The end of the world

45 failed predictions for 1999

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Disclaimer:

We offer no guarantees that the prophets listed below actually made these predictions. We have described their alleged predictions as they were reported on the Web, in newspapers, books, etc. We do not have the resources to track down original source material.

Overview:

In the past, some Christians and secular individuals predicted several momentous events that they believed are related:

	The second coming of Jesus Christ, when he returns to earth after almost two millennia.
	The war of Armageddon -- a massive battle in Israel.
	The arrival on earth of the Antichrist, an evil political, military leader.
	The Tribulation, a seven year interval of great suffering and death.
	The Rapture, when Christians who have been born again -- both living and dead -- will rise into the sky towards Jesus.
	Some horrendous natural disaster.
	etc.

These prophecies share one factor in common with all of the other predictions that were to come to pass in previous years: In spite of the obvious sincerity of the persons making the prophecies, none actually materialized.

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Failed predictions:

About 1999: Orville T. Gordon (a.k.a. Nodrog) leads a Texan group called "Outer Dimensional Forces." He expected that UFOs would come from outer space, remove the ODF groups from earth, and destroy the United States with a great flood. It is not clear where all the water would come from.

Sometime in 1999:

	A nuclear war will erupt in the Middle East. Those members of The Order of the Solar Temple, who have survived earlier mass murders and suicides, believed that they would gather at Jerusalem in a celestial paradise. They believe that tose members who had previously died have already been transported some 9 light years to Sirius.
	The following isn't exactly a prophecy; it is the theme of the Super Nintendo Video Game "Chrono Trigger." In this alternative universe, the world is projected to end in 1999 CE. Either the Anti-christ named Lavos, or the coming of Lavos from under the earth symbolizes the Anti-christ. He destroys the earth by sucking the energy from it. The goal of the game's hero is to save the earth by destroying Lavos in time.
	Hon-Ming Chen founded God's Salvation Church in Texas. The group believed that a nuclear war would have destroyed parts of Earth in 1999. They have identified a nine-year old boy as the "Jesus of the East", a reincarnation of Jesus Christ. They believe that if they can link him up with the "Jesus of the West" then 100 million lives will be spared. The second Jesus is supposed to live in Vancouver BC, look like Abraham Lincoln, and have been born in late 1969. Their search to date has been unsuccessful.
	Edgar Cayce predicted that Armageddon would arrive, the earth's axis would shift, and both England and Japan would sink in to the ocean. New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco will be destroyed by earthquakes and floods. The island of Atlantis will rise from the ocean floor. However, this last event may not happen until 2001 or 2002.
	Sukyo Mahikari is a secretive Japanese group which predicted that "mankind might be annihilated by the baptism of fire" as the year 2000 approaches.
	Spokesperson for Nelly Hurtado, a visionary from El Salvador, claimed that the virgin Mary appeared and warned that a comet will appear in the sky in 1999 as a sign of the end. Also, World War III will break out and the Great Miracle predicted at Garabandal will happen.
	Father Alexander McKenna claims that the Virgin Mary spoke to him in the Chapel of the Apparitions where she had first appeared to the children of Fatima in Portugal. Her message was that unless people abandon Atheism, sin, war and hatred, that most of the world's population will be destroyed before the end of 1999 in a nuclear and environmental disaster. Satan "will infiltrate into the highest levels of the [Roman Catholic] church including the Throne of Peter." ₁ The war will be intense: rivers will turn to steam; cities will be leveled; the whole world will be burned with fire.
	1999: A movie released in 1999-NOV pointed out that if you take the number 1999 and invert it, you get 666 plus a spare digit 1. "666" is the number associated with the Antichrist in the Biblical book of Revelation.

In late 1999 or subsequent years:

	1999-SEP to 2000-SEP: A 16th century Kabbalistic text says that in the Jewish year 5760: "the depths will rise up and flood the world, and there will remain the Land of Israel, which will be like the Ark of Noah." ₁₀
	1999-OCT-10 to 2003-APR-22: "The prophet" is hedging his bets. He predicts that somewhere in this interval of time, the rapture will occur.

