Apocalypse now? Times when world was to end, and didn’t
Saturday is the end of the world. OK, it’s probably not, but David Meade, a self-published author of end-of-the-world survival guides says it will be.
Meade makes the claim using “astronomical, scientific, the Book of Revelation and geopolitics” ideology, laid out in his book “Planet X — The 2017 Arrival.” His is the latest in a very long line of self-proclaimed prophets who claim they know when the biblically predicted “end times” will arrive.
While we wait for Sept. 23, here are some other recent doomsday predictions:
July 29, 2016: The group End Times Prophecies once announced the world would end on July 29, 2016, because of something called a “polar flip.” It was predicted the stars would race across the sky and the atmosphere would be pulled along the ground. It turns out such a reversal is a common phenomenon occurring when iron shifts in the Earth’s core.
Oct. 7, 2015: The eBible Fellowship, a Philadelphia-based Christian website run by Chris McCann, predicted the end of the world in correlation with the blood moon. (It earlier claimed the world would end on May 21, 2011.) “According to what the Bible is presenting it does appear that 7 October will be the day that God has spoken of: in which, the world will pass away,” McCann told The Guardian. “It’ll be gone forever. Annihilated.”
Sept. 27, 2015: The blood moon-supermoon phenomena generated several end-of-the-world predictions related to four consecutive and complete lunar eclipses occurring at six-month intervals for about two years. Mormon author Julie Rowe’s apocalyptic musings caused the Mormon Church to issue a statement to USA TODAY distancing itself from her statements. (The blood moon-supermoon will next appear in 2033.)
April 15, 2014: Some people thought it was the end; others just think it’s the beginning of the end. The blood moon marked the beginning of a tetrad — four consecutive and complete lunar eclipses occurring at six-month intervals — which some see as a prophecy. Texas televangelist John Hagee, author of “Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change,” says blood moons signify a “world-shaking event” that begins to fulfill End Times prophecy, a.k.a. the second coming of Christ.
Dec. 21, 2012: Basically, the ancient Mayans, who ruled through Mexico and Central America until around 900 A.D., used three calendars, one of which ended on Dec. 21, 2012. And such laid the groundwork for the Mayan calendar doomsday craze of 2012. People planned. People partied. It was debunked, over and over. Celebrities tweeted. The Mayans chuckled.
August/September 2011: NASA’s recap of the Comet Elenin fascination explains it all: “Elenin somehow quickly became something of a ‘cause célèbre’ for a few internet bloggers, who proclaimed this minor comet could/would/should be responsible for causing any number of disasters to befall our planet. … NASA’s response to such wild speculations was then, in turn, speculated to be an attempt to hide the truth.”
May 21, 2011: Harold Camping, a then-89-year-old televangelist and former president of the Family Radio Network, predicted the rapture would end the world with series of worldwide earthquakes hitting at 6 p.m. People believed him. Some quit their jobs and nervously huddled in their home awaiting their moment with God. The day of judgment didn’t come. So, he pushed the date back to Oct. 21. Then, he stopped making predictions. Camping lived a long life and died at 92.
Jan. 1, 2000: The computers can’t handle an extra digit, they said. So the world braced for a computer database crash of catastrophic preparations. Rev. Jerry Falwell said Y2K would fulfill Christian prophecy. People who had never previously bought into end of the world theories were suddenly stockpiling canned goods in their basement. More than $100 billion was spent on Y2K fixes, The New York Times reported. When the clocks hit midnight, there were a few minor computer glitches but nothing major. Everyone survived.