Indiana Jones to deliver chosen people?
- In a 1956 publication written by Herbert W. Armstrong and illustrated by Basil Wolverton called 1975 in Prohecy, a former advertising man from Eugene, Oregon and a comic book illustrator (see Fun Fact Number 3) prophesied the end of the world. The predicted calamities were to begin before 1975 (‘probably between 1965 and 1972!’) and included World War III, catastrophic earthquakes, droughts and other apocalyptic events that would rid the world of a third of its population. Later, Armstrong prophesied his chosen people (members of The Worldwide Church of God*) would survive the Great Tribulation, by moving to ‘The Place of Safety’ in Petra, Jordan.
N.B. Al Khazneh, Petra (pictured) is where climatic scenes of 1989 film, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade were filmed, when Indy enters the temple to claim the Holy Grail (the cult had already tried to sue George Lucas and Steven Spielberg for stealing their ideas: see Fun Fact Number 1).
* Then known as Radio Church of God, The Worldwide Church of God was a doomsday (or ‘End Time’) cult religion started by Herbert W. Armstrong in 1933. After his death in 1986, the cult lasted almost ten years before splinter groups—many of which are still functioning today—began to form in countries around the world.
My novel, The Last Great Day, is an autobiographical account of my family’s early life in that cult.
