I enjoyed collecting candy from the many houses and we often had contests to see who could collect the most candy.  The neighborhoods were swarming with children who were going from house to house asking for treats.  Then, as the years went on, some unscrupulous people took it upon themselves to taint the candy with razorblades or poison, causing parents to refrain from taking the children out to enjoy the holiday.

The characters which represent Halloween are remnants of a pagan religion, ancient religions, Catholicism,  folklore, and politics celebrated ages ago.  They do not represent Christianity, but rather have to do with the occult, which is a false religion.  God clearly warns against using “divination, an observer of times, or an enchanter or a witch or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard or a necromancer,” (Deuteronomy 18:9-13).

Halloween, as it is celebrated in the United States, encourages the children to think of these things in relation to the images which represent Halloween.  Therefore, it is not a holiday which Christians and their children should celebrate.  By engaging in following these images, Christians knowingly or unknowingly are breaking the first commandment which says, “I am the Lord thy God. Which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” (Exodus 20:2,3).   

Having knowledge of and contact with the symbols of Halloween, specifically, the witches, ghost, and skeletons, encourages the children to explore these images in depth.  They often become fascinated with them as they hear stories or watch television shows about them.  It is unfortunate that the Harry Potter books have become so popular, because children who celebrate Halloween have no trouble making the transition to following Harry Potter and the tales of sorcery

The Lord spoke of these practices as an abomination and any nation which practiced these abominations were driven out of their land, defeated in battles, and suffered losses.  God told the Israelites not to intermarry with the people who worshiped these false Gods and not to do as they did.

Anyone today who engages in these practices suffers financial ruin, loses their property, loses their jobs, and never recovers, unless they turn to the Lord.  Therefore, we are putting our children at risk for becoming involved in New Age teachings, as a natural progression from celebrating Halloween and suffering other misfortunes in life.  If they are unaware of what the Bible says about engaging in these practices, they may never know what is causing their misfortune and may continue to engage in these practices.                   

New Age Guru Busker

Image by avlxyz via Flickr

The Lord says in Deuteronomy 18:12, “’…because of these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.”  He also says that the Israelites shall posses these nations, in verse 14, “, For these nations which thou shalt possess…”  He also says that the Israelites will possess the land in Deuteronomy 19:1, “When the Lord they God hath cut off the nations, whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses.”

In the first commandment found in Exodus 20:5, the Lord says he will “visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of them that hate me.”  God considers practicing these abominations as an act of hatred toward him.  The third and fourth generations following us will suffer because of our actions.

These verses cannot be taken lightly as we experienced the economic crisis of 2008 and many people in the Unite States lost their homes.  It is possible that many of the people who lost their homes were involved with a New Age practice such as astrology, tarot cards, witchcraft, numerology, palm reading, spiritism or any other such practice which God calls an abomination or that their ancestors were engaged in these practices.

Therefore, as parents of Christian children, we should make it out duty to ensure that our children do not become involved in these practices.  It is not too late to break the chain of this unfortunate condition and turning our backs on it to follow Jesus Christ instead.  In doing so, we ensure that our children will have a better life.

Fulton attended St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria, Illinois after his family moved there. He soon began serving as an altar boy. He went to parochial school, and soon became recognized as an excellent public speaker and debater. He graduated from Spalding Institute as high school valedictorian and attended St. Viator College in Bourbonnais, Illinois. He then attended Saint Paul Seminary in Minnesota. On September 20, 1919, he was ordained.

Sheen continued his studies at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a doctorate in Philosophy. He then attended Louvain University in Belgium where he became the first American ever to earn a agrege en Philosophie, the highest title the school could bestow. He finished his doctorate in 1925, and was awarded the Cardinal Mercier award for his philosophical dissertation.

