8/29/2012
August 29: Historical Zionism
On this day in 1897, the World Zionist Conference began in Basel, Switzerland under the leadership of Theodore Herzl. Herzl's restorationism - or desire for the repatriation of Jews to Palestine - was supported by many Christian apocalypticists not from any love of Jews, but because they believed it would help set the preconditions for Armageddon.
8/28/2012
August 28: Saint Augustine of Hippo
St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo (in present-day Algeria) died on this date in 430 CE. Augustine's moderate views toward the interpretation of Revelation became the European standard for nearly 800 years, until Crusaders and end-times millennialists like Joachim of Fiore gathered popular followings in the high middle ages.
Augustine argued against what he called a "carnal", or literal, interpretation of Revelation - as well as against many predictions he cited that the world would end on or around 500 CE. Augustine was an "amillennialist", meaning he did not accept an apocalyptic scheme where, after a Tribulation, Christ would return to reign bodily over Earth for 1000 years. For Augustine, the Book of Revelation was to be read as an allegory of the struggle for salvation within the human soul.
Augustine argued against what he called a "carnal", or literal, interpretation of Revelation - as well as against many predictions he cited that the world would end on or around 500 CE. Augustine was an "amillennialist", meaning he did not accept an apocalyptic scheme where, after a Tribulation, Christ would return to reign bodily over Earth for 1000 years. For Augustine, the Book of Revelation was to be read as an allegory of the struggle for salvation within the human soul.
8/24/2012
August 24: Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius erupted today in 79 CE, obliterating the city of Pompeii on its slopes, and killing anywhere from 3 to 10,000 people within hours (estimates vary widely). Following an earlier eruption in 62 CE, the poet Seneca had ominously warned, "The Earth will go up in smoke" - but volcanic activity at Vesuvius was considered normal, and went ignored in the years afterward.
Early Christians saw the destruction of Pompeii as a sign of god's wrath against the Roman Empire. Revelation 8:8-9 seems to be a reference to the Vesuvius eruption:
Early Christians saw the destruction of Pompeii as a sign of god's wrath against the Roman Empire. Revelation 8:8-9 seems to be a reference to the Vesuvius eruption:
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 creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.
8/23/2012
August 23: Increase Mather - and the Plymouth Brethren, or, "What Do Garrison Keillor and Aleister Crowley Have in Common?"
Increase Mather died today in 1723. He proclaimed a New Jerusalem in Massachusetts based on Purtian principles, and predicted the repatriation of Jews to Palestine as a fulfillment of God's plan for Earth. Like his son Cotton Mather, Increase supported the Salem witch trials, but advised caution in using evidence from dreams and visions in making capital convictions. Cotton Mather, on the other hand, believed such "spectral evidence" was entirely valid.
***
The Biblical geologist Phillip Henry Gosse died on August 23, 1888. A key member of the Plymouth Brethren of Ireland and England, Gosse attempted to square the facts of geology with the Biblical flood account. (He was also the inventor of the indoor aquarium.) Gosse's fellow Plymouth Brethren included John Nelson Darby (the apocalypse-obsessed founder of the doctrine of "dispensationalism"), Scotland Yard criminal investigation chief Robert Anderson (a date-setting apocalypticist, and author of "The Coming Prince"), and Orde Charles Wingate (a paramilitary operative who left Britain for Palestine in the 1930s to promote the reestablishment of Israel).
The Plymouth Brethren movement has dwindled over time, but both Aleister Crowley and Garrison Keillor were raised within it.
***
The Biblical geologist Phillip Henry Gosse died on August 23, 1888. A key member of the Plymouth Brethren of Ireland and England, Gosse attempted to square the facts of geology with the Biblical flood account. (He was also the inventor of the indoor aquarium.) Gosse's fellow Plymouth Brethren included John Nelson Darby (the apocalypse-obsessed founder of the doctrine of "dispensationalism"), Scotland Yard criminal investigation chief Robert Anderson (a date-setting apocalypticist, and author of "The Coming Prince"), and Orde Charles Wingate (a paramilitary operative who left Britain for Palestine in the 1930s to promote the reestablishment of Israel).
The Plymouth Brethren movement has dwindled over time, but both Aleister Crowley and Garrison Keillor were raised within it.
8/22/2012
August 22: The Last Land-Battle Fought on English Soil was Caused by a Madman
John Nichols Thom was an English madman who claimed variously to be a member of the Rothschild banking family, Sir William Courtenay, the King of Jerusalem, and, after a stay in an insane asylum, the Messiah. Preaching against Queen Victoria and the Poor Laws, Thom somehow gathered 100 followers. In May 1838 they were surrounded by equally many constables at Bossendon Wood, in what is acknowledged as the last land battle fought on English soil. One constable was killed, along with Thom and nine of his supporters.
