The day also known as Armageddon, the Apocalypse or Doomsday if you prefer. There are also more than one theory on how the world or Earth first came about, it all depends on what your beliefs are.
A lot of people tend to the mark year 2012 as being a significant one when it comes to the end of all time. This comes from an ancient Mayan cult’s theory that the date 21st December 2012 marks the end of a 5, 125 year cycle, a date which they believe something cataclysmic will happen.
You may even have seen the film 2012 in which the Earths plate become unstable causing a global flood and mass destruction. Funnily enough there is little evidence to suggest a catastrophe of such levels and also little is said about how the world will end.
Fifty years later, however, televangelists, network television programs, movies and books like the "Left Behind" series — which has sold more than 60 million copies — have succeeded in placing the return of Jesus Christ in the public consciousness.
A 2004 Newsweek poll revealed that 55 percent of Americans believe in the Rapture, the snatching away of all Christians prior to the end of the world and the return of Jesus Christ.
As a pastor who preaches often about Bible prophecy, I am grateful for the general awareness people have of the promised return of Jesus Christ.
But our culture’s newfound interest in the end times has a downside. Bible prophecy inherently attracts fanatics. As a seminary professor of mine used to say to our class, “Remember, wherever there is light, there are bugs!”
One of those fanatics is Harold Camping, the founder of the Christian broadcasting ministry Family Radio in Oakland, California. Camping has predicted that the Rapture will occur at 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, followed by the end of the world five months later on October 21, 2011.
