The future is unknown and uncertain. Sometimes we worry about what is going to happen in the coming days. Will my investment bring profit? Is the third world war looming ahead? Will there be another catastrophic flood next year? Of course, there are people with the philosophy, ‘Que sera, sera.’ But in general, we are eager to peek into what is stored for us in the future. We read horoscopes, we go to fortunetellers, we put faith in predictions, foretelling, prophecies, etc.
The end of the world prophecy is one of the oldest prophecies that always evoked dread and anxiety among people. They mostly came from religions. According to the Mayan calendar, the world was supposed to end its first great cycle of 5,125 years in 2012. Fortunately, the prophecy did not come true. Actually, the world was scheduled to end in the previous year, 2011! According to an article by Rick Paulas published in Vice Magazine in 2014, the owner of a radio network in California named Harold Camping spent over $100 million spreading his apocalypse prophecy. And he predicted based on biblical numerology that the world would come to an end on May 21, 2011.
Probably the most damaging prophecy was made by Johannes Stoffler, a German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and priest, in 1499. He predicted that on February 20, 1524, a terrible flood would submerge the entire world. Mark Strauss wrote in the Smithsonian Magazine in 2009 that Stoffler’s prophecy was spread by pamphlets in Europe by many sponsors. People started to buy boats resulting in a boom in the boat-manufacturing business. A German nobleman Count von Iggleheim constructed a large three-story ship recreating the biblical Noah’s Ark on the Rhine River. On the predicted day of the flood, a light rain started falling. That was enough to drive the crowd into a frenzy who were already engaged in a panicked struggle to get on the ship. Eventually, a riot broke out which killed hundreds of people, and the nobleman Count von Iggleheim was stoned to death.
In delivering prophecies, one individual who beats all is Nostradamus. Nostradamus was a French physician and astrologer. He was born in 1503 and died in 1566. In 1555 he published his book of prophecies entitled: Centuries. He wrote the prophecies in four-lined rhymed verses or quatrains in a rather obscure and vague manner. Thus, they are open to interpretations.
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This article was published in the Daily Sun on January 31, 2023. Please read the full article here or here.