Sheen briefly was the pastor of a small Peoria church, but he soon became an instructor at Catholic University, where he became a popular professor. He would work there until 1950. During that time, Sheen authored a number of books which were considerably successful, He claimed a wide readership among the Catholics of his day. His books include “The Seven Last Words” (1933), “The Eternal Galilean” (1934), “The Cross and the Beatitudes” (1937), “Seven Words of Jesus and Mary” (1945) and “Communism and the Conscience of the West”(1949.)

Fulton soon placed himself even more firmly in the public eye. He appeared on “Catholic Hour”, a National radio program, in 1928. He soon became one of the program’s most popular preachers, and his television career really began. For the next twenty years, he appeared regularly on the program, often preaching during Lent and Holy Week.

As Sheen became more well-known, offers of speaking engagements poured in. He began preaching annually at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and soon was a sought after guest on many Catholic programs throughout the United States and Europe.

Sheen’s career was further advanced when he embarked on a world-wide speaking tour with Cardinal Spellman. Spellman later appointed Sheen head of the American branch of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. One of the four Pontifical Mission Societies, this organization was dedicated to raising funds for and giving support to missionary churches in Africa, Asia, and the Islands of the Pacific. Sheen dedicated himself and became a very successful fundraiser. He also continued to write, producing books and articles that appeared in publications throughout the United States and abroad. He continued to preach and soon became known for his powers of conversion. Some of the converts attributed to him include writer and politician Clare Boothe Luce, industrialist Henry Ford II, composer Fritz Kreisler, actress Virginia Mayo and ex-Communist Louis Buden.

Sheen is perhaps best known for his weekly television program. “Life is Worth Living.” For years, this show aired on Tuesday nights at 8pm. Beginning production in 1951, it was very successful and even prompted the famous Milton Berle (whose show’s ratings he challenged) to say “[i]f I’m going to be eased off the top by anyone, it’s better that I lose to the One for whom Bishop Sheen is speaking.”(1) Called the “First Televangelist” by Time, Sheen won an Emmy in 1952.

The show boasted 30 million viewers weekly and ran until 1957. A year later, Sheen was appointed to another office, the directorship of The Society for Propagation of the Faith. Eight years later, on October 26, 1966, Sheen was appointed Bishop of Rochester, New York. His role as a televangelist continued however, until 1968, with “The Fulton Sheen Program.”

Sheen was an outspoken opponent of the war in Vietnam. In his later years, he was appointed as Archbishop of the Titular See of Newport, Wales, and continued writing books and articles. At his death in 1979, he had written and published 73 books.

1. “Bishop Fulton Sheen: The First Televangelist” Time April 14, 1952

A short explanation of Science;

Science isn’t just gathering evidence of something and calling it true. For something to be science, all the facts of a situation must be gathered, put into place, and reproduced. This usually involves several tests to ensure the outcome is the same everytime. Since it isn’t possible(at this time) to travel back to the beginning of time and simply verify God’s existence, we can’t prove or disprove the validity of God or religion itself. As I’ve just said, we would have to be able to recreate that scenerio probably several times for it to be considered science at all, and it would have to end in the same or a very similar manner for it to be called scientifically proven.

A short explanation of Reason;

Reason is typically when we take the evidence presented to us by something, or the general clues we have so far and make purely logical decision to believe it or not.

If you know there are 50 marbles, and someone takes 20, reason will tell you there are 30 left because of the evidence you’ve seen thus far.

Reason Vs Science;

Science and reason are two very different things, and while they have many similarities they shouldn’t be confused with eachother in any way. In the previous example of marbles, reason was what you used to come to that conclusion. However, that doesn’t make it science. For that to be called science the situation would have to be replicated to prove the outcome is the same. Reason can be used to form a hypothesis which you may then test and prove.

Example of Reason being confused for Science;

Let’s take evolution for example, we’ll go with the evolution of humans. This is commonly called ’science’ though it shouldn’t bear that name. Until we can find a way to test this theory without contamination of any outside influence we as humans didn’t have, this can’t be called science. Reasoning might tell you that we found these fossils from different time periods, cave paintings, whatever it might be. But that lays in the hands of reason, and is nothing more than an assumption for the time being. I’m not arguing whether or not evolution valid, but rather, whether it is science.

