For several months there has been hype, campaign, and promotion concerning the teaching of Scott Clarke, and all of those who jumped on the bandwagon with him, that declared the rapture of the church to occur on Sept 23 2017.
Irrespective of Mat.24:35. "No one knows the day or the hour of the coming of the Son of man, not the angels, not the Son, but only the Father."
Irrespective of the timing differences and the different following events between Rev.4:1 and Rev.12:1-5.
Irrespective of using a mid-trib event to declare a pre-trib event.
Irrespective of the ignored chapters of events that must take place previous to Rev.12:1-5.
Irrespective of the software data which shows 28 times out of 7000 years that the description of Rev.12:1 occurred.
Irrespective of the superfluous use of Leo and the triple planetary alignment to represent "the crown of 12 stars".
Clarke cherry picked the Biblical verses, focusing only on those which fit with Rev.12:1. Using the stellarium displaying the constellation Virgo on the calendar date Sept.23 2017. And from that declared that Rev.12:5 was the pre-trib rapture of the church to happen on that date.
And surprisingly so many preachers went for it hook, line, and sinker. Preaching to their congregations, videos of it abounded. But when the day rolled around and there was no rapture. All discovered that indeed "no man knows the day or hour of His coming." That's because Rosh Hashanah - the feast of Trumpets- is known as "the day no man knows".
But even with that, history has recorded all of the times when Christians have ignored that information and predicted when Jesus would rapture the church anyway.
Each one of them thinking that what Jesus said in Mat.24:35 doesn't apply to them.
Some of the recent ones have been Harold Camping. Mark Biltz. Edgar Whisenant. Hal Lindsey. Need more? There's a long list of such predictions that goes back to 500AD of further examples.
Why do Christians insist on knowing the unknowable?
But, wrong predictions of future end time events have been happening ever since Paul's day of the early church. Help yourself to some perspective.
500:
A Roman priest and theologian in the second and third centuries, predicted Christ would return, based on the dimensions of Noah's ark.
994-6:
A sermon heard in Paris that as soon as the number of a thousand years should come, the Antichrist would come, and not long thereafter, the Last Judgment would follow.
That would be 1994, 1996 respectively.
1000:
The magical number 1000 was primarily the sole reason for the expectation.
During December 999 AD, everyone was on their best behavior; worldly goods were sold and given to the poor, swarms of pilgrims headed east to meet the Lord at Jerusalem.
Of course, nothing happened.
1033:
Considered as the beginning of the millennium because it marked 1000 years since Christ's crucifixion.
One wonders if anyone will call 2033 significant. scroll down and find out that someone did.
1533:
Melchior Hoffman predicted Christ's Coming and Judgment at 8:00 AM October 19.
October 3, 1533
After "a careful study of the Bible and mathematics," German mathematician Michael Stifel predicted a date for the end of the world. Stifel gathered his small group of true believers atop a hill near Lochau. When the end did not occur, he was placed in protective custody from angry villagers who had sold their homes and farms in anticipation of the end.
1874:
Charles Taze Russell predicted the Rapture in 1910, followed by End of the World in 1914 Later interpreted as invisible return of Christ.
The Doomsday Clock came into being in 1947 as a way for atomic scientists to warn the world of the dangers of nuclear weapons. That year, the Bulletin set the time at seven minutes to midnight, with midnight symbolizing humanity's destruction.
By 1949, it was at three minutes to midnight.
In 1953, two minutes until midnight.
1970:
Hal Lindsey predicted that the rapture would occur within 40 years, counting from Israel becoming a nation in 1948 (calculated rapture for 1981, and Jesus Second Coming in 1988).
The True Light Church of Christ made its claim to fame by incorrectly forecasting the return of Jesus. A number of church members had quit their livelihoods ahead of the promised advent.
1973:
Jeane Dixon stated that Armageddon would occur in 2020, and Jesus Christ return before 2037.
(According to Revelation Jesus returns when the world's armies are gathered at Har Megiddo in Israel, hence the name Armageddon)
1975:
The 6000th anniversary of the creation of Adam in the Garden of Eden in 4026.
