My thoughts on the Left Behind Series
One of the most increasing popular books now among Evangelical Christians is the "Left Behind" series by Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins. It seems that you can not go anyweher without seeing this series of books now. Though they are mainly popular among Evangelical Christians, there are many people outside the circle of Christianity who are reading the series as well. While it is alright to read anyting you wish as enjoyable literature, I fear that many people are looking at the "Left Behind" series as far more than just that. I would go as far to say that there are many people who are basing much of their faith on this series. Such an action is done out of ignorance. I know many churches in our day preach that we will be raptured before the tribulation takes place and then God will focus His attention on the history of Israel. However, it might come as a shock to most believers that the teaching of the pre-trib rapture is something that not even a trace has been found prior to the nineteenth century, except for a statement in which someone forged the name of the great church theologian, Ephraem of Syria. However, even this statement is higly questionable. Of course whether or not this theology existed prior to the nineteenth century is not something one should stand on alone to denounce it as false. Anyone who reads the Bible exegetically will realize that the pre-trib rapture teaching makes absolutely nos sense of what the Bible says at all. The Bible plainly states in Matthew 24:29-31 that the elect will not be raptured until after the tribulation. The neoclassical argument on this passage is that the term "elect" applies to the Jews. That is possible, but if verse 31 is referring to the Jews, than verse 24, when Jesus says even the elect will be deceived by false christs and false prophets if that were possible, also would have to refer to the Jews according to the theological rule of exegetical parallelism. This, it would not make sense for Jesus to say the Jews will be deceived "if that were possible" because the entire history of the Jewish nation is one in which they are deceived into following after other gods and goddesses, such as the Baals and Ashtoreths. The pre-trib rapture has many other problems as well, such as the fact that there would have to be both a second and athird coming of Christ when the Bible only mentions a second coming. In the only Bible passage that could be considered an undisputable rapture passage, the word "coming" appears. The neoclassical argument used by pre-tribbers is that during the rapture, Jesus comes to the clouds, while during the second coming, he sets foot on the Mount of Olives. This may make sense based on our understanding of logic, but it makes absolutely no sense of what the Bible says and such an idea is begging the question of the matter at hand. The only other basis pre-tribbers have for their belief is Revlation 3:10, which encourages the church at Philadelphia to pray that they may be able to escape the hour of trial that is coming upon the earth to judge them for their sins. The problem with this passage is the fact that it talks about judgment for sins, which is only rendered by God. Thus, we need to make it clear that the wrath of God and the tribulation are not the same thing. II Thessalonians 1:4-10, Revlatiuon 12:17 and Matthew 24:31 all put a bullet right through the doctrine of the pre-trib rapture, which is entirely based on a system called premillenial dispensationalism that did not exist until the 1800s and only emerged due to esoteric revelation. One may ask why a deal with such a topic. It obviously will not affect our salvation. The reason is because I fear that the pre-trib rapture is the same escape theology that 2000 years ago led the Jews to reject Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. They were looking for a conquering king to be the Messiah so they could escape the bondage of Rome. Yet Jesus did not meet their expectations and thus they rejected Him. I think this same escape theology may very well result in the same outcome when Christians find themselves in the midst of the tribulation. The truth is that the church as a whole, especially in America, has lost the true sense of what it really means to be persecuted for Jesus Christ. Let's face it, we aren't even prepared for a verbal abuse of our beliefss, much less to give our lifes for Chri8st. When the tribulation finally does dawn upon us, the question will no longer be whether or not we are willing to live for Christ, but whether or not we are willing to die for Him.
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Chad Harvey
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