Curious? How many members of this group feel we are living in the "End Times"?

by Balaamsass2 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Sea Breeze

  Welcome to freedom 3rd gen. There are a handful of “non essentials” that Christians continue to debate.

  This is what it looks like when freedom meets faith. But, the one thing that Christians are united on is Salvation by faith.

  That is non negotiable. Faith in the self-resurrection of Jesus as he historically predicted. Because he lives, so will I. (John 14:19) It really is that simple. It was game over when he walked out of that tomb. Bada Bing!

  It was for freedom that Christ set us free - Gal. 8:1

  Freedom is messy a little. Cults try to create a cheap imitation with their uniformity.

  Now, here’s the big question: Why is God so interested in our Freedom that he would go to the lengths that he did?
• 

  slimboyfat

  To adapt the well known observation: “just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get me”:

  Just because people have always believed it’s the end times doesn’t mean it isn’t the end times!

  In fact I think it’s probably overdetermined in the sense that there are multiple threats that could end humanity in the 21st century and it’s just a matter of what gets us first: nuclear war, ecological disaster in the form of species extinction (insects in particular) and habitat collapse, climate change, artificial intelligence, deadly pandemics. Personally I think artificial intelligence is the greatest and most imminent threat, though nuclear war could take us any time, and if neither of those two materialise then ecological disaster or a deadly pandemic will catch up with us sooner or later.

  All of which has got people thinking more about simulations, aliens, and even God. If there is a God will he step in before humans finish themselves off entirely? Are we at this interesting point in history for a reason? Whatever that might mean. I think they are reasonable questions to ponder.
• 

  Balaamsass2

  The wiki link in the OP is fascinating. Take a look at the end-time predictions from just the 1800s!

  "

  19th century

  [edit]

  Date(s) (CE)	Claimant(s)	Description	Ref.
  1805	Christopher Love	This Presbyterian minister predicted the destruction of the world by earthquake in 1805, followed by an age of everlasting peace when God would be known by all.	[76]
  1806	Mary Bateman	In Leeds, England, in 1806 a hen began laying eggs on which the phrase "Christ is coming" was written. Eventually it was discovered to be a hoax. The owner, Mary Bateman, had written on the eggs in a corrosive ink so as to etch the eggs, and reinserted the eggs back into the hen's oviduct.	[77] [78]
  19 Oct 1814	Joanna Southcott	This 64-year-old self-described prophet claimed she was pregnant with the Christ child, and that he would be born on 19 October 1814. She died later that year having not delivered a child, and an autopsy proved she had not been pregnant.	[79]
  November 12–13, 1833	Various	During a large Leonids meteor shower, several people including Joseph Smith believed that it was a sign of Jesus' second coming.	[80]
  1836	Johann Albrecht Bengel	In the 1730s this Lutheran clergyman proclaimed that Judgment Day would come in 1836, with the pope as the anti-Christ and the Freemasons representing the "false prophet" of Revelations.	[81]
  1836	John Wesley	Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, foresaw the Millennium beginning this year. He wrote that Revelation 12:14 referred to 1058 to 1836, "when Christ should come".	[77] [82]
  28 Apr 1843, 31 Dec 1843	Millerites	Although it was not officially endorsed by their leadership, many Millerites expected the Second Coming to occur on 28 April or at the end of 1843.	[83]
  1843	Harriet Livermore	The first of two years this preacher predicted the world would end.	[84]
  21 Mar 1844	William Miller	Miller, a Baptist preacher, predicted Christ would return on this day.	[85]
  22 Oct 1844	Millerites	After Christ did not return on 21 March 1844, the Millerites then revised William Miller's prediction to 22 October the same year, claiming to have miscalculated Scripture. The realization that the predictions were incorrect resulted in the Great Disappointment.	[85] [86]
  7 Aug 1847	George Rapp	Rapp, the founder of the Harmony Society, preached that Jesus would return in his lifetime, even as he lay dying on 7 August 1847.	[87]
  1847	Harriet Livermore	The second prediction of the end of the world from this preacher.	[84]
  1862	John Cumming	This Scottish clergyman stated it was 6,000 years since creation in 1862, and that the world would end.	[88]
  	Joseph Morris	An English convert to Mormonism, Morris had revelations to gather his followers and wait for the Second Coming, through successive prophesied days.	[89]
  1863	John Wroe	The founder of the Christian Israelite Church calculated that the Millennium would begin this year.	[79]
  1873	Jonas Wendell	In 1870, Wendell published his views in the booklet entitled The Present Truth, or Meat in Due Season concluding that the Second Advent was sure to occur in 1873.	[90]
  1874	Charles Taze Russell	This Christian minister predicted the return of Jesus to occur in 1874, and after this date reinterpreted the prediction to say that Jesus had indeed returned in invisible form.	[91] [92]
  1881	Mother Shipton (attrib.)	This 15th-century prophet was quoted as saying "The world to an end shall come, In eighteen hundred and eighty one" in a book published in 1862. In 1873 it was revealed to be a forgery; however, this did not stop some people from expecting the end.	[93]
  1890	Wovoka	The founder of the Ghost Dance movement predicted in 1889 that the Millennium would occur in 1890.	[94]
• 

  Balaamsass2

  Let's not forget the 1900s! :) JWs get a lot of mentions.