They interpreted Psalms 90:10 as defining the length of a generation to be 80 years. Since 1914 plus 80 equals 1994, they predicted Armageddon would occur around that year. The latest estimate was 6000 years after the creation of Eve.
1978:
Harold Camping declared to his Alameda Church that the rapture would occur in the fall of 1978.
1981:
Hal Lindsey's predicted rapture of the church did not take place.
Bill Maupin, calculated Aug. 7 for the return of Christ to occur May 14, 1988 based on the date in which Israel established and recognized as a nation, May 15, 1948.
1988:
Hal Lindsey's prediction of Jesus Second Coming did not take place.
Rapture in Rosh Hashanna Sept. 1988 before Sept 21. Edgar C. Whisenant, a NASA staffer - (Book: 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will be in 1988). He used Numerology.
1988:
In the original 1983 version of the "Fig Tree" Harold Camping predicted that Israel would be destroyed in 1988. It never happened.
Also: Camping published the book "The Final Tribulation", he stated that no one can be saved once the Tribulation has started which according to him was May 21, 1988 (p.137-8 and 158)
: Camping also claimed that the end of the church age (May 21 1988), is supported by 721 revolutions of the stars, sun and planets. 721 Ceros.
The doomsday clock was set at their most optimistic in 1991, setting the clock at 17 minutes to midnight.
1991:
Menachem Schneerson, a Russian born rabbi, called for the Messiah to come by Sept 9, 1991, the start of the Jewish New Year - Rosh HaShannah.
1991:
A local group in Australia predicted Jesus would return through the Sydney Harbor at 9:00 am on 31st March, 1991.
1992:
October 28 at 9a.m. Numerology was the basis for the date. They believed that Jesus would return through Sydney Harbour.
1994:
F. M. Riley foretold of God's plan to rapture His people.
1994:
Pastor John Hinkle warned of apocalyptic event on June 9th, 1994. "On Thursday June the 9th, I will rip the evil out of this world."
: Harold Camping rapture on September 6, changed to 14-17; to attempt to comply with Matthew 24:36. However, to accurately comply with that verse, he should not have given any set day at all.
1996:
James Ussher, an Irish archbishop 1658, estimated that the end of the world would occur in the fall of 1996.
1998:
Marilyn Agee, used numerology to calculate May 31, 1998.
The doomsday clock at 2009, various factors brought it to five minutes to midnight. At 2010, six minutes.
2011:
Harold Camping's "save the date - May 21".
By the fall of 2011, that’s when Jesus Christ returns… Ronald Weinland, 2008 - God's Final Witness.
2011-nov-11: "A.H." believes that the end of the world will happen on 11/11/11. Because, "...this is the only date until the next millennium that has the same number "1" in the date."
The beginning of 2012 has moved the doomsday clock closer to midnight, time will tell its next move depending on political and other variant factors.
2012:
New Age writers cite Mayan and Aztec calendars that predict the end of the age on December 21, 2012. Based on "the long count" = 5,125.36 years.
Michael Drosnin, author of "The Bible Code," found a hidden message in the Pentateuch (the first five books in the Bible) that predicts that a comet will crash into the earth in 2012 and annihilate all life.
2012-dec-24:
A person predicts, "One third of the Oort cloud will rain down on the earth. The Oort cloud is a incredibly large collection of comets that encircle the solar system. Devastation would be total."
2014:
Pope Leo IX (1513-1522) wrote on 1514: "I will not see the end of the world, nor will you my brethren, for its time is long in the future, 500 years hence."
2014-2015:
The Blood Moon Tetrads. Mark Biltz implied that it means that the rapture is about to happen. Another spoke that the Strongs numbers were inspired by God to align with the heavenly (tetrad) sign.
2016:
Donner party disaster of 1847, predict that "nations will abandon traditional methods of conflict and resort to the use of biological warfare. In 2016, one such disease will spread and kill all of the humans on the planet."
2017:
Scott Clarke has since 2011 presented his theory of the rapture occurring on Sept.23; using the stellarium as support as it seems to depict what is described in Rev.12:1. He states that the mid-trib verse in Rev.12:5 refers to the pre-trib rapture of the church.
