Rapture Ready

These are only a few of the many, many Pentecostal myths concerning the End Times. Almost all Pentecostals firmly believe that we are living in the last days of the world and that the return of Christ is imminent. They are kept in this constant state of expectation and fear by warnings from the pulpit about all the current events that supposedly signal the end of the world.

The important thing to keep in mind whenever we hear these stories is that this has been going on for a long time--probably all the way back to the inception of Pentecostalism in the early 1900's. Every major event and every major technological development for decades has been construed at some Pentecostal church to signal the end of the world. When nothing happens, it is quickly forgotten because there is some NEW current event that everyone is predicting will signal the end of the world.

Pentecostals who have been around for a while often stop taking the warnings seriously, because they know that this has been going on for many, many years. Newcomers to Pentecostalism and Pentecostal children often do not know that, and so they tend to get swept up more easily into end times speculation.

My own moment of end times madness occurred in 1988, with the prediction that Jesus would return in September of that year. And I certainly was not alone. The book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988 was wildly popular in many churches. Some people went so far as to sell their homes, give away their possessions, or run up their credit cards believing that the rapture would occur before the bill arrived. On the night of September 13th, the day predicted for the arrival of Christ, many churches held all-night prayer vigils awaiting the rapture. Of course, nothing happened, and everyone went home disappointed.