When I came to faith in Jesus at the age of 16 in 1971, we were told that all signs pointed to Jesus returning very soon, possibly any minute. Hal Lindsey’s bestselling book "The Late Great Planet Earth" laid it all out: Jerusalem was back in Jewish hands, and the counterculture revolution was the final rebellion prophesied in the Bible. Surely, we thought, He’ll be back any moment now.

That was more than 55 years ago, and since then, many other predictions have come and gone.

There was the bestselling book "88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988," which not only predicted the year of the rapture but also the date: September 12, 1988.

When a friend asked if I planned to read the book, I told him I would read it on September 13. I didn’t take it seriously at all.

Harold Camping of Family Radio infamously predicted Judgment Day and the return of Jesus on May 21, 2011. (This was actually the last of several wrong predictions he made.)

And, while not predicting dates, the mega-bestselling Left Behind series by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye had millions of Christians expecting an “any moment” return of the Lord.

There was also a viral video released in 2025 claiming that the Second Coming would take place on September 23 or 24, 2025. It was tied to a pastor’s........

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