NARRATOR: The end of days. New Testament
prophecies suggest that, as a final apocalypse
approaches, many devout Christians
may suddenly disappear in a supernatural
event known as the rapture. [dramatic music] In the blink of an
eye, millions are gone. [thunder booms] Massive pileups occur as
cars hurtle out of control with no one behind the wheel. An airliner on final approach
suddenly has no pilot. Chaos erupts everywhere. But this unsettling event
is only the beginning of what will be the
most turbulent period in human history. For thousands of years,
prophets around the world have predicted the end of days. More than one suggest the
apocalypse is fast approaching. We call this theoretical
convergence between doomsday prophecies and today's events
the Nostradamus Effect. ANNOUNCER: (WHISPERS)
How will the end begin? MAN: [non-english speech] NARRATOR: Prophecies
within the New Testament predict a period of
extraordinary tribulation, seven years of mounting
calamities climaxing with the end of days. They foretell that
we will experience unprecedented suffering
and great cataclysms that may wipe out mankind. It will be worse than any
natural disaster we've ever heard of because it'll
affecteverybody all around the
globe. NARRATOR: But before this
great time of suffering begins, according to
some interpreters, the Bible points to a way out-- the rapture. [suspenseful music] They claim that this event
promises to transform believers into spirit bodies who will
suddenly and literally be taken up in the air, escaping the
pain and sorrow to come. [glass shatters] But it suggests disaster
for those who remain. By its nature, the
prophecy of the rapture defies rational analysis. The rapture would be
a supernatural event, a miracle orchestrated by a
supreme being, and as such, is a matter strictly of faith. Even so, we will
examine whether cultures other than Christianity have
similar prophecies of salvation and what the real-world
consequences of such an event would be for the
people left behind. We'll begin by exploring
what the rapture is and when people think
it will take place. There are controversial
interpretations and cross-cultural references
in any study of the rapture, a study that begins
with the Bible itself. [crowd wailing] [ominous organ music] According to many
biblical interpreters, several prophets in both
the Old and New Testaments foretell the rapture. They believe the apostle
Paul promised this miracle to early Christians in
approximately 53 AD. READER: "We who are still alive
will be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with
the Lord forever." Paul talks about people
being gathered up. And gathered up in the
Greek means to be snatched, grabbed suddenly. And it's translated into the
Latin as rapturo, where we get the word rapture. "We shall not
all die," he says. "But we shall all be
changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." [thunder booms] NARRATOR: From
these brief biblical allusions comes the modern
concept of people being lifted bodily into heaven. In terms of
Christian theology, this is an idea that's
really articulated only in last couple hundred years. How is this possible? It's based on very
thin biblical evidence. NARRATOR: But many researchers
believe the biblical evidence is compelling. Among the passages they cite is
the prophecy of John of Patmos in the Book of Revelation,
written around 68 AD. READER: "Because you have kept
the word of my perseverance, I also will keep you from
the hour of testing." NARRATOR: This passage speaks
to a crucial issue debated for centuries-- whether true believers
will be taken into heaven before the disasters
that mark the apocalypse, also known as the
tribulation, or whether they will be raptured after they
have endured the tribulation. In other words, when
will the rapture happen? A pre-tribulation rapture
essentially teaches that the rapture happens before
what the Bible calls the Great Tribulation, the
seven-yearperiod of trial that
comes upon the Earth. Post-tribulation theory suggests
that the rapture happens at the very end of
the Great Tribulation, when Jesus returns to rule
and reign upon the Earth. NARRATOR: Believers do
not agree among themselves whether the virtuous
will be raptured before or after the tribulation. These opposing theories have
been a contentious flashpoint. The reason? Only if the rapture occurs
before the tribulation will those spirited away be
spared the nightmares described in revelation. Jesus says, "I will keep you
from the hour of darkness that will fall upon the world." He says, "I will keep you
from," not "I will bring you through it or protect
you through it," but "I will keep you from it." And thus that is a pretty clear
indication of the rapture. NARRATOR: Many
Christians believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. But others are convinced
