Charlie and I have recently been watching a docudrama regarding the 1993 Mt. Carmel, Texas standoff between the ATF/FBI and the Seventh Day Adventist Branch Davidian cult that ended in a fiery conclusion.
Federal agencies had received information that illegal machine guns, grenades, and bombs were being stockpiled on the compound and that sex crimes against minors were being perpetrated by the cult leader David Koresh.
When ATF agents approached the compound, a firefight ensued that left many people dead on both sides. A long stand-off/siege ensued with the FBI lead negotiator trying to reason with Koresh who, like most cult leaders, existed in an apocalyptic world of his own imagination in which he was the arisen Christ. In the end, tempers on both sides heated up, bad decisions were made, and scores of Branch Davidian men, wives, and children were incinerated when the FBI tried to breach the compound’s defenses. It was a cock-up of Biblical proportions.
Slain cult leader Koresh had been obsessed with the Book of Revelation, a scary “end of the world” screed penned by some unknown dude in the late 1st century C.E. Undoubtedly, the Revelation writer was a priest who was devastated by the razing of the Jew’s holy Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E.
The Temple was integral to the Jewish religion and it was the seat of power of the Jewish religious elite (the Levi priestly class). The writer may have been a Levite who was pissed off enough to pen the apocalyptic allegory that was supposedly passed along to him by God, his angels, and prophets. Guess what he learned from that hallucination? There would be all manner of strife and bloodshed, the dreaded “666” (i.e. Nero, the Romans, etc.) would be vanquished, and the “true believers” would end up atop the pile, victorious. It was good news, indeed.
Like many other Christian self-proclaimed prophets over the years, Branch Davidian leader Koresh was certain that he was living in the End of Times. “Repent, the End is Near!” goes the saying, “It’s time to get right with God!”, etc. This forecasting of the end of the world as we know it has been going on ever since Christianity was invented.
Why the fascination with the end of the world? What’s the rush?
According to religious nutjobs like Koresh, the world is corrupted beyond measure and needs to be erased. However, the last time this happened, according to the Bible, God simply flooded the earth, obliterated life, and started over with a clean slate. The Boss could do that again, I suppose, but obviously the Flood didn’t solve the underlying problems of wickedness, sin, and disrespect of God.
Scientists know that Earth has been around for more than a billion years and human beings have existed for several million years. The Creator of it all seemed to be perfectly satisfied with His creation until religion was created by man perhaps ten thousand years ago.
Hebrew goat herders, in particular, seemed to be unsatisfied with their lot in life and wanted more, so they invented their God of Abraham. Not surprisingly, their new God decided that this group of Middle Eastern humans (who had created Him) was His “chosen people” and they were entitled to other human beings’ lands, possessions, women, and so forth, and they could take such booty by force. They had God on their side. How convenient for them!
And then along came the Persians, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Greeks… basically any bully in the Middle East that happened to be passing through the land that God had “promised” to them… the Chosen People were getting their asses handed to them! Time to re-think our religion, the Jews thought. And, so, lots of prophecy ensued, promising good things from God for the faithful down the road.
And then the Romans came along to shatter the dream. This was the impetus for the religious introspection that evolved into Christianity.
All the “end of the world” things that are described in the Book of Revelation seem quite elaborate, un-Godlike, vindictive, and blood-thirsty… almost like the rantings of some pissed-off, drug-induced priest determined to “get even” with those nasty Romans (the Devil) who destroyed God’s house in Jerusalem and those unappreciative citizens who hadn’t fallen for the religious bullshit that the priestly writer was putting to papyrus.
The Book of Revelation spawned a lot of guessing as to the coming Apocalypse. Early Christian theologians predicted the world would end in the year 365, then 400, then 482 , then 500, then 793, then 800, then 806, then 847, and then 892. Pope Sylvester II allegedly declared that the end would come on 1000 C.E., setting off riots and pilgrims heading off to Jerusalem. None of these predictions, revealed from the lips of God, came true. Not to be outdone, Pope Innocent III declared that the end date would be 1284 C.E., exactly 666 years after the birth of Islam. His Holy Worship, God’s representative on Earth, was also wrong.
Question: If even God doesn’t know when He is going to end the world, how are His self-appointed prophets to know? Who should we believe? Or, more importantly, why should we believe any of the fantastical story?
Other notable End of Times revelations:
German priest Martin Luther: the year 1600
Christopher Columbus: the year 1656
New England Puritan minister Cotton Mather: the year 1697 (and then later 1716, then later 1736)
John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church: the year 1836
Margaret Rowen, a leader in the Seventh Day Adventist Church: the specific date of February 13, 1925
Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God: four incorrect predictions of 1936, 1943, 1972, and 1975
Jeanne Dixon, famous astrologer: February 4, 1962, later the year 2020
Jim Jones, founder of the infamous People’s Temple: predicted a nuclear holocaust to kick off Armageddon in the year 1967
The Jehovah’s Witnesses: from 1966 on published articles contending that Armageddon would be finished by the Fall of 1975
Chuck Smith, founder of Calvary Chapel: 1981 “at the latest”
Televangelist Pat Robertson: 1982 and, later, April 29, 2007
Louis Farrakhan, founder of the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims): said in 1991 that the Gulf War was, in fact, the “War of Armageddon”.
Marshall Applewhite, leader of the Heaven’s Gate cult (that later committed mass suicide): the date of March 26, 1997, when a spacecraft trailing the Hale-Bopp comet would take his followers to safety
Nostradamus: July, 1999
The Amazing Criswell: August of 1999
Televangelist Jerry Falwell: January 1, 2000
Well-known Christian authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (“The Late Great Planet Earth“)“: the year 2000
Harold Camping, televangelist: 1994, 1995, then 21 May 2011, then 21 October 2011
Gregori Rasputin, Russian mystic: August 23, 2013
David Koresh, the self-proclaimed “Messiah”, polygamist and child molester, didn’t predict any specific date for the Apocalypse, but he did tell all of his sect’s members that “all the signs are there” of the holy war that he had prophesied and was prepared to fight.
Koresh and his flock (including innocent children) experienced their own End of Times on April 19, 1993. The faithful members of the cult were burned to death, while Koresh took the easy way out: a gunshot to the head (presumably what God had recommended).
Who’s to say that their souls weren’t transported directly to Heaven after their deaths? Of course, who’s to say that there is a heaven?
Answer: Any person who says that God talks to him.