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Predicted date
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Commentary
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2000
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There's something about those three zeroes that
makes 2000 a favorite year among doomsday prophets. But
now that mysterious year, anticipated and wondered
about for centuries, has slipped into realm of history.
There are far too many doomsday predictions to list for
2000, but here are some of the more notable
ones:
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Hal Lindsey, whose 1988 prediction
failed, suggests the end in his recently published
book, entitled Planet Earth - 2000 A.D.
However, he leaves himself a face-saving outlet:
"Could I be wrong? Of course. The Rapture may not
occur between now and the year 2000." (Lindsey
p.306)
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The beginning of Christ's Millennium
according to some Mormon literature, such as the
publication Watch and Be Ready: Preparing for
the Second Coming of the Lord. The New
Jerusalem will descend from the heavens in 2000,
landing in Independence, Missouri. (McIver #3377,
Skinner p.100)
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19th century mystic Madame Helena
Petrova Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy,
foresaw the end of the world in 2000. (Shaw
p.83)
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Even Sir Isaac Newton was bitten by the
millennium bug. He predicted that Christ's
Millennium would begin in the year 2000 in his book
Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and
the Apocalypse of St. John. (Schwartz
p.96)
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Ruth Montgomery predicts Earth's axis
will shift and the Antichrist will reveal himself
in 2000. (Kyle p.156, 195)
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The establishment of the Kingdom of
Heaven, according to Rev. Sun Myung Moon. (Kyle
p.148)
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The Second Coming, followed by a New
Age, according to famed psychic Edgar Cayce. (Hanna
p.219)
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The Second Coming, as forecasted in Ed
Dobson's book The End: Why Jesus Could Return by
A.D. 2000.
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The end of the world according to
Lester Sumrall in his book I Predict 2000.
(Abanes p.99, 341)
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The tribulation is to occur before the
year 2000, said Gordon Lindsay, founder of the
Christ for the Nations Ministry. (Abanes
p.280)
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According to a series of lectures given
by Shoko Asahara in 1992, 90% of the world's
population would be annihilated by nuclear,
biological and chemical weapons by the year 2000.
(Thompson p.262)
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One of the earliest predictions for the
year 2000 was made by Petrus Olivi in 1297. He
wrote that the Antichrist would come to power
between 1300 and 1340, and the Last Judgement would
take place around 2000. (Weber p.54)
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According to American Indian spiritual
leader Sun Bear, the end of the world would come in
the year 2000 if the human race didn't shape up.
(Abanes p.307)
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18th century fire-and-brimstone
preacher Jonathan Edwards concluded that Christ's
thousand-year reign would begin in 2000. (Weber
p.171)
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The world will be devastated by AIDS in
the year 2000, according to Indian guru Bhagwan
Shree Rajneesh. Afterwards, the world will be
rebuilt by a peaceful matriarchal society. (Robbins
p.164)
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William Kamm, aka Little
Pebble, is the leader of the Australian doomsday
cult Order of St. Charbel, predicts that a comet
will destroy the Earth before the dawn of the new
millennium.
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Fundamentalist conspiracy advocate Texe
Marrs stated that the last days could "wrap up by
the year 2000." (Abanes p.311)
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Members of the Stella Maris Gnostic
Church, a Colombian doomsday cult, went into
Colombia's Sierra Nevada mountains over the weekend
of July 3-4, 1999, weekend to be picked up by a UFO
that would save them from the end of the world,
which is to take place at the turn of the
millennium. The cult members have disappeared.
Perhaps they were picked up by aliens!
(Source: BBC News).
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A radical apocalyptic sect emerged in
early 18th century France: the Convulsionaries. One
of the members, Jacques-Joseph Duguet, anticipated
the Parousia in 2000. (Kyle p.192)
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Timothy Dwight (1752-1817), President
of Yale University, foresaw the Millennium starting
by 2000. (Kyle p.81)
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Martin Luther looked at 2000 as a
possible end-time date, before finally settling on
1600. (Kyle p.192)
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Sukyo Mahikari, a Japanese cult,
preaches that the world might be destroyed in a
"baptism of fire" by 2000. (Source: ABC News)
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A Vietnamese cult headed by Ca Van
Lieng predicted an apocalyptic flood for 2000. But
doomsday came much earlier for the cult members: he
and his followers committed mass suicide in October
1993. (Source: Cult Observer
archives)
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Before the end of 1999, Hon-Ming Chen
of the 30-member cult Chen Tao began backpedalling
on his prediction of a nuclear holocaust and UFO
rescue by December 31. Now Doomsday has been
rescheduled to sometime "in the next year,"
according to cult spokesman Richard Liu. (St.
