Five dates to note:
In 874, the 11th Shia Imam Hasan al-Askari died. The Imam's precocious five-year-old son, the Twelfth Imam al-Mahdi, led the funeral service for his father - and afterward vanished from Earth. The young Mahdi's anticipated return from his state of ‘Occultation’, joined by Jesus, will lead to the killing of the Jewish World-Deceiver (antichrist) al-Dajjal, and final removal of the Ka'aba from Mecca to its establishment in Jerusalem.
In 1000, the monk Rodulfus Glaber documented Y1K “millennial madness” in his "Historiarum" including famine, heresies, and natural disasters.
In 1901, Agnes Ozman was visited by the Holy Spirit in Kansas, receiving divine powers similar to those dispensed on the Biblical day of Pentecost. (Specifically, she was perhaps the first American evangelical Christian to receive the power of speaking in tongues.) Ozman's follower William Seymour took her end-times-focused ‘Pentecostalism’ to Los Angeles, where it grew as a movement.
In 2000, the Y2K bug proved largely to be a non-event. With computers expected to be unable to handle date information after the calendar rollover, fears were widespread that vital financial and communications software would crash, precipitating global catastrophe.
January 1 of the present year is also a fitting a time to note the current (holocene) extinction event, on a par of severity with half a dozen others in Earth's history such as the great Permian, Triassic, and Cretaceous-Tertiary dyings. The present extinction rate is as much as 20% of all species per millennium, in contrast with a pre-human background rate of .1% per millennium.
1/01/2012
12/31/2011
December 31
Three dates to note:
In 1384, John Wycliffe died. The Scholastic philosopher and author of "De Papa" (1379) asserted - particularly in view of the Great Schism in which the Greek Orthodox church separated from Rome - that the Pope is the Antichrist.
Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, CA, authored the influential "End Times" in 1978. His apocalyptic scheme is similar to Hal Lindsey's, in that the end of the world is anticipated for one Biblical generation (40 years) following the establishment of the State of Israel - ie, 1988, with the Rapture falling seven years earlier in 1981. (Smith later reasoned the Israel clock may have begun in 1967 rather than 1948 [= EOW 2007].) The ozone hole and Halley's comet were interpreted by Smith as Tribulation events. On this date in 1981, Smith held a Costa Mesa New Year's Eve service in which all present expected to be raptured at midnight.
December 31, 3797, is the furthest extent to which Nostradamus' precognition allowed him to see, and is interpreted in the Nostradamus documentary "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow" (Orson Welles, host) as the end of world history.
In 1384, John Wycliffe died. The Scholastic philosopher and author of "De Papa" (1379) asserted - particularly in view of the Great Schism in which the Greek Orthodox church separated from Rome - that the Pope is the Antichrist.
Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, CA, authored the influential "End Times" in 1978. His apocalyptic scheme is similar to Hal Lindsey's, in that the end of the world is anticipated for one Biblical generation (40 years) following the establishment of the State of Israel - ie, 1988, with the Rapture falling seven years earlier in 1981. (Smith later reasoned the Israel clock may have begun in 1967 rather than 1948 [= EOW 2007].) The ozone hole and Halley's comet were interpreted by Smith as Tribulation events. On this date in 1981, Smith held a Costa Mesa New Year's Eve service in which all present expected to be raptured at midnight.
December 31, 3797, is the furthest extent to which Nostradamus' precognition allowed him to see, and is interpreted in the Nostradamus documentary "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow" (Orson Welles, host) as the end of world history.
12/27/2011
December 27
In 1908, Nyack, New York prophet Lee J. Spangler had forecast the end of the world. Spangler fled town during the night before his prediction was to come true, leaving his followers to be ridiculed by a crowd for much of the day following as they wandered through Nyack looking for the appearance of saints.
http://timestraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/disappointment-in-nyack-as-world-goes-on/
http://timestraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/disappointment-in-nyack-as-world-goes-on/
12/25/2011
December 25
In 800, Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. For attempting to reconstruct the Roman Empire, some have viewed him as an antichrist, while other legends view him as a defender of Christendom who will return from the dead during end times to fight the Antichrist. Charlemagne also figures prominently in the apocalyptic quatrains of Nostradamus.
12/24/2011
December 24
In 1965, William Branham died days after being struck by a drunk driver on his way home to Jeffersonville, Indiana. Branham was a notable premillennialist and leader of the faith-healing-movement. Scores of his followers relocated from southern California after his prophecy that it would fall into the sea. Branham predicted on his deathbed his bodily resurrection by Easter 1966.
12/23/2011
December 23
In 1652, John Cotton died. This American Puritan leader, who would become father-in-law to Increase Mather and grandfather to Cotton Mather, emigrated from England to escape Anglican religious persecution. From his new ministry in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Cotton forecast Jesus’ Second Coming for 1655.
12/22/2011
December 22
Three dates to note:
In 1880, George Eliot died. Her historical novel "Romola" grew from her own engrossment with the end of the world. The novel is about Savonarola, a Dominican friar in 15th-century Florence whose apocalyptic preachings and "bonfires of the vanities" led ultimately to his execution on orders from the Pope.
In 1908, Cyrus Reed Teed died. Titling himself "Koresh", or Messiah, Teed created a millennarian community in Florida which dissolved after his death.
In 1999, Charles Spiegel died (though he has been frequently channeled since). Spiegel, a retired psychology professor and director of the Unarian Movement, claimed that as part of an end-times scenario Atlantis would rise from the Caribbean in 2001. Predicting numerous other UFO-driven apocalyptic and world-historical events, the Unarians reached a peak membership of 10,000 in the 1980s.
In 1880, George Eliot died. Her historical novel "Romola" grew from her own engrossment with the end of the world. The novel is about Savonarola, a Dominican friar in 15th-century Florence whose apocalyptic preachings and "bonfires of the vanities" led ultimately to his execution on orders from the Pope.
In 1908, Cyrus Reed Teed died. Titling himself "Koresh", or Messiah, Teed created a millennarian community in Florida which dissolved after his death.
In 1999, Charles Spiegel died (though he has been frequently channeled since). Spiegel, a retired psychology professor and director of the Unarian Movement, claimed that as part of an end-times scenario Atlantis would rise from the Caribbean in 2001. Predicting numerous other UFO-driven apocalyptic and world-historical events, the Unarians reached a peak membership of 10,000 in the 1980s.
12/21/2011
December 21 (part two)
On 12/21/1237, the Mongol invasion of eastern Europe commenced. This has been estimated to have been the most devastating war in European history, surpassing even the Second World War (30 million European deaths in the Mongol Invasion, versus 40 million worldwide deaths from WWII, including the Pacific theater).
The Mongol invasion was believed to have been predicted in the mystical and apocalyptic "Cedars of Lebanon" prophecy (a reference to Psalm 92), first circulated decades earlier at the start of the 13th century.
To give a sense of the war's casualties, by 1241 fully half of the entire population of the first nation attacked - Hungary - is said to have been killed. Fears that the Mongol invasion meant the end of the world were widespread.
The Mongol invasion was believed to have been predicted in the mystical and apocalyptic "Cedars of Lebanon" prophecy (a reference to Psalm 92), first circulated decades earlier at the start of the 13th century.
To give a sense of the war's casualties, by 1241 fully half of the entire population of the first nation attacked - Hungary - is said to have been killed. Fears that the Mongol invasion meant the end of the world were widespread.
December 21
On this date one year from today - 12/21/2012 - the world will come to an end with the conclusion of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar.
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