Once you understand your history, we can,
we might, have the possibility with this technology, this new Guttenberg press of the internet,
we might have the chance of stopping the ten generation cycle of empire, cycle of civilization
in its tracks. Look, I’ve been a history guy for a while
now and I’ve never heard of a ten generation cycle of civilization. A generation is about 25 years, depending
on your source, from the time you’re born until the time you have kids, it’s roughly
25 years. Ten generations is 250 years. Stefan is talking about Rome, which… the
Republic lasted over 500 years, the Empire, at least as a whole, lasted over 400 years. I don’t know where he’s getting this 250,
ten generations thing. The average age of the world’s greatest
civilizations from the beginning of history has been 200 years. So wait, does Rome not count? I’m confused. I can’t think of a single country that has
only lasted for 2- they’re talking about America. Which would put the end, right about now. This video is brought to you by Cheddar. Eschatology is a field of study within theology
concerned with the end times. For Christianity, that means the book of Revelations,
the Rapture, the battle of Armageddon, and the second coming of Christ. It’s been seven years since these billboards
were put up just about everywhere. They were placed by the Family Radio Network,
led by Harold Camping, in preparation for the Rapture, which he calculated would happen
on May 21, 2011. And that wasn’t his first prediction. In 1992, he predicted that Christ’s second
coming would occur two years later, on September 6, 1994. When that didn’t happen, September 29th,
then October 2nd, and then just for good measure, March 31st, 1995. According to Harold Camping, the Church Age
ended in 1988 which began a six year period of Tribulation, the seventh year being the
year that Jesus would come to Earth, so 1994. The number seven comes up a lot. Since God created the world in seven days,
they take that number seven and then the word day to mean whatever they want, in this case,
years. The Tribulation is mentioned by Jesus in Matthew
24. For then shall be great tribulation, such
as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. He doesn’t specifically what’s going to
happen during it or how you even know if it’s actually happening, but there you go. It’s apparently just the period of time
before the end time. When nothing happened, Camping revised his
calculations to say that the Tribulation would last 8400 days or 23 years. How did he come up with 23? Numerology is the belief in a divine or mystical
importance attached to certain numbers, seven for example. Harold Camping believed that the number seventeen
signifies heaven. Since six years of the Tribulation had already
occurred, he just added seventeen, and got twenty-three. Twenty-three also means judgment… apparently. So in his fifth prediction, Camping had convinced
his followers that the end would occur on May 21, 2011. Many of his followers sold their worldly possessions
and donated all their money to his awareness campaign. Over 100 million dollars were spent on billboards
and advertising to get the word out that the Rapture was coming. The Rapture is the part of Christian eschatology
when all true believers are taken to Heaven and it precedes second coming of Christ. So, when nothing happened on May 21st, Camping
declared that a “spiritual rapture” and judgment had occurred and that the end of
the world would follow 153 days later. So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat
and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with
so many the net was not torn. This seemingly random verse, is literally
how he came up with 153 days. What? Which happened to be October 21, 2011, seven
years ago, today. It’s almost like I planned it that way. But Randy Macho Man Savage died the day before
and stopped the Apocalypse from happening. Hey, it’s just as good of a theory as 153
fish. Harold Camping died in 2013, otherwise I’m
sure the seven year itch would have been significant somehow. People have been predicting the end times
since basically the beginning, there is a massive Wikipedia article listing every substantial
prediction for the end of the world, going all the way back. It seems we can’t go 2 years without someone
declaring that the end is nigh. This is despite the fact, that the bible itself
says that you can’t calculate or predict the end. But about that day or hour no one knows, not
even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. But that doesn’t stop people from trying
anyway. Like in 1833, when pastor William Miller calculated
that the Second Advent of Christ, which is just another word for the Second Coming, would
be on March 21, 1844. He arrived at this date because in 457 BC,
Jerusalem was rebuilt. The return of the Israelites to Israel is
often cited as one of the signs of impending doom, which Harold Camping also used. It doesn’t matter that in 1833, the state
