In general, there are three main theories:
Premillennialism, Postmillennialism, and Amillennialism.
(18) While often suitable, it is unhelpful to use the term "
Premillennialism" in this discussion.
Premillennialism's focus on Christ's imminent return resulted in a worldview wherein the Depression became part of God's punishment for a modern and decadent society.
Efforts to seize the Kingdom by violence, passive withdrawal from corruption to await the Second Coming, or melioristic reform efforts--all these and other responses," notes historian James Moorhead, "have been adduced from eschatological symbols." (3) Early Mormon eschatology is best characterized as an apocalyptic version of millennialism, one that corresponds conceptually to what theologians call
premillennialism and social scientists call millenarianism.
With the decline of postmillennialism came the rise of
premillennialism beginning in 1790 in England, the belief that Jesus will physically return (the "Second Coming") to the earth to gather His saints before the Millennium.
Contextual clues suggest that Judaism generally was not implicated, perhaps because the dispensational
premillennialism influential in early postwar evangelicalism put Judaism in a different category.
They contend that the only way to truly understand the museum is to start with the fundamentalism movement; the museum shares and promotes the movementAEs core commitments: biblical inerrancy,
premillennialism, patriarchy, political conservatism, and creationism.
Though
premillennialism comes in several varieties, the dominant view sees the "Rapture" of the church precede a time of tribulation for all of the earth's inhabitants--a period during which the Antichrist gathers strength and authority.
It is probably worth noting that the
premillennialism Ramseyer taught was not a dispensational
premillennialism, though many have assumed it was.
Implicitly, this constitutes a critique of
premillennialism, a doctrine that characterizes classical Pentecostals, critique that is often and aggressively uttered by the NAR representatives.
American conservatives float between the postmillennialism of the Puritans and the
premillennialism of modern evangelicalism.