X

Doomsday revision predicts we won't make it to Thursday

The world was supposed to end in May 2011, according to one prophecy, unless that was really just the beginning of the end, in which case the end of the end is set for Wednesday.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is ericcmack@protonmail.com.
Expertise Solar, solar storage, space, science, climate change, deregulated energy, DIY solar panels, DIY off-grid life projects. CNET's "Living off the Grid" series. https://www.cnet.com/feature/home/energy-and-utilities/living-off-the-grid/ Credentials
  • Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Eric Mack
2 min read
nasa.jpg
Maybe take the day off, just in case? NASA

Wednesday might be a good day to call in sick and go cross something off your bucket list -- you know, just in case it's your last chance. According to the E-Bible Fellowship, there is a "strong likelihood that October 7, 2015, will be the end of the world."

That's right. You may never watch another football game, see another season of " The Walking Dead" or get to wear your new Sexy Pizza Rat costume (yes, that's a real thing) to a Halloween party.

But don't despair just yet, because the track record of this particular End Times prophecy is pretty unimpressive, as witnessed by the fact that I am currently not typing this story from any kind of purgatory, hell or spiritual oblivion...as far as I know.

See, the E-Bible group's prediction is based on a revision of a far more widely publicized apocalyptic prediction that the Rapture described in the New Testament would take place on May 21, 2011. When the faithful failed to be carried away to a better place on that date, Harold Camping, the California preacher and radio host who had insistently proclaimed it, revised the date by about five months.

Watch this: Internet doomsday averted, ISPs save day

When this second prediction also failed to materialize, Camping gave up spiritual prognosticating.

But the E-Bible Fellowship has revised Camping's prediction again. It believes that May 21, 2011, was really just the beginning of a 1,600-day period of judgment that will end with a final annihilation on Wednesday. (See the first PDF on their site, linked to above, for more details.)

The problem with apocalyptic predictions like this is that they've always been wrong so far, even the really big ones like the end of the Mayan calendar, or the more recent asteroid that was supposed to take out Puerto Rico, and eventually the rest of us with it.

Then again, only one of these predictions has to be right to make all the centuries of snarky, sarcastic laughter seem a little foolish. So I say why not take a day to cross something off that bucket list just in case.

Let me know in the comments what you think about this latest End Times prediction. I promise to read them on Thursday when I'm back at my desk, unless my desk has been annihilated.