Worried about the Coming Apocalyptic Collapse???

Hidden Mysteries Hogwash Debunker #2

adapted from

Too Close for Comfort:
Right Wing Populism, Scapegoating, and Fascist Potentials in US Political Traditions

by Chip Berlet & Matthew N. Lyons

South End Press, 1997

Apocalyptic thinking in the US has its roots in Christian fundamentalism. Fundamentalists expect the literal return of Christ, so they are watchful. They scan contemporary and historic events attempting to match them to Biblical prophesies, looking for evidence that the End Times have arrived.

Many in the patriot and armed militia movement see signs of the impending apocalypse forecast in the Biblical Book of Revelation.

For example, Robert K. Spear, a key figure in training armed civilian militias, is the author of Surviving Global Slavery: Living Under the New World Order. According to Spear, we are living in the "End Times" predicted in the Bible. Spear cited Revelation, Chapter 13, warning that Christians will be asked to accept the Satanic "Mark of the Beast" and reject Christ. True Christians, Spear said, must defend their faith and prepare the way for the return of Christ. Spear believes the formation of armed Christian communities is necessary to prepare for the End Times. The potential for confrontation and violence involving millennial expectations is very real. What the Weaver family, the Branch Davidians, and the Montana Freeman have in common is the confluence of conspiracism and apocalyptic "End Times" millenialism.

Robert Fuller, in Naming the Antichrist, explains that:

"Over the last two hundred years, the Antichrist has been repeatedly identified with such 'threats' as modernism, Roman Catholocism, Jews, socialism, and the Soviet Union. Today, fundamentalist Christian writers see the Antichrist in such enemies as the Muslim world, feminism, rock music, and secular humanism. The threat of the Antichrist's immenent takeover of the world's economy has been traced to the formation of the European Economic Community, the Susan B. Anthony dollar, the fiber optics used in our television sets, and the introduction of universal product codes."