that the rapture will not happen until mankind has endured
the horrors of the tribulation. [crowd wailing] When Christ comes down
into the clouds of the sky, he's left heaven. So if he's come
down from heaven, it's time to restore everything,
which means he will not come down pre-tribulation. I believe that the
pre-tribulation rapture actually holds more water than
the post-tribulation rapture for a number of reasons. For example, the
post-tribulation rapture has a timing problem,
where Jesus comes down upon the Earth, and he snatches
his believers up to heaven. But then he comes back down
to Earth to rule and reign. So he's sort of two places at
one time, which doesn't make a lot of sense. And that gives more
credibility to the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture. But it really is a matter
of interpretation, really. Pre-tribulation rapture
is more popular today, even though a post-tribulation
rapture idea was more popular in the past. And I think it has a lot to do
with the American worldview. It's a sense of
almost entitlement, that we're too good to go
through this time of wrath. NARRATOR: But what do
other religions say about the rapture? If anything, do other
religions and belief systems even have a rapture
or rapture-like event? Investigators have
discovered parallels. Although nobody has a definitive
answer about the rapture's timing, these other
cultures provide a context for what Revelation promises. Islam teaches that
believers in its god, Allah, will find refuge with the
prophet Muhammad, protected from a wind of destruction
which will kill all the remaining
people left behind. Islam holds very similar
ideas about the last days as does Christianity. Now, this is not surprising. Islam emerges out of a
very Christian context. Muhammad would have known
of Christianity very well. And Muhammad uses many
of the Christian texts. NARRATOR: Interpreters
also see parallels to the rapture in the prophecies
of America's Hopi Indians. Hopi written and oral traditions
characterize the world's end as a day of purification,
when the Hopi will be flown to other planets
in ships without wings. The Hopi had predicted it
would be a time of unrest and chaos and disorder. And I think, again, if you
lookat the news, we're seeing
that. NARRATOR: Scholars acknowledge
that, at least in these cases, the prophecies
appear to converge. But is there also convergence
between the prophecies and current events, signaling
that the rapture and the end of days may be imminent? If so, then what are the
consequences for those who will be left behind? Is there reason to believe
that the end of days biblical prophecy may be
happening in our lifetime? Believers in the
rapture look for signs that the sudden disappearance
of the faithful may occur soon. What would the consequences
be if millions of people suddenly vanished off
the face of the Earth? It's a very complex,
multi-layered issue within Christian thinking today. However, the power of this
idea is very attractive. NARRATOR: Attractive to
some, horrifying to others. People who are left behind
and realize that their own loved ones have disappeared, I think,
will be the most horrified people on Earth. And then the question will
be, is it too late for me? NARRATOR: Pinpointing
whether or not the rapture will happen
in our generation is a more fundamental challenge. Some interpreters
point to a prophecy made by Jesus Christ in the
Gospel according to Matthew. Jesus tells his disciples
that a number of things are going to happen. He gives them signs
to look for in regard to his second coming, the end
of the age, the judgment that was going to take place. And then he gives
them a parable. READER: "As soon as
its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you
know that summer is near. Even so, when you
see all these things, you know that it is near." NARRATOR: Is this the sign that
will tell believers the end times are near? According to some
scholars, the fig tree is a metaphor for Israel. They interpret the
blossoming of the fig tree to be the re-emergence of
Israel as a nation in 1948. READER: "Truly, I tell you, this
generation will certainly not pass away until all these
things have happened." NARRATOR: Some
interpreters suggest this means that the rapture and
end of days will happen soon, before the generation that
witnessed the rebirth of Israel passes away-- in other words, within
decades or even years. Other Bible experts say the fig
tree does not represent Israel, but merely a cycle of nature. As proof, they cite another
of Christ's parables. In Luke, he says, "When
you see all the trees bloom, you know that summer is near." It's not just the fig tree. Kind of messes up
the interpretation that the fig tree
represents Israel. NARRATOR: Despite these
differences in interpretation, many Christians believe that
