Humans are a peculiar species indeed! We have made such strides in evolution that it is hard for other creatures to match us in almost every aspect of life. However, human brains also come with adverse thoughts. We like to think and predict our own doom too… Funny, isn’t it?
Yes, you heard it right, ancient religious scriptures and many scholars across the world have aimed to predict the day of the impending doom of our home planet. Sounds stupid, but it’s true; humans have predicted the end of the world!
Here are some doomsday predictions made by in various religions and various people:
PREDICTIONS BY RELIGIONS AND MOVEMENTS:
- Christianity: The Bible’s Book of Revelation talks about Armageddon – the epic battle between God and Satan and it highlights that the world will end when Satan (anti-Christ) is killed. The Great Tribulation” (Matthew 24:21), “Affliction”(Mark 13:19), and “Days of Vengeance”(Luke 21:22) all highlight this event. – Wikipedia
- Hinduism: Vishnu Purana talks about Lord Vishnu returning as Kalki (Kulki) to Earth on a white horse to fight all evils of society in the Kali Yuga (future world) and somehow the world ends with this to be later reformed as the Satya Yuga.
- Islam: Many hadiths prophesize that Jesus returns to Damascus to kill the anti-Christ. Once that is done, Jesus too will succumb to natural death. This time of destruction is described as ‘The Hour’ in which the Earth will be cleansed of all sins.
- Judaism: The Hebrew Bible refers to a ‘Day for the Lord’ in which all Jewish exiles will congregate in Israel and God himself ensues death and destruction on the people who are to be punished for their sins on Jews. This war between Gog and Magog (enemy of God) is also referred to as ‘Armageddon’ by Christians.
- Buddhism: Buddhism refers to Armageddon as Shambhala, a period in which the entire planet is restored by a new Buddha to eliminate it from all evil.
- Bahá’í Faith: Bahá’u’lláh announced that he is the return (resurrection) of Christ and that the Battle of Armageddon and mass martyrdom of the ‘End Times’ has ended around the year 1844 AD and that now is the ‘Golden Age of humanity’.
- Zoroastrianism: They believe that the entire planet will be engulfed by fire in which all the sinners will be burnt to dust.
- Ancient Aztecs, Inca, and Mayans: They all believed that the world would end in 2012 after the Earth would collapse in itself due to the Gods being unhappy with humanity.
- Rastafarianism: Rastafari believes that their late Ethiopian Emperor and ‘God incarnate’ Haile Selassie will return on the day of judgment (in the Bible) to bring home (Mount Zion) all natives of Africa after they are freed from slave trade and racism.
- Norse: They believed that a battle between the ancient Gods will end the earth.
- Mormons: The followers of the Book of Mormon claim that Jesus will resurrect in Missouri and will one of the three heavenly kingdoms of humanity apart from Jerusalem and the Vatican.
- Hopi: Native American Hopis believe that one day all seas will turn black and a huge blue-colored star will hit the earth after which iron snakes and stone rivers will encompass the planet.
PREDICTIONS BY FAMOUS INDIVIDUALS AND SECTS
Sandro Botticelli: The famous painter believed that 1504 was the start of the Millennium and that the Tribulation has already started. His painting called The Mystical Nativity shows the Devil would be chained on this day and the world would end after this.
Christopher Columbus: He claimed that the world came into existence during 5343 BCE and would end in 7000 years (1658 AD).
John Napier: The creator of the famous Napier’s Rods calculated that the world would end in 1700 as mentioned in his book ‘A Plain Discovery’ published in 1593.
The Shakers: This famous Christian sect of the 18th century believed that the world would end around 1792-1794.
Nostradamus: In a famous quatrain, the astrologer states that in 1999 a “King of Terror” or the anti-Christ would come and destroy the Earth.
Mary Bateman’s Hen: In 1806’s this woman (considered a Wicca) had a hen which laid eggs bearing the phrase – “Christ is coming”. Later, it was discovered the Bateman herself carved these eggs with corrosive ink and forced them up back into the poor hen’s oviduct.
John Wesley: The founder of the Methodist Church expected that in 1836 Christ would resurrect and doomsday will ensue.
Jeane Dixon: Jeane along with many Indian astrologers predicted that on 4th February 1962, a peculiar planetary alignment would destroy the entire solar system.
Jehovah’s Witnesses: They claimed that in 1975, the world would end exactly 6000 years after man’s creation.
Neal Chase: The Bahá’í leader predicted that on 2 May 1994 the Battle of Armageddon would take place after New York City is pulverized by a nuclear warhead on March 23, 1994.
Harold Camping: He has made many failed predictions of the world’s end over and over again.
Peter Olivi, Ruth Montgomery, Sun Myung Moon, Lester Sumrall, and many others: They all predicted that the coming of the Millennium (the year 2000) would either shift the Earth’s axis to reveal the anti-Christ, result in the resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Last Judgement would happen.
Ronald Weinland: After three failed predictions of 2011, 2012 and 2013, he predicted again that on June 9, 2019, Jesus will resurrect.
FUTURE DOOMSDAY PREDICTIONS
Jeane Dixon has again predicted that Armageddon will now happen in 2020.
Kenton Beshore, an American pastor suggests that in 2021 or 2028 the rapture will begin after the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Messiah Foundation International, a spiritual organization has said that in 2026 a massive asteroid will destroy Earth as mentioned in Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi’s book, ‘The Religion of God’.
Said Nursî, a Sunni Muslim theologian expects the world to end in the 22nd Century (2129 AD).
Talmud of the Orthodox Judaism claims that the Messiah will resurrect after 6000 years of the creation of Adam (the year 2239 AD) and the world will be destroyed 1000 years later (3239 AD) with the end of the period of desolation.
Rashad Khalifa, an Egyptian-American biochemist after researching the Holy Qu’ran says the world would end in 2280 AD.
Peter Tuthill and Nick Bostrom, two famous philosophy majors claim that in approximately 300,000 to 5,00,000 years an asteroid hit or a supernova will hit the Earth with a gamma-ray burst.
Stephen Nelson expects this asteroid hit to happen 100 million years and Anne Millard expects it happen in 500 million years.