🚀 go-pugleaf

 
On Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:50:57 -0400, Garrison Hilliard  wrote:



>Thousands of Cincinnatians camped out in 1844 to witness what they

>believed was going to be the world's greatest - and final - fireworks

>display.

>

>They weren't celebrating the Fourth of July. They were waiting for the

>end of the world.

>

>These happy campers were the followers of a 19th-century version of

>the Rev. Harold Camping, the Rapture predictor.

>

>The views of the Rapture reverend, broadcast over his

>multi-million-dollar radio, TV, satellite and website empire, would

>move those Cincinnatians to say: Been there. Done that.

>

>They knew what it was like to fall under the spell of a well-heeled,

>charismatic preacher. As with Camping, their hells fire and brimstone

>pastor - the Rev. William Miller - used the latest mass media to gain

>worldwide attention for his prediction that the world was going to

>come to an end.

>

>Before the end came, predicted Miller, Jesus Christ would return. He

>would be accompanied by the sound of trumpets and in the company of

>winged steeds pulling chariots. At the stroke of midnight, all of the

>preacher's true believers would ascend to heaven. After that, the

>world turn be consumed by a giant fireball. The End.

>

>Cue the fireworks.

>

>The only trouble was, they're weren't any fireworks. Not even a spark.

>

>Worldwide campaign

> 

>Miller had started peddling his prediction - based on a series of

>elaborate charts - in the 1820s. By the 1840s, the War of 1812 veteran

>was spreading the word world-wide.

>

>"What happened this May with Harold Camping," noted Rhys Williams,

>Sociology Department chairman at Loyola University Chicago, "was small

>potatoes compared to what went on with William Miller in 1844."

>

>Estimated to be 500,000 strong, Miller's believers carried out his

>game plan. He used the social networking of his day, speeches,

>sermons, billboards, posters, tent meetings, books, newsletters and

>newspapers, to deliver his message. Millerites by the thousands lived

>in Cincinnati.

>

>On the morning of the appointed day - Oct. 22, 1844 - 2,000 Millerites

>trekked from downtown Cincinnati. Another 2,500 Millerites stayed

>behind to pack a temporary tabernacle near where Centennial Plaza

>stands today in City Hall's shadow.

>

>The tabernacle, naturally, was not made to last. The world was going

>to come to an end, the Millerites reasoned. No sense putting up

>something permanent.

>

>The 2,000 faithful followed the path of what is now Central Parkway.

>At Ravine Street, the Millerites turned right to climb the steep hill.

>

>Near the summit, they stopped at the site of present-day Fairview

>Park. Known then and now for its scenic overlooks, the greenspace gave

>them what they thought would be their last look at a bustling

>Cincinnati, on the verge of becoming the sixth largest city in

>America.

>

>Some were dressed for the occasion. They wore white ascension robes

>designed to climb that stairway to heaven.

>

>The Enquirer, then in its third year of existence, reported that some

>Millerites had quit their jobs. Many got rid of their possessions.

>They felt the end was near.

>

>At the overlook, some of the chosen ones plopped into adjoining wash

>tubs, a la the side-by-side bathtubs in the modern-day Cialis ads.

>Some prayed. Some partied.

>

>They waited for the end. And for Jesus.

>

>Neither arrived. So, Oct. 22, 1844, came to be known as the Great

>Disappointment.

>

>At dawn, the Millerites retraced their route. Along the way, they were

>openly ridiculed. The Enquirer called them "deluded fanatics of this

>most ridiculous humbug."

>

>Miller - based in upstate New York - said: Whoops! My bad. Faulty

>calculations. (Camping used the same excuse when his Rapture failed to

>materialize.)

>

>Follower picked date

> 

>To be fair, Miller never picked an exact date for his rapture. He

>hedged his bets by citing a range of dates. A follower selected Oct.

>22, 1844. And, Miller didn't object.

>

>Miller - as Camping would 167 years later - became a punchline. Then,

>as now, the question was asked: Why do people believe this stuff?

>

>"The 1840s were a time of great economic instability, high immigration

>- people were mad about immigrants taking their jobs - and tumult in

>religion," said Williams, a former University of Cincinnati professor

>whose work examines how politics, religion and social movements effect

>American culture.

>

>"Couple that unsettled world," he added, "with a milieu where people

>were just influenced by their social circle and the belief in

>supernatural events does not seem that far-fetched."

>

>Williams paused before adding: "Those conditions sound a lot like

>today."

>

>Then as now, Americans dealt with these "repent, the end is near"

>movements with a sense of humor.

