Edgar C. Whisenant (September 25, 1932 – May 16, 2001) was an American former

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

engineer and Bible student from

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

, who predicted the

rapture The Rapture is an Christian eschatology, eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Chr ...

and

World War III World War III, also known as the Third World War, is a hypothetical future global conflict subsequent to World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). It is widely predicted that such a war would involve all of the great powers, ...

would occur during

Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The Hebrew Bible, biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summe ...

in 1988, sometime between September 11 and September 13. Through studying the Bible and using

numerology Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, ...

, he gathered 23,000 clues which he used to predict the date. Other information used to predict the end times included "sources as varied as U.S. Defense Department manuals and opinions by radical Rabbi

Meir Kahane Meir David HaKohen Kahane ( ; ; born Martin David Kahane; August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990) was an American-born Israel, Israeli Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox ordained rabbi, writer and ultra-nationalist politician. Founder of the Israeli pol ...

and pop scientist

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including e ...

." Whisenant believed the description of the sun being blocked out in

Revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...

chapter 11 was a prediction of

nuclear winter Nuclear winter is a severe and prolonged anti-greenhouse effect, global climatic cooling effect that is hypothesized to occur after widespread firestorms following a large-scale Nuclear warfare, nuclear war. The hypothesis is based on the fact ...

. He initially published two books, ''88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988'' and ''On Borrowed Time''. Both were published by World Bible Society with financial backing from Norvell Olive, a Christian radio broadcaster. Eventually, 300,000 copies of ''88 Reasons'' were mailed free of charge to ministers across America, and 4.5 million copies were sold in bookstores and elsewhere. ''On Borrowed Time'' was said to have reached the hands of 3 million people. ''88 Reasons'' reached number two on the Christian Bookseller Association's list that year. Whisenant's predictions were widely covered – and ridiculed – in the media as well as being satirized by humorist

Dave Barry David McAlister Barry (born July 3, 1947) is an American author and columnist who wrote a nationally Print syndication, syndicated humor column for the ''Miami Herald'' from 1983 to 2005. He has written numerous books of humor and parody, as we ...

. Whisenant was quoted as saying "Only if the Bible is in error am I wrong; and I say that to every preacher in town" and " there were a king in this country and I could gamble with my life, I would stake my life on Rosh Hashana 88." When his predictions failed to materialize, Whisenant claimed the event would still happen that year and initially updated his prediction to October 3. He later stated his calculations were off by one year as he had not factored in the lack of a year zero, which he said gave Christians more time to prepare. He then published ''The Final Shout'', giving a date of September 1, 1989, and later updated his prediction to 1993. Whisenant's books were met with differing responses. Some believers sold their belongings to prepare for the end times. Other Christians were appreciative that the books could lead to increased prayer and spiritual growth even if untrue; still others referred to the books' theology as "unfortunate and overly literal" or advised against date-setting. One North Carolina man was influenced by the 1988 prediction, and barricading himself in his home, shot at passersby and a police officer.

Publications

* Predicted that the Rapture would occur in 1988. * Predicted that the Rapture would occur in 1989. * Predicted that the Rapture would occur in 1993. * Prediction for 1994.

References

External links

On Borrowed Time: The Bible Dates of The 70th Week of Daniel, Armageddon and The Millennium by Edgar C. Whisenant

* 88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be In 1988 and On Borrowed Time at archive.org: https://archive.org/details/ReasonsWhyTheRaptureWillBeIn1988PDF {{DEFAULTSORT:Whisenant, Edgar C. 1932 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century apocalypticists 20th-century evangelicals 21st-century evangelicals American male non-fiction writers Christian writers about eschatology Dispensationalism American Evangelical writers Premillennialism

Publications

See also

References

External links