More precise estimates:

1999-JAN: According to the 1997-JUN-24 issue of Sun Magazine Pope John XXIII predicted in 1962 that visitors from outer space will arrive in chariots of flaming steel and will share their advanced knowledge with humanity. Our life span will be increased to 150 years or longer. Most diseases will be wiped out.

1999-JAN/FEB: Between JAN-20 and FEB-4, an asteroid measuring 20 miles in diameter and traveling about 20,000 miles/hour was predicted to hit earth. At that speed and probable mass, it would totally disrupt all life processes on earth. Dr. Morris Plammer said that a photo of the asteroid was leaked to him by "highly placed friends" within NASA. The photo allegedly contains markings in the shape of a Satanic face.

1999-FEB-23: In 1997-NOV, evangelist Dan Bohler predicted that the Clinton Administration would fail on or about this date. He predicted that there would be tanks driving up and down the main streets in every American city, and that there would be bombs going off in Washington DC. Although not quite as disastrous an event that other predictions, it still would be quite distressing to the people involved.

1999-MAR: The Students of the Seven Seals (Branch Davidians) teach that disaster will strike the earth in the form of warfare, earthquakes, blacked skies and other horrors. They believed that on AUG-6, their late leader David Koresh will return to earth. He will raise the dead, judge humans, and start over in Jerusalem. None of this happened.

1999-MAR: Roman Catholic visionary called by the pen name Robert Hartman predicted that "the Miracle" would happen before the year 2000, in a month that contains two full moons. The last opportunity for this to happen was 1999-MAR, when a full moon occurred on the 2^nd and 31^st. By including the prophecies of other visionaries, 1999-MAR-11 appeared to be a prime date for the Miracle.

1999-APR-3: Ed. Dames, president of PsyTech predicted that solar flares would strike the earth during the Easter weekend (APR-3 and 4 in the West). Persons who were living in caves or under the earth might survive. The rest of the world's population would all die. He predicted that space aliens would arrive about 2012 to rescue the few survivors. Ed., his family and employees spent the weekend hiding out inside a lava tube in Hawaii. Solar activity was high in early 1999; it varies routinely over an 11 year cycle.

1999-APR: On 1999-MAR-18, J. Adams, Webmaster of the "Spirit of Truth" web page made a prediction: When the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches the magic 10,000 point, a surprise world war will be automatically triggered, followed by the utter destruction of America and the Western powers. The index reached that value; there has been no indication of destruction on this order.

1999-APR/MAY: Various Roman Catholic apocalypticists during the 1990's have predicted a great Miracle, final judgment and the dawning of the Marian Reign of Peace, starting on APR-8, APR-15 or MAY-13.

1999-MAY-8: An Evangelical Christian from New Brunswick, Canada, Terry Peterson, had a vision in 1989. It involved terrible destruction caused by a continent-wide earthquake. The epicenter will be in California, as the entire state plunges "into the ocean as God's punishment for the 'immoral' state's sins." He also reports massive devastation on the east coast of North America. Unfortunately, God only revealed to him a partial date: MAY 8, 199?. The year 1999 is obviously the last possible year. He believes that the earthquake will occur between 11 PM on MAY 7 and one hour before dawn on MAY-8, Eastern time.

1999-MAY-21/22: Evangelist Marilyn Agee predicted that the rapture will happen on this day, Pentecost. Earlier, she had predicted that it would happen on the Pentecost of 1998. The rapture, she believed, would trigger the various events listed in the book of Revelation, including the war of Armageddon.

