The early christians during the second half of the 15th century certainly thought so. panic and paranoia ran rampant as many Christians formed elite groups to welcome the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Sounds like a headline ripped from today's news, doesn't it? The Christians in the latter 1400's looked for signs of the end and found it.

What were those signs? Why were they wrong? Are the more than 1200 millennialist cults wrong now? Aren't the signs there? Well... one question at a time, right !

The 15th century couldn't have been that bad, it wasn't the end of the world. How many of the signs could the early Christians read wrong? Let's go through the events and see where the early Christians went wrong and why the end is indeed 2000.

Famines. Germany was severely plagued by famines. Severe weather and extremely poor harvests led to famines all over Europe during the last decade of the 1400's.

Plagues Europe was ravaged by plagues. Especially the super destructive syphilis epidemic beginning in Naples circa 1495. The plague was believed to come from the new world carried over by Columbus and his crew and then spread by French solders.

Wars Of Course the War of the Roses (1455-1485) pointed the end of time. After that every little tiff, on english soil , became a prophetic sign. Frances recovery from the Hundred Years War (1337-1435) was slow and painful leaving the country in a state of anarchy and added credence to the feeling tat the end was near. Germany was kept in a state of turmoil by an ununified government. The same lack of unity existed on the Italian peninsula which offered rival nations an opportunity to work out differences on Italian soil.

"Godless Hordes"The capture of Constatinople (the Byzantium Stronghold) by the "godless Turks", then the increasing threat from the Turks on the whole of Europe was interrupted by many as a sign.

"Engines of the Devil" The recent innovation of gunpowder escalated not only the number of casualties but the levels of anxiety in many of the Christians.

Social Unrest The increasing hardships of tithes and taxes placed on the peasantry brought about social unrest. The peasants began to rebel demanding greater freedoms.

Queastioning Religion The corrupt lives of many key church officials led good Christians to re-examine their religious convictions thus creating religious anarchy.

Alleged Increase in Satanic Activity A declaration from Pope Innocent VIII declaring Germany to be "full of witches" spread fear like a wildfire, fueled by the invention of the printing press in 1450.

The printing press was really the catalyst that lead to such widespread hysteria. By 1500 Europe had close to 9 million books as opposed to less than 100,000 hand written manuscripts. Of course the most prominent of these books was the Holy Bible . Europeans began reading and learning the prophecies of Revelation. A whole new perspective of world events pursed. Every incident in some way connected with the prophecies of the end. W With low cost of the printing press people began to publish their own interpetations of events. This influx of prediction so f tribulations in society played most on people's worst fears.

Of course a picture is worth a 1000 words. Artwork in the late 1400's grahically conveys the horrors of the apocalypse. This vivid imagery no doubt left a lasting impression on Christians The fear of Final Judgement, haunted the dreams of the early Christians

The 1500s were far from the end. All though when viewing the events of the time one would wonder why not. All of the ominous signs were indeed there. In contrast the new century made the transition from the middle ages to modern times. A whole new age of inventive thinking and exploration opened up. Columbus discovered a new world and religious reformation abound.

In short, Christians have the signs of the latter days for nearly 2000 years. Yet the Bible specifically states " No one know about that day or hour. "(matthew 24:36).

There is no doubt that the coming century brings excitement but, "it is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority" (Acts 1:7).