Science and Religion touching hands;

While there are many inconsistancies between the events depicted in various tellings of many different religions, and their less free spirited cousin named Science, that doesn’t make the two mortal enemies as so many people think. It’s true, we can pick something out of The Bible for example and call it out by things we now know, let’s take the great flood for example.

Did every species of animal live within walking distance of Noah’s house? Reason says no, science says let’s find out.

Is it possible to build a ship large enough to carry all the species of animals on, out of wood? Both reason and science seem to agree that this would most certainly fail.

Would Earth be survivable if its entire surface were flooded? Reason says this amount of water would cause you to drown by breathing alone, as the level of water vapor in the air would be massive. But until this is replicated it can not be disproved under the name of science. (Let’s not go too far on this one, scientists. Please don’t test it. I enjoy breathing.)

Conclusion;

While reason may say religion is unlikely to some, the reason of others would say different as with nearly all things. We can’t recreate all the events mentioned by most religions and so it wouldn’t be proper to scientifically question their validity. Many things in religion have indeed been proven wrong, but one can say that’s because in these religions long life spans man has altered their stories. But even that is reason, and out of the bounds of science. There’s no need for this argument as both can get along, and neither fully disagrees with the other. Allow them to stay as distant cousins, who don’t need to be involved with eachother until Reason invites them over for a drink.

Thanks for reading.

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Queen Christina

Queen Christina was born in 1626 and died in 1689. She became Queen of Sweden at the tender age of 6 but did not start to rule the country herself until 1644. Her opinions were often unconventional and it happened that she gave chocking and surprising announcements, not least when she converted to Catholicism in 1655. She seems to have been as unconventional in her private life too as in her role as a queen.

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Queen Christina

Queen Christina was a strong minded person but small things like flies could bugger her a lot. She absolutely hated flies. She disliked them so much she decided she had to do something to destroy those pesky flies. Unconventional as she was, she came up with a rather unusual idea. She had a mini canon built.

The canon was about four inch big but was fully useable. Whenever flies got into her bedroom, Queen Christina would fire mini cannonballs at them. However, historical records do not tell whether she ever hit any.

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Queen Christina (left) and René Descatres (right).

On the 1st of may 1707, the Acts of Union 1707 was passed, under this England and Scotland became united as a single sovereign state as the Kingdom of Great Britain. As queen, Anne became the first sovereign as well as being the last queen of both England and Scotland. Anne continued to be the Queen of Ireland as well as holding the title of Queen of France. She held these titles until her own death in August 1714.

After her father was removed from the throne there has been no British monarch from the Catholic faith, this was passed into British law during the time of the Glorious Revolution that no British monarch shall be of that faith or marry someone who is of that faith, this continues to this day. Religious differences during her reign caused problems and as she died childless the House of Stuart ended when she died. Her second cousin George I became king upon her death and this was the beginning of the House of Hanover.

Anne was the fourth child of James, who was the Duke of York at the time of Anne’s birth. The Duke and Duchess had 8 children, only Anne and her sister Mary lived beyond childhood. Much of her childhood was spent in France, only returning to England in 1670 just a year before her mothers death.

In 1673, Anne’s father James converted to Roman Catholicism and married Mary of Modena, she was just over six years older than Anne. The two sisters, had on the instructions of King Charles II been raised as protestants, much of their upbringing was away from their father. Charles had no legitimate children to come to the throne so James, the Duke of York was next in line to become king, followed by his two daughters. James and Mary had ten children over the next ten years, all were stillborn or died in infancy.

In July 1683, Anne married Prince George of Denmark, the brother of the Danish king and her second cousin. Her first child was stillborn, she later had two daughters Mary and Anne Sophia. In 1685 and the death of Charles II, James became king. He was not well received for his becoming a Catholic, Anne was the only leading member of the royal family attending protestant services in England as her sister was married to William  and living in his home country of Holland.

