Ken Chumbley
In 1994, the following report was issued by the Associated Press under the title, “Most Americans anticipate second coming, poll shows.” Even though the report is now over twenty years old, this writer believes that the figures given would still hold true today, or would be even higher. The report reads:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly six in 10 Americans believe the world will come to an end or be destroyed, and a third of those think it will happen within a few years or decades, according to a poll released Saturday.
The survey conducted for US News and World Report, also found 61 percent believe Jesus Christ will return to earth, and 44 percent believe there will be a final battle of Armageddon, with true believers whisked off the planet and called to heaven.
Almost half—49 percent—said they believe there will be an Antichrist. The poll found that born-again Christians were almost twice as likely to have these beliefs than others surveyed. The survey of 1,000 people was commissioned for the magazine for an upcoming cover story on trends in religious beliefs. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
What struck this writer as significant regarding this poll was the high percentage, 61%, who believe that “Jesus Christ will return to earth” and that nearly half, 41%, believe that “there will be a final battle of Armageddon, with true believers whisked off the planet and called to heaven.” Do you see the significance of this poll? If it is accurate, and it is given the normal 3% margin of most polls that are generally regarded as accurate, then it tells us that over half of the people, 61%, have bought into the premillennial doctrine of the return of Christ to this earth to reign for a 1000 years. Further, it also indicates that 44% have also bought in the aspect of premillennial doctrine that has the Christians to leave the earth before the so-called “battle of Armageddon” that they might escape the “Tribulation.” This shows how successful the propagandists for dispensational premillennialism have been in convincing people of their doctrine.
This means that we have a lot of work to do to be able to teach the truth. The Bible does not teach that Christ will ever return to this earth. Further, it does not teach a final physical battle of Armageddon or the removal of Christian from the earth before the end of the world. However, the tragedy is that so many Christians are unprepared to deal with these false doctrines that are rampant in this country. Are you prepared to show the error of these false teachings? If not, you need to take time out and learn about these pernicious doctrines and how to show, from the Bible, that they are erroneous! Will you take the necessary time to learn how to answer them? To be effective in evangelism, we need to be able to refute these errors.