- - - Next to Test - - -
2018:
The web site "A Nightmare for Everyone and the Countdown to 2000," predicts that an asteroid and comet will hit the earth, sometime between the re-creation of Israel in 1948 and 2018.
2023:
Clarence D'Souza, Daniel 12:12-13 predicts the end of the world and of the Universe during this year.
2019 to 2026:
John Ash had attempted to predict the date of the tribulation unsuccessfully on two occasions. However, he later came to the conclusion that the tribulation was to be in the year 2019 CE. He rearranged the digits in the 1,290 days of Daniel 12:7 to produce 2019, which he predicts will be the start of the tribulation. He then took the 1,335 value from the same verse and added the number 691 -- the approximate year that the Dome of the Rock was built on the temple mount in Jerusalem to produce 2026. He believed that this is the end date of the tribulation.
However, he now believes that Christians should not attempt to predict the timing of the end times saying that he has formally recanted this prediction.
Sep 28, 2020:
George Madray predicts a Yom Kippur Parousia in 2020. (Parousia literally means “The Second Coming”)
2023:
Ian Gurney predicts in his book “The Cassandra Prophecy – Armageddon Approaches” that the “final date, Judgment Day, the end of mankind’s time on this planet, is less than twenty two years away” from 2001, which means that the world is set to end by 2023 at the very latest.
From Norway: the end of the world will happen about 2028.
2029:
Mike Flipp, I got the Grandiose Sign of the Acceptable Year of the Lord - Luke 4:19." The sign is that Jesus will return in the year 2029.
2033:
Believed by many to be the 2000th anniversary of the Crucifixion, this is a date just begging to be targeted by doomsayers. (website: dates for the end of the world)
Also, a wise and sagely medicine man said in February of 2033 the skies will turn red and millions of human beings will be faced with extinction.
2034:
A website, predicts the end of the current age and the beginning of the Millennium will happen during 2034 CE.
2037:
In her book The Call to Glory, psychic Jeane Dixon wrote, “The years 2020-2037, approximately, hail the true Second Coming of Christ.” The Battle of Armageddon is to take place in 2020.
2038:
A book- "the Bible and the future", predicts that "large percentage of the world's population will die in a series of severe punishments from God".
2040:
Pyramidologist Max Toth predicts the physical reincarnation of Jesus Christ occurring in 2040. He used the dimensions of the Great Pyramid’s passageways to predict future events.
2060:
Sir Isaac Newton, a faithful believer in God, and Britain's greatest scientist, spent 50 years and wrote 4,500 pages trying to predict when the end of the world was coming. The most definitive date he set for the apocalypse to be 49 years from now.
He never actually announced it to the public though.
2070 to 2250:
Kermit Zarley, a lay Bible scholar and former PGA tour professional gulfer, uses the "third day" motif and couples it with "one day is like a thousand years"and 2 Peter 3:8 and Psalm 90:4 to predict Jesus' return.
2076:
Bede the Venerable, an 8th century Christian theologian computed Jesus birth as 3,942 years after the world's creation. The Earth's 6,000 year millennial week will thus end in this year.
A Roman priest and theologian in the second and third centuries, predicted Christ would return, based on the dimensions of Noah's ark.
994-6:
A sermon heard in Paris that as soon as the number of a thousand years should come, the Antichrist would come, and not long thereafter, the Last Judgment would follow.
That would be 1994, 1996 respectively.
1000:
The magical number 1000 was primarily the sole reason for the expectation.
During December 999 AD, everyone was on their best behavior; worldly goods were sold and given to the poor, swarms of pilgrims headed east to meet the Lord at Jerusalem.
Of course, nothing happened.
1033:
Considered as the beginning of the millennium because it marked 1000 years since Christ's crucifixion.
One wonders if anyone will call 2033 significant. scroll down and find out that someone did.
1533:
Melchior Hoffman predicted Christ's Coming and Judgment at 8:00 AM October 19.
October 3, 1533
After "a careful study of the Bible and mathematics," German mathematician Michael Stifel predicted a date for the end of the world. Stifel gathered his small group of true believers atop a hill near Lochau. When the end did not occur, he was placed in protective custody from angry villagers who had sold their homes and farms in anticipation of the end.