In 1687, Anne gave birth to her fourth child, this one again was stillborn, within a few days her husband and two surviving daughters caught smallpox. The two girls died, he remained confined to bed, later that year she had another stillborn child. The king’s wife became pregnant and when a son was born in June 1688 the fear of many in the country was that of a Catholic dynasty, Anne left London to recuperate from the loss of her child.

In November 1688, William of Orange, Anne’s brother in law,  invaded England intent on dethroning the king, this became known as the Glorious revolution. In the previous Spring King James had forbidden his daughter Mary from visiting Anne, Anne had become aware of Williams plan to invade and refused to side with her father against her brother in law, even declaring her approval of his actions. When King James arrived in London on the 26th of November he found he had been abandoned by many he thought were or should have been close to him.

Anne was placed under house arrest in the Palace of Whitehall, she escaped to Nottingham, eventually meeting up with her husband at Oxford, James by this time had left for France and Anne returned to London on the 18th of December. A Convention parliament was assembled and James was declared to have abdicated the throne by fleeing the country. Mary was offered the throne but she accepted it as jointly becoming the monarch with her husband William, they were and still are the only joint monarchs in British history. Anne and her descendants would be next in line to the throne after William and Mary.

On the 24th of July 1689 Anne had a son, William, he survived infancy and as William and Mary were childless it appeared that Anne’s son would later become king. Mary died of smallpox in 1694 and William then reigned as sole monarch. Anne was now next in line for the throne. Anne had been pregnant at least 18 times by the year 1700, on thirteen of those times she miscarried or the child was stillborn. Another four died before reaching the age of two. William, the Duke of Gloucester, was her only child to survive his infant years, on the 29th of July 1700, just 5 days after his 11th birthday he died. A crisis was developing as to who would succeed her onto the throne.

If upon her death and with no heir it would be open for James the deposed king or his son James (the ‘Old Pretender’) to claim the throne as theirs. In 1701 the Act of Settlement was passed, this disregarded many claimants to the throne through their Catholism, if no heir was born  through Anne or William through any future marriage then Sophia, Electress of Hanover or her descendants would be crowned as the monarch. Sophia’s own elder sister was not considered because of her religious following.

When Anne became Queen in 1702 she almost immediately became involved with the War of the Spanish Succession, the war would dominate both foreign and domestic policy until the final years of her reign. Her husband was appointed Lord High Admiral, so having control of the Royal Navy. One of her closest allies over many years Lord Marlborough was given the control of the Army. He also became the Duke of Marlborough.

With the Act of Settlement being passed in 1701, the English Parliament failed to consult with its Scottish equivalent, in Scotland they were keen to have the Stuart line preserved and to see its inheritance to the throne. Scotland’s Parliament  passed a bill called the Act of Security, which made the claim that Scotland had the right to choose the next Scottish monarch from the royal lines of descendants. Fearing that Scotland would restore its alliance with France, the English Parliament issued the Alien Act 1705, this meant that economic sanctions would be imposed and Scottish subjects would be classed as aliens and have their property seized unless Scotland repealed its Act or made moves to unite with England. Eventually terms were agreed and England and Scotland came under a new kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.

Anne’s husband, Prince George died in October 1708, by this time parliament was dominated by the Whigs in a two party state, the other being the Tories. The Whigs used the death of the Prince to their advantage and pressed for more power, eventually the government began to gain that power and the monarch slowly became less and less in control.

Queen Anne suffered a stroke on the 30th of July 1714, this left her unable to speak, she died on the first of August. Sophia, who had been named as the next in line had died in June of that same year, her son became King George I, Elector of Hanover. Anne’s half brother James Francis Edward Stuart was ignored due to his religion, George I faced a fairly stable time on the throne as two Jacobite rebellions in 1715 and 1719 both failed.

Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger) is the current head of the Catholic Church; Pope Benedict is one of today’s modern missionaries around the world because he promotes Christianity wherever he is. As he is in the highest position in the Catholic Church, he is an extremely well known figure around the globe, even to other faiths. The Pope is a mission due to the fact that he spreads the Word of God in all his life, one such instance where the Pope gained great media attention was his Visit to the United Kingdom, this visit was heavily publicised and was one of the biggest news stories at the time. The is just one of the examples of the pope taking the word of God to others, his many visits around the globe further highlight his status as a catholic missionary.

He was born on 13 October, 1887, in Nagybiccse a subject of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire to a deeply religious family, as such, he was always destined for a life in the priesthood. As a boy he seems not to have impressed either academically or as an individual. In 1910, he graduated from his Catholic Seminary and made rapid progress through the ranks of the local Catholic hierarchy through hard work and diligence if not inspiration. After serving briefly as a curate during World War One he returned to his home town to work as a secretary to his local Bishop. Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire upon the conclusion of the war and the formation of the nation state of Czechoslovakia he very quickly identified himself as a Slovak. For a time he worked as a journalist where he caused some controversy with his pro-Hungarian views. Having reached the rank of Monsignor he volunteered to work as a parish priest and was to continue to tend to the spiritual needs of his flock throughout the war years and the duration of his Presidency.

In the early 1920’s he joined the Slovak People’s Party, a right-wing, nationalist organisation that drew most of its support from the more rural areas of Slovakia. In 1938, he became its leader.

In October, 1938, Germany annexed the Sudetenland. Seizing his opportunity, Tiso declared Slovakia to be an autonomous region within the Czechoslovak State, making himself its Premier. Even so, he had to be bullied by Hitler personally before he finally dared to pronounce Slovakia an independent State on 15 March, 1939. Appointed by the Nazi’s President of the fledgling country he declared himself Vodca (Fuhrer) in 1942.

Though he was an enthusiastic anti-Semite and willingly carried out the policies of his German masters in what was never more than a puppet-State he never really had the stomach to be a true Nazi. He was always a Catholic priest first and a politician second, in his heart at least, if not always in his actions. 

Tiso, introduced the Jewish Code which barred Jews from owning their own homes, and barred them from participating in sport or attending university. He also forced them to wear the Star of David in public. In March, 1942, Slovakia began deporting its first Jews to Auschwitz. Tiso was more than happy to expel the Jews in line with his policy of Slovakia for the Slovaks. But excluding the so-called undesirables from his country and deporting them to their deaths were two very different things. He was a vicious anti-Semite no doubt, but he was also a Catholic priest with a conscience and a sense of right and wrong.

Even so, by June, 1942, just three months after the deportations had started, more than 52,000 Jews had been sent to the Concentration Camps. Indeed, so efficiently had the deportations been carried out that the Vatican felt compelled to intervene. Slovakia had become a clerico-fascist regime and an often supine in the face of Nazi aggression Catholic Church, felt on this occasion at least they could act. They arranged bribes be paid to those Slovakian officials who were responsible for the deportations to cease them, and Pope Pius XII brought personal pressure to bear on Tiso himself to halt the expulsions. Which he did.

This outraged the Germans who demanded that the deportations resume. For two years Tiso resisted German pressure but by 1944, he had been forced to buckle. By the wars end 75% of Slovakian Jews had been deported and murdered, more than 75,000.

Tiso was captured in April, 1945. Unusually, for a collaborator Tiso remained popular amongst the Slovakian people. Even so, he was sentenced to death for treason by the recently reformed Czechoslovak Government. Monsignor Josef Tiso, was hanged in Bratislava on 18 April, 1947, still wearing his clerical robes.       

