Saint John or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Apocalypse
Confessions of a wannabe cult leader
Growing up, I was never much interested in the Bible. We weren’t really a church-going family. As far as I recall, the book that put me on the road that would eventually lead to the Bible was Strange Stories, Amazing Facts from Reader’s Digest Books. Published in 1976, this was a collection of supposedly strange but true stories that (I assume) had been featured in Reader’s Digest magazine over the years.
I was around twelve or so when I became fascinated with the story about Nostradamus and his predictions.
The year 1999, the seventh month,
From the sky shall descend a great King of Terror,
To revive the great King of the East,
Before and after, Mars shall reign for the good cause.
(Century X, Number 72)
I am not sure how the book interpreted the prophecy, but know that World War Three was mentioned. I interpreted it as basically a death sentence for myself. I remember whining to my mother how unfair it was that I was going to die in 1999 when I would only be thirty-three years old. She agreed that it was totally unfair.