the rapture will occur just before the onset of a seven-year
period of unimaginable turmoil known as the tribulation. In fact, they believe
the shocking nature of the rapture
itself could trigger the first wave of turbulence. Suddenly, there would
be bedlam, chaos, panic. That would be a normal response. The day after the rapture,
the grocery stores are going to be so
bombarded, there will be nothing on the
shelf within hours. And the only thing the police
would be able to do instantly is clear the streets
and call martial law. They'll have to-- they'll have
to put in effect a curfew. They'll stop people. Nobody will be able to leave
their houses after dusk. I mean, it's going to be--
it's going to be hell on earth. I can imagine there'd be
looting and pillaging, just as there is in war situations
or rioting situations. NARRATOR: Imagined scenarios
in the wake of the rapture include millions of abandoned
homes and businesses, which fires swiftly consume entire
neighborhoods, scenarios similar to the chaos and
panic that followed Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Fire departments, their manpower
already committed elsewhere, would be unable to respond to
any but the most severe blazes, circumstances reminiscent of
wildfires that have plagued huge swaths of Los Angeles. Emergency managers have to
make some tough decisions, because the goal is to savelives
and save property and not lose your firefighters
in the process. This is where the crown lies
heavy on those at the head of emergency operations. NARRATOR: If large
numbers of people were to go missing and
critical services stretched to the limit, it's likely the
strain would worsen the trauma. They're going to be angry. There's going to be resentment. The extra hours is
going to cause problems with concentration. NARRATOR: For the millions who
remain, if the rapture actually occurred, the horrors
might be compounded by large numbers of
travel-related accidents and deaths. The premise of the rapture
implies that motorists would disappear from behind
the wheels of their cars, causing massive
multi-vehicle pile-ups. If this were to
occur, the wreckage might be so widespread that
it would block freeways, causing instant gridlock. This happens even during
relatively modest fender benders in our busiest cities. One of the things that
we've become very dependent upon in this country and across
the world is our mobility. So if you had an event
that effectively closed a lot of the roadways, we would
have some real challenges. In a time of unprecedented
chaos, confusion, when you don't know where these
people went, why they're gone, what happened to them, you
know, you're wondering, did something horrible
happen to them? Were they kidnapped? What happened to all
of these loved ones? And who's going
to fill the gaps? You're talking about huge gaps. We're going to
have to compensate. NARRATOR: If the rapture
actually happened, some airline pilots
might vanish in flight, as well as air traffic
controllers, leaving planes in danger of falling
from the skies. And if this happens
during rush hour, and people disappear out from
behind the wheel of their car, airline pilots disappear out
of the cockpit, bus drivers, whatever, people who work in
the power companies and police officers, firemen,
it's going to be awful. And all the things that you can
imagine happening will happen. It'll be the most
terrifying and chaotic event in the history of mankind. [riot screams] NARRATOR: Emergency
service responders would be quickly overwhelmed
by the sheer devastation. When you're dealing with
paramedics, people who are in the caring professions,
doctors, nurses, health care professionals, one of the
things that happens when they're in situations of
overwhelming stress is something called compassion
stress or compassion fatigue. [ominous choral music] NARRATOR: But no matter how
hard emergency professionals do their job, the chaos
will be insurmountable, according to the prophecy. Believers in the rapture say
that all the while, the world will make futile efforts
to understand and cope. And I think the news
media will probably try to explain it away from
some natural or scientific way. Government officials
might explain it away as a terrorist attack,
using some kind of newfangled technology that
heretofore is unheard of. NARRATOR: To many, the
rapture is fantasy. But for those who accept it, the
ramifications are disturbing. They believe that once
the shock of the rapture and its aftermath has worn
off, a desperate struggle for survival will begin. [bell rings] [tense music] If the prophecy of the
rapture is realized, the consequences
stagger the imagination. In the blink of an
eye, millions of people would vanish from the Earth. Those who remain would
be confused, terrified, and perhaps be in mortal danger. But not everyone
believes that the rapture will be a literal event,