1999-MAY-23: M.J. Agee writes in the Bible Prophecy Corner that because Noah had a 7 day warning that the flood was going to begin, perhaps we today will receive a 7 months warning of the rapture. He notes that the Wye Memorandum peace agreement was signed on 1998-OCT-23 by representatives of Israel and Palestine. This is 7 months prior to Pentecost on 1999-MAY-23 as celebrated by the Orthodox churches.

1999-MAY: Bryan Elder, an Arkansas hydraulics specialist, was quoted in Time magazine (1999-JAN-18) as predicting that an alignment of the planets will burn up the earth during this month.

1999-JUL-3: Some British "Nostradamologists" predicted a world catastrophic event during the evening of JUL-3. Two TV channels in the UK followed the "events" as they unfold. The 1^st channel of Italian TV started a special at 11:15 PM. According to CESNUR, the program on RAI1 was to be "devoted both to Nostradamus and to the real risks of violence caused by millenarian movements such as Heaven's Gate or the Order of the Solar Temple." (CESNUR is an Italian group which studies new religious movements and the anti-cult movement.) At 2 PM ET on JUL-3, a poll of readers of the Electronic Telegraph (an online newspaper from the UK) indicated that 18% believed that the apocalypse is coming later that day; 24% said it will come "soon," and 58% said "never."

1999-JUL-4: The site "Nostradamus: Prophecies of our century" had a prediction based on the writings of Nostradamus. World War III will begin on this date when Russia and Iran launch a nuclear and chemical assault on western and southern Europe. ₂

1999-JUL-7 at 7:00 GMT: Eileen Lakes predicted that the planets of the solar system would be arranged in a "Grand Cross" configuration at that time. Inter-planetary magnetism would then cause the earth's poles to suddenly shift by exactly 90 degrees. She believes that this event happens regularly every 12,000 years. "Large earthquakes, tidal waves, volcano explosions, a downpour, a large flood, etc. will occur all over the world." The shifting of the earth's magnetic field would cause many people to become temporarily insane. A new Arctic area would cover Brazil, Liberia, Ghana, etc. Presumably the mid-Atlantic ocean would freeze. Similarly, a new Antarctic area would form around the Hawaiian Islands. ₃

1999-JUL: Nostradamus predicted that a great king of terror will come from the skies. This has been interpreted by some as referring to a nuclear missile strike: "The year 1999, seven months, From the sky will come a great King of Terror: To bring back to life the great King of the Mongols, Before and after Mars to reign by good luck.�

A poll at the time in Japan showed that 20% of the adult population believe in the King of Terror prediction.

1999-JUL: God's Salvation Church in Taiwan taught that Jesus will come to earth in a spaceship during the middle of a nuclear war. Members of the church will climb aboard the spaceship at Lake Street Beach in Miller, IN and be saved. They predicted that the rest of us would have a less joyful experience.

1999-JUL-26: Author Akio Cho of Japan predicted on the basis of the writing of Nostradamus that the world will end at 5 PM (presumably Tokyo time). That will be Monday morning, JUL-26 at 4 AM Eastern Time. On this date, the distance between the earth and the planet Neptune will be at a minimum.

1999-AUG-6: According to the latest interpretation of Biblical prophecy by some followers of the Branch Davidian sect, 5 months of major torment will begin as the sixth seal is fulfilled in the book of Revelation. They believed that David Koresh would return on this day with 200 million horsemen and slaughter most humans on earth. Ken Newport, an academic who studies the group believed that, prior to this date, the group would manipulate events in order to trigger a disaster similar to the Waco inferno. He believed that their goal is for about 40 of their members to be dead in preparation for Koresh's return. ₄ Fortunately, he was wrong.

1999-AUG-11: According to the 1997-MAY-27 issue of Sun Magazine, the Anti-Christ is alive today and living in the Middle East. On AUG-11, the time of an eclipse of the sun, they predicted that he would make himself known to the world. "It will be the ultimate war." Many were expected to perish; their souls would travel to Heaven or Hell, depending upon which side that they supported during the conflict. Prophet Matthew Dumbrell of Britain expected the world to end at 12:50 PM on that day.

