Examples of Apocalyptic Thinkings

There is no shortage of examples of apocalyptic thinking throughout history. Certainly, Old Testament prophets who railed against the evils of society were a classic example. Society had gotten off track some how and the judgement would come. We see this repeated as recently as in the early days of the United States where a series of religious revivals called Great Awakenings sprewed forth apocalyptic hellfire and brimstone rhetoric. The most recent of these was barely a hundred years ago. So this is not an artifact of the far distant past.

There is also no shortage of incidents where people thought the end of the world was coming. Most recently, we had a fascination with the Prophecies of Nostradamus regarding the new millenium and when that did not happen, we turned our sights to the Mayan Calendar prediction of the world ending in 2012. In fact, there was a blockbuster movie made with that name (2012) and exploring that theme. So, again, these ideas are not just artifacts of the distant past.

There are more striking examples of apocalyptic thinking in recent years. David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidians, more common know as the Waco sect, believed that we were in the end of days. And the enormous popularity of the Left Behind Series (a series of books about the rapture) suggests that apocalyptic notions still capture the interest of many.

But, are these just examples of people far from the mainstream? Or do regular, otherwise normal, people show signs of apocalyptic thinking? They do, and the examples may surprise you.