that the doomsday countdown to apocalypse will have begun. The texts are subject
to interpretation. According to some, the
righteous will abruptly disappear, no matter where they
are or what they are doing. The rapture actually speaks
to people's emotions, which is one of the reasons
why it's so hotly contested. There are people who just want
to see their kids grow up. They want to see, you know,
their sons and daughters get married. And a lot of people feel like
they don't want the rapture to happen immediately. NARRATOR: But other
biblical scholars contend that the rapture's
premise, in which some are chosen and others
are not, only adds to current social conflict. One of the most troubling
aspects of this obsession with Bible prophecy
is its divisiveness, the way that it's used
to tar people as evil and to identify a
few of us as good-- those who will survive-- and to be obsessed with drawing
lines that separate people instead of working for a
society that unifies and takes care of people. This is a land of promise. NARRATOR: Still, many believers
look forward to the rapture, anticipating their
own rescue by God. But according to
some interpretations, the New Testament says
that millions of dead will also be resurrected
at this time. READER: "For the Lord Himself
will come down from heaven with a loud command with
the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God. And the dead in Christ
will rise first." NARRATOR: Some Bible scholars
interpret this passage from Paul's first letter
to the Thessalonians as meaning that everyone who
has died believing in Christ would be raised from the dead. People that are in the dustof
the earth are raised to life. So you get this picture
that people are popping out of graves to meet the Lord
in the air, this resurrection of the dead. The question is, will we see
actual corpses in graveyards rising into the sky and people
flying up from their graves? NARRATOR: Understandably,
many are skeptical. But if the rapture
were to occur, it follows that the sudden
disappearance of millions would result in chaos
and destruction. After the immediate shock,
long-term repercussions of a rapture-like event would
begin to have an impact. Hospitals would be overwhelmed. Doctors assigned
to triage duties would have an all
but impossible task. Triage is a French word
that means to turn things into threes, and it's a
prioritization system. And the idea is there are some
people who are already dead, or no matter what
you do to save them, the chances of their
survival is very, very low. And then you have another group
of people who are wounded, but they can get treatment at
some point later, a broken limb or something like this, where
if you don't get treatment within the first hour,
you're still going to live. And then there's
another group of people that, if they don't get
immediate intervention, they'll probably join
those who have perished. What's very critical
during those times is for the caregivers to
debrief what's going on and to give each other support,
to give each other accolades, because they're being heroic
under difficult situations. NARRATOR: Law
enforcement agencies may discover they are
woefully understaffed, unable to protect the public. Do police then cordon
off a portion of town and say, "you're on your own;
we can't really deal with it"? No, they do have to make
strategic decisions about, how can we deploy
the resources that we have available to do the best
job of serving and protecting our citizenry? NARRATOR: In this imagined
post-rapture world, many citizens may
realize, perhaps too late, that they must rely on
themselves for protection. All the services we're
used to, all the peace and tranquility and convenience
of travel and communication, all that's going
to be up for grabs. NARRATOR: If the
rapture happens, society might begin to
fray, much as it did briefly during the New York
City blackout in 1977. JERRY JENKINS: You live in
an area-- we all have-- where there's been a
brownout or a blackout, or lightning has maybe taken
power out for a day or two. Some people live through
this for a week or two. And everything in the
freezer gets spoiled, and people don't have water. And so it's like they're
living a century ago instead of having plumbing indoors
and all that type of thing. That's going to be just a tiny
little taste of the chaos that will ensue when so
many people are gone. NARRATOR: If an event
like the rapture happens, it might force officials
to declare major cities to be disaster areas. If the governor does
proclaim a state of disaster, they can then access
National Guard resources. And that's most often done
to facilitate logistics, transportation, and some
of those other elements that the Army is
so very good at. NARRATOR: But in this
hypothetical scenario, resources would be stretched
to the breaking point. I would say a lot morepeople
