Surviving another rapture

Hal Lindsey appeared on a talkshow recently to plug his end times nonsense, while also addressing his competitor Harold Camping's prediction for today. I found this saddening to listen to, basically because one foolish old man chastises another foolish old man for holding to a similar folly: "No, no, no, Harold! You don't understand the rules of the game. You don't set dates for the rapture!"

So how does it happen that one man spends his life in folly and reaches his 80's like Hal Lindsey, while another manages to accomplish useful things and winds up like, say, Warren Buffett?

I still think Lindsey owes a public apology to everyone he has spooked with his doomsday fantasies since 1970. Give it up, Hal. You'll die soon from one of the usual causes just like everyone else, without getting "raptured."

As for christian apocalypticism in general, christianity can't get away from the fact that it started out as a doomsday cult. People in this religion will keep coming up with new variations of the end times because the cult's founding texts support that interpretation.

I also have to wonder if many christians need to believe they live in the last days - yes, the prophesied events will really happen this time! - because they know on some level that christianity will eventually disappear, without any rapture, tribulation or second coming. Would people living 10,000 years from now even know about christianity, apart from a handful of scholars who study ancient religions?

And how much would the scholars in that era know about christianity any way, or about anything else which started 12,000 years in their past? The last ice age ended 12,000 years ago relative to us, but have any religions from that time survived to 2011?