The Real History of the End of the World (39 page)

And, of course, the good guys always find a way to survive, right?

 

 

 

 

Apocalypse/Revelation:
Mean the same thing—a showing or revealing.
Apocalypse
is Greek;
Revelation,
Latin. However over the centuries, Revelation has come to be used mostly for the book of John of Patmos and Apocalypse both for the book and for a disaster of major proportions, probably leading to the end of the world.

 

Chiliasm:
The Greek term for millenarianism. It comes from the Greek for one thousand. I like it; it's shorter. Of course, every time I read it, I get a craving for Tex-Mex food.

 

Dispensation:
Another term for era. The division of the biblical history of the world into “dispensations.” We are, of course, in the last one.

 

Eschatology:
The study of the ways is which people look at the end times, both of individual humans and of the world.

 

Exegesis:
Explanation for the meaning of what someone else wrote. This is very popular with those who study the Bible, but there are scholars who specialize in Shakespearean exegesis, too, and for any writer who might have a hidden agenda.

 

Latitudinarian:
Someone who is easygoing about religious beliefs as long as they don't infringe on others' lives.

 

Messianic:
A type of religious belief that a savior will arrive to clean up the mess that humans have made or to remove a corrupt or oppressive government. One can expect a messiah without the world ending. However, in many traditions, the messiah only appears shortly before the end.

 

Millennialism:
The belief that there will be a thousand years between the beginning of Christianity and the end times. It has been stretched to imply a belief that the end is coming soon. It's also been stretched to assume that God doesn't measure time the way people do.

 

Occultation:
In Islam, the concealment of the Mahdi, who will return when needed. In astronomy, the eclipse of a star or planet by the moon.

 

Parousia:
Another word for the Second Coming of Jesus. It is from the Greek and is used when people want to sound classy.

 

Premillennialism (or millenarianism):
The belief that the thousand years of peace under the rule of Jesus will be preceded by disasters, tribulations, and the reign of the Antichrist. Premillennialists tend to be pessimistic about the possibility of making the world better without divine help and hope to be raptured up to heaven before things get much worse. But many of them still believe in helping out others when there is need.

 

Postmillennialism:
The belief that Christ's incarnation began a thousand years in which people can improve the world, convert almost everyone to Christianity, and prepare humankind for the Second Coming, which will arrive at the end of the millennium. The early 1800s saw many reform movements made up of postmillennialists, such as antislavery leagues.

 

Syncretism:
The blending of two or more different religious beliefs to form a third, which often has elements found in neither.

Abraham

Abu Bakr

Adams, John

Adeodatus

Adoptionism

Adventists.
See
Seventh Day Adventists

‘Affan, ‘Uthman ibn

African Muslims

Africanus, Julius

Afterlife

Age of Exploration

Age of Peace

Ages of world

Ahiram (god)

Ahmad, Mirzam Gulam

Ahmad, Shaykh

Ahmadiya

Ahtawhhungnah
ceremony

Akhtoy (Egyptian king)

Akkadians

Alexander (bishop of Lincoln)

Alexander I (Russian czar)

Alexander the Great

Alexander VI (pope)

Ali (son-in-law/cousin of Muhammad)

Ali, Maulvi Mohammad

“Alien seed” theorists

Almanacs, Nostradamus'

Altar of Victories

Ambrose (bishop of Milan)

Ambrose (boy in Nennius' book)

America.
See also specific movements

Civil War in

Jews and

utopian communities in

American Revolution

Anabaptists

Ancestors

Angels.
See also specific individuals

Angkor Wat, temples at

Anglican Church

Antichrist.
See also
Al-Dajjal

Apocalypse of Peter on

appearance of

beast as

Islam on

Joachim of Fiore on

New World Order under

Old Believers on

pope as

in
Prophecies de Merlin

Antiochus

Apocalypse.
See also
Book of Revelation

Augustine and

Four Horsemen of the

of John

of Paul

of Peter

survival of

of Thomas

Apocalypse
(Meidner)

Apocalyptic movements

Apollo (god)

Apollonius

Applewhite, Marshall

Armageddon

Art

on end of world

during Middle Ages

religious

Savonarola and

Artaxerxes of Persia

Arthur, King

Ascension

Ascension robes

Assyria

Asteroids

Astrology.
See also
Nostradamus

ATF (Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms)

Atomic bombs

Atrahasis (Noah)

Augustine

The
Avesta
(Zoroaster)

Avvakum (archpriest)

Aztecs

Babylon

Babylonians

Bacon, Roger

Balance

Ball, Fanny

Ball, Joseph

Baptism

Barahin-i-Ahmadiya
(Ahmadiya Proofs) (Ahmad, M.)

