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The '''End Times''', also called the '''Last Days''', refers to the period of time in [[Christian]] [[theology]] just before and during the [[Second Coming]] of [[Jesus Christ]].  This period of time is foretold in the books of [[Daniel]] and [[Revelation]] in the [[Bible]], as well as in [[I Thessalonians]] and in the teachings of Jesus in the four [[Gospel]]s.   

The '''End Times''', also called the '''Last Days''', refers to the period of time in [[Christian]] [[theology]] just before and during the [[Second Coming]] of [[Jesus Christ]].  This period of time is foretold in the [[Old Testament]] prophetical books, such as [[Daniel]] and [[Ezekiel]], and in the [[New Testament]] with the [[Gospels]], several of the [[Pauline Epistles]], and in the [[Revelation]].   

There are differing views of the End Times.  A common view is that the believers in Christ and those who died in Christ will be removed from the [[Earth]] in an event called the [[Rapture]], just before the start of a seven-year [[Great Tribulation]] which will see the rise of a [[world government]] headed by the [[Antichrist]]. The Tribulation will be a time of plagues and disasters. Some Christians however believe the Rapture will happen in the middle of the Tribulation, and some believe the Rapture will happen at the end of the Tribulation. All three of these views are part of the [[premillennial]] view of the End Times, because in all three scenarios Jesus comes back before the 1000-year reign of Christ on Earth.

==Views of the End Times==

Three main views exist regarding the End Times and the Second Coming.  These views are ''premillennialist'' [http://www.jeremiahproject.com/prophecy/rapture3.html], ''postmillennialist'' [http://www.jeremiahproject.com/prophecy/rapture5.html], and ''amillennialist'' [http://www.jeremiahproject.com/prophecy/rapture4.html].

Another view is known as [[postmillennial]]ism.  According to postmillennialism, Jesus will only return after Christians set up the [[government]] of [[God]] on Earth, and the Rapture will not happen until after the 1000-year reign of Christ.

:2. The rebirth of Israel as a nation.

:3. The construction and re-institution of the [[Solomon's Temple|Jewish Temple]] and related religious practices upon the [[Temple Mount]] in [[Jerusalem]].

:4. Creation of a united [[European Union|Europe]], modeled on the old [[Roman Empire]].

:5. Implementation of a seven-year peace treaty in favor of Israel, and brokered by the leader of Europe.

:6. A major war ([[Armageddon]]) which is world-wide, ending only with Christ's return.

Yet another view is [[praeterism]], which is the view that the prophecies in Daniel and Revelation have already come to pass.  The most common interpretation in praeterism is the Great Tribulation and other events prophesied for the End Times happened during the first or second century, usually in the context of the [[Roman]] government persecution of Christians.

Adherents of this viewpoint believe that a "utopia" of sorts will be physically set up by man, through the preaching of the Gospels or by other means, and the Millennial Kingdom is established ''before'' Christ's return.  This belief necessitates that mankind is capable of making things better; under man wars, famines, pestilences, and other maladies will end.  This viewpoint not only contradicts Scripture regarding the conditions of the world prior to the Second Coming, it contradicts human history during the past two thousand years; there was never a decade in any point of time in which man was not at war with each other, and the past century witnessed two world wars which killed untold millions.

The term "Rapture" is not found anywhere in the Bible, but is a common term used to refer to the prophecies in I Thessalonians 4:16-17.

[[Augustine]], the early Catholic theologian, created this concept as a result of his failure to try to fit the prophetical events of the Bible to the timeframe in which he lived.  His disillusionment caused him to believe that when it came to prophecy, the Bible but be taken ''allegorically'' or ''symbolically'', rather than literally (he regarded the rest of the Bible as literal).  The Kingdom of God was in men's hearts, he stressed, and not in an actual kingdom in which Christ will establish upon His return.

==See also==

==See also==