End Time Visions: The Road to Armageddon?

by Richard Abanes

Covers the history of theories of the end of the world, how contemporary cult leaders approach the coming of the millenium, and how the Bible is sometimes misunderstood as forecasting specific dates

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1998

About the author

Richard Abanes is an American playwright, composer, lyricist, author, singer, and actor. He has had a life of diverse accomplishments in each of these fields.

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A "COUNTERCULT" AUTHOR POINTS OUT SOME FLAWED "PREDICTIONS"

Richard Abanes is founder/director of the Religious Information Center, a countercult ministry. He has written many other books, such as 'Journey into the Light: Exploring Near-Death Experiences,' 'Embraced by the Light and the Bible,' 'American Militias,' etc.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1998 book "Is our generation the last generation? Does the Bible foretell Armageddon near A.D. 2000? 'End-Time Visions' seeks to answer these and other relevant questions by tracing the history of end-time prophecies through the many religious cults, sects, and movements that have been built on doomsday declarations." (Pg. x)

He notes, "A former follower of [Hal] Lindsey's remembers how the popular prophecy teacher convinced listeners of a 1981 rapture without ever having to name the year: '...He revealed from the scriptures that a generation in the Bible was almost always 40 years duration. Israel became a nation in 1948, and 1948 plus 40 years meant that Jesus would come again in 1988... [S]ubtract 7 from 1988 and you have the rapture of the Church occurring in 1981. This was 1972. We were thinking we only had 9 years left to win as many souls to Christ as we could...'" (Pg. 85-86)

Abanes adds, "But after the decade of the 1980s passed uneventfully, Lindsey wisely began to revise his obviously flawed timetables. His 1994 volume Planet Earth, 2000 A. D. substituted 1967... for 1948... This rearrangement ... gave Lindsey another nineteen years ... [and] would take him to at least the year 2007... Lindsey---now in his mid-sixties---will have to make an embarrassing admission of inaccuracy only if he lives to be 120 years old!" (Pg. 86-87)

He points out, "The gloomiest shadow to darken Lindsey's prophetic reputation fell in 1992 when he and coauthor Chuck Missler were caught plagiarizing from 'Foes From the Northern Frontier' by Professor Edwin Yamauchi. As much as 25 percent of 'The Magog Factor' was lifted word for word and without attribution from Yamauchi's work, which by 1992 was out of print... The Magog Factor was slated for a 1992 release in book form, but never reached that stage because Yamauchi informed his publisher of the problem, which in turn demanded that the work no longer be distributed. Lindsey and Missler complied..." (Pg. 88-89)

Of Harold Camping's prediction of the world's end on September 6, 1994 [1994?], Abanes notes, "September 7, the day after the end was supposed to have come, Camping acknowledged that he had made an ever-so-slight miscalculation and revised his date toward the middle of the month. A few weeks later he pinpointed September 29. Then he named October 2. This date was followed by yet another date: March 31, 1995, which Camping claimed still was 1994 per the Jewish calendar. Eventually, Camping ran out of dates and went back to running his Family Radio Network." (Pg. 94-95)

He recounts that "In his 1979 book Christ Returns By 1988: 101 Reasons Why, [Colin] Deal discussed a huge computer called 'the Beast' that is being housed at the European Economic Community's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium... In reality, there exists no such computer. The rumor grew out of an August 1976 Christian Life magazine piece. But the article's author, who had heard about the computer from an unnamed source, did not know that the story was actually part of a fiction novel, Behold A Pale Horse by Joe Musser. In a letter to Christian Life, Musser expressed his irritation... 'For more than three years I have heard my story ideas circulated as fact...'" (Pg. 122)

He observes that Pat Robertson's book 'The New World Order' "draws information from some of the same sources used by racists to support their anti-Semitic worldview; namely, Nesta Webster and Eustace Mullins... To date, Robertson has not repudiated his use of Webster or Mullins. Nor has he eliminated references to their works from subsequent printings... even though the New York Times and other notable publications have brought their anti-Semitism to his attention." (Pg. 136-137)

He also points out that "[Chuck] Missler's use of information from 'Spotlight' and his between-the-lines endorsement of it as a reputable news resource is even more disturbing. Besides being factually unreliable, Spotlight is notorious for racist articles and advertisements." (Pg. 139)

This information-packed volume is a very helpful "corrective" to various false "End-Times" teachings, and Christians (as well as others) should make note of its cautionary warnings.

[Timothy Maples · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent overview (published in 1998) of many prominant groups and teachers that focus on end-of-the-world scenarios as their reason for being. The book includes recent doomsday cults (Branch Davidians, Heaven's Gate, etc.), right-wing militia groups, old school sects such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, and well-known religious end-time "prophecy" experts. Highlights include sections that destroy the Nostadamus myth, show how false teachers have changed their predictions as they are proven wrong (often without mentioning the fact to their followers), and explain how natural disasters have not recently increased in frequency or intensity, as per most of the groups. Highly recommended.

[John Lawless · Rating 3 out of 5]

good synopsis

[megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

puts into perspective just how crazy large groups of otherwise intelligent people can be.