Posted on 09/30/2014 11:41:47 AM PDT by NYer
Five Myths About the “Rapture” and the “Left Behind” Industry | Carl E. Olson | CWR
On the (short) history, (bad) theology, and (continuing) appeal of premillennial dispensationalism
This year has marked a sort of second coming of “the Rapture”. On June 29th, HBO launched a new series, "The Leftovers", based on the 2011 novel of the same title, written by Tom Perrotta, which follows the struggles of various characters living in the aftermath of the sudden disappearance of millions of people. “And then it happened,” states the novel's Prologue, “The biblical prophecy came true, or at least partly true. People disappeared, millions of them at the same time, all over the world.” The twist is that Perrotta apparently uses the Rapture as a plot device, but does not adhere to the dispensationalist belief system which features the Rapture (more on that below).
The recent movie, “The Remaining”, however, is completely dedicated to the “left behind” theology, as co-writer and director Casey La Scala explains:
And ever since I was a kid, I wondered what would happen if the Rapture were to happen and all of the sudden we were in seven years of hell. So, I went through Revelations and I got to the sixth trumpet, in which the Abyss is opened and the demons are released, and I said, ‘There it is!’ ... In the process of writing The Remaining, once I was sure the project would stand up to an evangelical base, I did a lot of work on making sure the rules of the Rapture were biblically accurate.
If La Scala really did refer to The Apocalypse as “Revelations”, then readers will be forgiven for questioning the depth of his research and knowledge of Scripture. Then again, being “biblically accurate” has never been a strong suit of the “left behind” theology (again, more on that below).
And then there is the new “Left Behind” movie, in theaters this coming Friday, starring Nicholas Cage (yes, he's still acting—or at least appearing in movies). The verbiage is boilerplate and sensational, a combination that has been an essential part of Rapture fiction since British author Sydney Watson published a trilogy of end times novels a hundred years ago—Scarlet and Purple (1913), The Mark of the Beast (1915), and In the Twinkling of an Eye (1916):
In the blink of an eye, the biblical Rapture strikes the world. Millions of people disappear without a trace. All that remains are their clothes and belongings, and in an instant, terror and chaos spread around the world.
With all of this eschatological excitement in the pop culture air, it's not surprising that I've received e-mails and questions about the newest round of Rapture roulette. The biggest question is simply, “Are the 'Left Behind' books and movies compatible with Catholicism?” Others follow. I addressed those and many, many other questions several years ago in my first book, Will Catholics Be Left Behind? A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today's Prophecy Preachers (Ignatius Press, 2003; e-book). I also write a number of articles about the “Left Behind” phenomenon, including pieces about the unoriginal nature of the Tim LaHaye/Jerry B. Jenkins novels, a short history of the “left behind” theology, a comparison of dispensationalism and Catholicism, and a rather scathing review of the Glorious Appearing, the twelfth Left Behind novel.
With that in mind, I am reposting an article I wrote in late 2003 for Crisis magazine, which examines five of the central myths, or misunderstandings, about the Rapture and related matters. I've not updated it (for example, there are a total of sixteen Left Behind novels, and they have sold around 65 million copies in all), but the main points are still just as good today as they were then.
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Three years ago I mentioned to a Catholic friend that I was starting to work on a book critiquing the Left Behind novels and premillennial dispensationalism, the unique theological belief system presented, in fictional format, within those books. “Why?” she asked, obviously bewildered. “No one really takes that stuff seriously.”
That revealing remark merely reinforced my desire to write that book, Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”? (Ignatius, 2003). Other conversations brought home the same point. Far too many people, including a significant number of Catholics, do not recognize the attraction and power of this Fundamentalist phenomenon. Nor do they appear to appreciate how much curiosity exists about the “end times,” the book of Revelation, and the “pretribulation Rapture”—the belief that Christians will be taken up from earth prior to a time of tribulation and the Second Coming. In addition, I hoped to pen the sort of book I wish that I, as a Fundamentalist, could have read while studying and approaching, by fits and starts, the Catholic Church.
