Buzz
Do you recall 2012, or more precisely, the decade before it filled with predictions of an impending apocalypse? Of course, the world didn't end. Yet, despite the failed predictions, new ones continue to surface.
So be cautious: You don’t want to finalize plans, notify everyone of your arrival, and dress to impress, only for the apocalypse to strike, leaving the world lifeless and you utterly embarrassed. Understanding how much time humanity has left is essential for planning your social events, so here are ten dates to keep in mind, just in case all life on Earth is wiped out.
10. The Great Tribulation – 2017
The Bible describes the Great Tribulation as the most dreadful period in human history, right before the world ends. Christian doomsday theorists have pointed to the fall of 2017 as the beginning of this seven-year era of unbearable suffering.
A great deal of people, along with numerous long and intricate Bible verses and calculations, were involved in determining this date. The theory largely centers around significant events tied to Jerusalem. In 1217, Rabbi Judah Ben Samuel made several predictions concerning Jerusalem and the apocalypse. Initially, he claimed that the Turks would rule the area for eight Jubilees. (A Jubilee is a 50-year period marked by forgiveness, debt cancellation, liberty, and divine mercy.) According to Ben Samuel, 1217 marked the start of a Jubilee cycle, as did 1517, the year the Turks invaded Jerusalem, exactly 300 years after his forecast. In 1917, eight Jubilees later, the Turks were expelled from Jerusalem during Hanukkah.
Ben Samuel further predicted that Jerusalem would be a no-man’s land during the ninth Jubilee, which coincided with the British mandate over the city. During this time, the proposal of corpus separatum (separate body) was suggested, which would have made Jerusalem an independent international entity. In 1948, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan, and in 1967, Israel regained full control, marking the conclusion of the ninth Jubilee.
2017 marks the 50th anniversary of Israel's complete reclamation of Jerusalem, marking the final year of the tenth Jubilee. Ben Samuel predicted that this would be the time when the Jews would take full control of Israel, and the end of days would occur. Additionally, 2017 marks two Jubilees since the Balfour Declaration, which expressed the intention to establish a homeland for the Jewish people, as well as 70 years (a biblical generation) since the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was adopted.
9. The Ninth Prophecy – 2018
The Hopi are a Native American tribe based in Arizona. With a reservation spanning 6,557 square kilometers (2,532 square miles) and a population of 19,327 as of 2010, the Hopi are one of the largest tribes in the United States. Along with this substantial culture comes a rich and extensive history.
Like many Native American tribes, the Hopi encountered threats of violence and oppression from Spanish conquistadors, although they managed to achieve significant victories in 1542 and 1680. In 1882, President Arthur granted them reservations, though their communication with the US government began much earlier. One notable interaction occurred in 1958 between minister David Young and Hopi elder White Feather, during which White Feather shared several ancient Hopi prophecies.
The first two predictions referred to white-skinned men and spinning wheels filled with voices, which the Hopi interpret as the arrival of Europeans and their conquest of the Americas. The third spoke of 'a strange beast like a buffalo' overtaking the land, a warning about the rise of modern cattle farming. The subsequent three predictions described iron snakes, a giant spiderweb, and rivers of stone: railroads, telecommunication wires, and highways.
These six prophecies had already come true by the time they were shared with Young in 1958. The final three, however, remained unfulfilled.
White Feather's first prediction for the future was that the sea would turn black, causing death to its contents. Many have connected this to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the fifth-largest in history, though only half the size of the 1910 Kern County spill. The next prophecy spoke of long-haired youth yearning to learn Native American traditions, which some believe refers to the hippie movement. The ninth prediction states:
You will hear of a dwelling-place in the heavens, above the Earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a blue star. Very soon after this, the ceremonies of my people will cease.
The most immediate assumption is that a comet will crash into Earth, but while many interpret the prophecy this way, others argue that the term 'blue star' might point to something else. Tiangong-1, a Chinese space station, lost communication with Earth in 2016. It is currently orbiting the planet, set to crash when it loses enough momentum. Could this 'blue satellite' be the star White Feather predicted? Could it house a dangerous experiment for humanity? We’ll have to wait until October 2018 to find out, when the lab is expected to reenter the atmosphere. If we’re still here by then, we can start worrying about the comet.
8. The Second Coming 2020
Jeane Dixon is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the psychic world of the 20th century. She worked closely with Presidents Nixon and Reagan, had a syndicated newspaper column, and authored several books, including one about horoscopes for dogs.
In 1973, Dixon published her most famous work, The Call to Glory, in which her followers believe she foretold the end of the world. According to Dixon, the end would begin in 2020, with a voice heard worldwide proclaiming 'It is done.' This would signal the Second Coming of Christ, who would engage in a final battle with Satan until the world's end in 2037.