Cloud Times, Dec. 26, 1999)
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Sometime in 2000 ("either a few days or
a few months away," according to this Sep. 12, 2000 CNN article) the
End of Days will take place, say members of a
Mormon-based cult near the Utah-Arizona border.
Hundreds of memmbers of the Fundamentalist Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have pulled
their kids out of school' in preparation for the
Big Day.
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Jan 1, 2000
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January 1, 2000. Jesus did not descend from the
heavens. President Clinton did not declare himself
dictator-for-life. The Antichrist did not rise to
power. Nuclear missiles were not launched. Aircraft did
not fall out of the sky. The global economy did not
collapse. Terrorist bombs did not explode. The power
did not go out. My computer still works.
What we did have were some huge parties, spectacular
fireworks displays, a Barry Manilow concert,
head-splitting hangovers, lots of confetti to clean up,
and some embarrassed survivalists who had spent their
New Years holed up in armed fortresses when they could
have been partying in Times Square.
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Y2K!! Compounding people's apocalyptic
hopes and fears for 2000 was a technological
problem that came to be known as Y2K. This problem
was hyped by the media, preachers, doomsayers and
the authors of a myriad Y2K preparedness books as
something that promised to bring the world to a
catastrophic standstill. But thanks to the diligent
efforts of programmers, governments and companies
throughout the world, the bite of the "Y2K bug"
turned out to be mostly harmless. There were a few
minor glitches here and there, but nothing serious.
The fundamentalists who claimed that Y2K is all
part of God's plan or that the Antichrist would use
Y2K to seize power have been proven wrong! In the
aftermath of this ultimate disconfirmation many of
them have tried to salvage their dignity by saying
"Just you wait! It's only the beginning of the
end!" To the Y2K doomsayers I smugly say, "I told
you so!" Here's an interesting article about the combination
of Y2K with mystical expectations.
In the honored tradition of the "comet pills" of
1910, many hucksters took advantage of people's Y2K
fears to reap a tidy doomsday profit by selling
survival gear. Now all those who "stocked up for
Y2K" will have to figure out what to do with all
those packets of freeze-dried food, bottles of
water, gasoline generators, wood-burning stoves and
shotgun shells.
For an example of the extent that Y2K doomsday
paranoia can grip someone, take a gander at Gary North's page. In your face,
Gary!!!
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The Christian apocalyptic cult House of
Prayer, headed by one Brother David, expected
Christ to descend onto the Mount of Olives in
Jerusalem on this day. The Israeli government
recently kicked them out of the country
in a preemptive strike against potentially violent
doomsday nutcases who may attempt to catalyze the
Apocalypse through terrorist acts such as blowing
up the Dome of the Rock.
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John WorldPeace sent this post to Usenet, claiming
that the failure of Jesus to return on January 1
will lead to the people of the world finally
abandoning war and hatred as foolish pursuits and
instead embracing peace, love and tolerance.
Wouldn't it be great if he were right?
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Bobby Bible, a 60-year-old
fundamentalist, believed that Jesus would descend
from Heaven at the stroke of midnight in Jerusalem
and rapture his church.
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A Philippine cult called Tunnels of
Salvation taught that the world would end on
January 1. The cult's guru, Cerferino Quinte,
claimed that the world would be destroyed in an
"all consuming rain of fire" on January 1. (I guess
his prediction came partially true: there were
plenty of fireworks going off around the world that
night.) In order to survive the world's
destruction, the cult members built an elaborate
series of tunnels where he had stockpiled a year's
worth of supplies for 700 people. CESNUR)
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UK native Ann Willem spent the New Year
in Israel, expecting to be raptured by Jesus on New
Year's Day. "It didn't happen the way it was
supposed to," she said of the failure of the
Rapture to take place. (USA Today p.5A,
1/3/00)
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Jerry Falwell foresaw God pouring out
his judgement on the world on New Year's Day.
