Waiting for Armageddon
Waiting for Armageddon explores the culture of 50 million American Evangelicals who believe that Bible prophecy dictates the future of mankind and that Israel and the Jewish people play pivotal roles in ensuring Christ’s return.
The film raises questions regarding how this theology shapes U.S.- Middle East relations and how it may even encourage an international holy war.
Using intimate portraits and archival footage to explore how literal belief in Biblical prophecy – including the Rapture and Armageddon – exerts a dangerous influence on U.S. relations in the Middle East, Waiting for Armageddon tells its story through the eyes of three evangelical families who are certain that upon Christ's Second Coming they will be “raptured” or lifted into the skies to join Christ while the rest of humanity suffers for seven years during “The Tribulation.”
The film then follows a Christian Study Tour group to Israel – among the tens of thousands of Evangelicals who pour into the Holy Land each year.
The tourists are baptized in the River Jordon, sing the US national anthem on the Sea of Galilee, proclaim love for Israel, and describe how the Dome of the Rock, one of the holiest sites in Islam, must be destroyed in order for Jesus to return.
A controversial, potentially explosive relationship between Christian Evangelicals, Jews, and Muslims emerges. At an evangelical conference in Dallas, Texas, the film’s characters urge others to spread Biblical literalism and counter the dangerous effects of post-modernism.
The climax of the gathering comes as Pastor John Hagee, the enormously influential Texas Minister of an 18,000-member mega-church, declares, “World War III has started.”