Here’s Why Some Christians Are Convinced The World Is Going To End in 2016

If you believe everything you read on the internet, the remainder of this year is going to make the recent apocalypse in British politics look positively calm and restrained.

The Antichrist is about to reveal himself, Earth’s magnetic poles are about to flip, an asteroid is about to smash into our planet - oh, and Jesus is coming back.

Lots of Christian conspiracy theorists are absolutely convinced that we are nearing the end of history - and that the apocalypse foretold in Revelations is about to happen.

Basically, if you’re not a devout Christian, there seems to be little chance you’ll be toasting the arrival of New Year 2017.

In fact, some are so convinced that they’ve named dates - with one bunch convinced that cities around the world are going to collapse in a devastating apocalypse on July 29.

Thankfully, it’s almost certain that all of these doomsayers are wrong - here’s the conspiracy theories, along with the reasons they won’t happen.

Is the world really going to end on July 29th?

This prediction is not only alarmingly soon - it’s alarmingly specific, produced in a YouTube video filled with Bible verses.

There’s also a lot of truly awful CGI graphics.

End Times Prophecies says - in that computer voice favoured by all good YouTube conspiracy fans, ‘This is Armageddon News. In this broadcast we’ll discuss the second coming of Jesus Christ, which occurs at the same time as a magnetic polar flip and catastrophic global earthquake.

‘On the day which Jesus returns, there will be a polar reversal.

‘The polar flip will make the stars race across the sky, and the vacuum created by the reeling of the Earth will pull the atmosphere along the ground, trying to catch up.

‘The global earthquake will be so bad that every hill and mountain will crumble.

Why it probably won’t happen: Jesus himself is very specific about predictions of the end of the world - saying in the Gospel of Mark, ‘Heaven and earth will pass away… But as for that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.’

Prophets who predict specific dates are going against the Bible, in other words - so there’s nothing Christian about this made-up prophecy at all.

Is the Antichrist about to reveal himself?

Prolific conspiracy theory writer Tom Horn believes that the kingdom of the Antichrist is about to arrive on Earth - and the signs are already here.

Horn says, ‘How ironic it is that while we see what’s happening with ISIS and their apocalyptic vision and what’s happening in the Middle East.

‘And look at all these other prophecies, like the burden of Damascus, and all these other things that could unfold as a result of these conflicts, isn’t it interesting that you also have people of other faith, including the Jews, who believe the Messiah is about to appear?’

Why it’s probably not going to happen: Horn has been peddling apocalyptic myths for nearly two decades, and is involved with a website selling ‘doomsday prepper’ gear - including survival kits.

Some of Horn’s predictions involve the Vatican summoning an alien Messiah - and other, equally bizarre ideas.

Is an asteroid about to smash into Earth?

Some paranoid YouTube channels are convinced that this October, a massive asteroid, the size of the one which killed the dinosaurs, is going to hit Earth.

It’ll kill a billion people, too - marking the start of four years in which the Antichrist takes over the world, and (for some reason) the Chinese Yen becomes the world currency.

It’s all based on the ravings of self-styled ‘prophet’ Ricardo Salazar, who says it’s going to get worse later in the year, saying, ‘World War III is coming, and this war means the launch of many nuclear missiles - not only towards America, but also to Europe.

The Peruvian lawyer-turned-prophet - who now lives in Japan, said, ‘It will poison a third of the drinkable water. Satan is behind the poisoning of the planet.

‘God told me that the war will finish on October 25 of 2016.

Why it probably won’t happen: The date of the asteroid has already been altered by Salazar’s followers, after it failed to show up in May.

Salazar has been widely debunked - he predicted that an asteroid strike would burn down third of the world’s forests in August 2015, which didn’t come to pass.

Does the Blood Moon prophecy herald the end of the world?

A series of recent eclipses is actually a sign from God - and we’re all about to be obliterated after a war breaks out in the Middle East.

Or at least that’s the opinion of believers in the ‘Blood Moon Prophecy’, with one site saying ‘After the signs of the Blood moons for Israel, Catholic prophecies will unfold in 2016. The City of Jerusalem will be destroyed extensively by a nuclear event. Major Globalists are behind this plot. Then, Israel will bomb Iran with nuclear weapons. At this point in time, God will intervene in human history.’

It’s all based on the work of Pastor John Hagee seized on a series of recent eclipses to predict that time was nearly up for the human race in 2007.

Why it probably won’t happen: Devotees of the Blood Moon Prophecy predicted that the world would end on September 28, 2015 - it didn’t.

Most normal Christians concur with the scientific community on this one – it’s pure, unadulterated hogwash.

Did the Bible predict that the world would end in 2016?

According to the website, ‘The Mark of the Beast’, the end is nigh – as foretold in the Bible!

The site says, ‘The seventy ‘sevens’ in Daniel 9:24 are 70 Jubilee cycles. These 70 Jubilee cycles bring us to the end of the world. The 70 Jubilees will end 3,431 years later in 2016 AD when God’s children will enter heavenly Canaan.

‘God’s people will be totally and permanently delivered from sin and Jesus will come again. The second coming of Christ will occur at the exact time predicted in Daniel’s prophecy. In 2016 there will be an end to sin in the world, Jesus will come the second time, and then the end of the world will come.’

Why it probably won’t happen: Conspiracy theorists have linked this prophecy to predictions of the end in 2015 AND 2014 - neither of which happened.