would live off the land. It'll be a desperate
struggle for survival. [crowd screaming] [gunshots] NARRATOR: This scenario could
worsen if officials blame the calamities
caused by the rapture on terrorism, a move
that could exacerbate international tensions. The disappearance of
a mass number of people would most certainly put
the world into chaos. [sirens wailing] NARRATOR: The prophecies of the
Bible, Islam, and the Hopi-- do they all foretell the
same incredible event? If the biblical
prophecy is correct, a mysterious figure will emerge
after the rapture, igniting global turmoil and
the end of the world. [bells ringing] [thunder booms] If the supernatural event
called the rapture occurs as prophesied in the
Bible, millions of people will suddenly vanish. This event is, according to
many, merely the beginning of the end for those
who remain on Earth. But if the rapture is the
first stage of the period known as the tribulation, what
sequence of events can we expect? Some Bible
researchers seek clues to how the prophecy will unfold
in the Gospel of Matthew, which records the words of Jesus
spoken 2,000 years ago. READER: "Two men
will be in the field. One will be taken
and the other left. Two women will be
grinding with a hand mill. One will be taken
and the other left." The normal human response
tolarge groups of people that
you know and love and are attached
to suddenly leave without the ability to say goodbye,
without the ability to understand what happened--
it would be devastating. The end times is going to
be occasioned by a rapture, usually, then, by seven years
of tribulation or the trying of those who are left behind. The trying could involve famine
and war and riots and all kinds of crimes of the
wicked on Earth, as well as natural disasters. [dog whines] NARRATOR: The Bible suggests
the events that are prophesied to follow the rapture. MAN: [non-english speech] NARRATOR: Bloody persecution
and global catastrophe may further decimate humankind. They point to the visions
of the prophet Isaiah. READER: "When the overwhelming
scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it." It will be a time
of terrible judgment. So there's going to
be a time of horror. NARRATOR: This time
of judgment and war foretold in the
Book of Revelation is the seven-year era of horrors
known as the tribulation. Revelation says it follows the
rise of a charismatic world leader known as the Beast,
a man of evil and deception other prophets have
identified as the Antichrist. [crowd cheering] I think the rapture
sets up the appearance of the Antichrist in a dramatic
way and becomes very useful, then, because of the
chaos that ensues. People are going
to be so terrified, they're going to be looking
for somebody to save them from this horror. [bell tolls] NARRATOR: The Antichrist is
what many scholars identify as the first of the Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And he rides out as a
conquer bent on conquest. I mean, we're talking
about the greatest villain of all time. And yet he's so attractive
and persuasive and articulate that people think he's God. He's a political leader. He's a military commander. He's a diplomatic leader. And he's a-- he's a-- he's a violent, evil person. NARRATOR: Interpreters
of the prophecy say the Antichrist will
unleash unimaginable cruelty upon humanity and lead
the world to destruction. [eerie music] [thunder rumbles] The Antichrist
is probably here. And this man may not even
know he is the Antichrist. NARRATOR: Many believe we are
moving closer to the beginning of this end of days prophecy,
as global catastrophes appear to be taking an ever
greater toll in human life. Revelation also speaks of
great natural disasters during tribulation. READER: "And there were
flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, and
a great earthquake. And every island fled away, and
no mountains were to be found, and great hailstones
dropped on men from heaven." Everything seems to be bigger
and more dramatic than ever before. Natural disasters seem
to be more intense. NARRATOR: More sophisticated
scientific equipment and better news coverage have created
the impression for many that more earthquakes are
happening now than ever before. More recently, in 2009,
catastrophic undersea earthquakes triggered
tsunamis and landslides that killed over 1,000
in Indonesia and Samoa. Recent research done
in La Jolla, California, shows that if a large
enoughearthquake were to happen
along the southern San
Andreas, it could trigger a super volcanic
eruption at Long Valley. I mean, not only would we be
dealing with a major disaster that would economically
cripple the United States, but something that could
trigger a global disaster. NARRATOR: Does the onslaught
of disasters in recent years support the claim
by some that we are on the brink of the rapture? Some people believe that we're
