June 23: A Socialite Keeps a Spare Horse for Jesus - And, No, We're Not *That* Japanese Apocalyptic Group

Lady Hester Stanhope died on this date in 1839. An English orientalist, she moved to Lebanon in 1810 in order to be nearby as Christ returned, whom she had been told by a fortune teller that she would marry. Throughout her life, Lady Stanhope maintained an extra horse in her stable for the Messiah to use whenever he arrived.

The Comte Saint-Simon (see May 19) proposed to Stanhope so that they could jointly reign as a Messianic married couple. Apparently she didn't think he had what it took to be Messiah, and turned him down. In her earlier years before moving to the middle east, Stanhope was a prominent socialite, often entertaining for her uncle, the prime minister of England.


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On June 23, 1978, Sukyo Mahikari was registered in Japan as a religion. Currently boasting one million members, the religion teaches the primacy of Japanese culture, and the achievement of peace through the use of light energy. While denying charges of anti-semitism and connections with the terroristic group Aum Shinrikyo, the group announced in 2000 that, "mankind might be annihilated by the baptism of fire."


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And lastly, today is the start of Kitten Week here at Today's Date in Apocalypse History, so here is a picture of a kitten: