge from the Caribbean in 2001. Shortly thereafter, 1000 extra-terrestrials from “Myton” in 33 spaceships will land.
Sun Magazine reports in that Noah’s Ark had been discovered intact in undamaged form on a slope near Mount Ararat. Inside are a group of scrolls, which reveal that the sun will super-heat the earth, melt the polar ice caps, and create a flood, and that doomsday is coming.
Philip B. Brown predicted that the Great Tribulation will start in 2001.
Bill Singleton predicts that the Rapture will occur over Easter weekend, 2001.
Marilyn Agee predicts the tribulation and the appearance of the Antichrist. The Rapture would have occurred before this date.
According to The Weekly World News, “Professor” Philippe Garoche, predicts that Jesus Christ will return to Earth, simultaneously to people all over the world at 7:07 AM, Jerusalem time.
Efraim Genootshap, who claims to be the reincarnation of the prophet Elija, predicts the rapture, again.
Paul Smirnov, Orthodox Christian, predicts that an asteroid will destroy Los Angeles, and that the Antichrist would appear in 2001, under the name King David.
According to The Weekly World News, the Federal Government is suppressing information about the end of the world, that they are aware that China and Iraq will attack Israel, and that the Battle of Armageddon will start — an all-out nuclear war.
Stewart Best predicts a small polar shift.
The Unarius Society received interstellar thought messages from a Pleiadean starship, which intends to land on Atlantis in the year 2001, Atlantis having already risen from the depths in the Bermuda Triangle. Earth will join an 33 planets to form “Interplanetary Confederation for the Spiritual Renaissance of Humankind on Earth.” Wow.
Jack Van Impe Ministries sponsors the largest Evangelical Christian program devoted to end-time prophecy. In his book, “On the Edge of Eternity,” he predicts 2001 will bring chaos, drought, war, malaria, hunger, and marauding puppets. No, seriously. No marauding puppets.
Elohim City, located in eastern Oklahoma, has 100 heavily armed people under the leadership of Robert Millar, a former Mennonite preacher, who expect an invasion by Asians. He predicts a series of natural disasters in 2001.
Jack van Impe, who predicted chaos in 2001, changes his predictions, bumping them many years in the future.
The Last Adam, the only person “who knows how to have telepatich-contact [sic]” with UFO people who come from the sun,” and predicts that the earth will be destroyed by God “after 2001.”
Monte Kim Miller, founder and “prophet” of Concerned Christians, a group of 78 adults and children, believes that the world was created circa 4000 BCE, and that the seventh millennium started on 1/1/2000. The end of the world could happen at any time.
Paul Smirnov, Orthodox Christian, sends an e-mail predicting that God will send an asteroid that will destroy Hollywood and Los Angeles, coinciding with the Oscars.
Mike Keller Pure predicts that a second before midnight, something called the “Doomsgate” will open, Christ will return, nuclear war will begin, the poles of the earth will shift, and there will be worldwide disasters.
Paul Smirnov issues updates for the asteroid lading. He also predicts that the world economy will collapse in 2002, and that the Antichrist will appear in 2003.
2003
Sree Vishiva Karma Veera Narayana Murthy, an “avatar of Krishna” will arrive to establish a 108 year reign of righteousness, preceded by four years of rain of blood, poor quality coins, male goats and oxen with teats, and incurable diseases.
Paul, Orthodox Christian, predicts that God will destroy Los Angeles CA with an asteroid.
The Pana Wave Laboratory group in Japan predicts that the world will be destroyed by a series of disasters: a planet moving close to the earth and will cause “cataclysmic” changes, the magnetic poles will reverse, causing tidal waves and earthquakes. They set up a camp on a mountain road west of Tokyo, and cover themselves with white cloths, to protect them from “harmful electromagnetic waves,” which they think originate from communists. The group has about 1,200 members in Japan.
Space aliens called Zetas are communicating through their earthly contact, Nancy. They describe how a comet visits earth every 3,657 years. The earth will pass through its tail, stopping the earth’s rotation, and causing gigantic lightning bolts, violent winds, and petrochemicals formed in the skies raining down in firestorms. Nancy predicts, the Earth’s core will align with the giant comet, there will be a pole shift, continents will rip and sink, gigantic tidal waves, an ocean vortex will form, the ocean floor will sink, but other planets won’t be affected.
