From my pastor: MOST EMBARRASSING DISPENSATIONAL FAILED PROPHECY, Candidate one:
"The Generation of the Fig Tree."
First popularized by Hal Linsey when I was a kid, this theory states that the end of the world will occur within one generation from the formation of the modern nation of Israel in 1948.
Up until Jan 1, 1989, Dispensationalists taught that a Biblical generation is 40 years. Calvary Chapel icon Chuck Smith specified that the Rapture would happen in '81, to fit in the seven years of Great Tribulation prior to '88.
Once those dates passed, as you can imagine, a bunch of scrambling and scurrying happened in a giant CYA effort. Maybe the first year of the fig tree generation should not be 1948, but 1967 when Israel got control of Jerusalem. Then 2007 came and went and the world stubbornly failed to end.
The current, latest panic-mod of the theory is that a biblical generation can be as much as 80 years, which gives them until 2028.  But it really doesn't because we're only about 4 years out and the 7 year Tribulation hasn't started (it's 3 years late).
At some point, please. Just stop. The problem isn't with your math but with your interpretive scheme.
For some receipts on all this start here: http://calvarychapel.pbworks.com/w/page/13146568/1981#Quote%20from%20Chuck's%20Own%20Hand

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