In medieval England, Catholicism was the most powerful, rich and influential religion, as everyone believed that Heaven, Hell and God existed. The people would also learn of the horrors of Hell whenever they went to Church. The Church had total control over everyone and peasants had to pay a tithe which was 10% of everything they earned per year to the Church. Peasant would have very little money so they would mainly pay in seeds, grains and animals. Also, the peasants had to work for nothing on Church land. You also had to pay for baptisms, weddings and burials. Failure to go to church, work on Church land, pay a tithe, be baptised and be buried on holy land was said to make you go to Hell, which was feared by everyone. The Church also didn’t have to pay taxes. This is why Catholicism was so rich and influential as well as having a large effect on people’s lives.

Shinto, however, wasn’t so controlling. It didn’t have dominance over people and there wasn’t any Heaven or Hell in it. Instead, they believed in kami, which are Shinto Gods and that people became kami when they died. Kami would take the shape of things in nature, such as mountains, rivers, trees and rocks. Shinto isn’t a ‘being’ like Catholicism and you don’t have to give it any money. People believed that everyone was good and any evil is caused by evil spirits. The purpose of most Shinto rituals is to keep away evil spirits by prayers, donations to the kami and purification. Shinto is different to most religions as there isn’t heaven or hell, there’s no founder and there’s no primary book. It has been here since prehistoric Japan and children are taught to respect their ancestors, their leaders and the natural features of the world to show gratitude to the kami.

When Confucianism arrived in Japan, it was quickly accepted because it has a very similar philosophy to Shinto. In Confucianism, the Japanese recognized truths that are shown in Shinto, like honesty, fairness, harmony and ancestor worshipping. Confucian principles were adopted but were mainly mixed with Shinto beliefs. Buddhism was probably the most influential non-Japanese religion practiced in Japan. It had a powerful effect on the Japanese and to them, it was an established tradition. The philosophy, especially the part about the elimination of world suffering, was very appealing to the Japanese. Like Confucianism, it has similar traits to Shinto like how it worshipped many gods, how it didn’t offer a ‘creed’ that followers had to believe and how it didn’t concentrate on particular gods. Lastly, it taught something that Shinto lacked: the philosophy of life and death. Buddhism taught how if you were impure when you died, you would go through the process of reincarnation unlike Shintoists who accepted death as the end of existence. People believed in Buddhism with Shinto believed that kami were the spirits that were stuck in the reincarnation cycle. That is why Buddhism went well with Shinto and Confucianism.

To praise God, the Church built many cathedrals, churches and monasteries, many of which are still visitable today. To work on building a cathedral would be a great honour and you had to belong to a guild to do skilled work. The builders had great motivation though-they were told that if they died while building a cathedral or a church they would go straight to heaven. A cathedral is basically a church with a bishop, a lot more features and they were normally built in the important cities such as York and Canterbury. Cathedrals were used for baptism, marriage, funerals and a meeting area whenever someone important wanted to give a speech. There is also a ‘parish church’ in the middle of every town and each one has stained windows to help people who can’t read learn the story of the Bible. Most cathedrals and churches did not have seats, as they do today so people would either kneel on the floor to pray or stand up to listen to the sermons. People would go to church every Sunday where they prayed, learnt the horrors of hell and to help live their lives by God’s laws.

Japanese people worship the kami at Shinto shrines, which are said to be the homes of kami. Most shrines regularly celebrate festivals to show the kami the outside world. Shinto priests often live near shrines and they perform Shinto rituals. Shrines have one or more torii gates that consist of 2 vertical poles at each end of the street and 2 horizontal bars next to each other at the top. Most torii gates are made of wood and are painted black and orange. They also have a pair of ‘Komainu’ (guardian dog statues) found on each side of a shrine’s entrance. A purification through is found near the entrance and you are supposed to wash your hands and mouth before approaching the main hall. Shrine visitors would write their wishes on wooden plates and leave them at the shrine in the hope that those wishes come true.

