Apocalyptism and its conclusions

Apocalypticism is the religious belief that the world will come to an end very soon, usually meaning within one's own lifetime. This belief is usually accompanied by the idea that civilization, as we know it, will soon come to a tumultuous end with some sort of global event, usually war. Apocolypticism is usually conjoined with esoteric knowledge that will likely be revealed in a major confrontation between good and evil forces, destined to change the course of history. Apocalypses can be viewed as good, evil, ambiguous or neutral, depending on the belief system. They can appear as a personal or group tendency, an outlook or a perceptual frame of reference, or a just rhetorical style. Beliefs in apocalypses can lead people towards paranoia, relief, hyperactivity, passivity, lethargy or depression while awaiting the perceived or possible end.
Christian apocalypticism

Some understand John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, and the Apostles to have been apocalypticists who preached that the world would end within their lifetimes, while others understand them to have believed the end of the world (and the beginning of the next) could come at any moment, even, as the Apostles hoped, within their own lifetime.
The preaching of John was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mat. 3:2), and Jesus also taught this same message (Mat 4:17; Mark 1:15). Additionally, Jesus spoke of the signs of "the close of the age" in the Olivet Discourse in Mat 24 (and parallels), near the end of which he said, "[T]his generation will not pass away until all these things take place" (v. 34). Interpreters have understood this phrase in a variety of ways, including that Jesus was a mistaken apocalypticist, that most of what he described was fulfilled in the destruction of the Temple in the Roman Siege of Jerusalem (see Preterism), and that "generation" should be understood instead to mean "race" (see NIV marginal note on Mat 24:34).
Various Christian eschatological systems have developed, providing different frameworks for understanding the timing and nature of such predictions. Some like dispensational premillennialism tend more toward an apocalyptic vision, while others like postmillennialism and amillennialism, while teaching that the end of the world could come at any moment, tend to focus on the present life and not set expectations for the timing of the end, though there are exceptions such as postmillennialist Jonathan Edwards who attempted to calculate the precise timing of the end times.
Apocalypticism in culture
Apocalypticism is a frequent theme of literature, film and television. It also influences political policy through movements such as Christian Zionism, and in the dualism seen when politicians demonize their enemies as unholy, bad, evil, or even Satanic. This process often involves conspiracism, in which the apocalyptic enemy is alleged to be engaged in a conspiracy against the good or Godly people.

Y2K
Apocalypticism was especially evident with the approach of the millennial year 2000, but it need not be tied to a particular calendar date. The next popularly predicted date for the apocalyse is in 2012, on the basis that this year signifies the end of the Mayan calendar. Many hundreds of books and predictions have been made throughout history about looming apocalypses and none of them have ever come true. Christian fundamentalists, the most popular apocalyptians, have been buzzing with end time expectations since the Jews returned to Israel in 1948 but, arguably, nothing has solidly come true from this yet. When it comes to apocalyptic views and beliefs, only the future seems to be able to tell, and the future seems to be up to us. Still there are no guarantees that unknown forces won't intervene at some point, or that unknown natural cycles won't reassert themselves.
Source: Wikipedia