1999-AUG-11 etc.: The WWW site CALENdeRsign� listed a number of astronomical events that will happen as the millennium closes. There has always been an association between such alignments and momentous events in the mind of the public. Starting in late 1999, the following will be observed:

	1999-AUG-11: total solar eclipse about noon; visible from Europe, the Far East and India.
	2000-JAN-21: total lunar eclipse; visible in Europe and US
	2000-APR: Triple planetary conjunction involving Mars, Jupiter & Saturn
	2000-MAY: "Great Conjunction" of Jupiter and Saturn. This also occurred in 7 BCE and is thought by some to be the "star" that some of the Gospels mentioned as leading the three wise men to Jesus.

1999-AUG-11 to 18: Thomas Chase predicted that something "big could hit" between these two dates and cause 5 years of chaos on earth. This could have taken the form of a nuclear conflict or even an asteroid hitting earth. ₅

1999-AUG-18: Jeron Criswell, TV psychic and narrator of the cult classic movie "Plan 9 from outer space" (and other films) predicted in his book "From Now to the Year 2000" that the world would cease to exist on 1999-AUG-18. He wrote: "A study of all the prophets-- Nostradamus, St. Odile, Mother Shipton, The Bible-- Indicates that we will cease to exist before the year 2000! And if you and I meet each other on the street that fateful day, August 18, 1999, and we chat about what we will do on the morrow, we will open our mouths to speak and no words will come out, for we have no future... you and I will suddenly run out of time! Who knows but what future generation from some other planet will dig down through seven layers of rubble and find us some 2,000 years hence, and crowd around a museum glass containing a fragment of a Coke bottle, a bent hairpin and a parched copy of our Bible which managed to escape destruction! They will wonder what on earth was meant by the words 'Ford' or 'Hollywood'... and what in heaven's name was a Criswell." The world actually did end as far as Criswell is concerned. He died on 1982-OCT-4. But some of his other predictions -- "the destruction of Denver, shifting polar caps, Castro's assassination" -- have not. ₁₁

1999-AUG-24: Valerie James wrote in The European Magazine in 1996 that "The configuration of planets which predicted the coming of Christ will once again appear on Aug 24, 1999." We assume that she predicted that Jesus' second coming would happen shortly after that date.

1997-1999-SEP Russian scientist Vladimir Sobolyovhas of the Rerikh Academy had analyzed prophesies made by Russian saints, by Nostradamus, and others.₆ He announced his conclusions in 1997-SEP: that the earth's axis will suddenly tilt about 30 degrees sometime during the next two years. This would have submerged the Scandinavian countries and Britain under water, in what was termed the Armageddon Flood. Siberia would have been spared. He expected that aliens will intervene and lead the world into the fourth dimension. Right now, he believes that these aliens are on earth, but in hiding. Sobolyovhas said: "If we completely believed in them, we would get lazy. So they are clever. They stay hidden in the fourth dimension and only show themselves from time to time.''

1999-SEP: Stefan Paulus author of "Nostradamus 1999," (Llewellyn, 1999) announced that he has decoded the final prophecies of Nostradamus. He believed that in 1999-SEP, a meteor was to hit earth, causing immense tidal waves, earthquakes, hurricanes, clouds of dust and sea salt, bad weather, political unrest, and famine. The Anti-Christ, an Islamic dictator, was to declare war on Western countries. In 2002 CE, World War III will begin. By the year 2030, only one third of the world's population will remain alive.

1999-SEP: Shoko Asahara, leader of the Aum Shinri Kyo destructive cult, predicted that Armageddon will happen during this month.

1999-SEP-9: This is a date represented by 9/9/99. "9999" has been used in some computer programs to terminate programs. Thomas Chase ₅predicted that this version of the Y2K bug would cause a worldwide electrical failure. This would cause worldwide disaster and chaos. This, and a more serious manifestation of the Y2K bug at year end will trigger a world economic depression, and bring on the Antichrist.

