Do Americans Believe We Are Living In The End Times? Survey Results May Surprise

A recent survey came across my desk which revealed that four in ten U.S. adults believe humanity is "living in the end times," according to a survey done by the Pew Research Center.

Let me acknowledge the source of this information -- the Pew Research Center is not a right-wing Evangelical organization. I say that because I don't want people to think that I am only presenting information that comes from the far-right conservative voices. The Pew Research Center is a think tank based in Washington, D.C. They conduct public opinion polls, demographic research, and surveys on various topics such as social issues and public beliefs and habits.

The Pew Research Center did not start out wondering if Americans believe we are living in the end times. This research was due to the result of a prior survey and a completely different subject. In April of 2022, Pew Research conducted a survey to find out how concerned Americans were, or are, about climate change. In gathering those results, they found that many Americans expressed little or no concern about climate change, and the interesting nugget was why they felt this way. 

Why was there such a lack of concern about climate change? People explained they believed there are much bigger problems in the world today. They overwhelmingly said they believed God is in control of the climate and that they do not think the climate is changing.

That connection of results showing people believing God is in control of the climate led Pew to the more recent survey. So, they began to research what people's views were about God. Pew Research conducted this end times survey eight months after that climate change poll.

This follow-up survey revealed that in the United States, 39% of adults (4 out of 10) say they believe "we are living in the end times," while 58% say they do not believe we are living in the end times. Interestingly, Christians are divided on this question, with 47% saying we are living in the end times and 49% saying we are not living in the end times. However, (29%) or three in ten people from non-Christian religions (Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus) and 23% of those with no religious affiliation, say we are living in the end times.

The survey also explored American's views about a fundamental foundation of Christianity: the belief that Jesus will return to Earth, meaning His Second Coming. When asked if Jesus will return to Earth someday, more than half of all U.S. adults (55%) said yes.

Respondents who said they believed Jesus would return to Earth were also asked how certain they were that this would happen during their lifetime. One in ten Americans say they assume the second coming of Jesus will definitely or probably occur during their lifetime, 27% are not sure if Jesus will return in their lifetime, and 19% say the return of Jesus will definitely or probably not occur during their lifetime.

The survey also asked about other eschatological beliefs held by the average American adult. People were asked if they thought Jesus would return after a worsening of global conditions, which is consistent with a Premillennial view, or if Jesus would return after an improvement in conditions consistent with a Postmillennial view. This survey revealed Premillennial beliefs are far more common than Postmillennial beliefs by a 20% to 3% margin.

The Postmillennial view believes the world will gradually improve and the thousand-year millennium (Rev. 20) will happen prior to Jesus' physical return.

The Amillennial view believes the thousand-year millennium is already happening and is more of a spiritual timeframe so not a literal thousand-year period.

The Premillennial view believes the return of Christ will usher in His thousand-year reign and is often connected with circumstances in the world worsening until His Second Coming.

Because of this, Pew Research classified anyone as Premillennial if they say the world situation will worsen and then Jesus will return. And again, those polled overwhelmingly by a 20% to 3% margin agreed with a Premillennial belief.

This caused me to wonder where Pastors and Evangelical churches stand on their end-times theology. Thankfully, Lifeway Research -- a Christian organization -- surveyed 1,000 Evangelical pastors about their views on the return of Jesus Christ, biblical prophecy, and the end times.

Here are some of the results:

- 64% say their church does not require staff to hold specific end times beliefs.

- 60% say that Premillennialism best represents their views on the Millennium described in Revelation 20, but 21% are Amillennialists, and 9% are Postmillennialists.

- Just 57% say that their current views on the end times match most of their congregation's views.

- 24% said their congregation does not have a consensus view of end times.

- 14% said their congregation holds a different end-time view than they do.

- 30% said preaching end-time prophecies from the book of Revelation is somewhat important.

- 10% said preaching end-time prophecies from the book of Revelation is NOT important.

- 32% say that spending time studying eschatology is somewhat important.

- 10% said that spending time studying eschatology is NOT important.

- 27% agree that interpreting the end times is a divisive issue within their congregation.

- 40% believe that the Christian church has fulfilled or replaced the nation of Israel in God's plan. (That's Replacement Theology, which is false teaching).

- 56% expect Jesus to return in their lifetime.

- Only 23% say they have traveled to Israel, and 77% said they have NOT been to Israel.

- 24% say they speak to their church about end times prophecy at least once a month.

Do you know what you believe?

Now is an excellent time to get educated about what the Bible says about the end times and the days in which we live.  The Decoding The Future series will take you step by step through the book of Revelation in video format. Learn more here.