In the course of writing articles, giving talks, and writing the book, I have encountered a number of questions and comments—almost all from Catholics—that indicate how much confusion exists about matters of eschatology, not to mention ecclesiology, historical theology, and the interpretation of Scripture. The five myths I present here summarize many of those questions, and I seek to provide basic and clear answers for them.
“The Left Behind books represent a fringe belief system that very few people take seriously.”
Exactly how many copies of the Left Behind books must be sold before the theology they propagate can be taken seriously?
Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.
For God so loved the world He sent a book.
Are you putting scripture above Christ? Sure sounds like it.
What a patently ignorant question.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
God provided a way for them to survive.
See post 34. If you think it’s the 144,000 that is protected that is NOT the “bride of Christ”.
Where do you find the word "Rapture" in the Bible? What Bible are you reading?
You can't find a Rapture in the scriptures???
Why aren't you???
Psa_138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
As you can see, it's the bible that's going judge you at judgment time...Your religion isn't going to be judging anyone...You'd better know the bible...You'd better get it right...
The "other left" will be the faithful as it was with Noah: the good stayed and endured/persevered in faith and the evil were "taken" away by The Flood. Catholic doctrine holds for a rapture of sorts, but not until the Last Day, no pre-, post- or multiple rapture(s). The Faithful will stay behind as it was with Noah (Mt 24:37-41; Lk 17:26-36).
Here you have an example of a resurrection...The good guys stay on the earth, the bad guys leave...
According to the very words of Christ Jesus (ipsissima verba), the faithful will be raised on the LAST DAY and not before; while, on the LAST DAY the unfaithful will be condemned: all is relative to the LAST DAY:
Here, you have the good guys leaving the earth, the bad guys stay...
Jn 6:39 And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it [on] the last day. Jn 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him [on] the last day." Jn 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.
Here again, the good guys go up and the bad guys stay...
God doesn’t want Christians out of the world in order to escape persecution and conflict; He wants the ungodly out! Our mission is to convert the world, not to flee from it. Jesus is praying that Christians should not be "raptured" — taken out — of the world. This is the consistent message of the Bible: that God’s covenant people will inherit all things and that the ungodly will be disinherited and driven out.
Here, you have the good guy inheriting everything on the earth and staying...The bad guys will be driven out...
[see Pro 2:21-22 and Pro 10:30]: Pro 2:21-22 [21] For the upright will dwell in the land,people of integrity will remain in it; [22] But the wicked will be cut off from the land, the faithless will be rooted out of it.
Now here again, the good guys stay on the earth and the bad guys leave...
Remember that the Church is the Pillar and Foundation of Truth (1 Tim 3:15), not some fallible interpretations that contradict each other and ignore swaths of Scripture and Christian Doctrine.
Now this is RICH!!!
Just the fact that you ask that question shows that your study of the subject is nill. The word rapture comes from the Latin rapiemur which means caught up or caught away which is found in 1 Thessalonians 4
So you see, it is in the Bible but you evidently listen to uneducated wanna bees who haven't figured out there are other languages.
Sorry, I won't bother you two again.
Revelation 11:2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot forty-two months.
Revelation 11:11 And after the three days and a half the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them that beheld them.
Actually, three and a half years יָמִים Yud Mem Yud Mem is years not days.
Look it up...
http://www.sarshalom.us/resources/scripture/asv/bible.html
And of course a time times and half a time from Daniel and Revelation... Daniel 7:25, 12,7, Revelation 12:14.
Also: Dates Yeshua
25 Kislev 3756 - Chanukah / Conception of Yeshua
15 Tishri 3757 - Sukkot / Birth of Yeshua
15 Nisan 3790 - (30 C.E.) Pesach / Crucifixion of Yeshua
17 Nisan 3790 Yeshua resurrected
The patterns are set in the Torah, Shmita/weeks and count the omer/count the number...
You shall count for yourselves -- from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving -- seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count, fifty days... Leviticus 23:15-16
Revelation 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Count from 30 C.E. + 666 = 696 and you come to the reign of Abd al-Malik who standardized Islamic currency...
