Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand; A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? William Butler Yeats ( ) THE SECOND COMING

Additional Apocalypse Myths I.Persian (Zoroastrian)

Additional Apocalypse Myths I.Persian (Zoroastrian) A.Three saviors sent to earth by Wise Lord(Ahura Mazda) before the final battle that will result in triumph of good over evil, Last Judgment, resurrection of dead

Additional Apocalypse Myths B.All will be born of 15-year-old virgins who bathe in a sacred lake in Iran impregnated with the sperm of the prophet Zoroaster

Additional Apocalypse Myths C.1 st savior (Anshedar) born during the Period of Iron; demons attack earth relentlessly 1.When Anshedar turns 30, sun at noon for 10 days 2.Meets with angels, preaches righteousness 3.Ends all disease (caused by demons)

Additional Apocalypse Myths D.2 nd savior (Aushedarmah) comes 1,000 years later; suffering, war, disease & hunger have reappeared 1. When Aushedarmah turns 30, sun at noon for 6 days 2.People become vegetarians, less aggressive 3.Dragon Azhidahaka terrorizes earth, kills 1/3 of humans & animals

Additional Apocalypse Myths E. 3 rd savior (Saoshyant) comes 1,000 years later, heralds final judgment 1. Molten metal floods the earth, killing wicked 2. Bodies & souls of all who have lived joined for Final Judgment, Wise Lord & angels appear 3. Saoshyant presides, evil humans & Ahriman sent to hell forever

Additional Apocalypse Myths II. Islam (The Hadith)

Additional Apocalypse Myths II. Islam (The Hadith) A. Signs of the end of the world 1. People no longer study the Koran; seek pleasure, material wealth, power

Additional Apocalypse Myths 2. Epidemic in Jedda, famine in Medina, plague in Mecca

Additional Apocalypse Myths 3. Earthquakes in North Africa 4. Lethal thunderstorms in Turkey & Iran 5. Iraq domain of murderous bandits 6. Far East wiped out by floods 7. Bonds of society destroyed- every man for himself

Additional Apocalypse Myths B. The Dajjal (Antichrist) will appear, riding a donkey & subjecting all people of the world to his rule 1. Will rule for 40 days through terror & force 2. Allah will send Jesus from heaven on white horse with lance 3. Faithful form army of God to fight Dijjal, God affixes his feet to earth, Jesus strikes final blow

Additional Apocalypse Myths C. Jesus will reign for 40 years of perfect justice & peace 1. Actually each year = 26 months, so 87 years 2. At end of reign, Jesus prays at Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, God takes him into heaven

Additional Apocalypse Myths 3. 7 days later Gog and Magog (monsters imprisoned by Alexander the Great) break free, destroy civilization

Additional Apocalypse Myths D.God calls two angels into service for the Final Judgment 1.Azrail, angel of death, appears to believers as a beautiful star that calls them to their rest; appears as monster to rip out their souls to the wicked

Additional Apocalypse Myths 2.Israfil blows the trumpet of the last day (see Afterlife notes)

Additional Apocalypse Myths III.Predictions for the End of the World

Additional Apocalypse Myths III.Predictions for the End of the World A.In 1843, William Miller made a series of prophecies that the world would end in a few months

Additional Apocalypse Myths 1. None took place, but followers of Miller founded separate churches 2. Most successful is the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Additional Apocalypse Myths B.Many Cold War era stories focused on nuclear annihilation

Additional Apocalypse Myths C. Nostradamus allegedly predicted that a great catastrophe would take place in July, 1999

Additional Apocalypse Myths D.Meteor strikes- astronomers calculate that asteroid (29075) 1950 DA will come close to or collide with Earth on March 16, 2880

Additional Apocalypse Myths E. Sun is increasing luminosity, too hot within 1 billion years

Additional Apocalypse Myths F. In about 5 billion years, sun expands into red giant, evaporating Earth

Additional Apocalypse Myths G. Mayan Long Count Calendar ends abruptly on December 21, 2012