user posted image rAnthony North: One well known theme of cult activity is that of apocalypse -that the world is about to come to an end. I've dealt with the most well known cases in Cult Suicides, but the 'tradition' is far more widespread. Sometimes the process can appear almost comical, rather than tragic, as we shall see. And we shall also attempt, here, to come to an understanding of what impulses may be behind this idea of mass destruction. Well, it isn't exactly destruction. Not an end but a beginning: This is the essence of the End Times - not destruction per se, but renewal; the removal of problems in the world, to be replaced by Paradise. The Hebrews first devised such a concept in the 6th century BC, when they were first exiled from their Promised Land. They developed the idea of a Messiah, or Saviour, who would come to save them. To Christians, Jesus was this person, but when his death didn’t provide Paradise, the idea of the Second Coming of Christ was born. Many End Times predictions have been made, one of the earliest being that of 12th century Bishop of Armagh, St Malachy. On a visit to Jerusalem he had a vision in which he saw all 112 popes from 1143 to the Second Coming. To put this in perspective, following the death of John Paul II, there are only a couple left before the end of the world. Nostradamus and astrology: French 'seer' Nostradamus made a famous prediction - supposedly - which clearly didn’t come true. He wrote of the end of the world in the year 1999 and seven months However, Nostradamus wrote many of his predictions in astrological terms.

The use of the number 'seven' is deeply mystical - at the time, seven 'planets' formed the astrological clock. As for the year 1999, this is a final year symbolically - of an astrological cycle. The history of the world does, infact, revolve in 2,000 year astrological cycles. Six thousand years ago we were in the cycle of Taurus, represented by the Bull. Civilisations of the time were known to venerate bull cults as their major deities.

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