2004
Pastor Hawking predicts on a Hawaiian cable channel that the Tribulation will begin in 2004.
Victor Hopchenk, Orthodox Christian, predicts that an asteroid would hit Los Angeles, which he describes as the “center of propaganda of debauch, [sic] lechery, violence and cruelty.” God wants Hollywood to stop creating immoral and pornographic films. He had given 49 warnings previously. This is the 50th and final warning.
Clay Cantrell computes the date of the Rapture from size of Noah’s Ark with particular attention to the precise location of the “escape window” in the top of the vessel.
Warren Jeffs, “prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, predicts the end of the world three times. Jeffs explains that the delay is caused by the unfaithfulness of the membership.
Titu John Negovan writes “There is a strong possibility that Yahshua (Jesus) the Bridegroom is returning for His bride, the church (His body/Jewish and Gentile believers), this Rosh Hashanah. If for some reason, Yahshua does not return… I apologize for the misinformation.” Blame it on the man.
Stuart Cobbs predicts that God will close the “Church Age” and time the rapture of the church on Rosh Hashana. He believes this will cause many Jews to accept Jesus as the true Messiah.
Negovan writes that “It could be possible that… the Great Tribulation is about to begin!!!” He later issued a letter of repentance.
James Kingsley predicts an “earthquake storm” near Los Angeles to be centered in Redondo Beach.
Eric Julien of the Exopolitics Institute predicts that a remnant from a comet will hit the Atlantic Ocean and massive tsunami will kill tens of millions of people. Dozens of underwater volcanoes will erupt, causing the ocean to boil.
2006
Note: Many believed that 06/06/06 would be the rapture and start of the tribulation.
Glenn Beck, anchor for CNN Headline News, predicts on Aug. 9, that on Aug. 22, Israel will be wiped off the map, and Armageddon will begin. Aug. 22: Beck responds by saying that he was quoting Middle Eastern scholar Bernard Lewis. Bernard Lewis actually wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Aug. 8, that Ahmadinejad believes that “the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced.”
The Lord’s Witness predict that a nuclear bomb will hit the UN plaza. This is the same group who predicted that the UN would take over the world sometime in 2001.
The House of Yahweh issues a news release stating that nuclear war will begin. The war would start around the Euphrates River. The inimitable Yisrayl Hawkins, their leader, says that the countdown began with the Oslo accords in 1993.
Eliezer Kamotho, an elder of the House of Yahweh group in Kenya, says that North Korea’s nuclear bomb test was proof that nuclear war was about to begin.
Dr. Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda predicts that Jesus Christ’s second coming will happen in Puerto Rico.
2007
According to The Weekly World News, the rapture is expected on the 7th hour of the 7th day of the 7th month of the Hebrew calendar year that corresponds to 2007, and that Jesus will appear simultaneously in Jerusalem, Baghdad, Washington, Moscow, and in every other capital city of the world.
Dr. Michael Mau predicts that Armageddon has already begun.
Michael Travesser, a.k.a. Wayne Bent, of the Lord Our Righteousness Church, proclaimed that he is the Messiah. He and his 56 devoted followers live in Strong City, N.M. He believes that the Book of Daniel predicts that world war will begin.
2008
A British group, The Lord’s Witnesses, predicts that Armageddon will happen. 75 percent of the world’s population will die. This will be preceded by the United Nations taking over complete control of the world.
Philip B. Brown predicts that the Great Tribulation will start in 2001. He also predicted that the start of Jesus’ millennial reign will be in 2008. Oops.
Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry (CARM) receives an e-mail saying that the Tribulation will begin in 2008.
Pyotr Kuznetsov, the leader of a Russian doomsday sect called the True Orthodox Church, which rejects processed food and regard bar codes as satanic symbols, predicts that the world will end. During 2007, thirty-five of his followers barricade themselves in a cave 400 miles southeast of Moscow, and threaten to blow up gas cylinders if officials try to force them to leave. Twenty-four leave when spring floods cause the cave to collapse. Kuznetsov becomes depressed at the failure of his prophecies and tries to commit suicide by hitting himself on the head with a log. A log. How does one do that, exactly?
