C.I Scofield outlines the dispensations including Innocence, Conscience, Human Government, Promise, Law, Church, and Kingdom ("End Times" 4). Dispensationalism is based on a literal and unequivocal interpretation of the Bible ("End Times" 4). Efird, for instance, describes dispenstionalism a historically accurate and nearly scientific method of discerning Biblical prophecy based on a close reading of the sacred text. Efird claims that dispensationalism prevents the "disappointment and embarrassment" that has plagued believers in the apocalypse (7). Dispensationalism is a relatively new type of Christian eschatology and has the unique hallmarks of American Protestantism. The Catholic Church does not embrace a strict interpretation of millennialism. On the contrary, Catholics prefer a more symbolic interpretation of the Book of Revelations ("End Times" 4).
Regardless of the denomination of Christianity, the end times is central to the religion's teachings, its cosmology, its theology, and its worldview. What all the Christian points-of-view share in common is that the Rapture, the Antichrist, and the Millennium are part of the End of Days. The Rapture refers to the resilience of believers during the end times, the "rising up" to heaven while the non-believers are left behind. Christians disagree strongly over what the Rapture actually entails, and when it will take place. For some, the Rapture is a physical "rising up" to heaven, an event reserved for believers in Christ. For others, the Rapture is only symbolic.
The Antichrist is also a central concept in Christian eschatology. Jesus needs a nemesis, and that nemesis is Satan incarnate as an archetypal enemy. The most literal interpretations of the Book of Revelations focus almost exclusively on the battle between Jesus Christ and the Antichrist, to the point where worldly events do not matter. "When the world begins to wind down, we will not be looking for something to happen; we will be looking for someone to come," (Rogers 3). The final battle between Christ and the Antichrist is sometimes called Great Tribulation, especially by dispensationalists ("End Times" 5).
Worldly events do matter to most believers in the end times. Various historical events have triggered interest in the end times, the most recent of which was the September 11 terrorist attacks. According to Gibbs, Book 9 of the Left Behind series was the best-selling novel in 2001 (2). As Hanegraaff notes, September 11 is only one of many signs that have signaled the beginning of the end times. The creation of the state of Israel is often viewed as the most compelling evidence that the apocalypse is underway (Hanegraaff).
The end times have been a major means of making sense of significant global events. Therefore, the end times may be one of the greatest signifiers of religion itself. If religion attempts to make sense of human existence, adding meaning to it, then the end times can answer the question of where we're all going. In popular culture, the end times are more than just a Christian philosophy but a worldview. In some cases, the end times enable complacency about social and political realities because of the belief that the end of the world is coming. If the end of the world is nigh, then why bother working hard to change anything? End times beliefs have some of the strongest influences on how people behave (Gibbs).
Fortunately, not all beliefs about the end times have the same effect on human society. The belief that...
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