Like many psychics, Dixon was known for inaccurate predictions. However, unlike most, she became famous for the phenomenon of ignoring incorrect predictions, which is now called the Jeane Dixon Effect. Dixon insisted that her visions were always accurate; she simply misinterpreted them.
7. The Second Coming (Again) 2021
If you're skeptical of psychics and prefer to base your apocalyptic predictions on the Bible, F. Kenton Beshore may be the person you're looking for. As the President of the World Bible Society, Beshore is firm in his belief that Armageddon will occur by 2021 'at the latest.' A significant reason for this conviction lies in his interpretation of the parable of the fig tree.
In case you're unfamiliar with the parable, it goes something like this: A farmer is frustrated because his fig tree hasn't borne fruit in three years. As he's about to cut it down, a farmhand suggests, 'Give it one more year.' Many view this as God preparing to punish the wicked, while offering them a final opportunity for redemption.
However, since the fig tree is often seen as a symbol for Israel, Beshore and others interpret the parable differently. In his book When, Beshore argues that it signifies Jesus' return one generation after the establishment of Israel, which he believes will occur in 2028. Given that Jesus will battle Satan before taking the righteous, the actual chaos and turmoil, according to Beshore, will begin by 2021.
6. World-Killing Asteroid 2026
The Messiah Foundation International, established in 2002, is a unique blend of various religious beliefs. While it incorporates elements from all theistic traditions, it primarily combines Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism into a spiritual fusion.
According to the Messiah Foundation, scientists are allegedly aware of an enormous asteroid speeding toward Earth, set to collide in 2026. Although some unnamed scientists believe humanity will have the technology to prevent this catastrophe by then, the foundation asserts otherwise, claiming that the asteroid marks the end of days.
The foundation insists that when the asteroid strikes, the long-awaited figures will return to save the righteous. Among these figures is Jesus. The Messiah (for those who don’t view Jesus as such) will also appear, along with the Mahdi (the Islamic Redeemer) and the Kalki Avatar (Vishnu’s final form). Notably, the foundation’s leader, His Sublime Eminence Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi, is also listed as one of the awaited ones and will return, despite still being alive.
5. Newton’s Prediction 2060
Isaac Newton is often associated with science and logic, but it turns out that the man behind the discovery of gravity had a profound spiritual side. While he is widely known for his scientific contributions, Newton’s faith in God was just as strong, and he firmly believed that the Bible held hidden clues about the apocalypse for those who were sharp enough to uncover them.
Newton’s theories are intricate and detailed, but at its core, he believed that the world would end after a prolonged period of corruption within the Catholic Church. By tracing this back, he argued that the year 800 marked the start of the church’s corruption and the rise of papal dominance. According to Newton, the Book of Revelations referred to “time, times, and the dividing of time,” symbolizing a period of years. Additionally, the text mentions 42 months, which equals 1,260 days when calculated in the old Jewish calendar. Since days often represent years in the Bible, Newton concluded the world would end in 2060.
Newton did acknowledge that the end might come after 2060, but he didn’t see any reason why it would happen sooner. Ironically, he hoped his prediction would curb “the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end.” Of course, we all know how that turned out.
4. Islamic Second Coming 2129
Before comic books and movies introduced us to shared universes, the religions of the world already had overlapping storylines. Jews, Christians, and Muslims all worship the same God, and together they form the Abrahamic religions, which make up over half of the world’s believers. So, if Christianity is the sequel to Judaism, Islam could be considered a spin-off, where Jesus is regarded as a highly respected prophet but not the Messiah. It’s a bit like Iron Man appearing in a Spider-Man movie.
Various Islamic hadiths suggest that the apocalypse won’t unfold in a single day but will instead be a gradual process. It will begin with a world full of war and oppression against Muslims, a scenario that many believe is already occurring today. In response, the Mahdi, the awaited one, will bring Muslims together, paving the way for the return of a prophet, widely believed to be Jesus. This belief stems from a hadith that states the son of Mary will break the cross and kill the pig. Breaking the cross symbolizes dismantling Christianity, which they believe has strayed from Jesus’ original teachings, while killing the pig represents the restoration of Jewish dietary laws, such as the prohibition against eating pork.
Said Nursi, a prominent Muslim scholar, analyzed these hadiths and believed he had pinpointed the timeline for these events. In his interpretation, the end of the world would be marked by earthquakes, fire, and a one-eyed beast battling the Messiah, as Gog and Magog descend upon Earth. These figures, mentioned in the Torah, Quran, and Bible, have been portrayed as humanoid beings or as hostile nations. Whatever their true nature, Nursi predicted that all of this would occur in 2129, meaning many of us will likely witness these events unfold while burning in Hell.