The pope was the head of the church and he was known as God’s representative on Earth. Below the pope were the cardinals, who served the pope, elected the pope and became pope when the pope died. Below the cardinals were the archbishops, who were basically a higher rank from a bishop, but their duties were the same. Each bishop/archbishop would have a different duty: some were attached to cathedrals and some acted as advisers to the king. Next were the priests who lived at monasteries and convents, some of which help the community. Last are the villagers who work on church ground. There are also friars who wander around the country preaching and helping people but they aren’t part of the hierarchy. Shinto is completely different as they are just divided into the priests, who live at shrines and the normal people.

Japanese religions and Catholicism were very different from each other during medieval times but it show how different the West and the East were in terms of their religions.

Almost every religion has at least one story on how the end of days will come, usually depicting a series of events which would herald the final days. These dooms, of course, are reserved for the unrepentant, the non-believers, the heathens, and pretty much anyone else who just doesn’t agree with that particular faith.

Pick your flavor

The Muslims believe it begins with the breaking of the moon, and some believe this has already occurred when the Apollo missions brought back lunar rock samples to Earth.

Many Christians and Protestants believe that the first sign of The End would be when God reached out to reclaim all his believers in the Rapture. In the religious fiction “Left Behind” series, this very literally equated to believers in Jesus Christ vanishing abruptly all over the world, leaving behind only their clothes and belongings as evidence of their passage. The ensuing tribulations would all be harbingers to the returning of Jesus Christ to the world of men (and woe be it to anyone left who still didn’t believe at that point!)

The Jewish faith refer to this period directly as “The End of Days”, but it is more of a objective than a cataclysmic ending of the world, where good faith and deeds become the norm, all is set right in Israel (which becomes a flowering, fertile garden instead of a barren desert), and the true Messiah finally visits the world.

Stalwart Catholicism states that the end will come “like a thief in the night” but even there they believe Jesus Christ warned that the indicators of the final days might include earthquakes and other natural disasters, wars, and other catastrophes.

The Church of Latter-day Saints (more commonly known as Mormons) believe that we are already living in the last age of Man, and await now only a final set of the “Signs of the Times” which will foretell the end. These signs include the coming of Christ (from the east) and angelic beings, and involve the world together fighting Israel, and the Wicked all being burned. There are plenty more signs

Buddhism teaches that only when Buddha’s teachings are no longer practiced in all the world – in 5,000 years – would the end come. Some Buddhists believe that there would be signs leading up to these times, including the withdraw of Buddhists teachers, teachings, and practices until nothing is left at all but depravity and all who live by the ten amoral concepts. When all comes to an end, it will begin again when Maitreya is reborn for the final time.

The Hand of God

Predictably, most of the old religions fall back on the oldest of disasters – natural disasters – as signs of the end of the world. The rivers running dry, the world being flooded over, balls of fire from the heavens, and earthquakes: all those things that were fears and hardly understood by our ancient ancestors, so surely must have been acts of God – since it was surely He who created it to begin with.

Of course, there are no facts to back up any of these claims; only the words of religious leaders ranging from thousands to hundreds of years ago, and perhaps only non-believers find it easy to relate such predictions to more recent proclamations such as the Heaven’s Gate cult in 1997 that committed mass suicide after the teachings that a comet was bringing with it the end of the world.

Should I start praying?

While some religions such as the Mormons already account the world as being in the final days, it seems mankind itself is much closer to actually pulling off the end of the world than any religion’s – major or minor – god.

So believe what you want, and pray as you like – but as I’ve been fond of saying since I was a young man, even if the largest religion is right, there are billions of believers of other faiths who are wrong, and probably won’t be saved.

Don’t stop here! Journey on with me as I continue through the myriad ways the world might end:

The End of the World Part 1: By Natural Disaster
The End of the World Part 2: Global Warming
The End of the World Part 3: Overpopulation
The End of the World Part 4: Pestilence
The End of the World Part 5: Meteor Strike
The End of the World Part 6: Solar Flare
The End of the World Part 7: Nuclear War
The End of the World Part 8: Black Hole
The End of the World Part 9: [The Wrath of] God
The End of the World Part 10: Mad Scientists
The End of the World Part 11: By Prediction