17. The televangelist who predicted the end of the world in 1982
In 1980, televangelist Pat Robertson addressed his followers with a startling prediction. Robertson frequently informed his viewers of conversations he had with God, and reported what God had told him during their discussions. In May, 1980, Robertson told his viewers on the program The 700 Club, that the end of the world was scheduled for autumn, 1982, specifying either October or November, though he later modified it to the end of the year. “I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world”, he said. Robertson is not the only televangelist to predict the end of the world, and include a time and date.
Jack Van Impe, another televangelist and predictor of the end times, once informed his audience of believers that through the use of the Book of Revelation, he had calculated the amount of landmass which would be devastated by nuclear war. According to Van Impe, 18,963,194 square miles of the earth would be devastated as part of the end times. He also predicted the return of Jesus would occur between 2001 and 2012, though Christians had nothing to fear, as the date would begin the thousand-year reign before Armageddon. Believers in the televangelists and their messages view nearly all events as indications the end times are here, or in the very near future.