1874:
Charles Taze Russell predicted the Rapture in 1910, followed by End of the World in 1914 Later interpreted as invisible return of Christ.
The Doomsday Clock came into being in 1947 as a way for atomic scientists to warn the world of the dangers of nuclear weapons. That year, the Bulletin set the time at seven minutes to midnight, with midnight symbolizing humanity's destruction.
By 1949, it was at three minutes to midnight.
In 1953, two minutes until midnight.
1970:
Hal Lindsey predicted that the rapture would occur within 40 years, counting from Israel becoming a nation in 1948 (calculated rapture for 1981, and Jesus Second Coming in 1988).
The True Light Church of Christ made its claim to fame by incorrectly forecasting the return of Jesus. A number of church members had quit their livelihoods ahead of the promised advent.
1973:
Jeane Dixon stated that Armageddon would occur in 2020, and Jesus Christ return before 2037.
(According to Revelation Jesus returns when the world's armies are gathered at Har Megiddo in Israel, hence the name Armageddon)
1975:
The 6000th anniversary of the creation of Adam in the Garden of Eden in 4026.
They interpreted Psalms 90:10 as defining the length of a generation to be 80 years. Since 1914 plus 80 equals 1994, they predicted Armageddon would occur around that year. The latest estimate was 6000 years after the creation of Eve.
1978:
Harold Camping declared to his Alameda Church that the rapture would occur in the fall of 1978.
1981:
Hal Lindsey's predicted rapture of the church did not take place.
Bill Maupin, calculated Aug. 7 for the return of Christ to occur May 14, 1988 based on the date in which Israel established and recognized as a nation, May 15, 1948.
1988:
Hal Lindsey's prediction of Jesus Second Coming did not take place.
Rapture in Rosh Hashanna Sept. 1988 before Sept 21. Edgar C. Whisenant, a NASA staffer - (Book: 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will be in 1988). He used Numerology.
1988:
In the original 1983 version of the "Fig Tree" Harold Camping predicted that Israel would be destroyed in 1988. It never happened.
Also: Camping published the book "The Final Tribulation", he stated that no one can be saved once the Tribulation has started which according to him was May 21, 1988 (p.137-8 and 158)
: Camping also claimed that the end of the church age (May 21 1988), is supported by 721 revolutions of the stars, sun and planets. 721 Ceros.
The doomsday clock was set at their most optimistic in 1991, setting the clock at 17 minutes to midnight.
1991:
Menachem Schneerson, a Russian born rabbi, called for the Messiah to come by Sept 9, 1991, the start of the Jewish New Year - Rosh HaShannah.
1991:
A local group in Australia predicted Jesus would return through the Sydney Harbor at 9:00 am on 31st March, 1991.
1992:
October 28 at 9a.m. Numerology was the basis for the date. They believed that Jesus would return through Sydney Harbour.
1994:
F. M. Riley foretold of God's plan to rapture His people.
1994:
Pastor John Hinkle warned of apocalyptic event on June 9th, 1994. "On Thursday June the 9th, I will rip the evil out of this world."
: Harold Camping rapture on September 6, changed to 14-17; to attempt to comply with Matthew 24:36. However, to accurately comply with that verse, he should not have given any set day at all.
1996:
James Ussher, an Irish archbishop 1658, estimated that the end of the world would occur in the fall of 1996.
1998:
Marilyn Agee, used numerology to calculate May 31, 1998.
The doomsday clock at 2009, various factors brought it to five minutes to midnight. At 2010, six minutes.
2011:
Harold Camping's "save the date - May 21".
By the fall of 2011, that’s when Jesus Christ returns… Ronald Weinland, 2008 - God's Final Witness.
2011-nov-11: "A.H." believes that the end of the world will happen on 11/11/11. Because, "...this is the only date until the next millennium that has the same number "1" in the date."
The beginning of 2012 has moved the doomsday clock closer to midnight, time will tell its next move depending on political and other variant factors.
2012:
New Age writers cite Mayan and Aztec calendars that predict the end of the age on December 21, 2012. Based on "the long count" = 5,125.36 years.
Michael Drosnin, author of "The Bible Code," found a hidden message in the Pentateuch (the first five books in the Bible) that predicts that a comet will crash into the earth in 2012 and annihilate all life.
