Collection

Rapture and end-times predictions in the 1900s

The twentieth century is the densest period in the record. Radio, mass-market paperbacks and cheap printing allowed individual predictions to reach millions of readers, and the founding of Israel in 1948 gave many authors a new starting point for their calculations.

10 entries, in date order.

1914 The Watch Tower Society and the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 Charles Taze Russell and the Watch Tower Society · Later reinterpreted From 1889, Watch Tower publications taught that Bible chronology showed the "Gentile Times" would end in 1914, and early writing expected major changes to follow, including the end of existing governments.
1918 Watch Tower expectations for 1918 Joseph F. Rutherford and the Watch Tower Society · Date passed After 1914 passed, some Bible Student publications, including The Finished Mystery (1917), pointed to 1918 as the year when the existing church systems would be brought down and faithful Christians would be taken to heaven.
1925 Watch Tower expectations for 1925 Joseph F. Rutherford and the Watch Tower Society · Date passed Watch Tower publications of the early 1920s, including the pamphlet Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1920), linked 1925 to the expected return of faithful figures of the Old Testament and the start of a new order.
1975 Watch Tower expectations for 1975 Watch Tower Society · Later revised A 1966 Watch Tower book calculated that 6,000 years of human history would end in 1975. The organization later said it had not made a firm prediction and that some members had read too much into the date.
1981 Chuck Smith and the expectation of a Rapture before 1981 Chuck Smith · Date passed In books of the late 1970s, the founder of Calvary Chapel wrote that he expected the Rapture to occur before 1981, on the basis of a forty-year generation from 1948 minus a seven-year tribulation.
1982 Pat Robertson and the "judgment on the world" statement of 1980 Pat Robertson · Record disputed In a 1980 broadcast of The 700 Club, Pat Robertson said that a judgment on the world would come by the end of 1982. Whether he meant the end of the world is disputed.
c. 1988 Hal Lindsey and the forty-year generation from 1948 Hal Lindsey · Record disputed The Late Great Planet Earth (1970) argued that the "generation" of Matthew 24:34 might be about forty years from 1948. Readers often took this to mean 1988, but Lindsey did not state a Rapture date.
September 11–13, 1988 Edgar Whisenant and 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 Edgar C. Whisenant · Later revised 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.
October 28, 1992 The Mission for the Coming Days and October 28, 1992 Lee Jang-rim and the Mission for the Coming Days · No matching event documented A South Korean group taught that believers would be taken up on October 28, 1992. Press coverage recorded gatherings in Seoul and, afterward, legal action against the leader.
September 6, 1994 Harold Camping and September 1994 Harold Camping and Family Radio · Later revised In his book 1994? (1992), Harold Camping argued that Christ would return in September 1994. After the date passed he said he had made a calculation error and later named 2011.