Survey: 1 in 3 Americans believe conflict in Syria is a sign of biblical end times

A new survey by LifeWay Research found that one-third of Americans surveyed believe that the Syrian conflict is a sign of biblical “end times” events, though only one-fifth believe the world will end in their lifetime.

The survey also found that one-fourth of those surveyed believe a U.S. military strike could lead to the battle of Armageddon. However, some believe such a strike is now out of the question thanks to the U.S.-Russia chemical weapons deal.

A military operation is clearly not ruled out just yet and some in Washington are calling the chemical weapons agreement “meaningless.”

The results of the survey surprised Ed Stetzer, president of Nashville-based LifeWay Research, because previous U.S. military actions did not lead to such conclusions.

“We weren’t talking about Armageddon during the air strikes on Bosnia,” Stetzer said.

Syria can lead to different conclusions, however, since it shares a border with Israel and Syria is specifically mentioned in the Bible.

Christianity Today points out that the view is linked to a type of biblical interpretation known as “dispensationalism,” popularized most recently by the Left Behind book series.

Some Christians are vehemently opposed to such an interpretation.

Dr. Kim Riddlebarger, for instance, wrote that so-called “prophecy pundits” are guilty of “distort[ing] the plain teaching of God’s word.”

Clearly, many American Christians disagree. Indeed, a Time story from late August highlighted this view along with a recent USA Today article.

The poll turned up some other interesting results, including the fact that women are more likely than men to see a link between the Bible and current events in Syria.

Southerners and members of households that make less than $25,000 per year are also more likely to draw a connection, according to the poll.

Other polls have discovered a strong tendency among Christians to believe that we are currently living in the biblical end times.

“41 percent of all U.S. adults, 54 percent of Protestants, and 77 percent of evangelicals believe the world is now living in the biblical end times,” according to a recent Barna poll.

A 2012 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute also found that 65 percent of white evangelicals believe that recent natural disasters are evidence of the biblical end times. The same poll found that 15 percent of Americans and 29 percent of white evangelicals believe the end of the world, as predicted in the Book of Revelation, will occur in their lifetimes.

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