Distress about wars and the world economy feed apocalyptic warnings

For eons, Christians have believed the world is hurling toward oblivion. But with the current economic downturn, the war in Iraq and the likely election of Barack Obama, many think it has picked up speed. "Economic hardship is the mother's milk of prophetic progression," said Todd Strandberg of Bellevue, Neb. "It always brings about change, and it's what is helping Obama get elected." Strandberg, founder and editor of raptureready.com, the largest Christian prophecy site on the Internet, spends his days linking current events with biblical passages. He created a Rapture Index, modeled after the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which consists of 45 categories of prophetic indicators from the occult to inflation and the crime rate. Each is assigned a value of one to five depending on the level of activity in that category. The numbers are adjusted weekly, and the higher the number, the faster the world is moving toward its end. Just before the time known as the Great Tributional, some believe there will be a "Rapture," where Christ takes the righteous to heaven without their tasting death...............

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