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Apocalyptic Millennialism

Apocalypticism: The belief in an approaching confrontation, cataclysmic event, or transformation of epochal proportion, about which a select few have forewarning so they can make appropriate preparations. From a Greek root word suggesting unveiling hidden information or revealing secret knowledge about unfolding human events. The dualist or demonized version involves a final show-down struggle between absolute good and absolute evil. In Christianity there are competing apocalyptic prophetic traditions based on demonization or liberation. Central to Christianity, the tradition also exists in Judaism, Islam, and other religions and secular belief structures. Believers can be passive or active in anticipation; and optimistic or pessimistic about the outcome. Sometimes used similarly to the term millenarianism.

Millennialism: A sense of expectation that a significant epochal transformation is imminent, marking either the end of a thousand year period, or signal its beginning, or both. Two major forms of millennialist response are passive waiting versus activist intervention. Can involve varying degres of apocalypticism. In Christianity, the idea that the Second Coming of Christ marks a thousand year period.

Aggressive Apocalypticism: The merger of conspiracism with apocalypticism often generates aggressive forms of dualism. Apocalyptic Aggression occurs when demonized scapegoats are targeted as enemies of the “common good,” a dynamic that can lead to discrimination and attacks.

Articles of Interest

• Falwell Brands Mohammed A 'Terrorist'
  60 Minutes

The Left Behind Series

Official webpage: http://www.leftbehind.com/

Off-site articles written on the series

• Intolerance: The Bestseller
  By Gershom Gorenberg
  A Review of the Left Behind book series
  
  
• Behold the Rapture
  From The Economist print edition
  Millenarianism is becoming a force on the right in American politics
  
  
• Review of the "Left Behind" Tribulation Novels:
  Turner Diaries Lite
  by Edmund D. Cohen
  
  
• Apocalyptic – and atop the bestseller lists
  Author Tim LaHaye takes on the final battle between good and evil
  By Jane Lampman, staff writer of  The Christian Science Monitor

If premillennialists are waiting for the Rapture, why should they bother getting involved in secular politics?

In 1980 Tim LaHaye published a book, The Battle for the Mind, which amplified on the conservative Christian evangelical critique of secular humanism articulated by popular theologian Francis A. Schaeffer. The LaHaye book is dedicated to Schaeffer (1980, p. 5).

LaHaye writes in a chapter entitled "Is a Humanist Tribulation Necessary?" that the "seven-year tribulation period will be a time that features the rule of the anti-Christ over the world." LaHaye explains that this "tribulation is predestined and will surely come to pass." LaHaye claims there is another potential period of tribulation, however, that he dubs the “pre-tribulation tribulation—that is, the tribulation that will engulf this country if liberal secular humanists are permitted to take control of our government—it is neither predestined nor necessary. But it will deluge the entire land in the next few years, unless Christians are willing to become much more assertive in defense of morality and decency than they have been during the past three decades."

LaHaye warns that adultery, pornography, and homosexuality "are rampant" and reminds readers of "Dr. [Francis] Schaeffer’s warning that humanism always leads to chaos" (1980, pp. 217-218).

More about Schaeffer and LaHaye:
http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/culwar.html

Tim LaHaye, The Battle for the Mind, (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1980). Dedicated to Francis Schaeffer.

Tim LaHaye, The Battle for the Public Schools: Humanism’s Threat to our Children, (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1983).

Tim LaHaye, The Battle for the Family, (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1982).

Francis A. Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto, revised, (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, [1981] 1982).

Francis A. Schaeffer, and C. Everett Koop. Whatever Happened to the Human Race? Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1979)

More Information

Imagery in Revelation

O'Leary's Theory of Apocalypticism

Y2K and Millennial Pinball  with   Y2K Survivalism Chart
How Y2K Shapes Survivalism in the US Christian Right, Patriot and Armed Militia Movements, and Far Right

Chart of Apocalyptic Outcomes

A Critique of the FBI and ADL Reports

Selected Books
	Studies of apocalyptic millennialism, demonization, and conspiracism.
		Paul Boyer. 1992. When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture. Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard University Press. Stephen D. O’Leary. 1994. Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric. New York: Oxford University Press. Charles B. Strozier. 1994. Apocalypse: On the Psychology of Fundamentalism in America. Boston: Beacon Press. Robert C. Fuller. 1995. Naming the Antichrist: The History of an American Obsession. New York: Oxford University Press.
	By Christian critics
		Dale Aukerman. 1993. Reckoning with Apocalypse: Terminal Politics and Christian Hope. New York: Crossroad. Gregory S. Camp, 1997. Selling Fear: Conspiracy Theories and End–Times Paranoia. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. Richard Abanes. 1998. End-Time Visions: The Road to Armageddon? New York: Four Walls Eight Windows. Paul Thigpen. 2001. The Rapture Trap: A Catholic Response to a Deceptive Doctrine. West Chester, PA: Ascension Press.