>

>As the Great Disappointment dawned near Boston, a trumpet could be

>heard. The faithful cried: "Hallelujah!"

>

>That was no angel blowing his horn. It was a prankster.

>

>After his second blast on the horn, he called out:

>

>"Go back to your work. Gabriel ain't a-coming."

>

>Have a suggestion for Our History? E-mail Cliff Radel at

>cradel@enquirer.com

>

>The Rev. William Miller began peddling his end-of-the-world prediction

>in the 1820s based on a series of elaborate charts such as this one

>called "Chronological Chart of the Visions of Daniel and John." /

>Provided

>

>http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20110705/NEWS01/107040336/

>

>http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20110705/NEWS01/107040336/



Subject: IT IS THE END OF THE WOR... never mind. 



So, for all of those folks who have requested it, a top 10 list of

Doomsday 

Predictions... (Anton, a drum roll please)... 





#10: 31 December, 999 * In the Apocrypha it was prophesied that the

world would 

end a thousand years after Christs birth. Hordes of folk headed to the

Promised 

Land from Europe, with thousands dying along the way... many people

gave away 

everything they owned, and just left their farms, towns, and cities

vacant. 

Those that survived the travel climbed to the top of Mt. Zion where,

on the 

fated morn of 1/1/00, nothing spectacularly happened. The pilgrims

began 

going home to be invaded by the Huns later in the year 1000, who found

starving 

foes in neglected cities not much of a challenge. 





#9: 13 October, 1736 * William Whiston, English mathematician and

seer, 

announced the worlds end would begin with  the destuction of London by

flood. 

Swarms of of Londoners made for the high ground where, when the flood

didnt 

make its appearance, the believers rejoiced whilest the pickpockets

amongst 

the crowd rejoiced also. 





#8: 1806 A hen laid an egg inscribed with the words CHRIST IS COMING

in a 

small village outside of Leeds, England. Religious folk all over the

country 

prepared for the end by converting thousands and holding massive

prayer 

meetings. A doctor who examined the egg then found that inscription

had been 

made on the shell by a corrosive ink, and the egg then cruelly shoved

back 

into the bird. And you thought you had it rough... 





#7: 3 April, 1843 * After studying the biblical books of 

Daniel and Revelations, former atheist William Miller had published

his 

prophecy that the world would end by fire on April 3rd in the New York

Herald. 

After the spectacular comet of 1843, some of the Millerites (who

believed that 

the dead had first pick in Heaven) commited suicide. At the end of the

day, by 

which time nothing had happened, Miller fell back on a reasonable

solution... 

he moved the scheduled date of Armageddon up to 7 July. 





#6: 7 July, 1843 * Millerites prepared for the end by buying ascension

robes 

(ever sothoughtfully sold by Miller) and waiting in predug family

plots. 

Nothing 

happened, and the ever resourceful Miller moved the date up to 21

March, 1844. 





#5: 21 March, 1844 * Showing true Christian faith and perseverence,

thousands 

of Millerites prepared for doom, many choosing to await by sitting in 

graveyards 

so that they'd get to see the restoration and assumption of the dead

prior to 

the Millerites' own demise. At the appointed hour, a thunderstorm

began, and 

the 

expectant Millerites were jubilant that this time they were right, and

that 

they 

were "going home". Unfortunately, it was just a quick summer shower

that left a 

lot of sopping Millerites in its wake... who were all too happy to

purchase 

new 

assumption robes to replace the ones ruined by the rain. 





#4: 22 October 1844 * Miller's faithful once again gathered for the

ascension, 

one well-prepared believer bringing along his ascension-robed cows,

claiming 

"It's a very long trip, and the kids will want milk." Keeping his

batting 

average consistent, Miller's prophecy went unfulfilled and, this time,

the 

faithful deserted him and split into several sects, of which the most

important 

survives as the modern Seventh-Day Adventists. Personally, Miller kept

plugging 

along, giving over 3,200 invited speeches on the coming end of the

world and 

selling ascension robes. 





#3: 1881 * According to the pyramid-power prophets after careful study

of the 

Great Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu), the world was to end this year, an

apocalypse 

date confirmed by the 15th century prophet/alchemist Mother Shipton.

It didn't. 





#2: 1936 * With revised, high-tech studies, the pyramid people claimed

the 

world would end this year for sure. It didn't. 





(and the #1 apocalypse prophecy is... get ready to cover me, Paul...) 





#1: 1953 The pyramid people said this was it for certain, gave away

all their 

stuff, and awaited the inevitable. It happened... a bunch of

penniless, self- 

deluded disciples were left feeling miserable when the world didn't

end. 








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