End of Time Prophecies

The ending of each century spawns a number of soothsayers and cult leaders that predict an oncoming apocalypse. Such has been the case for the last 300 years or so, it seems. Astrologers may also note that the location and movement of various stars and constellations in the heavens do not augur well for mankind and promptly predict the end of the world as we know it. Among the names of infamous cult leaders are the Reverend Jim Jones, David Koresh and the 39 members of the Heaven's Gate Cult among others responsible for leading the lives of hundreds of their eager and trusting followers to an early death. Even today, there is no shortage of theories and cult leaders predicting how the world will end and what we must do to prepare.

Stories about the end of the world and the Day of Judgment abound across the universe and have their foundation in many different faiths. The Jews, the Christians and the Moslems all believe in the Oneness of God, Spiritual Life after Death and the Day of Reckoning or Judgment. For instance it is written in the Book of Hebrews, Chapter 9, Verse 27 that:

"It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes Judgment."

It is worth noting that the Bible speaks of three kinds of death -physical death, spiritual death and eternal death. It is known that all men die physically because they are the sons of Adam.

It is further accepted by Christian theology that mankind is born spiritually dead because of Adam and Eve's original sin. Thus if physical death overtakes a man while he is still in the condition of spiritual death, he will experience eternal death which the Bible describes as eternal punishment or separation from the presence of God. Allegedly from the moment a person dies physically, the soul departs the body and goes either into the presence of God or into Hell to await the final Day of Judgment. If a person is not prepared for this final Day of Judgment, he or she has every reason to fear death. A right and proper fear of death is therefore a great reason to make sure that one is as spiritually clean as possible with God through the mediation of Jesus Christ the Savior and Redeemer as taught by Christian theology.

How will we know that the end of the world is near? Jesus warns us that it will be sudden, so we have to be ever watchful and keep spiritually awake. The Book of Revelations contains writings of what is to come as it appeared to St. John. The following has been recorded about the Day of Judgment in the Book of Revelations:

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." (Revelations, Chapter 20, Verses 11& 12).

But let us move towards what are the prophecies of well known prophets like Nostradamus, the seer Edgar Cayce and the ancient civilization of the Mayans.