A plague of locusts in Madagascar. Over fourteen thousand mysterious dead animals in China. Phenomenal pond circles in Eden, New York. These are just a few of the first theories that, though we survived the 21st of December, the end of the world may (still) be on its way. Here are more:
Some doomsayer Catholics were astonished when lightning struck St. Peter’s Cathedral on the day that Pope Benedict XVI resigned. Why? In the twelfth century, Saint Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, experienced a vision of 112 popes of the Catholic Church. “When these things are finished,” he said, “the city of seven hills will be destroyed and the dreadful judge will judge his people.” Is Judgment Day to conclude Francis I’s tenure?
A recent study claims that the Earth is as warm as it has been since the end of the Ice Age. A drought struck the Midwest in the spring of 2012 and is predicted to endure 2014. If carbon dioxide levels continue to climb at their current rate, the Earth will be at temperatures it has not seen since man invented agriculture. Are we about to burn out of existence?
A perfect, “once in a generation” space storm is supposed to take place on the sun sometime this year. Current satellite navigation technology, radio signals, GPS devices, cell phones and other wireless systems may be in peril. A single solar flare could leave our planet without power. Try putting me on hold, now, Madame Operator.
Do you remember Hal Lindsey’s notorious prophecy: that the 1980’s marked a countdown to Armageddon? If you do, you’re a part of the generation that has been predicted to witness the return of Christ. You can relax a little on this one, though. The prophecy only includes 2013.
Again, take a breath. Dr. F. Kenton Beshore, president of the World Bible Society, has predicted that the Rapture would likely occur between 2012 and 2021. In this case, Beshore expects the return of Christ to take place between 2018 and 2028.
End Times Magazine is still producing issues, Baxter’s syndicated radio program is still running, and weekly “prophecy conferences” are still taking place. Attend, speculate, or challenge; TruTv predicts that these meetings will continue until “Baxter gets it right and the end of the world finally does come.”
Would you take it from Isaac Newton? How about David Flynn? Tempt at the Center of Time, written by Flynn, represents Newton’s determination that the world would end in 2060. Newton produced this theory following a mistaken prediction that the world would end in 1660 (due to fires, floods, and plagues that year) and based it upon the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III. Flynn feels that Newton slipped up his numbers, and has recalculated that the Newton meant to say 2013.
But fear not. Or just a little. A self-allegedly “rational” wiki provides here (http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/List_of_predictions_of_the_end_of_the_world) a list of predictions for the end of the world ranging from the 28th century BCE to the 3×1041 st century. Fingers crossed, I suppose.