3. Sermon Of The Seven Suns Circa 84517
Out of the 4,200 known religions throughout human history, Buddhism is one of the most widely accepted and respected by outsiders. Beyond its principles of peace and self-reflection, most people associate Buddhism with the ideas of reincarnation and the classic joke about the Dalai Lama ordering pizza and asking for ‘one with everything.’ But what does this religion of tranquility and rebirth predict about the end of the world?
To understand Buddha’s vision of the world’s end, you must first realize that the Buddha who founded Buddhism on Earth, Siddhartha Gautama, is only the Buddha of our world. Gautama lived from 563 to 483 BC and prophesied that his teachings would be forgotten 5,000 years after his death, which would occur around AD 4517. By then, humanity will have fallen into selfish and sinful ways. Another Buddha, Maitreya, will descend to revive the religion sometime in the following 80,000 years, at which point human lifespans will be vastly longer.
Following this, the Seven Suns sermon will continue. The first sun is our own, and it will cause all plant life to ‘dry up, wither away, and cease to be.’ The second sun’s arrival will bring about the death of all animal life. The third, fourth, and fifth suns will dry up the rivers, lakes, and oceans in succession, while the sixth sun will trigger an era of fierce volcanic destruction.
At last, the seventh sun will appear, igniting the Earth in flames and burning it to complete and total nonexistence. It could be argued that the suns represent units of time, but most adherents to this belief seem to view them as literal suns—either entering our solar system or going supernova. Thankfully, anyone can avoid this fate by achieving enlightenment and Nirvana, which, considering the presence of a Buddha and a lifespan of 80,000 years, might be quite achievable.
2. Quran Code2280
Rashad Khalifa, an Egyptian biochemist, declared himself to be a divine messenger of God. In the late 1960s, he began using computers to search for mathematical codes hidden within the Quran. By the mid-1970s, he claimed to have found them. His research involved analyzing the frequency of words, letters, verses, and numbers, with the number 19 emerging as the key to unlocking the secrets of the sacred text.
One piece of evidence for this is that the first verse of the Quran contains 19 letters, as does the first verse of the final revelation. The number of chapters between the well-known ‘missing statement’ and the additional statement is 19, and these changes were made by scholars 19 years after the prophet’s death. When the name Rashad Khalifa is calculated geometrically (A=1, B=2, etc.), the numbers total 19, revealing him as the seer of the apocalypse. There are many more supposed pieces of evidence, but this gives you the general idea.
The Quran, like many sacred texts, provides signs to watch for, indicating when the end of the world will occur. These include the splitting of the Moon, which believers associate with humanity retrieving Moon rocks; the discovery of the secret code, known as code 19; and the appearance of a creature ‘made of the Earth’ that will reveal the existence of our creator, also known as computers.
Using these codes and clues, Khalifa concluded that the world would end in 2280, so there’s still plenty of time left on Earth. When the end comes, a horn will sound, and Earth will be ‘crushed, utterly crushed,’ along with the heavens. Luckily, a second Earth and Heaven will be formed for the believers.
The issue with mathematical codes is that they’re often flexible enough to fit any prediction. Much of the evidence presented for this theory includes pointing out how the total number of verses in the Quran, 6,346, is 334 times 19. Perhaps the most compelling piece of evidence, however, comes from a criminal angle: Khalifa’s murder. He was killed by an ex-student in January 1990. Nineteen years later, the killer was extradited from Canada for trial and convicted on December 19, 2012.
1. Messiah Clock2239
One of the central beliefs in Judaism is the anticipation of the Messiah. It’s no surprise, then, that some have tried to predict when he will arrive. Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna, an 18th-century scholar, developed a ‘clock’ (not a physical device, but a method of timekeeping) to count down to the Messiah’s arrival. Psalm 90:4 tells us that one thousand years to us is like a day in God’s eyes, so Eliyahu applied this to the six days of creation. The seventh day, the Sabbath, thus becomes the time when God will reign over us forever, known as the Messianic Age.
In the Hebrew calendar, days start at sunset rather than sunrise, which makes it different from the Gregorian calendar. Therefore, it’s not the year 7000 but rather the year 6000 that marks the beginning of the Messianic Age. This will occur at sunset on September 30, 2239. According to this tradition, the Messiah must arrive before the Sabbath, meaning this is the latest possible date for his arrival, though he could come earlier to help prepare for his new Heaven on Earth.
Unfortunately, while the eternal Sabbath promises total peace and harmony, it’s only for those who actively prepare for the Messiah’s arrival. Even if you’re a practicing Jew, you won’t be invited to the celebration if you haven’t helped set the stage for it.
