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Approaching Doomsday
How will the world end? What does the future hold? In modern America many self-proclaimed prophets have attempted to answer these questions. Most of their answers have not boded well for the future. The authors of the best-selling Left Behind fictionalized series say that, āIn one cataclysmic moment, millions around the globe disappear. Those left behind face war, plagues, and natural disasters so devastating that only one in four people will survive . . .ā1As the clock moved toward 2000 many dire predictions surfaced. āRape, murder, earthquakes and, single parent families, war, AIDS. Theyāre all part of Godās plan to destroy Earth within the next 10 years according to Rev. Carl Holland of York, Virginia.ā2 While Rev. Holland words were a bit strident, many TV preachers, popular authors, and flamboyant clergy brought a similar message to millions of Americans.
But 2000 came and went, and nothing but a few minor disruptions occurred. Many people believed that we had hit a landmark with the year 2000 and the predictions would cease until the next crisis. Never underestimate Americaās appetite for prophecy, however. The Left Behind series continued to sell by the millions for most of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Then September 11 catapulted the Islamic threat onto the front burner. In Mark Hitchcockās words, āI believe current events in Iran and the Middle East are part of the stage setting for the end-time drama. We are witnessing a growing alliance of Muslim nations and Russia that is strikingly similarā to the alliances predicted in Ezekiel 38ā39. In a similar vein, Joel Rosenberg says Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ābelieves the end of the world is rapidly approaching [and] that the way to hasten the coming of the Islamic Messiah known as the āHidden Imamā or the āMahdiā is to launch a catastrophic global jihad, first against Israel (the ālittle Satanā) and then against the U. S. (āthe Great Satanā).ā3
Related to the Islamic threat was another question: Is Barack Obama the Antichrist? The Internet vibrated over this issue. Most answers range from affirming Obama to be the Antichrist to saying that the āMan of Sinā will be someone like him. According to one Internet source, āEerily, the Bible says the Antichrist world leader will come in on a platform of peace before all hell breaks loose. And Obamaās whole campaign is PEACE . . . he will END WAR and CHANGE the world . . . and the media [will] portray him as a savior . . . a messiah.ā4 While Hal Lindsey does not say Obama is the Antichrist, he does declare that Obama is preparing the world for such a leader. In saying so he is referring to Obamaās emphasis on global peace, on bringing the planet together, and that he is a ācitizen of the worldāāall characteristics of the Antichrist.5 This is to say nothing about the problems Obama faces: an economic crisis, a broken healthcare system, two wars plus other international tensions. If he can solve them he indeed would be regarded as a messiah.
If the Islamic threat and the prospect of the American president being the Antichrist were not enough, try thinking about December 21, 2012. You can buy T-shirts with ā2012: THE ENDā or ā12.21.12ā on them. What do they signify? Many people, including evangelical Christians, are intrigued by the prophecies of Nostradamus and the Mayan calendar signifying an end of the world on December 21, 2012. In fact, some evangelical and fundamentalist Christians have Christianized these occult and mystical sources and have tied them in with biblical prophecy. But this is not the first time they have done this.
All hell may break loose on 12/21/12. The book 2012 Predictions notes environmental disasters, lakes disappearing and rivers flowing backward, social websites recruiting American jihads, economic disasters rendering cash meaningless, diseases, oil and water shortages, global warming, weather changes, and World War III as related to biblical prophecy. Others say āunprecedented catastrophes will precede the end of the world in 2012 . . . such as massive earthquakes, tidal waves and volcanic eruptions, among other calamities.ā6
But if you are into New Age thinking, things may not be all that bad. The year 2012 can be seen as a Y2K for the New Age. āAround . . . 2012, a large chapter of human history will be coming to an end, and a new phase of human growth will commence.ā7 Better yet if you are a procrastinator: you can defer the end of the world for another day. Isaac Newton tells us that the world will not end until 2060.8 So you have plenty of time. People know that Newton was one of the greatest scientists of all time, but few are aware that he also dabbled in theology. He arrived at the year 2060 as many have done, that is, by picking a starting date and adding up biblical chronology.
On a lighter note, there is the old fairy tale about Chicken Little, who, having been hit on the head by something, was convinced that the sky was falling. Chicken Little ran off to tell the king and along the way picked up several followers who were also convinced that the sky was falling.
Through much of human history there have been the Chicken Littles who have dashed about proclaiming that the sky was falling or that some other catastrophe would soon happen. There have also been many people willing to follow these prophets of doom.9 This book is about the Chicken Littles of contemporary American history and those who have followed them.
Since the 1970s there has been a flood of end-of-the-world predictions. In fact, books on prophecyāwhether Christian, occultic, or secularāhave been a growth industry. They have become big sellers. Christian fundamentalists insist that the Second Coming of Christ is imminent. They claim to hear louder than ever āthe Four Horsemen of the apocalypseāWar, Plague, Famine, and Deathāgalloping toward Armageddon.ā Occultists tell of great calamities to come in the near future. āNew Age astrologers foresee psychic anguish, earthquakes, and economic collapseā before the dawn of the Age of Aquarius. Even down-to-earth scientists have joined in, warning us of impending human-caused disasters.10
The End Is Near
Of all the groups that have been infected by this apocalyptic mood, the Christian dispensational premillennialists have operated at a fever pitch. They point to a series of events as confirmation of biblical prophecy. The return of the Jews to Israel in 1948 began the countdown to Armageddon. Following on its heels came other developmentsāthe threat of nuclear destruction, the European Common Market, Israelās seizure of Jerusalem in 1967, the perception of the Soviet Union as the great northern power, the first Persian Gulf War, and the war on terror including the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Within dispensational circles, the popularizers have aroused far more attention than have the more scholarly elements. (For a study of dispensationalism see chapters 4, 5, and parts of 7 and 9.)
During the 1980s the fixation on doomsday even reached the highest levels of American political power. James Watt, the Secretary of the Interior, declared that this generation might be the last. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger made similar statements.11 In an interview, President Ronald Reagan indicated that recent events had caused him to think of Armageddon: āYou know, I turn back to your ancient prophecies in the Old Testament and the signs foretelling Armageddon and I find myself wondering if weāre the generation that is going to see that come about . . . believe me, they certainly desc...