According to Falwell, God "may be preparing to
confound our language, to jam our communications,
scatter our efforts, and judge us for our sin and
rebellion against his lordship. We are hearing from
many sources that January 1, 2000, will be a
fateful day in the history of the world." Happy New
Year! (Christianity Today, Jan. 11,
1999)
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Timothy LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins,
authors of the bestselling Left Behind
series of apocalyptic fiction, expected the Y2K bug
to trigger global economic chaos, which the
Antichrist would use to rise to power. As the big
day approached, they, like other doomsayers,
backpedalled. (Source: Washington Post)
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Jan 16, 2000
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Religious scholar
Dr. Marion Derlette (.pdf link) claims the
world is to end on January 16, according to an article
in Weekly World News. This event is to occur
after a series of natural and manmade catastrophes
starting in 1997, and will be followed by an era of
paradise on Earth. (This date is shown as January 6,
2000 in Richard Abanes' book End-Time Visions.)
(Abanes p.43)
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Feb 11, 2000
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On his broadcast on the morning of Feburary 7,
2000, televangelist Kenneth Copeland claimed that a
group of scientists and scholars (he gave no specifics)
studied the Bible in great detail and determined that
Feb 11 would be the last day of the 6000th year since
Creation, a date when the Apocalypse would presumably
happen. Copeland did not imply he believed this to be
accurate, though, but he went on to say that the
Rapture will come soon.
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Feb 29, 2000
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This day was the Gary North types' last best
hope for the collapse of civilization due to the
millennium bug. February 29 happens to be the exception
to the exception to the 4-year leap year rule, which
some programmers may have neglected to incorporate into
their date algorithms, and some believe computers may
crash on this day. I wasn't worried...computers crash
every day.
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Mar 2000
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The Rapture is to take place in March 2000, 3
1/2 years after Christ's Second Coming, according to
Marvin Byers. (Oropeza p.29)
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Apr 4, 2000
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The Rapture will occur by this date, said Ola
Ilori, whose homepage went bye-bye soon after the date
passed by. She went on to say that, immediately
following the Rapture, would be an "earth shift" which
would crack the earth's crust "like an egg
shell."
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Apr 5, 2000
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Doomsday, according to Michael
Rood, who claimed that this day would start out
with "bloodshed, plagues, and all manner of
pestilence." Michael had said the same about Septermber
11, 1999. That's two failed doomsdays for Michael. Any
bets he'll come up with a third?
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Apr 6, 2000
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The Second Coming of Christ according to James
Harmston of the Mormon sect True and
Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of The Last
Days . (McIver #2496)
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Apr 2000
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The Whites, a
family of ascetic doomsday cultists living near
Jerusalem, expected the End to take place in March or
April after the Ark of the Covenant was to reappear in
a cave in the Old City in Jerusalem. They claimed that
there was a mistake in the
chronology of the Hebrew calendar and that the year
6001 will begin this Spring. In reality, Sep. 11, 1999
to Sep. 30, 2000 is the Hebrew year 5760. (Source:
here)
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May 5, 2000
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According to archaeologist Richard W.
Noone (beware: this site has pop-up ads) in his book
5/5/2000 Ice: The
Ultimate Disaster, a buildup of excess ice in
Antarctica (strange -- I thought global warming
making it melt...) is causing the earth to become
precariously unbalanced, which is a ridiculous idea
to anyone with the slightest understanding of earth
science. All that's needed to upset this supposed
imbalance and cause the obligatory pole shift --
which would cause billions of tons of ice to go
cascading across the continents -- is the planetary alignment that took
place on this date! For the lowdown on planetary
alignments, please visit this site. Not that it matters.
The big day has come and gone.
