In the US, there's the religious angle as well. People really consider the Apocalypse prophecy in the sense of foretelling the future, not forthtelling the will of God. The faithful, so the widespread belief goes, will be raptured in time, such as not to live under the Satanic authorities.

Twenty years ago, everyone thought that "Left Behind" was blasphemous, but reality has overtaken fiction. We are living in a branch of reality not intended for production use.