in the last days because of all the sinfulness
of the world, the degeneration of morals,
the decay of society, the troubles in the Middle East. Historically, look
at the Middle East, and it's always been in trouble. There has always
been conflict there. These are not signs
of the last days. Just because things
are bad now does not mean it's a fulfillment
of Bible prophecy. NARRATOR: Yet many
believers in the rapture still focus on the
Middle East for signs that the prophecy is
converging with recent events. What's intriguing about
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran,
is that he believes that we are, in fact, living
in the last days of history. He said, upon coming into office
in Iran in the summer of 2005, that we were probably just
two or three years away from the return of the Islamic
Messiah known as the Mahdi or the 12th Imam
or the Hidden Imam. NARRATOR: Many religions
foresee a cataclysmic end of the world, perhaps caused
by a global nuclear war. [explosion booms] Could such an apocalypse be
triggered by a devout head of state who perceives himself
as fulfilling a holy prophecy? For the first time
in human history, you have the leaders of a
country feverishly trying to build, buy, or steal nuclear
weapons and the missiles to deliver them
with a theology-- an end times theology-- that's driving them to create
a genocide in the world. We've never seen
this happen before. We can't say for certain
that it's prophetic. But it's certainly apocalyptic. And the question becomes,
what happens next? NARRATOR: If the Bible
is to be taken literally, then Revelation is clear about
mankind's future and the rise of the Antichrist. People will die. And so whether mobs
are incited or they're thrown into the furnace or
they're thrown to the lions or they bring back
the guillotine, I don't know exactly. But it'll be gruesome. NARRATOR: Revelation's message
is that even for those who refuse to worship
the Antichrist, there is no guarantee
of survival. They're probably
going to have to set up their own individual system
with fellow believers. If they're growing food to
share it with each other and making things to
do that with each other and that sort of thing, it
could be that some of them are going to have to
try to hide out places. So it's going to be difficult
for people and a real challenge to them. There's no doubt about it. NARRATOR: The destructive events
orchestrated by the Antichrist as prophesied in the
Book of Revelation will climax with
the return of Jesus. Some believe the
return of the Messiah may be a calamitous
moment for mankind, as Jesus compared his second
coming to Noah's great flood. Jesus went on to say that,
"In the days before the flood, they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the flood
came and took them all away. So shall also the coming
of the Son of Man be." Now the question is,
which group of people did the flood take
away from the Earth? It was all the unsaved,
the wicked people, that were taken from the Earth
in judgment by the flood. NARRATOR: As with Noah
and the great flood, believers in the rapture claim
that this miraculous event will spare believers the pain and
sorrow of a final apocalypse. But they say for those
who are not taken, the living may envy the dead. [suspenseful music] According to some
interpretations of the Bible's end times prophecy, vast numbers
of people all over the world will vanish in the rapture. Instantly changed
to spirit form, they may be spared the
suffering of tribulation and the apocalypse that follows. [car crashes] There are a lot
of people out there who would believe that the
rapture is a fairy tale. You have people flying up into
the sky and graves opened, and it just sounds
like a crazy story. NARRATOR: But the millions
who accept the rapture as a valid prophecy-- and one soon to be realized-- may be torn between
expectation and fear. The rapture is the opening
gun in a race to Armageddon that ends with Jesus
and Satan battling for the souls of mankind. The rapture is both aterrible
event, horrible event, indescribably horrible event,
and also, at the same time, an indescribably thrilling,
joyous occasion, depending upon which side one
stands as an individual. NARRATOR: If the rapture
were actually to occur, would those left behind to face
the horrors of the tribulation have any hope of survival? I'm not sure that it's
possible for somebody to have much hope
during the tribulation when their loved ones have gone,
when all these judgments are being rained down, when there's
such chaos and terror. [gunshots] This will be worldwide. In fact, one of
the prophecies says that, at one point
during the tribulation, the entire world has an
earthquake that levels the mountains and
puts the entire Earth on the same distance
above sea level. NARRATOR: According
to some interpreters, the Book of Revelation describes