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The Nuwaubians (also known as the Holy
Tabernacle Ministries or Ancient Mystical Order of
Melchizedek) claimed that the planetary lineup
would cause a "star holocaust," pulling the planets
toward the sun. (Alnor p.121)
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May 9, 2000
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Toshio Hiji, having analyzed the quatrains of
Nostradamus, announced that the Giant Deluge of Noah would inundate
the Earth on May 9, 2000, and "all humans will be
perished." Prior to this, a third of the world's
population was to be destroyed during an alien attack
on October 3, 1999. Whoops!
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May 17, 2000
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- "Dr." Rebecca S. Harrison claimed
that Jesus would reappear on "EArth" (her capitalization) on
May 17, to be followed by Mighty Battle in June 2003.
- Lakhota prophetess White Buffalo Calf Woman predicted
that Jesus would return in a UFO on this day.
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Jun 2000
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A Ugandan cult calling itself the World Message
Last Warning Church claims the End will come in June.
Previously they had claimed the world would end in
1999. (Source: ABC News)
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Jun 1, 2000
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Jim Bramlett shows on his website
how he came to this date as a possible day for the
Rapture.
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Jun 10, 2000
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Marilyn Agee's Rapture prediction
#9.
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Jul 5, 2000
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XXX-day, brought to you by our all-time favorite
spiritual organization, the Church of
the SubGenius. "THIS time there WILL be
saucers"!
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Aug 20, 2000
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Ephraim claimed the 7-month
Battle of Armageddon would begin on this day. His
prediction for the Rapture (March 20-22, 2000) also
failed.
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Marilyn Agee's Rapture
prediction #10. After yet another spectacular
failure, she's reinterpreting scriptures and
grasping at new straws. There's no stopping a truly
determined doomsayer!
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Sep 2000
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Jerry Grenough foresaw the end of the
present age, and perhaps the Rapture, in September of
2000, using various passages from the Bible to divine
this date. His prediction, of course, has been removed from
his website, but it remains listed at the
Doomsday List
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Sep 17, 2000
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Many pyramidologists, basing their
calculations on measurements of the Great Pyramid
of Giza, claim that the Second Coming will occur on
this date. (Abanes p.71)
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Moira Timms, author of Beyond
Prophecies and Predictions, claims that the
Great Pyramid's supposed 6000-year "prophetic
timeline," and thus the world, will end on this
day. In case this fails, she posits the Mayan
calendar date of December 23, 2012, as a backup
doomsday. (Skeptical Inquirer, Sep/Oct 2000,
p. 23)
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Sep 19, 2000
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Somewhere between September 16 and 19, Phil Stone expects something he had dubbed
the "Coastlands Disaster" to occur. He has, surprise
surprise, derived his chronology from, you guessed it,
the Bible.
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Sep 21, 2000
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On his web page, which is now apparently defunct,
Dan Millar boldly proclaimed that this date
"is the true date for the Second Coming of our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ."
This website documents Dannyboy's prediction.
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Sep 29, 2000
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According to the Jewish-based cultLove the Jew,
whose website has disappeared without a trace, claimed
the world would end on Rosh Hashanah, 2000. According
to the cult, "America will be destroyed in one hour
after the Rapture by an all out nuclear attack by
Russia. Russia may also decide to destroy other
countries as well at this time (South America, Mexico,
Canada, notably the entire Western hemisphere will be a
wasteland)." A reference to the cult is available at The Doomsday List.
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Oct 2000
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Elizabeth Joyce predicted nuclear war in
October 2000 as a result of conflict in the Middle
East. She has a litany of other failed prophecies,
including one of the sun splitting in two. (Source: Doomsday has been
cancelled!)
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Oct 9, 2000
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Christian prophet Grant R. Jeffrey suggested
this date as the "probable termination point for the
'last days.'" (Abanes p.341, McIver #2608)
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Oct 14, 2000
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According to the House of Yahweh, the seven-year
Tribulation began on September 13, 1993, when Yitzhak
Rabin shook hands with Yasser Arafat at the White
House. This means the end of the world is due on
October 14, 2000. (Source:
religioustolerance.org
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Nov 17, 2000
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The famous handshake between Arafat and Rabin on
Sep 13, 1993 started the seven-year peace process,
claims David Zavitz, and Armageddon will
take place seven years later. David shows on this page why he thinks the Last
Day will be on November 17, 2000.
