End of the world predictions

23 FAILED PREDICTIONS FOR 1998

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Overview:

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.

It is worth noting that all of the following predictions have failed. We expect that predictions being made today about our future will also fail.

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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.

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Failed predictions:

Sometime in late 1997 or early 1998: The 1997-JUL-29 issue of the Weekly World News carried a statement by a spokesperson of the International Association of Psychics. 92% of their 120,000 members have had the same "end time" vision. Spokesperson Madame Vredeau predicted:

	A rise in religious belief. Prophets and saints will appear and lead the faithful to safety
	The oceans will shrink. Deserts expand. Crops will fail; there will be massive starvation
	Widespread emotional and mental collapse; increase in crime and violence
	Changing weather patterns; basic laws of nature will be disrupted
	Satanic demons will appear in broad daylight. War, pestilence, a worldwide plague will spread.
	Humanity will disappear around the year 2001 CE.

Sometime in 1988 or 1999: Vijay Kumar predicted that World War III would erupt with a full scale nuclear attack by Muslim countries on the U.S. its supporters. Iraq would lead the Muslim world. Eight nuclear bombs were to have been exploded in eight cities of USA within one day. ₆

1988: In 1995, Noah Hutchings, president of the Southwest Radio Church and spokesperson for the Watchman on the Wall radio program authored a book with David Webber called: "New Light on the Great Pyramid." They predicted that the Tribulation was to begin sometime in 1988.

1998-FEB-26: Edgar Cayce predicted that the earth would have a new pole during the winter of 1997-1998. Since the earth spins like a gyroscope, this would take an enormous amount of energy to achieve. That amount of energy would cause a massive disruption to the oceans and the earth's crust. That could, in turn, cause very serious, worldwide tidal waves, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. He also predicted "...massive earth changes�perhaps in conjunction with a pole shift�in the 1930s, 1960s, or 1990s." ₇

1998-MAR-31: About 150 followers of a Taiwanese Christian-Buddhist spiritual sect, God's Salvation Church, moved into Garland TX (a suburb in northern Dallas) to await God's arrival. They expected that on MAR-25, God would broadcast a commercial on Channel 18 in Garland. He would then be reincarnated into a man on MAR-31 at 10:00 AM, local time. They anticipated a crowd of about one million who want to be touched by God. Their leader, Hoh-Ming Chen, selected Garland because it sounds like "God land". News reports from Taiwan indicated that the group plans to commit mass suicide if God does not appear. These appear to be unfounded.

1998-MAY-31: Evengelist Marilyn Agee predicted that the rapture would happen on this day, Pentecost. This, she believes, would trigger the various events listed in the book of Revelation, including the war of Armageddon.

1998-JUL-5 The Church of the Subgenius predicts that on "X Day", the end of the world will occur. At 7 AM, "the Men from Planet X, or XISTS, will arrive on Earth, close a deal with "Bob," rupture the card-carrying Ordained SubGenii up to the Escape Vessels of the Sex Goddesses, and destroy the remaining population of Earth, VERY VERY SLOWLY." Bob is J.R. Dobbs, leader and High Epopt of the Church of the SubGenius, Living Avatar of Slack, the Saint of Sales. He was responsible for founding the Church on a shifting, sandy beach of hypocrisy." Since X day did not materialize, they say: "we're still here -- a little shaken, perhaps, and re-evaluating the interpretation of PreScripture..." Further study indicated that we have been given a reprieve. The artifact on which the date was written was accidentally inverted; the end of the world will really happen in 8661 CE!

1998-SEP: Two Christian pilgrims from an American Fundamentalist group were detained in Israel's Ben Gurion airport. They had allegedly planned to attack the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which is the site of Islam's third holiest shrine. Their goal appears to have been to precipitate a massive religious conflict which would escalate into Armageddon. Their group advocates the construction of the Third Temple on the location now occupied by the Al Aqsa mosque. Their goal appears to have been not Biblically based. Verses in the book of Revelation imply that Jesus' return will only occur after ritual animal killing is reinstated at this location.