  "

  20th century

  [edit]

  Date(s) (CE)	Claimant(s)	Description	Ref.
  1901	Catholic Apostolic Church	Founded in 1831, this church claimed that Jesus would return by the time the last of its 12 founding members died. The last member died in 1901.	[95]
  1901	Annie Keeler	Keeler, a prominent doctor in Connecticut, predicted that due to the alignment of the planets, the world would come to an end and "complete the planetary cycle as it was in the days of Noah".	[96] [97]
  23 Apr 1908	Michael Paget Baxter	The last of numerous apocalyptic predictions by this Anglican evangelist and author; this prediction was published in 1894.	[98]
  1910	Camille Flammarion	Flammarion predicted that the 1910 appearance of Halley's Comet "would impregnate that atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet" but not the planet itself. "Comet pills" were sold to protect against toxic gases.	[86] [99]
  1892–1911	Charles Piazzi Smyth	This pyramidologist concluded from his research on the dimensions of the Great Pyramid of Giza that the Second Coming would occur somewhere between 1892 and 1911.	[100]
  1914	Charles Taze Russell	Russell said "...the battle of the great day of God Almighty... The date of the close of that 'battle' is definitely marked in Scripture as October 1914. It is already in progress, its beginning dating from October, 1874."	[101]
  1915	John Chilembwe	This Baptist educator and leader of a rebellion in the British protectorate of Nyasaland predicted the Millennium would begin this year.	[94]
  1918	International Bible Students Association	"Christendom shall be cut off and glorification of the Little Flock (The Church) in the Spring of 1918 A. D."	[102]
  1920	International Bible Students Association	In 1918, Christendom would go down as a system to oblivion and be succeeded by revolutionary governments. God would "destroy the churches wholesale and the church members by the millions." Church members would "perish by the sword of war, revolution and anarchy." The dead would lie unburied. In 1920 all earthly governments would disappear, with worldwide anarchy prevailing.	[103]
  13 Feb 1925	Margaret Rowen	According to this Seventh-Day Adventist, the angel Gabriel appeared before her in a vision and told her that the world would end at midnight on this date.	[104]
  1926	Spencer Perceval	This British MP, who was one of the 12 apostles of the Catholic Apostolic Church, believed that the world was growing nearer to the Apocalypse due to what he viewed as the rampant immorality of the times in Europe.	[105]
  Sep 1935	Wilbur Glenn Voliva	This evangelist announced that "the world is going to go 'puff' and disappear" in September 1935.	[106]
  1936	Herbert W. Armstrong	The founder of the Worldwide Church of God told members of his church that the Rapture was to take place in 1936, and that only they would be saved. After the prophecy failed, he changed the date three more times.	[107]
  1941	Jehovah's Witnesses	A prediction of the end from the Jehovah's Witnesses, a group that branched from the Bible Student movement.	[108]
  1943	Herbert W. Armstrong	The first of three revised dates from Armstrong after his 1936 prediction failed to come true.	[107]
  1947	John Ballou Newbrough	The author of Oahspe: A New Bible foresaw the destruction of all nations and the beginning of post-apocalyptic anarchy in this year.	[93]
  21 Dec 1954	Dorothy Martin	The world was to be destroyed by terrible flooding on this date, claimed this leader of a UFO cult called Brotherhood of the Seven Rays. The fallout of the group after the prediction failed was the basis for the 1956 book When Prophecy Fails.	[109]
  22 Apr 1959	Florence Houteff	The second prophet of the Branch Davidians predicted the apocalypse foretold in the Book of Revelation would proceed on this date. The failure of the prophecy led to the split of the sect into several subsects, the most prominent led by Benjamin and Lois Roden.	[110]
  4 Feb 1962	Jeane Dixon, various Indian astrologers	Dixon predicted a planetary alignment on this day was to bring destruction to the world. Mass prayer meetings were held in India.	[111] [112]
  20 Aug 1967	George Van Tassel	This day would mark the beginning of the third woe of the Apocalypse, during which the southeastern US would be destroyed by a Soviet nuclear attack, according to this UFO prophet, who claimed to have channeled an alien named Ashtar.	[113]
  1967	Jim Jones	The founder of the People's Temple stated he had visions that a nuclear holocaust was to take place in 1967.	[114]
  9 Aug 1969	George Williams	The founder of the Church of the Firstborn predicted the Second Coming of Christ would occur on this day.	[115]
  1969	Charles Manson	Manson predicted that Helter skelter, an apocalyptic race war, would occur in 1969.	[116]
  1972	Herbert W. Armstrong	The second of three revised dates from Armstrong after his 1936 and 1943 predictions failed to come true.	[107]
  Jan 1974	David Berg	Berg, the leader of Children of God, predicted that there would be a colossal doomsday event heralded by Comet Kohoutek.	[117]
  1975	Herbert W. Armstrong	Armstrong's fourth and final prediction.	[107]
  	Jehovah's Witnesses	From 1966 on, Jehovah's Witnesses published articles stating that the fall of 1975 would be 6,000 years since man's creation and suggested that Armageddon could be finished by then.	[118]
  1976	Brahma Kumaris	The Brahma Kumaris founder, Lekhraj Kirpalani, has made a number of predictions of a global Armageddon which the religion believes it will inspire, internally calling it "Destruction". During Destruction, Brahma Kumari leaders teach the world will be purified, all of the rest of humanity killed by nuclear or civil wars and natural disasters which will include the sinking of all other continents except India.	[119]
  1977	John Wroe	The founder of the Christian Israelite Church predicted this year for Armageddon to occur.	[93]
  	William M. Branham	This Christian minister predicted the Rapture would occur no later than 1977.	[120]
