Topic

Evangelicalism

Predictions that arose in twentieth- and twenty-first-century evangelical publishing and media.

1981 Chuck Smith and the expectation of a Rapture before 1981 Chuck Smith · Date passed In books of the late 1970s, the founder of Calvary Chapel wrote that he expected the Rapture to occur before 1981, on the basis of a forty-year generation from 1948 minus a seven-year tribulation.
1982 Pat Robertson and the "judgment on the world" statement of 1980 Pat Robertson · Record disputed In a 1980 broadcast of The 700 Club, Pat Robertson said that a judgment on the world would come by the end of 1982. Whether he meant the end of the world is disputed.
c. 1988 Hal Lindsey and the forty-year generation from 1948 Hal Lindsey · Record disputed The Late Great Planet Earth (1970) argued that the "generation" of Matthew 24:34 might be about forty years from 1948. Readers often took this to mean 1988, but Lindsey did not state a Rapture date.
September 11–13, 1988 Edgar Whisenant and 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 Edgar C. Whisenant · Later revised Edgar Whisenant's booklet 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 named Rosh Hashanah, September 11 to 13, 1988, as the date. Large numbers of copies were distributed, including to churches.
September 6, 1994 Harold Camping and September 1994 Harold Camping and Family Radio · Later revised In his book 1994? (1992), Harold Camping argued that Christ would return in September 1994. After the date passed he said he had made a calculation error and later named 2011.
January 1, 2000 Y2K and end-times expectations around the year 2000 Various authors and commentators · No matching event documented The Year 2000 computer problem was a real technical risk, and some religious commentators framed it as a possible sign of the end. There was no single widely accepted Rapture date, so this entry records a pattern of expectation and not one prediction.
May 21, 2011 Harold Camping and May 21, 2011 Harold Camping and Family Radio · Later revised Harold Camping and Family Radio taught that the Rapture and Judgment Day would occur on May 21, 2011, followed by the end of the world on October 21, 2011. A national billboard and media campaign promoted the date.
2014–2015 The four blood moons of 2014 and 2015 John Hagee and Mark Biltz · Record disputed A sequence of four total lunar eclipses fell on Jewish holidays in April 2014, October 2014, April 2015 and September 2015. Authors linked it to Joel 2:31 and said it signaled coming change. Hagee did not name a Rapture date.