More extensive Bibliographies

Apocalyptic Millennialism

Current Apocalyptic Genre

Right-Wing Apocalyptic, Conspiracist, Populist, and Racist Texts - 1790-1989

Websites

Links to Revelation, Apocalyptic and Millennial Websites and Materials
by Prof. Felix Just, S.J. - Loyola Marymount University

PBS Frontline - The Apocalypse

The End Times as a Growth Industry
A reading list by Chip Berlet for Frontline

Apocalyptic Millennialism: An Overview

The apocalyptic worldview in the US is greatly influenced by religious and secular interpretations of the prophecies in the Biblical book of Revelation about the coming of a new millennium. Fundamentalist Christians expect that the end of time is preceded by a cataclysmic battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil. When evil is vanquished, true believers enter a Millennium of peace and harmony under God's rule. This period marks the return of Christ.
The prophecies in Revelation have been adapted by many other spiritual and secular philosophers and movements. Popular culture, including films such as Rambo, Mad Max, the Terminator series, and Red Dawn, reinterpret the vision while obscuring its origins. The film Apocalypse Now and the TV series Millennium name the myth while secularizing and mainstreaming it as a paradigm. Law enforcement abuse of power against the Branch Davidian's in Waco, Texas and other dissidents creates cascading echoes of apocalypse throughout the society.

The Heaven's Gate group merged prophetic themes with the dynamic of manipulative demagoguery in the setting of a totalitarian group with a charismatic leader. Three roots of key prophetic visions in the Heaven's Gate group came from:

The Christian Bible, especially the book of Revelation.

The prophecies of Nostradamus.

Science fiction.

Science Fiction

The Prophecies of Nostradamus

The Christian Bible & the Book of Revelation

There are six key ways the predictions of Revelation influence popular culture:

Omens and Signs of the Times

Revelation predicts the beginning of the end times will start a series of signs warning that judgment is at hand. Believers watch for the signs of the times and seek significance and meaning in natural events such as comets, meteorite showers, alignment of stars and planets, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, crop failures, etc. The Branch Davidians believed the end times were approaching and were studying the meaning of the seven wax seals on a scroll mentioned in Revelation.

Apocalyptic Doomsday Cataclysm

Revelation predicts the end times will include great apocalyptic tribulations and the wrath of God, causing much destruction including famine, natural disasters, and plague. Believers prepare for the chaos of these times in different ways. Some expect all is pre-ordained and they can do nothing but live out their fate, others prepare for the hard times ahead, collecting food and water, fortifying their homes, buying guns, and even moving into communities of other believers for mutual protection. This is the basis for the survivalist movement, and what motivated the Weaver family and the Montana Freemen to withdraw to isolated locations.

Subversion and Countersubversion

Revelation predicts the betrayal of humankind by a world leader who unites all nations in the end times before being exposed as Satan's agent. There will also be a false prophet who spreads a global religion that supports the world leader. In response, believers look for treason and subversion, paying special attention to those who call for world cooperation and international intervention by groups such as the United Nations. The idea of a global communist menace was frequently seen as proof that the Antichrist was based in the Soviet Union...the evil empire. This is the basis for the Star Wars trilogy. It is also partly the basis for the Montana Freeman rejecting government authority, and is influential in many, though not all, armed militia groups.

Armageddon and Holy War

Revelation predicts a great final battle between good and evil with troops clashing on the plains of Armageddon in the Middle East. Some believers are preparing for this battle. Some have already fired the first shots.

Reign and Rule

Revelation predicts the faithful will experience a millennium of living in God's kingdom, the new Jerusalem. Some say Christ will return at the beginning to reign and rule, but others argue that the godly must reign and rule for one thousand years before Christ returns. Believers argue it is their duty to attack the forces of evil and clean up secular society to prepare for the return of the Lord. Much of the violence against reproductive rights clinics and attacks on gay rights is based on this interpretation. These ideas are called dominion theology, with its most theocratic and authoritarian version called Christian Reconstructionism.

Transcendent Ascension and Rapture

Revelation predicts that some of the faithful will be "raptured" by God in a transformational ascension into the heavens where they will miss some or all of the tribulations on earth. Some millennialist movements in the past have set the date for the rapture, and some have even sold their possessions and waited on mountaintops for the rapture to free them from their earthy bodies.

The Choice is Ours

The more we all discuss the issues of millennial expectation, apocalyptic thinking, and scapegoating, the more likely the outcome will be positive rather than negative.

--Chip Berlet, 3/31/97

  More Information:

Glossary

Scapegoating & Conspiracism

Rethinking Populism

Producerism