Apocalypse! Now? Quiz | Religion Mixture

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. To start off, let's get some popcorn and check out the latest Tinseltown "post-apocalyptic" flick. Hmm. Lots of maniacs running around. Bloodshed to the max. What is the LITERAL meaning of the word "apocalypse" in ALL versions of the New Testament of the Christian Bible?

Answer: "Lifting of the veil" or "Revelation"

That's right, "revelation" is synonymous with "apocalypse." In the Christian Bible, the Apocalypse depicts a certain time SPAN in which many events happen. As far as "happy" or "scary," it all depends upon which event you choose to focus on. Hollywood usually focuses on a dark and violent time or "the end of the world as we know it"; generally, they leave Christ out of the equation. On the other hand, many Christians believe that, after the return of Christ, the earth will be a pretty neat place.

2. Even among Christians there is a wide range of doctrines concerning the Apocalypse. Some Christians believe that the Second Coming of Christ will come in two stages; the first stage involves a "rapture" of the Church to save true believers from the Great Tribulation. Who was the first theologian, known as the "Father of Dispensationalism," who is generally credited with bringing the Rapture doctrine to world-wide attention?

Answer: John Nelson Darby

John Nelson Darby (1800-1832), Hebrew and Greek scholar, was, before his evangelical conversion, a former curate of the Church of Ireland. He did not become a well-known interpreter of Biblical prophecies, however, until 1840. "Dispensationalism," according to Wikipedia, "...sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants." In other words, the Dispensational Age in which people live determines the applicability of certain parts of the Bible; dispensationalists believe ALL of the Bible is not applicable to Christians in the Modern (or "Church") Age.

3. On October 22, 1844, thousands of True Believers gathered on hilltops across the United States to await the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. What they expected never happened; He never came. Historians have given this traumatic event a name. What is it?

Answer: The Great Disappointment

The Date of the Great Disappointment was based on calculations involving the Old Testament Book of Daniel, "especially Daniel 8:14... 'Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed'" (Wikipedia). An American preacher arrived at the date of the Second Coming by setting the beginning of the timeline at 457 BC (the date of the Persian decree to the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem); if one counted 2300 YEARS (a-year-for-a-day principle) from that date, it would be AD 1844. Further calculations by Samuel Snow set the actual date.

4. Who was the American preacher who predicted that Christ would return to Earth in 1844? (Very Obscure Hint: He has the same name as the man who ran as Barry Goldwater's Vice-Presidential running mate in the U.S. Presidential Election of 1964.)

Answer: William Miller

William Miller (1782-1849) was a preacher whose combat experience in the War of 1812 led him to believe in a God who occasionally intervenes in human affairs. Therefore, he gave up his adherence to Deism and Freemasonry to embrace a more evangelical form of Baptist Christianity, which later evolved into Adventism.

His followers, called Millerites, faced great scorn, as well as violence, after the Great Disappointment. (The "other" William Miller of 1964 was an obscure Congressman from New York State who ran with Goldwater.)

5. As far as non-Biblical interpretations of end times go, thirty-nine members of this group committed suicide near San Diego, California, in March 1997. They believed that the earth was nearing an apocalyptic moment and it was about to be renewed ("washed clean"), but they could avoid any unpleasantness by killing themselves. Think of Marshall Applewhite, the arrival of the Hale-Bopp comet, a trailing spacecraft, identical black shirts and sweatpants and new Nikes. What name is this group known by?

Answer: Heaven's Gate

This group was known as Human Individual Metamorphosis before they settled on "Heaven's Gate." Applewhite, their leader, believed he was a descendant of Christ and more evolved than the rest of humanity; however, all of the members of Heaven's Gate believed they could qualify for the next evolutionary level by hating the world and shedding any attachment to it, be it economics, family and even sex.

In fact, Applewhite and six other male Heaven's Gate devotees had undergone voluntary castration for the sake of asceticism.

6. As if Applewhite's prediction of gloom-and-doom after Hale-Bopp weren't enough, occultist Nancy Lieder believed that the comet was an illusion - simply a distraction - to divert the earth's attention from a REAL apocalyptic event. According to Nancy, a giant planet would suddenly appear and wreak some big-time havoc. What was the name of this planet?