8/21/2012
August 21: Dilks' 1832 Parousia
John Dilks, a preacher living in the American wilderness as far west as the Ohio River, projected in the early 1800s that the Parousia (Christ's return to Earth) would occur during 1832.
8/20/2012
August 20: Pyramid Power
In 1924, the British "Israelites" David Davidson and Dr. H. Aldersmith published "The Great Pyramid, Its Divine Message", claiming that the secrets locked into the pyramid at Giza include clues about the future history of Earth. One of these secrets was that the world will end sometime in this month of August, in the year 1953.
Note: in this context, "Israelite" refers to the curious, though once popular, belief that the ten lost tribes of Israel went on to become the people of Britain.
Note: in this context, "Israelite" refers to the curious, though once popular, belief that the ten lost tribes of Israel went on to become the people of Britain.
8/19/2012
August 19: The Mark of the Beast first appears... in Louisiana Grade Schools
Apparently, the new cafeteria payment system in some Louisiana elementary schools is the rollout of the Mark of the Beast as prophesied by John of Patmos in Revelation 13.
Parents Worry that School's Palm-Scanner is the Mark of the Beast
Parents Worry that School's Palm-Scanner is the Mark of the Beast
8/18/2012
August 18: Vissarion and The Amazing Criswell
Today in 1991, a Russian mystic named Vissarion (born Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop) founded the Church of the Last Testament in Siberia, revealing himself to be Jesus Christ and preaching the imminent end of the world to some 10,000 current followers.
***
Charles "The Amazing Criswell" King was a psychic showman who portrayed himself in the classic Ed Wood film “Plan 9 From Outer Space”. In his 1968 book “Criswell Predicts”, he made a number of strange announcements about the future, like that homosexual ghetto cities will form; New York City will fall into the sea; and a space ray will strike Denver, turning basic construction materials like concrete, metal and lumber into an enveloping goo.
Following the appearance worldwide of black, oxygen-sucking rainbows, Criswell said the world would end on this date in 1999.
***
Charles "The Amazing Criswell" King was a psychic showman who portrayed himself in the classic Ed Wood film “Plan 9 From Outer Space”. In his 1968 book “Criswell Predicts”, he made a number of strange announcements about the future, like that homosexual ghetto cities will form; New York City will fall into the sea; and a space ray will strike Denver, turning basic construction materials like concrete, metal and lumber into an enveloping goo.
Following the appearance worldwide of black, oxygen-sucking rainbows, Criswell said the world would end on this date in 1999.
8/17/2012
August 17: The Harmonic Convergence
August 16-17, 1987, was the date of the "Harmonic Convergence" as popularized by the artist Jose Arguelles, a spearheading force behind the earlier Whole Earth Festival and Earth Day celebrations. Arguelles' idea was that during this period people around Earth should meditate together in a vague consciousness-raising experiment. If gatherings of 144,000 could be achieved at certain world "power centers" like Mount Shasta, CA, he claimed, then a new era would dawn. It's unclear why Arguelles picked the number 144,000, but this does happen to be the number of saved Israelites according to the Book of Revelation. (A dozen thousand for each of the dozen tribes of Israel).
The prompt for the Harmonic Convergence was an alignment of six planets, also coinciding with the closing of multiple "hell" cycles (Arguelles' term) in the Mayan calendar. In that sense, the Harmonic Convergence bears a resemblance to the current obsession with the 12/21/12 close of the Mayan long-count calendar.
Much-ballyhooed at the time, the Harmonic Convergence was soon forgotten after nothing noteworthy happened during it.
The prompt for the Harmonic Convergence was an alignment of six planets, also coinciding with the closing of multiple "hell" cycles (Arguelles' term) in the Mayan calendar. In that sense, the Harmonic Convergence bears a resemblance to the current obsession with the 12/21/12 close of the Mayan long-count calendar.
Much-ballyhooed at the time, the Harmonic Convergence was soon forgotten after nothing noteworthy happened during it.
8/16/2012
August 16: Pacific Gas and Electric
On this day in 1970, the band Pacific Gas and Electric's eschatological single "Are You Ready?" peaked on the Billboard pop charts at #14.
