Mormon survivalists prepare for end-of-September apocalypse

It’s the end of the world as we know it, so you better stock up on freeze-dried ice cream.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports things have gotten busy within the subculture of Mormons preparing for the End Times. A predicted Apocalypse for the end of September has some Utah families battening down the hatches and preparing to wait out Armageddon.

Several events have the faithful rattled: the disruption on the stock market,  the devaluation of Chinese currency, and the upcoming Jewish High Holy Days. All of these portents are expected to come to a head with a “blood moon” on Sept. 28 when something will happen. No one seems sure what, but they’re stocking up on batteries and canned goods just in case.

The Tribune reports two Utah stores that specialize in emergency supplies, Thrive Life in American Fork and Emergency Essentials in Bountiful, are having trouble keeping freeze-dried food and 72-hour survival kits on the shelves. Coincidentally, both of those stores and the towns they are in sound like they could be future Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors.

The Tribune partially credits the panic to author Julie Rowe, whose book A Greater Tomorrow: My Journey Beyond the Veil details a near-death experience that gave her insight into how The Last Days will go down. To drive the point home, Rowe has a second book listed on her website called The Time is Now, which is great, since if the world doesn’t end by October, the title is still technically accurate.

The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints does not buy into the End Times predictions, and even issued a memo debunking Rowe, according to The Tribune.

“Although Sister Rowe is an active member of the [LDS Church], her book is not endorsed by the church and should not be recommended to students or used as a resource in teaching them. The experiences … do not necessarily reflect church doctrine, or they may distort doctrine.”

Still, if next week’s United Nations General Assembly begins with the arrival of a few hundred thousand U.N. troops—which seems to be one of the agreed-upon signs of the end)—you can find me hitch-hiking to Utah.