The 89-year old dispensationalist leader of Oakland, Calif.-based Family Radio Worldwide, who made a similar prediction in 1994, believes that true believers will be taken to heaven on that date and that for those remaining behind a season of tribulation will be unleashed, probably in October.
Most Christian traditions resist attempts to make such predictions due to Jesus’ words that no one can know the time of his coming. Nevertheless, movements from the second century to the present have predicted a particular date for Christ’s return — including those who launched the Seventh Day Adventist Church and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, including a retired NASA engineer who sold 4.5 million copies of 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988.