8/15/2012
August 15: HRE Otto III
On this day in the year 1000, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III isolated himself in a hermit's cell outside Rome for two weeks, preparing for the new millennium. An eclipse in 968 had led Otto to grow up convinced that the world was entering the end times. A devout young ruler, he sought to restore the original Roman Empire in accordance with the medieval concept of a Last World Emperor (see July 9).
The Holy Roman Empire was centered in Germany, but four years earlier Otto III had marched down to Italy, and near-bloodlessly saved the papacy from a threat by the strongmen of the Crescentii family in Rome. He was named king of Italy, and ruled from there before dying in 1002 at the age of 21.
The Holy Roman Empire was centered in Germany, but four years earlier Otto III had marched down to Italy, and near-bloodlessly saved the papacy from a threat by the strongmen of the Crescentii family in Rome. He was named king of Italy, and ruled from there before dying in 1002 at the age of 21.
8/13/2012
August 13: Hippolytus of Rome
August 13 is the feast date of Hippolytus of Rome, martyred in 235 CE while exiled by the Empire to Sardinia. Even as persecutions of Christians went on under Emperors Septimus Severus and Maximinus Thrax, Hippolytus didn't keep a low profile with his coreligionists. He accused the standing pope of embracing the heresy of modalism, and even challenged papal authority by briefly accepting a rivaling bishopric over Rome.
Hippolytus' books included a commentary on Daniel; and his On Christ and Antichrist propounded a 6000-year Earth, detailing events that would lead to the world's demise around 500 CE. (Lactantius later subscribed to the same "hexameron" chronology.)
In his martyrdom, Hippolytus was believed to have been dragged to death by horses, which led, through a bit of reverse logic, to his being named their patron saint.
Hippolytus' books included a commentary on Daniel; and his On Christ and Antichrist propounded a 6000-year Earth, detailing events that would lead to the world's demise around 500 CE. (Lactantius later subscribed to the same "hexameron" chronology.)
In his martyrdom, Hippolytus was believed to have been dragged to death by horses, which led, through a bit of reverse logic, to his being named their patron saint.
8/12/2012
August 12: Diogennet
In 1792, a rural priest near Saint-Etienne in France predicted that the Messiah would soon arrive in the area. It took 50 years for a peasant named Jean-Baptists Digonnet to appear in the 1840s and claim he was that Messiah. Though he drew a following which would stubbornly persist up until the Second World War, the main result of Diogennet's ministry was that he was arrested three times and eventually died in hospice.
(Reference: "Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults, and Millennial Beliefs through the Ages", Eugen Weber, 1999)
(Reference: "Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults, and Millennial Beliefs through the Ages", Eugen Weber, 1999)
8/11/2012
August 11: Nicholas of Cusa; Nostradamus' King of Terror
Nicholas of Cusa, a German Cardinal who wrote on a vast range of subjects including philosophy and mathematics, died on August 11, 1464. Using calculations derived from the book of Daniel, Nicholas projected the end of the world for either 1533 or 1741.
***
A solar eclipse on August 11, 1999 was awkwardly linked by some to a prediction from Nostradamus, Century 10, Quatrain 72: "In the year 1999 seven months / From the sky will come the great king of terror." Of course not only is the dating off, but also this eclipse proved as harmless as any.
The same quotation of Nostradamus' - "From the sky will come the great king of terror" - may sound familiar because it was often applied to the 9-11 attacks (sometimes with the specific reference to the year 1999 left out). But more importantly, in the Orson Welles-narrated documentary "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow", this quotation was taken to mean that an unknown Muslim leader in a blue turban would launch a nuclear strike on the United States in June 1999.
***
A solar eclipse on August 11, 1999 was awkwardly linked by some to a prediction from Nostradamus, Century 10, Quatrain 72: "In the year 1999 seven months / From the sky will come the great king of terror." Of course not only is the dating off, but also this eclipse proved as harmless as any.
The same quotation of Nostradamus' - "From the sky will come the great king of terror" - may sound familiar because it was often applied to the 9-11 attacks (sometimes with the specific reference to the year 1999 left out). But more importantly, in the Orson Welles-narrated documentary "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow", this quotation was taken to mean that an unknown Muslim leader in a blue turban would launch a nuclear strike on the United States in June 1999.
8/10/2012
August 10: Coping with Cognitive Dissonance in a Baha'i Sect
In 1969, Dr. Leland Jensen, leader of a small Baha'i splinter group in Montana, entered prison for sexually molesting a 15-year-old girl. That night, in the early hours of August 10, he had a revelation that he was the "promised Joshua". In the years after his eventual release from prison, between 1979 and 1995, he issued 20 separate predictions of global disaster. These included several nuclear strikes on New York City, the smashing of Halley's Comet into Earth, and many others. On the eve of Jensen's largest prediction - April 29, 1980 - his hundreds of followers across multiple northwestern states entered fallout shelters to ride out what they believed would be 20 years of Tribulation before Christ's return to Earth in 2000.
