The Pilgrims Were Doomsday Cultists

"Although these were two different groups with different investors and colonial structures, they were all "Hot Protestants," as such radicals were known in England. They believed the end of the world as prophesied in the New Testament book of Revelation was imminent. Early Massachusetts Bay minister John Cotton thought the apocalypse would come shortly after 1655. Cotton's son-in-law Increase Mather, reluctant to assign a particular date, simply said the cosmic battle would occur in the next few years."

"Increase's son Cotton Mather, another significant minister in Puritan history, believed it would be in 1697. "The Day of Doom," a long-form poem published in 1662 about the return of a vengeful Jesus, was so popular in New England it's known as America's first bestseller. The radical Protestants believed, as apocalyptic thinkers always have, that the world contained good and evil forces, eradication was the only goal of both,"

In October 1621, Pilgrims gathered for Thanksgiving and aimed to build a patriarchal theocracy believing Jesus would soon return. In 1630, Puritans arrived on the Arabella and established Massachusetts Bay. Both were high-control radical Protestant doomsday movements called "Hot Protestants" that believed Revelation's end times were imminent. John Cotton expected the apocalypse after 1655, Increase Mather foresaw a cosmic battle within a few years, and Cotton Mather anticipated 1697. The 1662 poem "The Day of Doom" became a New England bestseller. These radicals sought to hasten the apocalypse by eradicating those who did not fit their standards of righteousness. Governor William Bradford warned that hostility to Plymouth risked God's anger. These groups did not come seeking religious freedom.

Read at The Nation