Three dates to note:
In 1384, John Wycliffe died. The Scholastic philosopher and author of "De Papa" (1379) asserted - particularly in view of the Great Schism in which the Greek Orthodox church separated from Rome - that the Pope is the Antichrist.
Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, CA, authored the influential "End Times" in 1978. His apocalyptic scheme is similar to Hal Lindsey's, in that the end of the world is anticipated for one Biblical generation (40 years) following the establishment of the State of Israel - ie, 1988, with the Rapture falling seven years earlier in 1981. (Smith later reasoned the Israel clock may have begun in 1967 rather than 1948 [= EOW 2007].) The ozone hole and Halley's comet were interpreted by Smith as Tribulation events. On this date in 1981, Smith held a Costa Mesa New Year's Eve service in which all present expected to be raptured at midnight.
December 31, 3797, is the furthest extent to which Nostradamus' precognition allowed him to see, and is interpreted in the Nostradamus documentary "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow" (Orson Welles, host) as the end of world history.