1998-OCT-10 Concerned Christians is a destructive, doomsday cult of 30 to 60 adults and children, led by Monte Kim Miller. Miller was an anti-cult activist in the 1980's. He predicted that an unspecified disaster would wipe Denver CO off the map on OCT-10. He predicted his own death in 1999-DEC and his resurrection three days later. The Denver apocalypse didn't happen. They left Denver near the end of September and relocated to Jerusalem. Many Christians believe that when Jesus returns, he will descend from the sky and make landfall on the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem.₁ Israeli police arrested members of the group and deported them. The Israelis seem to be motivated by fear that the group may commit mass suicide.

1998-OCT: The House of Yahweh, Abilene� predicted that an end-of-world scenario will start during 1998-OCT. By mid-2001, they predict that 80% of the world's population will have been killed as a result of nuclear warfare.

1998-NOV: Natalia de Lemeny - Makedonova has written a book titled "Eternal Laws - New Mankind - Spiritual Transformation" She predicts that the:

"Son of Creator - Immanuel - the ruler of the millennial empire, announced in the Bible, will be born in Slovakia in November...His birth will be accompanied by a star which will shine in the sky and will be visible in the whole world. This event will also be announced by other unearthly phenomena in the sky." A purification of the earth will begin at his birth; it may be either "catastrophic or symbolic." ₂

1998-DEC-12: A survivalist from Arkansas spammed a warning to some mailing lists. He predicted that in the early morning hours, a massive nuclear war will begin in the U.S. Food will be wiped out; water will be contaminated; 75 million will die immediately; even more will die later. He recommends to "Get strong in your spiritual life, get out of large cities and away from military sites and military storage facilities and get prepared to survive."

Sometime in 1998:

	Centro is a very active religious organization, largely centered in the Philippines. They predict that the world will come to an end in 1998. They recommend that their followers retreat to safe places.
	The famous psychic Edgar Cayce predicted that a secret, underground chamber would be discovered between the paws of the Great Sphinx. Inside, there will be documents revealing the history of Atlantis. This revelation will trigger the Second Coming of Christ. This prediction is rather interesting, because two recent independent studies have revealed that there is in fact an underground structure just where Cayce said it would be.
	Fr. Sefano Gobbi, a Roman Catholic visionary, predicted on 1989-JUN-17 that the end of the world, the final judgment and the dawning of the Marian Reign of Peace would unfold in 1998.
	Gary D. Blevins predicted in his 1990 book "666: The Final Warning" that Ronald Reagan will be cast into the Lake of Fire, the rapture will occur, Jesus will return to earth and Satan will be bound in a pit for 1000 years -- all in 1998.
	The site "Nostradamus: Prophecies of our century" has a prediction based on the biblical book of Daniel. Russia and Muslims were to attack NATO and the rest of Europe in 1998 CE. Daniel said that the Divine Chastisement would come after the church had been rebuilt for 62 weeks, which he converts into 434 years. Assuming that the rebuilding started at the Council of Trent, then the Great Chastisement (a.k.a. World War III) would start in 1998 CE. ₃ Surprisingly, this prophecy still remains posted on the web site, in 2000-MAY.
	The same Nostradamus site mentions that "The number 666 symbolizes the great evils: 666 x 1=666, the Islamic emergence and subsequent Christian persecution; 666 x 2 = 1332 AD, the Black Plague and corrupted Medieval Period; 666 x 3 = 1998 AD, the evil 20th Century and World Wars." ₃

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References:

Christopher Walker, "Doomsday cults are converging on Jerusalem," The Times of London, 1998-OCT-22.
"White Dove - Prophecy about the End of the World," at: http://www.biela-holubica.sk/
"Nostradamus: Prophecies of our century" is at: http://web.tusco.net/
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.
Vijay Kumar, "Shape of the World to come (1994 - 2006)," at: http://www.godrealized.com/
"Edgar Cayce," Wikipedia, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/