Answer: "Nibiru" or "Planet X"

Nancy Lieder claimed many things: that she is in touch with more evolved beings whom she calls Zetas (from the Zeta Reticuli star system); that these beings speak to her through brain implants; and that Planet X - once it gets here - will disrupt the earth's orbit. Her original disaster-date, May 2003, came and went, so Nancy is saying to look for Nibiru again in the dreaded 2012.

7. I was a blockbuster book that dealt with the end-times from a dispensationalist evangelical perspective. Originally published by the Christian publishing house Zondervan, (1970) I was picked up by Bantam in 1973, "the first Christian prophecy book to be picked up by a secular publisher," according to Wikipedia. My main premise: Christ would return to Planet Earth in the 1980s. Complete my title: "__________________Planet Earth".

Answer: The Late Great

"The Late Great Planet Earth" was even made into a documentary film (1979) narrated by Orson Welles, and its premise is that the Second Coming of Christ would happen in the 1980s. This date is determined by a passage in Matthew 24:33-34, which reads as follows: "So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." (KJV) The book set the starting date of "the beginning of the end" as 1948, when Israel became a nation.

The book's authors proposed that 40 years was the time of a biblical "generation."

8. We were the authors of the blockbuster book that predicted the Second Coming of Christ in the 1980s. Although I, Carole C. Carlson, actually ghost-wrote the book, my co-author is best remembered for it. He went on to be a big televangelist and as of 2006, his "Report" still ran on the Angel One network. He is a big-time Christian Zionist. What is his name?

Answer: Hal Lindsey

Hal Lindsey was born in Houston in 1929. As of the late 1990s, he was still publishing books predicting that the Apocalypse was "just around the corner." His latest book "Planet Earth - 2000 AD," declared that Christians would not still be living on the earth in the year 2000. Billy Sunday? A famous evangelist, but he died in 1935. Dale Gribble? Cartoon character: "King of the Hill." Peter Griffin? Cartoon character: "Family Guy."

9. Here's scary food for thought. According to one particular prophetess, the Antichrist walks among us NOW in 2011! He was born on February 5, 1962 in Egypt. Guided by the spirits of Amenhotep and Nefertiti, he will amaze the world, but lead them away from the one true God. What is the name of the prophetess who predicted this?

Answer: Jeane Dixon

The most famous prediction of Jeane Dixon (1904-1997) was the above-mentioned, concerning the Antichrist; however, she also predicted in 1956 that the US President elected in 1960 would die in office, either by assassination or natural causes. (Later, she admitted that she saw Nixon as the winner of the 1960 presidential election, NOT Kennedy.) Ruth Montgomery was a newspaper columnist who claimed to be advised by "spiritual Guides" and gave Dixon popular exposure; McPherson was a Pentecostal Evangelist who once claimed she was kidnapped but could never prove it; Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of Christian Science.

10. I am a much more recent (2011) media-hyped person to issue a prophecy about the Apocalypse. I said that on May 21, 2011, Jesus Christ would return to the planet, spirit away his believers, and inflict upon the rest of the earth's population disasters of Biblical proportions for five months; then, on October 21, 2011, the end of the world would occur. I thundered this message on Family Radio - my radio station - up until nothing big happened in May. What is my name?

Answer: Harold Camping

Harold Camping was born in 1921 in Colorado; his communications center, Family Radio, is based in San Francisco California. On June 9, 2011, "Camping suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. His speech has reportedly become slurred as a result of the stroke." (Wikipedia). Was the stroke God's wrath or the result of an elderly man getting over-excited and then greatly disappointed and embarrassed? You tell me. Even after the disappointment in May, Camping still held to his end-of-the-world-date of October 21, 2011, however.

Source: Author snediger

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor CellarDoor before going online.
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Apocalypse! Now? Trivia Quiz

Throughout the ages, many have wondered about "the Apocalypse;" some have even dared to formulate doctrines about "end-time" events. This quiz is about some of those "apocalyptic" beliefs and their proponents.

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