End-time Visions : The Road to title: Armageddon? author: Abanes, Richard. publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows isbn10 | asin: 1568581041 print isbn13: 9781568581040 ebook isbn13: 9780585235301 language: English End of the world--History of doctrines, subject Christian sects--History, Cults--History. publication date: 1998 lcc: BT876.A22 1998eb ddc: 291.2/3 End of the world--History of doctrines, subject: Christian sects--History, Cults--History. Page i End-Time Visions The Road to Armageddon? Page ii Other books by Richard Abanes Cults, New Religious Movements, and Your Family American Militias: Rebellion, Racism and Religion Defending the Faith: A Beginner's Guide to Cults and New Religions Journey into the Light: Exploring Near Death Experiences Page iii End-Time Visions The Road To Armageddon? By Richard Abanes Page iv © 1998 Richard Abanes Published in the United States by: Four Walls Eight Windows 39 West 14th Street, room 503 New York, N.Y., 10011 U.K. offices: Four Walls Eight Windows/Turnaround Unit 3, Olympia Trading Estate Coburg Road, Wood Green London N22 6TZ, England Visit our website at http://www.fourwallseightwindows.com First printing April 1998. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a data base or other retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Abanes, Richard. End-Time Visions: The Road to Armageddon?/by Richard Abanes. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 1-56858-104-1 1. End of the worldHistory of doctrines. 2. Christian sectsHistory. 3. Cults History. 4. End of the worldControversial literature. I. Tide. BT876.A22 1998 291.2'3dc21 97-44524 CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States Printed in the United States Page v CONTENTS Introduction vii Part 1: Apocalypse Now 1. 1990s: Decade of Death 3 2. Seers, Sages, and Soothsayers 43 3. "Thus Saith The Lord". 81 4. Patriots and Militiamen 113 Part 2: The Annals of Armageddon 5. A Timeless Obsession 159 6. Nostradamus 187 7. Miller's Millennial Madness 209 8. Jehovah's Witnesses: Armageddon, Inc 229 Part 3: a Return to Sanity 9. Signs of the Times Revisited 255 10. The Bible Tells Me So ? 279 11. Millennial Mindsets 303 Appendix A: The NDE Mystery Solved 329 Appendix B: Calendar Confusion 335 Appendix C: Timeline of Doom 337 Appendix D: Inside Heaven's Gate. 343 Notes 349 Index 417 Page vii INTRODUCTION There is no common denominator in the worm today except religion. Billy Graham, American Evangelist 1 Religion has fascinated me for most of my life. I was raised a Roman Catholic, dabbled in occultism as an adolescent (e.g., Edgar Cayce and ouija boards), and became an evangelical Christian at the age of seventeen. Then, in my twenties, I found myself involved with a cult known as The Way International. Upon leaving this group, I continued my search for spiritual fulfillment among hyper-Pentecostals who writhed on the floor during church services and wailed their praises to God in "tongues." Now, after more than thirty years of involvement with religion, it seems only natural that I would earn my living as an investigative reporter specializing in cults, the occult, world religions, and new religious movements. There is no lack of work for someone in my field of interest. Since the 1980s a wave of spirituality has been steadily engulfing numerous countries, especially the United States. According to scholars in American religious thought, we are "witnessing a spiritual awakening unprecedented in modern times."2 Church historian and University of Chicago professor Martin Marty observes, "spirituality is back, almost with a vengeance. . . . I find myself treating the concern for spirituality as an event of our era."3 One need only glance through a few periodicals to see the validity of Marty's comment. Articles bearing titles such as "Desperately Seeking Spirituality," "The New Spin Is Spirituality," "The Power of Faith,'' "In Search of the Sacred," and "Exploring Spiritual Approach to Business-World Challenges" are now common.4 Early indications of this renewed interest in religion appeared in a 1987 Better Homes and Gardens survey of more than 80,000 readers. Sixty-two percent of those polled said that in