DOOMSDAY CLOCK

In the first days of 2020, a deadly respiratory virus began making its way around the world. Over the summer, many in the United States saw hazy sunsets as the West Coast went up in flames. And the Atlantic hurricane season whipped through an alphabet’s worth of names in record time.

Unsurprisingly, last year saw a surge in apocalypse predictions—even before locust swarms of biblical proportions descended upon Eastern Africa, that is. The University of Connecticut’s Peter Turchin gained attention from national media outlets for his study of the rise and fall of civilizations, having forecasted in 2010 that the nation would go through a period of social upheaval the following decade. And the notion of 2020-as-doomsday so suffused the collective consciousness that “2020 apocalypse bingo cards” were presented without context on social media, with boxes such as “United Nations Collapses” and “Meteor Strikes Earth.”

So perhaps it’s no surprise that on January 27, 2021, the Doomsday Clock—an installation housed at UChicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and one of the most recognizable symbols of the impending apocalypse—remained set at its closest time ever to the metaphorical demise of humanity, “100 seconds to midnight.”

What are Nostradamus’ 2021 predictions?

According to the French mystic, great solar storms in 2021 will take place, which could cause major damage to Earth. “We shall see the water rising and the earth falling under it,” Nostradamus warns. If that wasn’t bad enough, the astrologer predicts a comet will hit the earth or come very close to striking our planet. The event will cause earthquakes and other natural disasters, which he warns as, “In the sky, one see fire and a long trail of sparks.”

FROM THE RELIGIOUS VIEW

Predictions regarding a possible doomsday have been ruling the internet for several years, but until now, nothing eventful that matches an apocalyptic scale has happened on earth, and the blue planet continues to be the perfect haven for life to flourish. And now, doomsday predictions made by deceased pastor Dr. F Kenton Beshore, who was the former president of the World Bible Society have gone viral on the internet.

Beshore made these predictions before his death in 2016. The pastor claimed that the beginning of the end of the world will be triggered in 2021, and the second coming of Christ will happen in 2028, after seven years of the tribulation period.

Several followers of Beshore strongly believe that 2021 has already started showing signs of an imminent doomsday. According to these followers, the seven-year tribulation period that will begin in 2021 will be characterized by devastating events like asteroid hits, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and giant tsunamis.

A vast majority of theologians, however,  hold to Jesus’ own words regarding the end of times.

Matthew 24:36 –

36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark.  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Many teachers of the Bible also use the following passage from 2 Peter 3:10

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

One thing all members of the religious community do agree on.  Whenever the end does come – we better be ready.