The prophecy of the end of the world in 2012 has become increasingly rampant, and combined with the growing number of disasters happening around the world, it has heightened people's panic. In 2012, will the Earth be destroyed or continue to operate? At present, no one can provide an accurate answer. However, the topic of doomsday prophecies is not something that only emerged recently. In this blog post, I will present the ten biggest lies about the end of the world, and perhaps through these lies, we can catch a glimpse of some clues.
The 'Hen Prophet' predicted the world would end in 1806?
In the Western Christian world, Jesus is absolutely their spiritual ultimate destination, and Christians regard reaching heaven and seeing God after death as their ultimate goal. However, countless people have passed away throughout history without knowing whether they entered heaven.
When Christians find themselves in critical situations, they invariably make the sign of the cross on their chest as a form of blessing—first on the chest, then the forehead, followed by the left and right shoulders. People hope that through this practice, they can receive Jesus' protection.
Prophecies are a common form of warning in Christian regions, but these warnings usually only appear during times of social or religious crisis. They are found in many important scriptures, including the Bible. One unparalleled aspect of the Bible is the diversity, accuracy, and uniqueness of its prophecies. Studies have shown that one in every four verses of the Bible has a prophetic nature, and there are over a thousand independent prophecies.
In the Bible, God uses various prophets to predict events affecting individuals, nations, cities, and even entire countries centuries or millennia into the future, and these prophecies have consistently come true throughout history. Through these prophecies, God's omnipotence and omniscience are demonstrated, letting people know that God is the true author of the Bible.
In the Christian world, apart from some common phenomena, the most widespread is prophecy. Significant prophecies include those about the Last Judgment, the resurrection of Christ, and the Second Coming of Christ. People are most willing to accept prophecies about Christ's Second Coming. Since the Middle Ages, many prophets have predicted that the Savior Jesus would descend to the world to save Christians. This is also one of the important reasons why Christians make the sign of the cross and await entry into heaven.
Throughout the long course of history, countless people have predicted the imminent return of the Savior Jesus. Christians firmly believe in this and spend their entire lives striving to follow the guidance of the Bible, hoping to become God's chosen people.The prophecies about the coming of Jesus are varied and strange, but the most astonishing one appeared on an egg in Leeds, England, in 1806. Leeds is the capital of the Yorkshire – West Riding area of the UK, now a major commercial town in one of the most economically developed regions of Britain, with a large population and convenient transportation. In fact, as early as 200 years ago, Leeds was already one of the most industrially developed areas in Britain, and after the Industrial Revolution, it became a prominent center of manufacturing. As an early industrialized city, Leeds became an important area for Christian gatherings.
This astonishing prophecy appeared in 1806. It is said that in a household on the outskirts of Leeds, a hen laid an egg with writing on it. What was even more surprising was that the words on the egg were ‘The Savior will return.' The news spread quickly, and many people believed that the end of the world was imminent. This 'spiritual' event shocked the local missionaries, who immediately reported the finding to the bishop, who then reported it to the archbishop. Thus, this egg with writing soon became famous far and wide.
Prophecies have always served as warnings for the future. Such an egg with a prophecy indicated that Leeds and even the whole of Britain were about to face danger. Therefore, nearly all the bishops in the dioceses gathered to discuss ways to respond to this prophecy. They suggested jointly advising the government to remove all industrial machines, maintain the tranquility of the countryside, eliminate all pollutants, and ban the exploitation of various mines. These suggestions undoubtedly opposed the Industrial Revolution, strangling the development of capitalists and affecting many factory and farm owners. As a result, they took various measures to obstruct industrial activity and offered a high reward to thoroughly investigate the authenticity of the prophetic egg.
As the saying goes, a heavy reward attracts brave men. Soon, a witness confirmed that the purported prophetic egg was merely a prank by the hen's owner. On that day, as the witness passed by the chicken coop, they happened to see the owner writing on the egg with a pen. At the time, the witness found it strange, and only later realized that the owner had tampered with the egg. After multiple interrogations by the bishop, the hen's owner finally could no longer withstand the pressure and confessed the whole affair.
It turned out that this was near the end of the Industrial Revolution in Britain. People were struggling to cope with the various problems brought about by industrialization and were even unable to fully accept industrial technology.Many people still reminisce about the pastoral way of life that has passed, detest industrial pollution, yet cannot resist the march of history. The owner of the chickens was one of these people. In this helplessness, he hoped to use God's prophecy to prevent machines from invading his hometown. Although this prophecy was found to be a prank, its influence had already spread across the United Kingdom and even reached the European continent. Moreover, with countries such as Britain and France continuously launching colonial wars, many people believed that this prophecy was real and that the end of the world was near. ??? British farmer Miller predicted the end of the world in 1843. The prophecy is an important part of the Bible, and the Bible is the classic text of Christianity; therefore, if we ignore the prophecy, we are essentially ignoring an important part of the Bible. By quickly flipping through some books of the Bible, we can see that it contains many prophetic words. Those who believe in Christ have an even stronger faith in the Bible's prophecies, and many dedicate their entire lives to studying the Bible's prophecies, becoming famous prophets. William Miller of New England was one such person, although unfortunately, his prophecy did not come true. Miller began as just a farmer, with no initial direct connection to the Bible's prophecy. However, Miller was intelligent and eager to learn, and under the teaching of a pastor, he learned to read, using the Bible as his textbook. During his studies, the prophetic stories in the Bible deeply fascinated Miller and captivated him. As his knowledge grew, Miller gradually became a learned man, achieved good academic results, became a pastor, and began teaching the Bible to others. In particular, the prophecies in the Old Testament were fulfilled in the New Testament, and some prophecies in the New Testament had been fulfilled, while others were being fulfilled. This fascinated Miller and led him to firmly believe in the existence of an end-of-the-world prophecy. In order to prove the existence of the prophecy of the end times, Miller studied the Bible intensively, locking himself in a room for months without going out. After careful research, Miller discovered that according to the words of the Bible, one could deduce the time when God would destroy the Earth, which shocked him greatly. Afterwards, Miller did his utmost to strictly interpret this time according to the words of the Bible and found that the timing matched the Bible perfectly. William?The time determined by Miller was: a certain day between March 21, 1843, and May 21, 1844. After discovering this time, Miller preached this important prophecy to the nearby believers. He was able to accurately and reasonably explain the process by which he discovered this time, and these explanations were entirely based on the words of the Bible, so people trusted him very much. As more people believed him, the influence of Miller's end-of-the-world prophecy grew. To allow more people to understand his prophecy, he wrote a small booklet, presenting the process of how he worked out the prophecy and the explanations based on the Bible. Through the vigorous promotion by Miller and his followers, and the influence of the booklet and other materials, his followers determined April 23, 1843, as the date of the world's end. These followers were called Millerites; they sold or gave up their property and followed Miller in preparation for the arrival of the world's end. Miller and his followers gathered in churches, waiting for God's arrival. They believed they were certainly God's chosen people because the time of the world's end that they had determined was a revelation given to them by God, so they would surely receive God's grace. They awaited the arrival of the world's end with excitement and trepidation. April 23, 1843, arrived like any ordinary day, but the end of the world predicted by Miller did not occur; the world remained as usual without any special change. When the day passed, the Millerites also left disappointed and returned to where they had come from. This failed prophecy destroyed Miller's credibility, but it did not affect the authority of the Bible, because Christians believed that Miller's error in predicting the date was due to his misinterpretation of the Bible, not because the Bible itself was wrong.