Barebones Parliament

Beasts

in Book of Daniel

in Book of Revelation

in
The Fall of Babylon

number of

Beginning of world, theories about

Belshazzar

Berdyaev, Nicolas

Bethlehem Chapel

Bible.
See also
New Testament; Old Testament;
specific books

Africanus' chronology of

books of, Essenes and

Liang on

Miller on

Newton on

Qur'an
vs.

translation and availability of

Bible Code

The Bible Code
(Drosnin)

Big Bear (Cherokee)

Black Death

Blackwell, William

Blood, in Mayan rites

Blood libel

Bohemia (Czech Republic)

Book of Daniel

beasts in

Book of Revelation and

Fifth Monarchists and

four kingdoms in

Messiah in

Miller on

Newton on

Rome as fourth monarchy in

witnesses in

Book of Ezekiel

Book of Life

Book of Mormon

“Book of Prophecies” (Columbus)

Book of Revelation

angels in

Armageddon in

Babylon in

beasts in

Book of Daniel and

as book of New Testament

dragon in

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in

Heaven in

Joachim of Fiore on

lake of burning sulfur in

Last Judgment in

martyrdom in

Merlin's prophecies and

seven churches in

seven seals in

views on

The Book of the Hopi
(Waters)

Borgia, Cesare

Borgia, Lucrezia

Boyle, Katherine (Lady Ranelagh)

Boyle, Robert

Boyle's Law

Brahma

Branch Davidians

Breault, Marc

Brethren

Britons

Buddhism

Bullard, Isaac

Calendars

Chinese

Hebrew

Jewish

Mayan

Muslim

Calvin, John

Cary, Mary

Cathars

Catherine de Medici, Queen (of France)

Catherine the Great

Catholic Church

Charlemagne

Charles I, King (of England)

Charles II, King (of England)

Charles VIII, King (of France)

Chelchiký, Peter

Cherokee Ghost Dance

China

Christ, death of

Jews' role in

Newton on date of

Christ, return of.
See also
Second Coming

first Christians on

as Jew

Jews' conversion to Christianity and

Lee as

Montanism on

Newton on date for

Christianity.
See also
Bible; Crusades; Montanism;
specific sects

Age of Exploration

conversion to

dispensationalism and

Judaism
vs.

on martyrdom

Roman Empire and

Christians

Book of Daniel and

evangelical

first

Fundamentalist

missionaries

order of society and

pagans
vs.

on Sibylline Oracles

Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.
See
Mormons

Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT)

Cistercians

City of God
(Augustine)

Civil War

in America

in England

Clement III (pope)

Clement of Alexandria

Climate

Coe, Michael

Columbus, Christopher

Comets

Communion

Communism

Compendium of Revelations
(Savonarola)

Confessions
(Augustine)

Confucianism

Confucius

Constantinople

Constantius

Cosmos

Council of Constance

Council of Nicaea

Creation stories, Mayan

Cromwell, Oliver

Crusades

Cuban missile crisis

Cults

cargo

characteristics of

of Egyptian king

Cuneiform writing

CUT (Church Universal and Triumphant)

Cyprus

Cyril of Jerusalem

Al-Dajjal (Antichrist)

Daniel.
See
Book of Daniel

Dante,
Inferno

Daoism

Darby, John Nelson

Darius, the Mede

Davidians.
See
Branch Davidians

Day of Brahma

Dead Sea Scrolls

Demons

Devil/Satan

Dionysius the Great

Dipanagara (prince-religious leader)

Disasters

in Book of Revelation

ecological

interpretation/prediction of

Dispensationalism

Dominicans

Dönme
(convert)

Doomsealers

Dragons

in Book of Revelation

Joachim of Fiore on

in Merlin's prophecies and

Drosnin, Michael

Earthquakes

Eclipses

Egypt

Egyptian Days

Electricity

The Elect

Elijah

Emergence stories, Hopi

End of world

earliest stories of

ideas about

Jews, Israel and

End of world, date for

apocalyptic movements on

Chinese on

Christians and

Joachim of Fiore and

Mayans and

Millerites on

Nostradamus on

predictions through time

Shi'ites on

Taborites on

End of world, signs of.
See also specific signs

Christians on

Davidian belief in

Hesiod on

Hinduism on

in Merlin's prophecies

Qur'an on

Taborites on

England.
See also
Fifth Monarchists;
specific individuals

Civil War in

Jews and

Revolution and

Enlil (god)

Epiphanias

Epistle of Barnabas

Erasmus, Desiderius

Erickson, George

Essenes

Eusebius

Evelyn, John

Evil.
See also
Good
vs.
evil

Exegesis

Exposito in Apocalypsim
( Joachim of Fiore)

Facing Millennial Midnight
(Lindsey)