On the Internet, it's easy to find proof that the end is nigh. Click on Countdown.org or The Rapture Index or any one of hundreds of apocalyptic Web sites, and there are lists, headlines, chapters and verses proving that Bible prophesies about the "endtimes" are about to come true.
There's nothing like a new millennium to stir things up, especially a new millennium whose nickname is now shorthand for pending catastrophe.Whether you believe the end is near -- and whether that terrifies or thrills you -- depends on your religious background. A poll published by Newsweek magazine last month found that 40 percent of American adults believe that the world will end in a battle between Jesus and the Antichrist, as prophesied in the Book of Revelation. And 45 percent of those believe that Jesus will return to Earth during their lifetime. Evangelical Protestants are most likely to believe in such a scenario and Catholics are the least likely (71 percent of Evangelical Protestants, 28 percent of non-Evangelical Protestants, and 18 percent Catholics think the world will end in a version of Armageddon, according to the Newsweek poll).
From the pulpits of Utah churches you'll hear varying visions of the end this Y2K season, from the literal to the symbolic, from the dire to the joyful.
Most mainstream Protestant churches, which generally view The Second Coming of Christ as a definite but distant event, will avoid the prophesies of the Book of Revelation altogether or will quote from Revelation but will sermonize only about the symbolism of its meaning.
For Catholics, says Monsignor M. Francis Mannion of the Catholic Salt Lake Diocese, the year 2000 does not portend anything apocalyptic. "The church sees no more significance in the year 2000 than that it is the official 2000th birthday of the birth of Christ."
In Catholic theology, says Mannion, "the war between good and evil associated with Armageddon has already occurred in the death and resurrection of Christ. Good has already triumphed over evil, even if the complete reign of the good remains to be unfolded completely."
Even for most evangelical churches there is a reluctance to believe that you'll be able to pencil in the end of the world in your dayplanner. "Some people who like to sensationalize tie this to the year 2000," says Dean Shriver, pastor of Intermountain Baptist Church. "But that contradicts Jesus, who said that 'no man knows the time or the hour' of his return."
(And some Biblical scholars point to evidence in the Gospel of Luke that Jesus was likely born some time between 6 and 4 B.C. -- which means that the "real" millennium is already a done deal.)
Still, there is a sense among evangelical pastors that circumstances, if not the calendar, are pointing to the world's final days.
"The Bible teaches in Matthew, chapter 24, that the appearing of Christ will be preceded by many disturbances," notes Pastor Alex Lucero of Abundant Life Assembly of God. "Wars, rumors of wars, economic problems, moral deterioration, religious apostasy, fear, earthquakes in various places. I believe we are seeing those words being fulfilled right before our eyes."
Intermountain Baptist Church's Shriver admits that believers have been certain, at various times throughout history, that the the end was near. Still, says Shriver, it's hard for him not to see the current handwriting on the wall -- the natural disasters that, he says, are happening "with increasing frequency and severity," and the unification of Europe, for example. (The European Union, according to some apocalyptic churches, is evidence of a "beast government" that signifies that the end is near.)
Seventh-Day Adventists see Bible prophecy as a road map, says pastor Dick Bullock of the West Jordan Seventh-Day Adventist Church. "It's just like seeing a sign that says 'Reno, 310 miles' and later another that says 'Reno, 270 miles.' The prophecies of Revelation are signposts that tell us how close we are to the end . . . It's going to be quicker than most people realize."
For Seventh-Day Adventists, he says, those signs include an Anti-Christ that is not a person but a "system" -- in this case "the Christian world joining together to enforce observance of their values," including the observance of the Sabbath on Sunday (Seventh-Day Adventists observe a Saturday sabbath). These are "the traditions of men," says Bullock, rather than the word of God.
"People are forever looking for signs," counters University of Utah philosophy professor Peter Appleby, who teaches a world religions course. "People try to look for meaning in events." He notes that when the Plague decimated Europe, "a great many people thought this was a portent of the Second Coming."
"Eschatology" is the theological term for the belief that God will bring an abrupt end to the world. Most Evangelican Christian eschatology includes these elements: the Rapture, the Tribulation and the Final Judgment.
During the Rapture, according to this belief, Christ's faithful followers will be taken, bodily, into Heaven. The Tribulation is a period of unimaginable upheaval, a time that most Evangelical Christians believe will last seven years. During this time, the Anti-Christ will appear as a false prophet. He will then be defeated by Christ in the Battle of Armageddon. At the end of the Tribulation, Christ will usher in 1,000 years of peace, after which will come a final battle with Satan and then a final judgment of both the living and the dead.
Prophecies of endtimes make liberal churches uncomfortable, notes Darlene Avery, assistant minister at Holladay United Church of Christ. "We so often avoid parts of scripture and Christian tradition that offend our modern sensibilities, and part of that is the Apocalypse. We're not sure what to do with it."
She sees apocalyptic writings as a literary genre in the ancient Near East, especially during times of civil unrest and famine. "It was a way to make sense of that and deal with it. It was never intended to be literal, forensic facts."
The imagery of Revelation -- the four horsemen, the beast, the Armageddon -- were "a way to give voice to unimaginable horror," a symbolic projection of "the reality of terror, fear and suffering in the world."
The theology of the United Church of Christ does not include eschatology. "We believe that there is a kingdom of God that we're waiting for and hoping for," explains Avery. It will be a time of peace and joy and an end to suffering. But it will not be the end of the world.
At Hilltop United Methodist Church in Sandy, Pastor Doug McKee is neither biting his fingernails nor stockpiling provisions to get ready for the Second Coming. "God will bring in a new world, however God will do that . . . But Jesus is real clear. He says 'don't sit around and worry about when.' " When the end comes, says McKee, "I just want to be found doing my duty."
And at All Saints Episcopal Church in Salt Lake, the mood is even brighter still.
"Realized eschatology" is the way the Rev. Canon Bradley Wirth puts it -- the view that the Kingdom of God preached by Jesus is already present, that judgment has already been rendered. "I'm one of those types of believers," he says.
For the Episcopal Church as a whole, the year 2,000 has been proclaimed as a Jubilee Year. That means it is a time of "debt foregiveness, environmental stewardship and human liberation." The church, says Wirth, will work in every parish and diocese, as well as globally, to help relieve the world of poverty and "relieve people of alienation."
"If we really take it seriously," says Wirth, "this could be an extraordinarily exciting year."