of Israel didn’t exist, all that matters is they attempted to rebuild it in 457 BC. He said to me, “It will take 2,300 evenings
and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.” So, we take 457 BC, and we add 2300 years,
because day means year… and then we add one, because the year zero didn’t happen,
it just went 1 BC to 1 AD… so we get 1844. When nothing happened on March 21, they just
added seven months to it, because you know… seven. So on October 22, 1844, the Millerites prepare
for the end of the world, and much like with Harold Camping, many of them gave up their
worldly possessions. This was the inspiration for the opening scene
of Season 3 of the Leftovers. This event, or rather, the fact that the world
did not end, is known as the Great Disappointment… Which is what my dad says about me whenever
I tell him I’m a youtuber. William Miller spent the rest of his days
hiding in shame, I mean imagine googling what was the biggest disappointment ever, and there’s
your name, 170 years later… nothing worse has happened since then apparently. The Millerites later became the Seventh-Day
Adventists, who continue believing to this day that the second coming will happen any
moment now. Much like the people who knock on your door…
no, the other ones. Jehovah’s Witnesses. Both of these churches believe that the world
was created 6000 years ago. So, Young Earth Creationists. Or at the very least, it’s been 6000 years
since Adam, so we are currently in the seventh millennium. With the Lord a day is like a thousand years,
and a thousand years are like a day. So for them, a day is a thousand years, rather
than just one year. It is said in the bible that Jesus will return
to Earth and usher in a thousand-year kingdom, known as the Millennium. Jehovah’s Witnesses are trying to get that
going now. In fact, they believe that they are the earthly
representatives of God’s Kingdom and that we are currently in the Millennium. God’s Kingdom was established in 1914, which
is also when World War 1 started. And since then, Jehovah’s Witnesses have
predicted then end of the world multiple times, but their first prediction was 1941. Which was when America joined World War 2,
strangely enough. Post-World War 2 America saw a huge increase
in religious interest, especially when it comes to the end of the world. We now had bombs that could cause that, so,
makes sense. As a result, we saw the rise of Evangelicals,
like Harold Camping, new religions like Scientology, and various other cults and alternative movements. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh-Day Adventists
both believe in Millennialism. That’s the idea that we either are or soon
will be under the thousand year reign of Christ, which should be relatively peaceful. This is in contrast to Millenarianism which
has a more cataclysmic apocalyptic view. Many millenarian cults came out of the 50s
and 60s, including the Branch Davidians, a splinter group from the Seventh-Day Adventists,
founded in 1955. Vernon Howell changed his name to David Koresh,
believing he was a descendant of King David from the bible. David Koresh also identified himself as the
lamb mentioned in Revelations chapter five, meaning he is the final prophet that will
usher in the second coming of Christ. The Branch Davidians believed they were the
ones who would break the Seven Seals and bring about the end of days. Instead, in 1993, their days were ended at
their compound in Waco, Texas which was the 90s version of Sandy Hook. Conspiracy theorists will never shut up about
it. So to avoid any of that, I’m going to point
you to a few videos down below and I’m not going to say anything else about Waco. So stop typing. A lot of these cults that were started in
the 50s and 60s met their end in the 90s, due in large part to the fact that original
members were dying off. Also thanks to the internet, very few cults
made it through that filter. In 1997, a UFO religion known as Heaven’s
Gate made headlines by committing mass suicide. Their leader, Marshall Applewhite, believed
that he was the reincarnation of Jesus. They also believed that the Earth was going
to be destroyed and that the only way to survive was to follow Applewhite onto a spaceship
which trailed the comet Hale-Bopp. The comet was at its closest distance to Earth
on March 22, 1997. Four days later, the bodies of 39 Heaven’s
Gate members were found after committing mass suicide in order to transport their spirits
onto the UFO. They mixed phenobarbital with apple sauce
and vodka, then taped plastic bags around their heads. The expression “drinking the kool-aid”
comes from Jonestown even though it was actually the knock-off brand Flavor Aid. But they didn’t necessarily believe that
the end was coming, which is good, because I don’t want this to be another 30 minute
video. Aside from the Ufologists, 1997 was an important
date for end times predictions, since it was 2000 years since Jesus was born. Yeah, you heard that correctly. Jesus was actually born in the year 4 BC,