El Shaddai Ministries predicts that Jesus will return to Earth in 2015, and that the tribulation could start during the fall of 2008 at the Feast of Trumpets.
Michael Travesser’s group of 45 adult followers survive his failed 2007 prediction. He and some of his followers start a one-week fast during which they eat no food, followed by another one-week fast consuming neither food nor water, to protest the criminal charges against their leader based on allegations of sexual misconduct involving underage girls. Their plan was to continue this until the rapture. After it failed to come, they broke their fast, and Travesser accused the local District Attorney of harassment and is considering lawsuits against the State of New Mexico for civil rights violations. He was arrested and taken to the hospital in Clayton, NM.
Ronald Weinland predicts the demise of the United States, followed by the start of “man’s final war” in 2008. He has published a book titled: “2008: God’s Final Witness,” which, in 2009, is still available.
Billy Hargie predicts the assassination of the next president of the U.S. by a southern activist. This would cause riots, and the U.S. army will be recalled from Iraq, which will be overrun by Iran, and a nuclear world war will start. The environment will rapidly degenerate, and Mayan prediction for 2012 will come true. 97% of all known species will become extinct. Scattered pockets of humans will survive by living off the land.
Linda Newkirk receives a “revelation from Yahweh,” and writes that a comet, is a sign of the second coming. The comet has since faded from sight, and is expected to return in 2014.
2009:
Jerry Falwell predicts in 1999 that Jesus could return within ten years. But before that can happen, he says that the Antichrist must appear. Falwell says that he’ll be Jewish, will pretend to be Christ, and must be alive somewhere today. Falwell later apologizes for his anti-Semitic comment, and dies in 2007.
A group or individual called Vast Entity Now Unsurpassed predicts the end.
David Wilkerson believes that the difficult economic times represent the start of a time when God unleashes his wrath upon humanity, that 1,000 fires will come to New York City at a time “not far off,” and will destroy the city and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. Other similar disasters will occur in major cities worldwide. He recommends that everyone lay in a 30-day supply of food.
A Russian Christian group called Heavenly Jerusalem establishes a sect called the True Russian Orthodox Church, led by the already infallible Pyotr Kutnetsov. They believe that their members will become judges after death and will decide who will go to Heaven and Hell. After members barricaded themselves in an underground bunker to await the Apocalypse, Kutnetsov was arrested, found to be unfit to stand trial, sent to a mental institution, and later released. They now expect the Apocalypse in 2009, or perhaps 2011.
John Dutchman claims to be an astronomer at the Mount Wilson Observatory, and believes that a small star is passing through the Oort Cloud. He says that the gravitational pull of the star is forcing over a million comets into the sun, and predicts that the earth will be hit in August 2009.
2010
“Second Messenger” predicts that the Rapture will happen in 2009 (Halloween) and that the end will occur in 2010.
“The Analyzer” notes that the Worldwide Church of God has laid a claim on 2010.
Thomas Chase of Revelation 13 predicts that the Battle of Armageddon could occur during 2010.
2012
Dee Finney’s website promotes the idea of the “cosmic Maya,” and gets most of his ideas from Charles Gallenkamp’s book, “Maya: The Riddle and Rediscovery of a Lost Civilization.” He says that, on December 21, 2012, there will be an “alignment between the galactic and solar planes.” The winter solstice sun will “conjunct the Milky Way,” which will open up some sort of “cosmic sky portal.” But for more fun, just read Domain, by Steve Alten. It’s a fun FICTION book about the 2012 prophecies, full of sexy, crazy archaeologist mental patients and the women who love them. Liquid awesome.
The Mayan Long Count ends in 2012, but you can bet the world will still be here, chugging along as usual. But do see the upcoming movie.
Or watch this silly thing.
I also hear Gary Spivey makes predictions. So far, the ones on his website are years old, and completely unverifiable. I hope he puts some future predictions up! Go Gary!