2012-dec-24:
A person predicts, "One third of the Oort cloud will rain down on the earth. The Oort cloud is a incredibly large collection of comets that encircle the solar system. Devastation would be total."
2014:
Pope Leo IX (1513-1522) wrote on 1514: "I will not see the end of the world, nor will you my brethren, for its time is long in the future, 500 years hence."
2014-2015:
The Blood Moon Tetrads. Mark Biltz implied that it means that the rapture is about to happen. Another spoke that the Strongs numbers were inspired by God to align with the heavenly (tetrad) sign.
2016:
Donner party disaster of 1847, predict that "nations will abandon traditional methods of conflict and resort to the use of biological warfare. In 2016, one such disease will spread and kill all of the humans on the planet."
2017:
Scott Clarke has since 2011 presented his theory of the rapture occurring on Sept.23; using the stellarium as support as it seems to depict what is described in Rev.12:1. He states that the mid-trib verse in Rev.12:5 refers to the pre-trib rapture of the church.
- - - Next to Test - - -
2018:
The web site "A Nightmare for Everyone and the Countdown to 2000," predicts that an asteroid and comet will hit the earth, sometime between the re-creation of Israel in 1948 and 2018.
2023:
Clarence D'Souza, Daniel 12:12-13 predicts the end of the world and of the Universe during this year.
2019 to 2026:
John Ash had attempted to predict the date of the tribulation unsuccessfully on two occasions. However, he later came to the conclusion that the tribulation was to be in the year 2019 CE. He rearranged the digits in the 1,290 days of Daniel 12:7 to produce 2019, which he predicts will be the start of the tribulation. He then took the 1,335 value from the same verse and added the number 691 -- the approximate year that the Dome of the Rock was built on the temple mount in Jerusalem to produce 2026. He believed that this is the end date of the tribulation.
However, he now believes that Christians should not attempt to predict the timing of the end times saying that he has formally recanted this prediction.
Sep 28, 2020:
George Madray predicts a Yom Kippur Parousia in 2020. (Parousia literally means “The Second Coming”)
2023:
Ian Gurney predicts in his book “The Cassandra Prophecy – Armageddon Approaches” that the “final date, Judgment Day, the end of mankind’s time on this planet, is less than twenty two years away” from 2001, which means that the world is set to end by 2023 at the very latest.
From Norway: the end of the world will happen about 2028.
2029:
Mike Flipp, I got the Grandiose Sign of the Acceptable Year of the Lord - Luke 4:19." The sign is that Jesus will return in the year 2029.
2033:
Believed by many to be the 2000th anniversary of the Crucifixion, this is a date just begging to be targeted by doomsayers. (website: dates for the end of the world)
Also, a wise and sagely medicine man said in February of 2033 the skies will turn red and millions of human beings will be faced with extinction.
2034:
A website, predicts the end of the current age and the beginning of the Millennium will happen during 2034 CE.
2037:
In her book The Call to Glory, psychic Jeane Dixon wrote, “The years 2020-2037, approximately, hail the true Second Coming of Christ.” The Battle of Armageddon is to take place in 2020.
2038:
A book- "the Bible and the future", predicts that "large percentage of the world's population will die in a series of severe punishments from God".
2040:
Pyramidologist Max Toth predicts the physical reincarnation of Jesus Christ occurring in 2040. He used the dimensions of the Great Pyramid’s passageways to predict future events.
2060:
Sir Isaac Newton, a faithful believer in God, and Britain's greatest scientist, spent 50 years and wrote 4,500 pages trying to predict when the end of the world was coming. The most definitive date he set for the apocalypse to be 49 years from now.
He never actually announced it to the public though.
2070 to 2250:
Kermit Zarley, a lay Bible scholar and former PGA tour professional gulfer, uses the "third day" motif and couples it with "one day is like a thousand years"and 2 Peter 3:8 and Psalm 90:4 to predict Jesus' return.
2076:
Bede the Venerable, an 8th century Christian theologian computed Jesus birth as 3,942 years after the world's creation. The Earth's 6,000 year millennial week will thus end in this year.