1999-SEP-11: Philip Berg of the Kabbalah Learning Center has predicted that a great ball of fire will hit earth on this day. However, if enough individuals enlighten and purify themselves with Berg's teachings, the disaster may be eliminated. ₂₅ It appears that they won enough converts, because the ball of fire never came.

1999-OCT-10: "The Prophet" predicted that the Jerusalem Temple would be rebuilt before this date, and that ritual killing of animals would have resumed within this Third Temple. The ritual sacrificing was to be abolished on OCT-10. This would have triggered the "abomination of desolation," and the rapture, as mentioned in the Biblical books of Daniel and Revelation. On OCT-11, we received an Email from The Prophet saying that he has retracted the prediction of the rapture and the abomination. He has withdrawn from the prophecy business. ₇

1999-OCT: A Japanese writer, Toshio Hiji, has interpreted Nostradamus quatrains as predicting that there will be an U.S. announcement concerning an alien attack on 1999-OCT. The aliens will be led by Satan but will be fought by human armies and "good angels." With angels on our side we would have been certain to win.

1999-NOV-12: Weekly World Magazine published an article stating that "four of the wisest prophets who ever lived predicted that 1999 wold be a year of extraordinary significance that would culminate in the return of the Messiah. And incredibly, they all agree on the specific date that the second Coming of Jesus will occur: November 12. They cite statements by Isaiah, Nostradamus, Sitting Bull and Edgar Cayce. ₁₂

1999-DEC-19: Sun Magazine listed a prediction of "Bible expert" Dotson Meade. He predicts that "something will happen that brings about the war which will end the world as we know it... There will be a vicious cycle of storms and earthquakes that lead to the final battle the world has awaited." This date was derived from information in the Dead Sea Scrolls -- apparently an unreliable source.

1999-FALL: Brookhaven National Laboratory fired up their Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) to full power. This simulated conditions that scientists believe happened immediately after the big bang. They expected to attain a temperature of 10 trillion degrees C (18 trillion degrees F). In 1999-JUL, the Sunday Times of London warned that the RHIC could destroy the earth -- or even wipe out the entire universe through a type of chain reaction. The chances seem quite remote because such collisions happen naturally in nature and the universe has not disappeared yet. Anyway, you are reading this, so it apparently didn't happen.

References:

"Fatima judgement day warning!," Sun magazine, 1999-JUL-13, Pages 20, 21.
"Nostradamus: Prophecies of our century" at: http://web.tusco.net/ourlady/index.htm
Eileen Lakes, "Grand Cross," at: http://www.win.ne.jp/~eileenl/gdcross1.shtml. (No longer online)
Paul Vallely, "The second coming of the curse of David Koresh," The Independent, 1999-MAY-21
"White Dove - Prophecy about the End of the World," at: http://www.biela-holubica.sk/
John Whalen, "Apocalypse When?," at: http://www.sfweekly.com/extra/apocalypse.html
Kevin Creed, "Celestial Rock is 20 Miles Wide...", Weekly World News, 1998-APR-21, Page 9.
S.J. Gould, "Questioning the Millennium: A Rationalist's Guide to a Precisely Arbitrary Countdown.", Harmony Books, (1997) You can read a review and perhaps buy this book from amazon.com online bookstore
Chris Nelson, "A brief history of the apocalypse," at: http://www.chrisnelson.net This web site contains over 200 references to end-of-the-world predictions which have not come true.
Steve Nettleton, "Apostles of the Apocalypse: Are we ready for the end?," CNN.news, 1999, at: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/at2000/stories/religion/
"Biography for Criswell," Internet Movie Database, at: http://www.imdb.com/
"The world's greatest prophets all agree...Jesus will return to Earth on November 12,1999," Weekly World News, 1998-AUG-18.

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Last update: 2006-JAN-12
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