After each failed prediction, Jensen and his right-hand man Neal Chase issued press releases explaining how they had been correct. For instance, when New York was not destroyed in a nuclear attack on March 23, 1994 (after previously not being destroyed in a nuclear attack on November 29, 1992), Chase pointed to a gas pipeline explosion in New Jersey the following day, which one witness compared to a nuclear blast.
Source: Balch, Domitrovich, Mahnke, Morrison - "Fifteen Years of Failed Prophecy: Coping with Cognitive Dissonance in a Baha'i Sect"
8/09/2012
August 9: d'Ailly Says 1789; and 45 Years Ahead of "Behind"
Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly died on this date in 1420. He was an extensive writer on cosmology and astrology, church powers, and the 14th-century Papal Schism in which competing popes claimed authority from Rome and Avignon. His cartographical views influenced Columbus, and a crater of the moon is named for him.
In a view accepted by a number of others (the Dijon Academy Rector Pierre Turrl, a certain Canon Rouessart, and Peter Pearson of London) d'Ailly claimed the world would end during 1789. As the French Revolution began, this may have appeared to have been a true prediction for awhile. (See February 6)
***
Ernest Angley was born on August 9, 1921. At age 91, Angley still operates an international evangelical ministry from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, boasting its own weekly television program, online Bible college, and Boeing 747.
Back in 1950, Angley penned the novel "Raptured", a fictional treatment of the modern American Evangelical synthesis of end-time beliefs, which foreran the "Left Behind" book series by some 45 years.
In a view accepted by a number of others (the Dijon Academy Rector Pierre Turrl, a certain Canon Rouessart, and Peter Pearson of London) d'Ailly claimed the world would end during 1789. As the French Revolution began, this may have appeared to have been a true prediction for awhile. (See February 6)
***
Ernest Angley was born on August 9, 1921. At age 91, Angley still operates an international evangelical ministry from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, boasting its own weekly television program, online Bible college, and Boeing 747.
Back in 1950, Angley penned the novel "Raptured", a fictional treatment of the modern American Evangelical synthesis of end-time beliefs, which foreran the "Left Behind" book series by some 45 years.
8/08/2012
August 8: Supervolcanoes, Revisited
We took a look at supervolcanoes on May 18, focusing on the possibility
of an eventual eruption in the Pacific Northwest, which could cause
global famine by blocking the sun with floating ash. According to a
Smithsonian article this week, the danger of such an eruption may be greater right now in Italy.
An eruption 39,000 years ago at this site - Campi Felgrei, outside Naples - was once thought to have been a possible reason for the extinction of the Neanderthals (this hypothesis has been discarded, but that it was considered possible in the first place shows how severe the eruption was).
On another note, many contemporary religion scholars, like Elaine Pagels in her most recent book Revelations, think the CE 79 Vesuvius eruption (connected with this same site near Naples) also played into the writing of the Book of Revelation. Particularly, Rev. 8:8 - "The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood...."
An eruption 39,000 years ago at this site - Campi Felgrei, outside Naples - was once thought to have been a possible reason for the extinction of the Neanderthals (this hypothesis has been discarded, but that it was considered possible in the first place shows how severe the eruption was).
On another note, many contemporary religion scholars, like Elaine Pagels in her most recent book Revelations, think the CE 79 Vesuvius eruption (connected with this same site near Naples) also played into the writing of the Book of Revelation. Particularly, Rev. 8:8 - "The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood...."
8/07/2012
August 7: Marvin Hamlisch
Musical theater and film-score composer Marvin Hamlisch has died in Los
Angeles. During 1999, the Reverend Jerry Falwell said he couldn't be
sure whether or not Hamlisch is the Antichrist.
Falwell spoke in response to a question from then-comedian and now-Senator Al Franken. According to Falwell, the Antichrist could be any living male Jew, which prompted Franken's question.
Here's the excerpt from Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, where Franken talks about asking Falwell about Hamlisch.
Falwell spoke in response to a question from then-comedian and now-Senator Al Franken. According to Falwell, the Antichrist could be any living male Jew, which prompted Franken's question.
Here's the excerpt from Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, where Franken talks about asking Falwell about Hamlisch.
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