What Happened That Day
Doomsday predictions make no sense—if you’re wrong you look like a fool, and if you’re right it doesn’t matter because you’re dead—but that basic logic hasn’t prevented generations of doomsayers from sermonizing and setting dates. So in the spirit of a good chortle, witness the introduction of a weekly feature: What Happened That Day. Each Friday morning on The Bedroom Floor, you'll read the story of a new lunatic, including, of course, the embarrassing aftermath unleashed when the world fails to end. And so, without further ado...
Lee Jang-Rim
Lee Jang-Rim, a South Korean Christian pastor, preached that the world would end at midnight on October 28, 1992. In September of that year, however, Lee was arrested by Korean police on fraud charges—he apparently pocketed $4 million donated by his flock. Police seized about $26,000 in cash at his house, along with scores of bank checks and bonds set to mature well after the world’s end, casting his faith in his own predictions into doubt. Nevertheless, his congregants, who numbered an estimated 20,000, remained devoted. One of the dupes avowed to Reuters at the time that Lee “is our pastor. And he is good. There is no truth to what the police are saying.” As the October 28 deadline drew near, followers expected the world to begin spiraling into chaos. It didn’t. Still they remained undeterred. “Yet the day will come anytime in the near future,” one church steward told the AP. In the hours leading up to the Rapture, thousands of people stood on the streets in Seoul, singing hallelujahs and chanting, “Rapture is coming!” It didn’t. “We just got the message from God wrong,” one believer told the AP. “Jesus will be back in several years.” There was little commotion in the aftermath, aside from a woman collapsing, a man beating up a preacher and a few disappearances. A few days afterward, the church officially disbanded, releasing a statement approved by Lee: “We are sorry for creating problems to the nation and the established churches by misinterpreting the Bible.” Lee spent a year in jail for his crimes.
Doomsday predictions make no sense—if you’re wrong you look like a fool, and if you’re right it doesn’t matter because you’re dead—but that basic logic hasn’t prevented generations of doomsayers from sermonizing and setting dates. So in the spirit of a good chortle, witness the introduction of a weekly feature: What Happened That Day. Each Friday morning on The Bedroom Floor, you'll read the story of a new lunatic, including, of course, the embarrassing aftermath unleashed when the world fails to end. And so, without further ado...
Lee Jang-Rim
Lee Jang-Rim, a South Korean Christian pastor, preached that the world would end at midnight on October 28, 1992. In September of that year, however, Lee was arrested by Korean police on fraud charges—he apparently pocketed $4 million donated by his flock. Police seized about $26,000 in cash at his house, along with scores of bank checks and bonds set to mature well after the world’s end, casting his faith in his own predictions into doubt. Nevertheless, his congregants, who numbered an estimated 20,000, remained devoted. One of the dupes avowed to Reuters at the time that Lee “is our pastor. And he is good. There is no truth to what the police are saying.” As the October 28 deadline drew near, followers expected the world to begin spiraling into chaos. It didn’t. Still they remained undeterred. “Yet the day will come anytime in the near future,” one church steward told the AP. In the hours leading up to the Rapture, thousands of people stood on the streets in Seoul, singing hallelujahs and chanting, “Rapture is coming!” It didn’t. “We just got the message from God wrong,” one believer told the AP. “Jesus will be back in several years.” There was little commotion in the aftermath, aside from a woman collapsing, a man beating up a preacher and a few disappearances. A few days afterward, the church officially disbanded, releasing a statement approved by Lee: “We are sorry for creating problems to the nation and the established churches by misinterpreting the Bible.” Lee spent a year in jail for his crimes.
posted by Mr. Fitch at 10:39 AM
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