  1980	Leland Jensen	Jensen predicted in 1978 that there would be a nuclear disaster in 1980, followed by two decades of conflict, culminating in God's Kingdom being established on Earth.	[121]
  1981	Chuck Smith	The founder of Calvary Chapel predicted that the generation of 1948 would be the last generation and the world would end by 1981. Smith said that he "could be wrong" but added that his prediction was "a deep conviction in my heart, and all my plans are predicated upon that belief."	[122] [123]
  Apr–Jun 1982	Tara Centers	Full-page adverts in many newspapers dated 24 and 25 April 1982 stated that "The Christ is Now Here!" and that he would make himself known "within the next two months".	[124]
  10 Mar 1982	John Gribbin, Stephen Plagemann	Gribbin, an astrophysicist, co-authored the 1974 book The Jupiter Effect which predicted that combined gravitational forces of aligned planets would create a number of catastrophes, including a great earthquake on the San Andreas Fault.	[99] [125]
  21 Jun 1982	Benjamin Creme	Creme took out an ad in the Los Angeles Times stating that the Second Coming would occur in June 1982, and the Maitreya announced it on worldwide television.	[126]
  1982	Pat Robertson	In late 1976, Robertson predicted on his The 700 Club TV programme that the end of the world would come in this year.	[127]
  1985	Lester Sumrall	This Pentecostal minister predicted the end of the world in this year, even writing a book about it entitled I Predict 1985.	[128]
  29 Apr 1986	Leland Jensen	Jensen predicted that Halley's Comet would be pulled into Earth's orbit on this day, causing widespread destruction.	[129]
  17 Aug 1987	José Argüelles	Argüelles claimed that Armageddon would happen unless 144,000 people gathered in certain places across the world in order to "resonate in harmony" on this day.	[130]
  11–13 Sep 1988, 3 Oct 1988	Edgar C. Whisenant	Whisenant predicted in his book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988 that the Rapture of the Christian Church would occur between 11 and 13 September 1988. After this prediction failed to come true, Whisenant revised his prediction date to 3 October.	[131]
  30 Sep 1989	Edgar C. Whisenant	After all his 1988 predictions failed to come true, Whisenant revised his prediction date to this day.	[131] [132]
  23 Apr 1990	Elizabeth Clare Prophet	Prophet predicted a nuclear war would start on this day, and the world would end 12 years later, leading her followers to stockpile a shelter with supplies and weapons. After Prophet's prediction did not come to pass, she was later diagnosed with epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease.	[133] [134]
  9 Sep 1991	Menachem Mendel Schneerson	This Russian-born rabbi called for the Messiah to come by the start of the Jewish New Year.	[135]
  1991	Louis Farrakhan	The leader of the Nation of Islam declared that the Gulf War would be the "War of Armageddon which is the final war".	[136]
  28 Sep 1992	Rollen Stewart	This born-again Christian predicted the Rapture would take place on this day.	[137]
  28 Oct 1992	Lee Jang Rim (이장림 or 李長林)	Lee, the leader of the Dami Mission church, predicted the rapture would occur on this day.	[138]
  1993	David Berg	Berg predicted the tribulation would start in 1989 and that the Second Coming would take place in 1993.	[139]
  1993	Edgar C. Whisenant	After his 1988 and 1989 predictions failed, Whisenant moved the outer limit of his prediction to 1993.	[140] [141]
  1994	Edgar C. Whisenant	When his 1993 prediction failed to materialize, Whisenant updated it to 1994.	[142]
  2 May 1994	Neal Chase	This Bahá'í sect leader predicted that New York City would be destroyed by a nuclear bomb on 23 March 1994, and the Battle of Armageddon would take place 40 days later.	[143]
  6 Sep 1994, 29 Sep 1994, 2 Oct 1995	Harold Camping	Camping predicted the Rapture would occur on 6 September 1994. When it failed to occur he revised the date to 29 September and then 2 October.	[144] [145]
  31 Mar 1995	Harold Camping	Camping's fourth predicted date for the end. This would be Camping's last prediction until 2011.	[144]
  17 Dec 1996	Sheldan Nidle	Nidle, a Californian psychic, predicted that the world would end on this date, with the arrival of 16 million space ships and a host of angels.	[146]
  26 Mar 1997	Marshall Applewhite	Applewhite, leader of the Heaven's Gate cult, claimed that a spacecraft was trailing the Comet Hale-Bopp and argued that suicide was "the only way to evacuate this Earth" so that the cult members' souls could board the supposed craft and be taken to another "level of existence above human". Applewhite and 38 of his followers committed mass suicide.	[147]
  10 Aug 1997	Aggai	The 1st-century bishop of Edessa predicted this date to be the birth date of the Antichrist and the end of the universe.	[148]
  23 Oct 1997	James Ussher	This 17th-century Irish archbishop predicted this date to be 6,000 years since creation and therefore the end of the world.	[149]
  31 Mar 1998	Hon-Ming Chen	Chen, leader of the Taiwanese cult Chen Tao – "The True Way" – claimed that God would come to Earth in a flying saucer at 10:00 am on this date.	[150]
  Jul 1999	Nostradamus	A quatrain by Nostradamus that stated the "King of Terror" would come from the sky in "1999 and seven months" was frequently interpreted as a prediction of doomsday in July 1999.	[151]
  18 Aug 1999	The Amazing Criswell	The predicted date of the end of the world, according to this psychic well known for predictions.	[152]
  11 Sep 1999	Philip Berg	Berg, dean of the worldwide Kabbalah Centre, stated that on this date "a ball of fire will descend, destroying almost all of mankind, all vegetation, all forms of life."	[153]
  1999	Charles Berlitz	This linguist predicted the end would occur in this year. He did not predict how it would happen, stating that it might involve nuclear devastation, asteroid impact, pole shift or other Earth changes.	[154]
  	Hon-Ming Chen
• 

