Abraham Lincoln said you can fool all of the people some of the time and and some of the people all of the time, but you can\u2019t fool all the people all of the time. After listening to the news and the political campaigns lately, I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s true anymore, but it\u2019s interesting what people choose to believe. I actually know people that to this day believe the Moon landings were staged and never really happened.\u00a0
Anyhow, some \u201cbeliefs\u201d are hard to understand\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
William Miller, a farmer in northern New York, founded a doomsday cult in the 1800s. His study of the Bible convinced him that humanity was due for damnation. He began preaching that message in the early 1830s. His first prediction was that Jesus Christ would \u201ccome again to the earth, cleanse, purify and take possession of the same\u201d between March 1843 and March 1844. When a comet appeared early in 1843, a number of his followers killed themselves, believing the end was near. However, when his prophecy didn\u2019t come to pass and the world survived, Miller stood by his message but became reluctant to set actual dates. Some of his followers took it upon themselves to announce October 23, 1844, as the big day, and Miller reluctantly agreed. The date came to be known as The Great Disappointment. Regardless, Miller and his followers established a basis on which the Seventh-Day Adventist Church was later founded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the early 19th century, John Cleves Symmes promoted the Hollow Earth Theory, which stated that the planet was actually several populated worlds nesting inside one another. Simmer\u2019s ideas influenced Cyrus Teed, who developed Koreshan Unity, a religion based on the theory. For about 100 years, Koreshan Unity drew thousands of followers worldwide. The Hollow Earth Theory was revived during World War II, when some people theorized that the Nazis actually came from an underground civilization. More recently, Kevin and Matthew Taylor spent 12 years investigating the idea \u2014 they wrote a book about their findings, The Land of No Horizon<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Claude Vorilhon, a French race car driver and onetime musician, asserted that he was visited by an extraterrestrial in 1973. It was a life-altering experience for him that caused him to change his name to Rael and found the Raelian Church. Rael\u2019s religion proclaims that the Elohim (\u201cthose who came from the sky\u201d) created everything on Earth. Although many turn a skeptical eye toward Vorilhon, whose faith also preaches free love, the Raelian Movement is said to include as many as 65,000 members worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Vampire Church has offices throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. However, don\u2019t expect to find much about the \u201cundead,\u201d like vampires have been portrayed in stories for years. Instead, the church offers insight into vampirism as a physical condition that sometimes requires unusual energy resources, such as blood. In addition, it explains the difference between psychic vampires and elemental vampires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The battle cry of the Church of Euthanasia is \u201cSave the Planet \u2014 Kill Yourself.\u201d The church was established by Bostonian Chris Korda in 1992. Korda, a musician, had a dream one night about an alien who warned her that Earth was in serious danger. The extraterrestrial, which Korda dubbed \u201cThe Being,\u201d stressed the importance of protecting the planet\u2019s environment through population control. As a result of the encounter, Korda established the Church of Euthanasia, which supports suicide, abortion, and sodomy (defined as any sex act that is not intended for procreation.) According to the church\u2019s Web site, members are vegetarian, but they \u201csupport cannibalism for those who insist on eating flesh.\u201d Although it reportedly has only about 100 members in the Boston area, the church claims that thousands worldwide have visited its Web site and been exposed to its message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So \u2014 religion is a very personal thing. Faith is also a very personal experience, and by definition, it isn\u2019t based on fact. I certainly can\u2019t tell anyone what to believe, but what some people believe is pretty unbelievable \u2014 if you don\u2019t believe me, watch the news\u2026.. Abraham Lincoln said you can fool all of the people some of the time and and some of the people all of the time, but you can\u2019t fool all the people all of the time. After listening to the news … Continue reading
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"