Daily 23: 23 End Of The World Dates That Have Expired

Getting pre-2012 jitters? Me too! But consider these other dates given for the End of the World...

∆ Around 30 AD:
Taking the New Testament literally, this is the time-frame Jesus gave for The Second Coming. Matthew 24:34, "...This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." The date is based on the life-expectancy in that era, thirty years.

∆ 500 AD:
Hippolytus of Rome, a 3rd-century theologian, predicted world will end on this date, and uses evidence from the Bible (including the dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant) to prove his point. The belief that the world would end in 500 AD was popular at that time, and Hippolytus's opinion was shared by fellow theologians Sextus Julius Africanus and Irenus.

∆ 1000 AD:
The first big "End Times" craze. Mass panic. Christians giving away their possessions. Christians fighting with Pagans, trying to convert as many as they could before Christ came back. You can only imagine what would have happened if they had the Internet back then, with those little "1000 AD: Apocalypse" YouTube videos.

∆ 1033 AD:
The Christians who predicted the end of the world in 1000 AD realized that they forgot to add in Jesus's age. Oops.

∆ 1186 AD:
Around 1184 certain prophecies began to talk of an impending "New World Order," instructing the citizens to run to the caves and hide because of all the famine, earthquakes, and other natural disasters that were to follow. Stop me if you heard this one before.

∆ 1284:
Pope Innocent III came up with this date by adding 666 years since the founding of Islam.

∆ 1346 AD and afterwards:
Black plague sweeps across Europe, killing 1/3 of population, scaring the hell out of everyone else. At least this one had something to really back it up.

∆ 1496 AD:
1500 years after the birth of Jesus, this was another popular End Times date for the eschatological set.

∆ 1669 AD:
Fearing the return of the Antichrist on this date, 20,000 Old Believers in Russia burned themselves to death between 1669-1690. That'll show the Antichrist.

∆ 1792 AD:
A date believed to be the end of the world by some Shakers. By now, every group seemed to have their fave date for the Apocalypse.

∆ March 21, 1843 AD:
William Miller, founder of the appropriately-named "Millerite" movement, predicted the Second Coming of Jesus on this date. This was apparently a very popular belief, and when 1843 passed and Jesus didn't come back, Miller...

∆ October 22, 1844 AD:
...chose one year later to be his new official End of the World date. Still high off the last build-up to the end, Christians sold their property, quit their jobs and waited. This date is also known as "The Great Disappointment."

∆ 1874 AD:
One of many dates chosen for the end of the world by the Jehovah's Witnesses (or people related to them). After the failed 1975 date, there was a good deal of fall-out within the church.

∆ 1891 AD:
Mother Shipton, a 16th century mystic, allegedly wrote the following rhyme: "..The world to an end shall come; in eighteen hundred and eighty-one." The fact that I write "allegedly" tells you a lot.

∆ December 17, 1919 AD:
Meteorologist Albert Porta predicted that a cosmic alignment of 6 planets would make the sun explode. He was also wrong about rain over the weekend.

∆ 1973 AD:
"Children of God" leader David Berg predicted the comet Kohoutek would destroy the United States; which, of course, means the end of the entire world, because the USA is so awesome.

∆ The 1980s AD:
As the years got closer to 2000, the End Time Race really heated up – with the Eighties being a popular decade to start looking busy because Jesus was coming back. Celebrity psychic Jeanne Dixon predicted the Earth would be hit by a comet in the mid-80s, for example. She also predicted the first woman president for the same time period. Coincidence?

∆ May 25, 1981 AD:
50 members of the "Assembly of Yahweh" gathered in Coney Island, NY to await the end of the world between the hours of 3 PM and sundown. Yes, there were bongo drums.

∆ 1988 AD:
Edgar C. Whisenant, in his book "88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988," gave a three day period in which believers would be "caught up with the Lord." When 1988 came and went, Whisenant followed the methodology of many would-be prophets before and since, adding one more year to the predicted date.

∆ September 6, 1994 AD:
Radio evangelist Harold Camping wrote in a book called "1994?" his own entry in the Apocalypse Sweepstakes: "if this study is accurate, and I believe with all my heart that it is, there will be no extensions of time. There will be no time for second guessing. When September 6, 1994, arrives, no one else can be saved, the end has come." He currently has a new end-date, October 21, 2011.

∆ 1999 AD:
Quoteth Nostradamus: The year 1999, seven months, From the sky will come a great King of Terror." Quoteth Prince: "The sky was all purple, there were people runnin' everywhere
Tryin' 2 run from the destruction, U know I didn't even care."

∆ 2000 AD:
The Y2K "millennium bug" had the whole world holding its breath on New Year's Eve, 1999. But you can choose from any number of predictions of *The End* for the year 2000. Religioustolerance.org has counted 42.

∆ 2004 AD:
We have an Apocalypse two-fer here! Watcher Ministries based their date on the return of Jesus on an analysis of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Donna Danna & Clay Cantrell based his date for the Rapture on the dimensions of Noah's Ark. One only one (or none) could be right!

That said, the world's totally going to end in 2012. Or 2013.