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Dec 31, 2000
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Joseph Kibweteere's doomsday prediction #2. On
March 17, 2000, over 600 members of a Ugandan cult
calling itself the Movement for the Restoration of the
Ten Commandments of God sealed themselves into a church
and were burned to death. It remains to be seen wither
it was a mass suicide, or a murder by their leader.
Cult leader Joseph Kibweteere, who had previously
claimed that the world would end on December 31, 1999,
re-set his doomsday prediction to December 31, 2000
when his first prediction failed. Even after Y2K,
millennial madness is alive and well. (Source: CESNUR)
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Jan 20, 2001
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According to a guy calling himself "BANDS"
(whose wacky website is unfortunately defunct now), the
Bible says that the US would be totally destroyed
before the end of Clinton's term (January 20, 2001). He
used numerous Bible verses to "prove" his thesis.
However, now that George W. Bush was selected
"president", it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he
inflicts a lot of damage on the poor ol'
USA!
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Mar 2001
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Dale Sumberèru claimed in his book The
Greatest Deception: An Impending Alien Invasion
claimed that March 22, 1997 was the beginning of the
Tribulation, and the Second Coming will take place
between July 2000 and March 2001. (McIver
#3239)
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Apr 16, 2001
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Bill Singleton claimed that the
Rapture would take place during Easter weekend, 2001.
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May 5, 2001
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Gabriel of Sedona, guru of the New Age doomsday
cult Aquarian Concepts Community, located in Sedona,
Arizona, foresees the destruction of humanity between
May 5, 2000 and May 5, 2001. Only people faithful to
the cult will be saved from this destruction by UFOs.
(Source: this website and this website).
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May 28, 2001
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The indefatigable Marilyn
Agee, whose Rapture predictions have failed time
and time again, pinpointed the exact date of
the beginning of the Tribulation. She insisted that the
Rapture will happen some time before May 28, 2001.
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Jul 2001
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Jamaican cult leader Brother Solomon and his Seventh-Day
Adventist followers have staked out some space on the
Mount of Olives in anticipation of witnessing the
Second Coming, which he is convinced will occur
sometime between mid-April 2000 and July
2001.
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Sep 11, 2001
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One of the most tragic and significant days in US history.
The World Trade Center was destroyed and the Pentagon attacked
by madmen, causing thousands of deaths, billions of dollars
in damage, untold suffering, and possibly plunging the
world into war. If there's any day that the doomsayers should have
foreseen, it's this day. However, NOBODY was able to predict this
event or pinpoint this day.
Some gullible people insist that Nostradamus predicted the event, but
these claims have been
debunked.
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Sep 18, 2001
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Yet another Rosh Hashanah Rapture, this time
predicted by grand champion doomsday date setter
Charles Taylor. (Oropeza p.57)
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Nov 3, 2001
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Perennial doomstress Marilyn Agee has pointed to this
as a day that may be the Pre-Trib Rapture, near the bottom of
this
page.
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Dec 8, 2001
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The author of the
Ninth Wave
site is convinced that the Church would be raptured on this dat, and millions
would disappear mysteriously. People would explain away the disappearance
as alien abductions.
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Dec 19, 2001
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Marilyn Agee comes up with yet another end-time date
on this
page (scroll down until you see
the numerical calculations). The Tribulation is supposed to
start on this day.
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2001
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Pyramidologist Georges Barbarin,
subscribing to the concept of the Great Week,
predicted that Christ's Millennium would begin in
2001. (Mann p.118)
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According to the Unarius
Academy of Science, "space brothers" were to land
their UFOs near El Cajon, California, ushering in a
new age. In January, 2002 I emailed them to inquire about
the landing. Their explanation: "The Space Brothers have not landed
because we, the people of Earth, are not ready to accept advanced
peoples from another planet." (Heard p.26-27)
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Earth changes maven Gordon-Michael
Scallion predicted major earth changes taking place
between 1998 and 2001, culminating in a pole shift.
(Heard p.26-27)
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Nation of Islam numerologist Tynetta
Muhammad figured that 2001 would be the year of the
End. (Weber p.213)
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On
this page, a man calling himself The Last Adam says, "The hour is coming this year, 2001.
