The Christian world specifically believes in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth that will mark the beginning of the end of the world. From century to century some believers in the doctrine of the return of Jesus Christ to the earth had at various times gazed at the crystal ball or interpreted many Bible prophecies and predicated the probable date or year that the Lord Jesus Christ would come back to the earth to take up the elects precedent to the millennium reign of the anti-Christ government, and the eventual end of the world. Till date all the various dates and years that such believers or religious sects predicted that Christ would return had failed.

William Miller predominantly featured in the great second advent of Christ movement, which swept across the United States in the 1840s. According to Walter Martins in his book, The Kingdom of the Cults, William Miller confidently taught in the year 1818 that in about 25 years; that is, in 1843, Jesus Christ would come back. He claimed to have studied the scriptures for about two years to the solemn conclusion that in about 25 years from that time (1818) all the affairs of our present state would be wound up. “I am fully convinced that between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844 Christ will come and bring all his saints with him.” Miller predicted.

When William Miller’s predicted date of Christ’s second coming failed, his associates, who had then been known as the Millerites set October 22. 1884 as the final date when Jesus Christ would return. Miller, who was a Baptist minister, however, confessed that he goofed when his prediction on Christ’s second coming failed. He said, “I confess my error and acknowledged my disappointment. Yet, I still believe the day of the Lord is near. I exhort you to be watchful, and not let that day come upon you unawares.”

Although Williams Miller popularized the 1843-1844 concept of Christ coming again, he was by no means alone in the rash of date settings for the second coming of Christ. Ellen G. White, the Founder of the Seventh Day Adventist Church also made many predictions about the advent (second coming) of Christ that all failed. The most specific prediction she was said to have made about the second coming of Christ was her interpretation of a vision she claimed to have had. She told a 1856 conference that some participants at the meeting would be alive at the second coming of Christ.

Jehovah’s witnesses arrived at 1914 for the second of Christ, from a dispensationally inspired study of the Book of Daniel. When 1914 passed their prediction was changed with 1915, 1918, 1920, 1841, 1975 and 1994 being other dates that failed. Jehovah’s witnesses declared that Jesus Christ had actually returned to the temple in 1914 and cleansed it by 1918 for judgment upon sinful men and Satan’s organization. They affirmed that since he did not rise physically, neither will he return physically,

Herbert W. Armstrong also predicted the second coming of Christ to occur in 1975. He and his associates consistently warned that Jesus may come in a “few years.” In 1948, the state of Israel was founded and this encouraged the dispensationalists around the world to predict that this was the “beginning of the end.” Many dispensationalists decided that the generation of Jesus had referenced to in Mathew 24:34 started in 1948.

When the Israeli army captured all of Jerusalem in 1967, this made many people believe that the rapture would come quickly. In 1978, Chuck Smith, Pastor of Calvary Chapel in Costa Rica also predicted that ‘the Lord is coming for his church before the end of 1981.” Pat Robertson predicted that the world would end in 1982. Hal Lindsey predicted that the rapture would occur in 1988. In 1988, Edgar Whitenaut sold 4 million copies of 88 reasons why rapture will occur in 1988. At the last count of this rash of predictions was a period where there were apprehensive expectations globally that the year 2000 would witness a worldwide computer driven meltdown that may fared might lead to the extinction of humanity from the earth. The eventual failure of the year 2000 apprehension turned out the second “Great Disappointment” after Williams Miller’s “Great Disappointment” of 1843.

Does the failure of all these various predicted dates on Christ’s second coming suggest that Christ will never ever come back afterall? Walter Martins offers that one needs only to read the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to realize that all the predictions on the second coming of the Lord were in contradictions to the word of God. Jesus said, ‘But of that day and hour knoweth no man’, (Mathew 24:36); also 24:42, 24:44; 25:13).

And far from it that Christ will never ever come again. Every believer that is heaven-conscious need to be daily guided by the following scriptures that in spite of all the failed predictions, Christ’s  second coming is inevitable; for yourself know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

1 Thessalonians 5:2:  “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein shall burn up.

11 Peter 3:10:  “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”

Revelation 3:3: “Behold, I come as thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garment, lest he walketh naked, and they see his shame.” We must therefore live ready lest that day comes upon us unawares

Dr. Wole Olarinde is the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Christian Benefits magazine