[Sicon]

"When I was a boy growing up in Boston, I would see hippies walking around carrying "The End is Near" signs.
This was over 50 years ago. "

Well, to be fair, "near" is both a relative and subjective term.

[fidelis]

Well, to be fair, "near" is both a relative and subjective term.

Today's "Rapture-at-any-moment" folks rely on the ambiguity. They've been saying the end is near since the 1840's when the the Dispensationalist doctrine was first invented. They used to be more forthcoming about predicting actual dates, but they've got more cautious about that since they've been burned so many times. Nowadays, they'll just say, "it's near!"