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If you're asking about apolcalyptic traditions, they come into being when a society is pushed to the brink either by environmental factors [the Aztec, the Maya, etc.] or when invaded and facing irradication at the hands of another civilization.
Zoastrain descriptions of an apocalypse [the origins of Judaism and Christian versions] came about as a result of Alexander's invasion of Pursia. The 1st Jews later to been as followers of Jesus reached this point as a result of Roman occupation. The end times emphasis in Christianity saw a resurgence during the bubonic plague, again with the American Civil War as well as WWI.
The Lakota and Cheyenne developed the Ghost Dance as an apocalyptic belief when facing, what they took to be total annihilation by the U.S. They went so far as to belief that Ghost shirts worn in battle would protect them from bullets [specifically from bullets].
So it's far from unusual for an "end of the world" belief structure to slip into any religion when the conditions lend themselves to a cursory appearance of confirming it.
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"They're all cattle just markin' time in the slaughterhouse line." -The Heretic, Quill-Fu Theater: Enter The Needle
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