According to a Christian-based group in Philadelphia, we were all supposed to die last week.
On October 7, 2015, eBible Fellowship, a Delaware County in Philadelphia, Christian group was confident of the world’s impending doom, for it was thought to be the deadline for saving non- believers. Being that today is a week later and there is no apocalyptic earthquake, flooding, burning, and eternal darkness, this latest prophecy seems to be like any other the world has faced. However, it’s not likely to be the last prediction of our imminent annihilation.
Just to reassure the paranoid that we are likely to overcome this October 7th doomsday and many others, here are some of the other prophecies made by scientists and religious sects alike that failed to prove the world’s destruction.
January 1, 1000 A.D: Prophesized to be the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Frantic people left their jobs and dumped their property.
February 1, 1524: In London, astronomers interpreted the magnificent alignment of planets in the Pisces constellation as a sign that the world would end in a flood. Over 20,000 villagers abandoned their homes and packed food and supplies. Many sought refuge on higher ground while others built arks to wait out the “imminent” flood. There was not a drop of rain that day.
1697: In 1691, Cotton Mather, an influential Puritan who participated in the Salem Witch Trials, believed that the year 1697 would bring Armageddon.
May 1780: Darkness falling over New England prompted the belief of the impending Judgment Day.
1914: Charles Taze Russell, founder of the movement that became the Jehovah Witnesses, predicted the apocalypse to be in 1914. After that failing prophecy, the group issued other false prophetic dates: 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994.
July 1999: The famous 16th century astrologer Nostradamus, known for his predictions that foretell pivotal moments in history, prophesized that in “the year 1999 and seven months, from the skies shall come a great and terrible King of Terror.” This terrifying prediction was interpreted as the world being destroyed by a meteor from the heavens. July of 1999 passed without an astronomical catastrophe.
December 21, 2012: The well-known Mayan calendar prophecy predicted the end of the world four days before gift-giving Christmas. Like its predecessors, this prophecy was proven false. Instead, this date marks a renewal period, the beginning of a new era on Earth.
When predictions such as these are broadcasted, it is unsurprising that some ready their apocalypse survival kits while many others treat them as jokes.
People are now desensitized to death. In ancient times, apocalyptic rumors alone brought paranoia and extreme preparations for survival. Today, the end of the world is promoted. People look forward to the apocalypse in order to kill zombies like in The Walking Dead.
Despite our nonchalant attitudes towards death, it proves time and time again to be an unpredictable force of nature. Whether you are a doomsday theorist or a God fearing man or woman, history proves that the apocalypse is not something that can be calculated into a date.
When the time comes for the world to end, we will not see it coming. Why should we?
Don’t worry yourself to death about death.