This earth will be destroyed these year, by God. This is an election between
the good and evil."
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Apr 14, 2002
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This is another of those sites that has to be
seen to be believed. Mike Keller claims that the
"doomsgate" will open a half second before midnight
(Israel time) on this day, followed immediately by the
return of Jesus, as well as a nuclear war within 45
days. I wouldn't worry, though...Mike also predicted
that Americans would begin living under martial law in
mid-1999, due to Y2K-engendered chaos.
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May 19, 2002
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A man named Barry Muraff emailed me on May 2 and told me
that "...the probability is extremely high that Christ is returning
on Pentecost...on May 19th, 2002. No, I am not joking...."
Well, if Jesus returned, it certainly didn't make the headlines.
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2002
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The end of the world, according to
Church Universal and Triumphant leader Elizabeth
Clare Prophet, following a 12-year period of
devastation and nuclear war. (Kyle
p.156)
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Charles R. Weagle's now-defunct website
warning2002ad.com predicted a "nuclear judgement" on
the world's industrialized nations in 2002. A reference
to his prophecy can be found
here.
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I got this one in an anonymous email sent to me, so I
have no corroborating evidence to back it up. Anyway, the email claims
that there is a documentary entitled Welcome to Armageddon
that features an interview with Jacob Hawkins of the cult House
of Yahweh (all members of their cult are required to change their
surnames to Hawkins!). During the interview, Jacob claims that the world will end in a nuclear
war in the middle of 2002. He supports his claim using the following
logic: "It will happen...there is no possible way it can't happen!"
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Jul 19, 2002
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Marilyn Agee has not yet tired of setting
dates for the Rapture. Now the Rapture is scheduled to take
place on July 19. Yawn....
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Apr 22, 2003
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Theprophet foresees the Rapture
occurring between October 10, 1999 and April 22, 2003,
more likely closer to the later date than the earlier
date.
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May 5, 2003
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A UFO will pick up true believers on this date,
according to the Nuwaubians, a Georgia cult headed by
Dr. Malachi Z. York, who claims to be the incarnation
of God and a native of the planet Rizq. (Time Magazine,
July 12, 1999)
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May 13, 2003
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Nancy Lieder of ZetaTalk
believes that the "end time" will take place on this day with the
approach of a giant planet known as the "12th Planet". This planet
supposedly orbits the sun once every 3600 years. The planet will
cause...you guessed it! A pole shift!! Ms. Lieder gives some
information about this on her Troubled Times site.
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May 15, 2003
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A Japanese cult called Pana Wave, whose members dress in white, claimed that a mysterious 10th Planet would pass by Earth, causing its axis to tip and engendering devastating earthquakes. (Source: WWRN)
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Nov 29, 2003
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The human race all but wiped out by nuclear war
between Oct 30 and Nov 29, 2003, according to Aum
Shinrikyo. (Alnor p.98)
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2003
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- The end of the Kali Yuga and the arrival of
Krishna as the Kalki Avatar according to Sree Veera
Brahmendra Swami. (Both my sources have disappeared from the
Net - you'll just have to take my word for it.)
- A number of Internet prophets are predicting that a giant
planet called Planet X or the "Twelfth Planet" will
pass by Earth in 2003 and cause anything from pole shifts to altered
orbits or what have you. In any event, the results are supposed to be
catastrophic and apocalyptic, yadda yadda yadda....
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2004
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Major world events beginning in August 1999 will
lead to full-scale war in the year 2000, followed by a
rebirth from the ashes in 2004, according to Taoist
prophet Ping Wu.
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Apr 24, 2005
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Ted Porter claims that the Second Advent will
take place April 23 or 24, 2005. He also said that the Rapture would occur
at 6:13 pm (Jerusalem time) on April 23, 2002! Most prophets set their
predictions a long time in the future in an attempt to cover their
asses, but this guy made this prediction barely 2 weeks before the Rapture
was supposed to happen!
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Oct 4, 2005
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The end of the world, according to John Zachary
in his 1994 book Mysterious Numbers of the Sealed
Revelation. The Tribulation was to begin on August
28, 1998. (McIver #3477)
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