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Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand;Surely the Second Coming is at hand.The Second Coming! Hardly are those words outWhen a vast image out of Spiritus MundiTroubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;A shape with lion body and the head of a man,A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,Is moving its slow thighs, while all about itWind shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again but now I knowThat twenty centuries of stony sleepWere vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)THE SECOND COMING
Additional Apocalypse Myths • I. Persian (Zoroastrian)
Additional Apocalypse Myths • Persian (Zoroastrian) • A. Three saviors sent to earth by Wise Lord(Ahura Mazda) before the final battle that will result in triumph of good over evil, Last Judgment, resurrection of dead
Additional Apocalypse Myths • B. All will be born of 15-year-old virgins who bathe in a sacred lake in Iran impregnated with the sperm of the prophet Zoroaster
Additional Apocalypse Myths • C. 1st savior (Anshedar) born during the Period of Iron; demons attack earth relentlessly • 1. When Anshedar turns 30, sun at noon for 10 days • Meets with angels, preaches righteousness • Ends all disease (caused by demons)
Additional Apocalypse Myths • 2nd savior (Aushedarmah) comes 1,000 years later; suffering, war, disease & hunger have reappeared • 1. When Aushedarmah turns 30, sun at noon for 6 days • 2. People become vegetarians, less aggressive • 3. Dragon Azhidahaka terrorizes earth, kills 1/3 of humans & animals
Additional Apocalypse Myths • E. 3rd savior (Saoshyant) comes 1,000 years later, heralds final judgment • 1. Flood of molten metal floods the earth, killing wicked • 2. Bodies & souls of all who have lived joined for Final Judgment, Wise Lord & angels appear • 3. Saoshyant presides, evil humans & Ahriman sent to hell forever
Additional Apocalypse Myths • II. Islam (The Hadith)
Additional Apocalypse Myths • II. Islam (The Hadith) • A. Signs of the end of the world • 1. People no longer study the Koran; seek pleasure, material wealth, power
Additional Apocalypse Myths • 2. Epidemic in Jedda, famine in Medina, plague in Mecca
Additional Apocalypse Myths • 3. Earthquakes in North Africa • 4. Lethal thunderstorms in Turkey & Iran • 5. Iraq domain of murderous bandits • 6. Far East wiped out by floods • 7. Bonds of society destroyed- every man for himself
Additional Apocalypse Myths • B. The Dajjal (Antichrist) will appear, riding a donkey & subjecting all people of the world to his rule • 1. Will rule for 40 days through terror & force • 2. Allah will send Jesus from heaven on white horse with lance • 3. Faithful form army of God to fight Dijjal, God affixes his feet to earth, Jesus strikes final blow
Additional Apocalypse Myths • C. Jesus will reign for 40 years of perfect justice & peace • 1. Actually each year = 26 months, so 87 years • 2. At end of reign, Jesus prays at Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, God takes him into heaven
Additional Apocalypse Myths • 3. 7 days later Gog and Magog (monsters imprisoned by Alexander the Great) break free, destroy civilization
Additional Apocalypse Myths • D. God calls two angels into service for the Final Judgment • 1. Azrail, angel of death, appears to believers as a beautiful star that calls them to their rest; appears as monster to rip out their souls to the wicked
Additional Apocalypse Myths • 2. Israfil blows the trumpet of the last day (see Afterlife notes)
Additional Apocalypse Myths • III. Predictions for the End of the World
Additional Apocalypse Myths • III. Predictions for the End of the World • A. In 1843, William Miller made a series of prophecies that the world would end in a few months
Additional Apocalypse Myths • 1. None took place, but followers of Miller founded separate churches • 2. Most successful is the Seventh-day Adventist Church
Additional Apocalypse Myths • B. Many Cold War era stories focused on nuclear annihilation
Additional Apocalypse Myths • C. Nostradamus allegedly predicted that a great catastrophe would take place in July, 1999
Additional Apocalypse Myths • D. Meteor strikes- astronomers calculate that asteroid (29075) 1950 DA will come close to or collide with Earth on March 16, 2880
Additional Apocalypse Myths • E. Sun is increasing luminosity, too hot within 1 billion years
Additional Apocalypse Myths • F. In about 5 billion years, sun expands into red giant, evaporating Earth
Additional Apocalypse Myths • G. Mayan Long Count Calendar ends abruptly on December 21, 2012