when they set the starting point for the calendar they didn’t know that, I guess, then you
add 2000, and then one because the year zero didn’t happen. When nothing happened in 97, people moved
to the year 2000, because obviously. Numerous churches and preachers believed that
the world would end in the year 2000. So let’s just talk about one. The Unification Church was a cult founded
in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, and believed that the Kingdom of Heaven would be established
in the year 2000. Members of this cult are known as Moonies,
which is hilarious. Jesus didn’t return in the year 2000 and
Moon died in 2012, so that was basically the end of that. Though, the next big religiously predicted
date is 2033, 2000 years after Jesus died. Just for the sake of being thorough, this
is the exact same thing that happened around the year 1000. But let’s take a step back from religion
and look at the more secular predictions. You probably remember the Y2k bug… unless
you’re current in high school, in which case you were born after that…. I’m so old. Basically, it was thought that computers wouldn’t
know how to interpret the date going from 99 to 00 and the power would go out, planes
would drop from the sky, basically everything that happens in Fallout. And then of course, there was 2012, which
all of you should remember. That hysteria stemmed from the Mayan calendar,
December 21, 2012 clicked over to the thirteenth baktun, there’s a Scishow episode explaining
all of the cycles if you’re interested. But the Maya never predicted that the world
would end. We entered the twelfth baktun on September
18th, 1618 and nothing happened, everything kept ticking over. The Maya did believe that the last creation
lasted thirteen baktuns, but didn’t predict how long this one would last. Pop culture just decided we should make a
big deal out of this in order to sell books and movies. And just for good measure, somehow brought
Nostradamus into it. Nostradamus… mmk, he… a lot of people,
after something big happens, go to his poems and look for a line that kinda sorta says
what they want it to in order to say that he predicted it. When 2012 was a thing, they tried to say Nostradamus
predicted it. He didn’t, in fact, he only ever makes one
end of the world prediction and it was several years before that. The year 1999 seven months
From the sky will come the great King of Terror. Most people interpreted this to mean that
an asteroid or comet would strike Earth in July 1999. Until it didn’t happen, then they interpreted
it to mean all sorts of things, like John F Kennedy Jr dying. But what would happen if a comet or asteroid
were to strike the Earth? Cheddar explored that question in their video
“Is there a best case asteroid impact scenario?” What would be better for us life here on Earth,
an asteroid hitting the ground or an asteroid hitting water? Cheddar is a fairly new Youtube channel focusing
on business, technology, media, and news but without the boring parts. They also seem to have quite a few videos
regarding asteroid impacts on Earth. Including and interview with the guy whose
primary job is to discover and find ways to divert asteroids. I’m Lindley Johnson, I’m the Planetary
Defense Officer here at NASA. Planetary Defense Officer, that’s just amazing. So once you’re done here, make sure to head
over to the link at the top of the description to check that out and consider subscribing. Scientists have their own predictions for
apocalyptic events, including an asteroid impact and things like Yellowstone eventually
exploding. And of course the sun swallowing the earth
and the eventual heat-death of the universe. But a surprisingly large amount of people
believe that they are currently living in the end times… 49% of Americans… yeah. But that shouldn’t really be surprising,
given all of the examples we just went through and the countless that we didn’t, it seems
like every generation almost wants to be the last generation. That’s why they pick arbitrary numbers like
2000, or 10 generations, or 153 fish. The bible itself says that you won’t know
the world is going to end until it’s actually happening, so relax, because now, you know
better. If you didn’t notice, I got some new channel
art courtesy of PoetheWondercat. I wouldn’t’ve been able to do that without
the support of my patrons, especially my newest legendary patron, Patrick. If you’d like to help support the channel,
head over to patreon.com/knowingbetter, and don’t forget to rapture that subscribe button,
follow me on twitter and facebook, and join us on the subreddit.
55 upvotes in an hour on mealtimevideos with 0 comments? This smells like vote manipulation. I have noticed this guys videos consistently get heavily upvoted, despite his tenuous grasp on subjects and tendency to assert his opinions as facts. But this has been the first piece of evidence that perhaps his votes are inauthentic.