UPDATE
Columnists, cartoonists, and television newscasters had a heyday with the Rapture last month. The subject of their tongue-in-cheek comments: space-engineer-turned-Bible-scholar Edgar Whisenant’s claim that the Rapture would occur between September 11 and 13.
In his book, On Borrowed Time, Whisenant pegged the date of the Rapture as sometime during Rosh Hashana, the Jewish holiday commemorating the Feast of Tabernacles. With the financial assistance of Christian radio broadcaster Norvell Olive of the World Bible Society in Nashville, Tennessee, over 3.2 million copies of the book were originally distributed, placing it second on the Christian Booksellers Association’s chart of paperback sales for August.
On Borrowed Time asserts that “we know the exact day that the Millennium begins and ends, as well as the dates of the events in between.… Now we’ll just sit down in front of the evening news and watch the events unfold.”
Scared Into The Kingdom?
Whisenant and his supporters are not terribly concerned that September 11 through 13 passed uneventfully. “Even though the Rapture didn’t happen, it has awakened people and their churches and communities, and it has changed their lives,” asserted Olive a week after the expected event. Olive estimates over 100,000 conversions are a direct result of the booklet. He, like Whisenant, believes the Rapture is still likely to take place in 1988.
Last month, Whisenant told CHRISTIANITY TODAY the September date was a mistake, and updated his prediction to October 3. But he insists this is his last foray into prophecy. “The evidence is all over the place that it is going to be in a few weeks anyway,” he said.
Many scholars, however, caution against making predictions of this sort. Hal Lindsey, author of the apocalyptic The Late Great Planet Earth, agrees we are in the generation of the end times, but says the Bible clearly teaches against “date setting.” And church historian Mark Noll says efforts to date the return of Christ have occurred within the church from its beginning, with little gain. “Date setting is an effort to play God, something we shouldn’t do,” said Noll. “Instead, we should fervently expect the end of the world, but live in a manner that will glorify him.”
