According

to the poll, almost half of believers in the Biblical

prophecy of Armageddon (47 percent) think the Antichrist

is on earth now, and 45 percent of them believe Jesus

will return to Earth in their lifetimes. But, only a

modest group - 15 percent - of believers in the

Armageddon prophecy - or about 6 percent of all

Americans - think Jesus will return as early as the

year 2000.

In the

poll, large majorities of believers in the second coming

of Christ believe that current events such as natural

disasters (83 percent), epidemics like AIDS and Ebola (66

percent) and outbreaks of violence like shootings (62

percent), are a sign that it will happen soon. An

overwhelming majority of believers in a second coming (95

percent) believe that, under such circumstances, it is

important to get right with God and a majority (65

percent) think it is important to convert non-Christians.

However,

less than half of believers (42 percent) think that

converting people to the Christian faith hastens the

return of Jesus to Earth. Among all of those surveyed, 57

percent expect that people will be divided between heaven

and hell after the world ends. An even larger majority

(68 percent) expect that they will be going to heaven.

For this

Newsweek poll, Princeton Research Associates interviewed

755 adults 18 and older from Oct. 21-22. The margin of

sampling error is plus or minus 4 percent points.

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PRNewswire