a chilling series of disasters. They believe pandemics
will wipe out millions, climate change will
bring scorching heat, a third of Earth's
waters will be poisoned. There are a number of signs
that Jesus and the Hebrew prophets and the New
Testament apostles lay out that will be indicators
that we are in the last days and that return of
Jesus is coming. Among them, we'll see
wars and rumors of wars. READER: "Nation will rise
against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and
earthquakes in various places. All these are the
beginning of birth pains." Just as a woman has to go
through a period of suffering before she delivers a
new life into the world, so planet Earth is going to
have to go through seven years of severe suffering before the
new messianic age is born in the world with a Messiahhere
ruling the world on behalf of God. NARRATOR: Some claim that
during the tribulation, believers will look again
to the Bible in hopes that their covenant with
God will offer protection. We know in Exodus chapter 12that
the Israelites were spared from the Angel of
Death by putting the blood over the
lintel in the door post. And there is lots of scripture
to talk about God's people being sealed. NARRATOR: According to
the Book of Revelation, the servants of God
will receive a seal that enables them to survive. READER: "Do not harm the
land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the
foreheads of the servants of our God. Then I heard the number
of those who were sealed-- 144,000 from all the
tribes of Israel." NARRATOR: During the
Great Tribulation, God is literally supernaturally
protecting his people. People may think that
after the rapture happens, they're doomed completely,
and that's the end. But it's really not. NARRATOR: Some believe that
as the tribulation deepens, devout followers
of many religions will rely on their faith
as a shield against death, knowing their
salvation is secured. According to the
Bible, the Antichrist will seek out and destroy
anyone who does not worship him. They may lose their earthly
life during the tribulation hour, because they may be
martyred by the Antichrist. But they will gain
their eternal life. JOSEPH ROBERT CHAMBERS:
The cost of being saved in the tribulation period
is to become a martyr and to die for your faith. There may be a few
that will escape death. But the majority that
are converted to Christ during the tribulation
period will be put to death. NARRATOR: But skeptics
argue that the millions who accept Revelation as a
blueprint for our future have it all wrong. They contend that the
scenarios of the rapture and the tribulation
as literal events stem from a misinterpretation
of the biblical text. According to this
view, Revelation was a message intended only
to first-century Christians, a commentary on an era
in which the church faced horrific persecution. I read the Book of
Revelation as a book that's full of metaphors and allegory,
that isn't necessarily always to be taken literally. [thunder crackles] The desire to take these
texts too literally, I think, leads a lot of people
astray and has resulted in all sorts of
misinterpretations and false interpretations
of these texts. It's led people to see, you
know, the end of the world here and there and everywhere. [thunder crackles] NARRATOR: Despite
such arguments, belief in the rapture and
the tribulation persists. A frequent message
from religious leaders extols followers to be prepared. A passage from the New
Testament Book of Thessalonians crystallizes their
sense of urgency. READER: "Now, brothers,
about times and dates we do not need to write to you. For you know very well
that the day of the Lord will come like a
thief in the night." The idea is that we
don't have to be surprised by the coming of Jesus. He told us we'll see the signs. Pay attention to the signs. Get ready. When you see massive
global wars, when you see regional wars,
when you see revolutions, when you see earthquakes
and famines and plagues and the persecution
of the church, Jesus said, "Know that I'm
near, right at the door." [crowd screaming] [gunshots] NARRATOR: According to
interpreters of the prophecy, if you see on the news
that millions of people have vanished, this will
be when the end begins. I would liken Bible
prophecy in many ways to the National Weather Service
seeing Hurricane Katrina coming. The prophets saw themselves
as forecasting the weather, as it were, major
storms in advance so that people
could get to safety. And the question is, will
people listen to the weather forecasters and get
to safety in time? Or will they be hit
by a storm they just didn't believe was coming? NARRATOR: Are the prophecies
of doom and current events converging? Or is misinterpretation
inventing drama where none exists? Time will tell as we
monitor the phenomenon we call the Nostradamus Effect.