  slimboyfat

  Most prophets and end-times predictors point to dates within their own lifetime. Isaac Newton apparently bucked that trend and predicted the end for 2060.

  https://isaac-newton.org/statement-on-the-date-2060/
  
• 

  Phizzy

  Newton was a great Scientist, and a modest one, but he was capable of being blinded by his belief, his faith, which was of course, without evidence. For Newton, Biblical prophecy forecast the divinely-ordained events of the future.

  So, he started from a false premise, as so many do on this End Times twaddle.
• 

  slimboyfat

  Was Newton blinded by belief or are we in the modern age blinded by the modern dogma that only science can deliver true knowledge? Scientific knowledge itself changes over time and we can never know in advance what will need to be changed, which should give some pause or humility before ruling anything out in this mysterious existence in which we find ourselves.
• 

  TonusOH

  Science gradually gains knowledge about the things we can test, and does not move in a straight line. But it has proven to be reliable over time, which is impressive given how unreliable people can be. Yes, people can be dogmatic and proud about scientific discovery and learning, an attitude which is, ironically, not scientific.

  The things science cannot test are, well... not testable. Hence, the near unlimited ideas and beliefs that people have developed, abandoned, and recreated over the thousands of years that we've been around. And the realization that, after thousands of years, we still aren't anywhere near a consensus on issues of religion or spirituality.
• 

  HereIam60

  When I was newly in, it was easy to be carried along by the zeal and urgency of others, and believe the end was "imminent" as they used to say. But that was 40 years ago. We were supposed to be withdrawing from, yet warning the world Now even the Governing Body has made long range plans and projects that tie them into it.

  The sgn that Jesus gave of "his presence and the conclusion of the system of things" has been visibly fufilled worldwide to a degree. The first World War may have seemed a major fufillment at the time, but now 1914, biblically chonological or not, is so far in the past that it doesn't seem that significant. Long time Witnesses cling to it because it's what they've heard all their lives.

  There always have been threats and dangers to life. So I don't know. I guess if and when 'the end', mine personally, or the world's, comes, I'll know it. In the meantime history seems to have been a continuous line of both progress and crisis..
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  I'm 77 so i am living in the time of my end. But no hurry. - Stan

  Exactly my thoughts. (About my age, not yours, Stan.)

  I'm quite certain I'm living in MY "End Times".

  As far as anything pertaining to Biblical "prophesy" -- Sorry folks, but that's all BS.