September 11–13, 1988
Edgar Whisenant and 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988
Well documented Prediction was later revised RaptureEnd TimesBiblical NumerologyDate SettingEvangelicalismModern PredictionsFailed Predictions
Quick facts
- Predicted date
- September 11–13, 1988
- Who predicted it
- Edgar C. Whisenant
- When announced
- 1988
- Reasoning
- 1948 plus 40 years, with the Hebrew calendar used to fix Rosh Hashanah. The booklet listed 88 numbered reasons.
- What happened
- The dates passed without the Rapture. Whisenant then said he had made an arithmetic error and suggested that the Rapture could come later in the same Jewish year.
- Historical status
- Well documented. The prediction and its date appear in primary or reliable secondary sources.
- Outcome label
- Prediction was later revised
- Editorial certainty
- Medium: reliable secondary sources
- Editorial review
- Pending. This entry has not yet been checked line by line against its sources. Treat details as provisional.
Prediction
What did Edgar C. Whisenant predict?
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.
Interpretation by the author
Why did they believe it?
Whisenant combined the generation argument (forty years from 1948) with a reading of the Hebrew calendar and a set of numerical and textual arguments. He placed the Rapture at the start of a seven-year tribulation and aligned the dates with the feast of Trumpets.
Scripture as used by the author
Biblical basis cited
Matthew 24:32 to 34 (the fig tree and the generation) and passages from Daniel, Revelation and the Old Testament feasts.
Method
How the date was calculated
1948 plus 40 years, with the Hebrew calendar used to fix Rosh Hashanah. The booklet listed 88 numbered reasons.
Historical record
Historical context
The booklet circulated widely in the United States in 1988. Reports said that millions of copies were distributed, and some churches discussed it from the pulpit. Many evangelical leaders and publishers criticized the date.
Historical record
What happened when the date passed?
The dates passed without the Rapture. Whisenant then said he had made an arithmetic error and suggested that the Rapture could come later in the same Jewish year.
Historical record
What happened afterward
He published 89 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1989, and later booklets for 1993 and 1994. Evangelical writers later cited the 1988 episode as one reason to avoid date-setting.
Scripture
Passages cited
-
Matthew 24:32–34 (KJV)
"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
Verse 34.
-
1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (KJV)
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
The primary Rapture passage.
Excerpts are from the King James Version (public domain). Listing a verse here does not mean this site agrees with how the author used it.
Sources
Sources and further reading
- Edgar C. Whisenant. 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. World Bible Society. 1988. Primary source
- Stephen D. O'Leary. Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric. Oxford University Press. 1994. Academic Includes a rhetorical analysis of date-setting in American apocalypticism.
- Daniel Wojcik. The End of the World as We Know It: Faith, Fatalism, and Apocalypse in America. New York University Press. 1997. Academic
Found an error or a better source? Send a correction. See also the methodology.