Read all about it...
http://www.islamicmint.com/islamicdinar/history.html
The History of the Dinar & Dirham
In the beginning the Muslims used gold and silver by weight and the dinar and dirhams that they used were made by the Persians.
The first dated coins that can be assigned to the Muslims are copies of silver dirhams of the Sassanian Yezdigird III, struck during the Khalifate of Uthman, radiy'allahu anhu. These coins differ from the original ones in that an Arabic inscription is found in the obverse margins, normally reading "in the Name of Allah". Since then the writing in Arabic of the Name of Allah and parts of Qur'an on the coins became a custom in all mintings made by Muslims.
Under what was known as the coin standard of the Khalif Umar Ibn al-Khattab, the weight of 10 dirhams was equivalent to 7 dinars (mithqals)
In the year 75 (695 CE) the Khalifah Abdalmalik ordered Al-Hajjaj to mint the first dirhams, thus he established officially the standard of Umar Ibn al-Khattab. In the next year he ordered the dirhams to be minted in all the regions of the Dar al-Islam. He ordered that the coins be stamped with the sentence: "Allah is Unique, Allah is Eternal". He ordered the removal of human figures and animals from the coins and that they be replaced with letters.
This command was then carried on throughout all the history of Islam. The dinar and the dirham were both round, and the writing was stamped in concentric circles. Typically on one side it was written the "tahlil" and the "tahmid", that is, "la ilaha ill'Allah" and "alhamdulillah"; and on the other side was written the name of the Amir and the date. Later on it became common to introduce the blessings on the Prophet, salla'llahu alayhi wa sallam, and sometimes, ayats of the Qur'an.
Gold and silver coins remained official currency until the fall of the Khalifate. Since then, dozens of different paper currencies were made in each of the new postcolonial national states created from the dismemberment of Dar al-Islam.
Allah says in the Qur'an:
And amongst the People of the Book there are those who, if you were to entrust them with a treasure (qintar), he would return it to you. And amongst them is he who, if you were to entrust him with a dinar would not return it to you, unless you kept standing over him.Qur'an (3,75)
Qadi Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi, the greatest authority on Qur'anic Law wrote in his famous "Ahkam al-Qur'an" about this ayat:
"The benefit that can be taken from this is the prohibition of entrusting the People of the Book with goods".
Qadi Abu Bakr said: "The question concerning entrusting property is legislated by the text of Qur'an." This means that the ayat is a legal judgement of absolute validity and of the greatest importance to the deen.
Entrusting wealth to non-Muslims is not allowed, but furthermore, taking a non-Muslim as a partner outside Dar al-Islam (where we stand over them) is extremely restricted, because they might cheat or might use our wealth in forbidden transactions.
Since paper-money is a promise of payment, can it be permitted to trust the issuers while they hold the payment (our property) outside our jurisdiction? History has also demonstrated repeatedly that paper money has been a permanent instrument of default and cheating the Muslims. In addition, Islamic Law does not permit the use of a promise of payment as a medium of exchange.
***
In the next year = 696
"Allah is Unique, Allah is Eternal" = blasphemy written on the heads...
Marks in the forehead
Quran
48. Surah Al-Fath (The Victory)
29. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are severe against disbelievers, and merciful among themselves. You see them bowing and falling down prostrate (in prayer), seeking Bounty from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure. The mark of them (i.e. of their Faith) is on their faces (foreheads) from the traces of (their) prostration (during prayers). This is their description in the Taurat (Torah). But their description in the Injeel (Gospel) is like a (sown) seed which sends forth its shoot, then makes it strong, it then becomes thick, and it stands straight on its stem, delighting the sowers that He may enrage the disbelievers with them. Allah has promised those among them who believe (i.e. all those who follow Islamic Monotheism, the religion of Prophet Muhammad till the Day of Resurrection) and do righteous good deeds, forgiveness and a mighty reward (i.e. Paradise).
You get marked in the forehead from bowing to Mecca...
Did you know there's a good mark? Compare Revelation 13:16 to Exodus 13:16 / same numbers. Then look at Exodus 13:9. Later...
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