For some time people have been saying that we would hear more and more about such apocalyptic literature as the millennium approaches. I expected a lot of talk about it in churches and in sermons, but the surprising thing to me has been the attention in the movie industry. Two movies are currently showing at the local theater which get a lot of their inspiration directly from the Bible s emphasis on the end times. I have not yet seen either of them, but I understand that both The Omega Code and The End of Days are dramatic portrayals of events that might happen at the end of the world. Equally popular has been the Left Behind series of books which are fictional portrayals of the Rapture and events mentioned in the book of Revelation.
People naturally get excited about the end times.
When I returned home after my first year of college in 1967, the pastor of my home church was so excited about the Six Day War in Israel that he couldn t talk about anything else. He was absolutely convinced that the war fulfilled prophecy. As I stood with the choir waiting to go into the service, he explained to me that he really didn t expect to finish his sermon before the Lord returned. The only thing remaining was for the Temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem, but, he said, They have a modular Temple loaded on 18 wheelers at this very moment. Well, like many before him and since, he was wrong.