“With a rod of iron”: Post-Apocalyptic Expectations among Pre-Apocalyptic Believers

Abstract

Whether it’s John Winthrop’s “city on a hill,” idealized Shaker villages, or the Mormons’ plans for an earthly Zion, American history is replete with promises of a gradually realized heaven on earth. By contrast, the dominant apocalyptic belief system in modern America—premillennial dispensationalism—envisions the Rapture, followed by the Tribulation and the destruction of America as we know it. But what do they think will take its place? Using examples ranging from Charles Larkin’s intricate early 20th-century end-time drawings to the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, this paper will examine how modern American prophecy believers envision political, physical, and social relations during the Millennium that they firmly believe will follow the impending Tribulation.