There have been many predictions of the end of the world; they have all been wrong. But they do provide both humor and pathos and the opportunity to reflect on human nature. These include prophesies/predictions of the end of the world, Armageddon, the rapture, the coming of a messiah, the second coming of a messiah and other such world-ending events.

In America today, perhaps the most thought-provoking prediction is that of Jesus, who said, "Verily, I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom" (Matt. 16:28).

This implies Jesus's second coming during the Apostles' lifetime, and they expected it. It did not happen.

Yet there are those today who believe the Bible is the literal, unerring word of God.

Human nature seems to long for a cataclysmic ending, since such prophecies have been part of so many cultures through so many years. An unearthed Assyrian clay tablet from sometime about 2800 BCE, said, "Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end. Bribery and corruption are common."

Throughout history and today, the moral decay of society, along with degradation of the earth, have been and are taken as signs of the imminent end. It did not happen as said by the Assyrians, but bribery and corruption certainly continue, and if we listen to the older generation, the younger generation is always degenerate.

Many such prophecies/predictions are based on religion, but astrologers, scientists and quacks have also been involved, and they have come from all around the world. A brief, incomplete look is revealing.

Calendar problems recur throughout these prophecies.

Living around 160-246, three Roman theologians - Sextus Julius Africanus, Hippolytus and Ireneus predicted the second coming of Jesus in the year 500. This was based on Africanus's assumption that there were 5,531 years between the creation and the resurrection, and thus the expected second coming could take place no later than 500 AD.

The assumption must have been wrong, or off by at least 1,510 years.

Moving on to astrology, John of Toledo calculated a planetary alignment would occur in Libra on Sept. 23, 1186, and circulated what became known as the "Letter of Toledo," warning that the world was going to be destroyed on this date, with only a few people surviving. It didn't happen.

In 1286, Pope Innocent III expected the second coming to take place in 1284, 666 years after the rise of Islam. A rabbi, Sabbatal Zevi, determined that the messiah would come in 1648, and would do miracles. Zevi went a little further in that he also determined that the messiah would be none other than himself. It didn't happen.

Earlier, in 1525, Anabaptist Thomas Muntzer had thought he was living at the "end of all ages" and led an unsuccessful peasants' revolt. It wasn't the end of all ages and later Muntzer was tortured and executed.

And so it went and so it goes.

Coming to North America, Cotton Mather predicted the end of the world in 1736. It didn't happen.

Back across the sea, predicting the millennium in 1793, a retired English sailor called himself "God's Almighty Nephew" (no messianic aspirations for him), and was convinced that he would lead the 10 lost tribes of Israel and said God told him he would become king of England. It didn't happen.

He wasn't tortured and murdered, but later was committed to an insane asylum.

Our current prophets don't get so committed; they become televangelists and raise lots of money and some even get to become White House advisors.

John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, foresaw the millennium beginning in 1836. It didn't happen.

One missed millennium date leads to another.

William Miller, leader of the "Millerite Movement," predicted the return of Jesus sometimes between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844, allowing himself a little wriggle room. Wriggle or no, it didn't happen.

But Miller had gathered thousands of devotees, and when Jesus failed to show, the cult experienced a crisis of faith and began reinterpreting the prophecy and aggressively proselytizing. An offshoot became the Seventh Day Adventists of today. Perhaps it would be fair to call our major religions "cults" - grown large and powerful.

Skipping plenty of other prophecies and moving ahead to times in which many of us have lived, Herbert W. Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God told his followers that the rapture would be in 1936, and only they would be saved. It didn't happen, so he changed the date ... three more times.

None of them happened, but Armstrong was following a pattern of "...if at first you don't prophecy right, prophecy again, and again, and..."

The 700 Club was a popular television evangelist show, and Pat Robertson, its leader, is still a figure in American politics. Despite the biblical statement that "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven," (Matt. 24:36), in a May 1980 broadcast of the 700 Club, Robertson said, "I guarantee you by the end of 1982, there is to be judgment on the world."

He's made many statements with such sparkling wisdom, but the big one didn't happen.

In 1990, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, leader of the Church Universal and Triumphant, foresaw nuclear devastation and convinced her followers to move with her to a ranch in Montana where they might be among the few survivors. So-called mainline churches could ignore her because she was only a cult leader. In any case, it didn't happen, but many people no longer owned their property.

Just 13 years ago, in 1997, a San Diego UFO cult, named "Heaven's Gate," following the progress of the Hale-Bopp comet and its predicted spaceship following behind it, concluded the end of the world was coming.

Not wanting to wait, 39 cult members committed suicide.

In 2006, God's Church minister Ronald Weinland wrote a book saying that hundreds of millions would die by 2008, and the U.S. would no longer exist as an independent nation.

The book notes, "Ronald Weinland places his reputation on the line as the end-time prophet of God."

Ooops!

What do these doomsday prophecies, and so many others not listed here, say to me? Barnum was right: there's a sucker born every minute.

People are gullible, and they want to believe what they are told will "save them." They tell me that emotion often trumps facts. They tell me there is also someone born in a timely fashion related to the one-a-minute who is willing and able to take advantage of the suckers, who go on believing long after belief should be impossible to a reasonable person.

They tell me such prophecies aren't going to stop.

As a matter of fact, I'm ending with a prophecy. There is a well-known one going around, based on the Mayan calendar, that the world will end in 2012. Despite the fact that it is a misinterpretation of the calendar and disowned by the Mayans, it continues to circulate and draw attention.

I hereby prophesy, without the use of peyote or any other hallucinogenic, that the world will not end in 2012. If it does, it won't matter to me if I'm wrong. If it doesn't, it won't matter to you that I'm right.

Jim Coufal of Cazenovia is a part-time philosopher and full-time observer of global trends.