‘Doomsday,’ or ‘the ultimate human destiny,’ sometimes also known as the ‘end times’ is a matter of great concern and interest for human beings ever since they started pondering the genesis of the universe. The concern is addressed in almost all religions. A special branch of knowledge, ‘eschatology,’ is the study of matters relating to the end times. Lexically it is defined as ‘The department of theological science concerned with ‘the four last things: death, judgement, heaven and hell.” In addition to the knowledge gained from the Scriptures and religious studies, human beings have also been informed of the probable end times and the sequence of events by their own fellow human beings who predicted the end times for self-realization or to gain cheap popularity. History is full of doomsday prophecies which failed as is evident by our existence at this point in time. Whereas these prophecies were often made with religious serenity, at times they were targeted against simple common folk to deceive them with a sadist approach to enjoy the cost of others’ troubles. There are events in recorded history when such prophecies caused tragedies due to the utter belief of the people in them. There are doomsday prophecies still waiting, and who will write on the end times if one of them comes true?

1. Harold Camping’s Prophecy

Born on July 19, 1921, Harold Camping is a Californian-based Family Radio broadcaster. He is known for Biblical interpretations from a numerology point of view. He predicted that Jesus Christ would return to Earth on May 21, 2011, and all the believers would be lifted to Heaven and the remaining millions would be killed by October 21, 2011. However, after the expiration of this date, he changed his prediction. After the failure of this prediction too, he changed his prediction to yet another date being October 16, 2011which also failed like the previous two. He repented upon his predictions and said that he was still researching Bible to get guidance and not for a doomsday prophecy.

2. Marshall Applewhite’s Prophecy

Marshall Applewhite was born in Texas on May 17, 1931 and committed suicide in March, 1997 in Rancho Santa Fe, California. He founded an American religious group called Heaven’s Gate. He organized the biggest ever collective suicide of the group members in America. He succeeded in gaining some committed followers and told them that they would be visited by extraterrestrials, and their souls would be provided with new bodies. It appears that after the discovery of the Comet Hale-Bopp, he convinced his followers that the Earth was going to be recycled, and their only chance of survival was to submit their souls to the comet. On March 26, 1997, the
San Diego police discovered 39 bodies clad in uniform black shirts, sweat pants, and brand new Nike tennis shoes. This was the biggest ever collective suicide in America resulting from a false doomsday prophecy.

3. Hall Lindsey’s Prophecy

Hall Lindsey was born to Percy Lacy Lindsey and Daisy Lee Freeman in Houston, Texas on November 23, 1929. Leaving his studies at the University of Houston, he served in the Korean War and then worked as a Mississippi tugboat captain. He authored the 1974 best-seller Armageddon. He predicted doomsday to fall in 1988 through the events to happen narrated in his book  The Late Great Planet Earth. The prophecy, however, failed.

4. Edgar Cayce

Edgar Cayce was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky on March 18, 1877 and died in Virginia Beach, Virginia on January 3, 1945 at the age of 67. He was a devout Christian. And although not highly educated formally, was known for healing and extending advice to those who asked. And there were many who did ask him about their problems. He made many predictions, and one of his prophecies was that the world’s end time was scheduled in 1999. The prophecy obviously failed.

5. William Miller’s Prophecy

William Miller was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on February 15, 1782 and died in Hampton, New York on December 22, 1849 at the age of 67. He was a Baptist teacher known for initiating a religious movement; Adventism. The Seventh-day Adventist denomination are his spiritual heirs. He predicted the doomsday to fall on or about 1844 saying, ‘I believe that the second coming of Jesus Christ is near, even at the door, even within 21 years on or before 1844.’ His followers were known as Millerites. He predicted and changed the dates of predictions. According to Hiram Edson, ‘Our fondest hopes and expectations were blasted, and such a spirit of weeping came over us as I never experienced before’¦We wept, and wept, till the day dawn.’ After the failure of the prediction, the Millerites were greatly disappointed.

6. The Mayan Prophecy

According to the Mayan calendar, the world is doomed to be destroyed in the year 2012, this current year. To be precise, the date of the Mayan prophecy is December, 2012. Therefore, technically it has failed until now and is most likely to fail like all the other similar prophecies which have been made from time to time. The Mayan prophecy is being taken seriously, and different interpretations are being made which include: asteroid impacts, planet Nibiru, magnetic field reversals, global warming, and gamma rays bursts, etc.

7. Y2K Prediction

Y2K, or the year 2000, was predicted to be doomsday by many different quarters. Computer technology was perhaps involved in the doomsday predictions for the first time, and the beginning of the end of the millennium was perceived with a grave concern. In case of Y2K, the doomsday prophecy was made with scientific precision, and the end time or the ultimate disaster was predicted to be doomed at 12:00 a.m. January 1st, 2000. In an effort to plan and take proactive measures, people spent as much as $600 billion in preparing. All what had been predicted proved nothing more than a joke and nothing serious was observed on the said day.

8. Ronald Weinland’s Prophecy

Ronald Weinland is a self-assumed Christian prophet and thinks he has been appointed to inform human beings of the end of the world. He has written a book 2008: God’s Final Witness wherein he predicted 2008 as the end of the world. After passing that year without ‘ending the world,’ he changed the prediction date to September 29, 2011 and then to May 27, 2012. He was convicted of tax evasion in June, 2012, and faces up to five years’ imprisonment.

9. Prophecy of Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III remained in his office from 1198 to 1216. He assumed himself to be the biblical priest king. He is better known for his bitter enmity with Islam. Unlike other popes, he was so much against Muslims that he desired them to wear clearly identifiable clothing to distinguish them from others. Taking into consideration the year of the founding of Islam and some other numbers, he arrived at 1284 which he predicted as end of the world. The authenticity of this prediction to have been made by Pope Innocent III is not verifiable and might have been a part of anti-papal propaganda.

10. Cotton Mather’s Prophecy

Cotton Mather was born in Boston, Massachusetts on February 12, 1663 and died on February 13, 1728 at the age of 65. The University of Glasgow awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1710. He is best known as a prominent figure in the Salem Witch Trials. He preached in the First Church of Boston and predicted that 1697 was the end of the world. After the failure of his first prediction, he revised the prediction date thrice, being 1716, 1717, and 1736. None of the prophecies came true.

Conclusion:

Anyone who believes in the Day of Judgment cannot go astray, and during one’s lifetime should make every effort to keep the evil at least at an arm’s length. Only the far-sighted and God-fearing people care for true religious guidance. Contrarily, the short-sighted people never give any heed to it. They fall easy victims to the false doomsday prophecies which appear to them like imminent and potential life threats. It is due to the overly clever but short-sighted people that one after the other doomsday prophecies are made with a certain degree of authority by a few and have been received with a certain degree of reliability by many. A few made such prophecies suggesting early dates and exposing themselves while there were others who calculated their life expectancy and predicted the end times beyond that so that, true or false, they would not be exposed in their lifetime.