Leaving Behind “Left Behind”

As a high school student, I was an avid reader of Tim LaHaye’s “Left Behind” books. For those who missed out on this phenomenon, LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins authored a series of books about Christian doctrine of the “rapture” and what takes place thereafter that went on to sell 40,000,000 copies, spawn three movies, spin-offs, and more. It became a 1990s phenomenon that my church even adopted for a production of the same name. If you’re already familiar with it, just scroll past the bullets if you want.

In the series, the dispensationalist doctrine of the rapture takes place. As the world picks up the pieces, a group assembles together to create an alternative community of Christians who warn of the judgments of Revelation coming. A figure-head of a global government arises named Nicolae Carpathia to rule the globe (with his trusy sidekick, Leon Fortunato playing the part of “the false prophet”). A literal interpreation of Bible prophecy is transformed into a narrative story that slowly covers three years (or so) in 16 books.

Early on into the eighth book called The Mark (which I spent months anticipating), I had this sudden thought of, “why am I reading these books?” Faster than you can say “you just wasted $30,” I threw the book down and began pondering exactly what I had been reading. This wasn’t really Bible prophecy – this was an artisitic twist on speculative events. Something instinctively made me realize I was wasting my time.

Years, a college education, and a lot of reading later, I’ve revisited a look at what I missed. Apparently not much:

• I saw the first Left Behind movie and thought it was awful. Poor quality and not at all believable. They went on to make two more movies that were even more terrible.
•  A CD for the series was released with a “who’s who” of CCM. I’ll spare you the gory details of who’s part of this compilation, but let’s just say most of it leaves creativity and beauty in music as an optional component.
• Comic books – for those who can’t read, I guess.
• Left Behind: Eternal Forces was a video game where players “use the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world.” Not only was the game awful by video game standards, but it begs the question, “What is spiritual warfare?”
• 40 kids books, 5 novels, 2 spin-offs, and a partridge-in-a-pair tree

I paint this picture to let you know that this is a juggernaut – and one I was extremely familar with. Sadly, I’ve been reading some of the “wrong books,” that theologians who read Left Behind don’t read.

• Surprised by Hope
• The Secret Message of Jesus
• Jesus for President

In these books, a different picture is painted of Revelation and other such theological texts. Consider a few thoughts:

1. 1 Thessalonians 4’s “meet Him in the air” was a common phrase in the day for greeting a prominent person and escorting them into a city – sort of like southern hospitality. See this document for more.
2. Revelation was a story John wrote, largely to emplore early Christians to come out of empire through allegorical language that made sense in the day and now seems cryptic.
3. The infamous “mark of the beast” was happening as Revelation 13 was being written. A person who wanted to shop in a first century supermarket had to check-in as they entered the store, pledge allegiance to Caesar, and take a stamp on their right hand or forehead with Caesar’s emblem on it. 666 is a simple math equation – nrwn qsr (knowing that Hebrew letters also have numerical values) that add up to NERO CAESAR.

I could go on and on, but you can do that on your own if you’re interested.

So what am I saying? I’m here to offer casual Christians a means to re-think what we have been told for quite sometime.

Consider the fact that the “rapture” wasn’t an existing doctrine until 1861 thanks to Margaret McDonald & John Nelson Darby. It spread a bit in Europe, but spread like wildfire in America. It rarely caught on around the world to the rest of Christians – you need only look at worldwide sales of Left Behind to see the proof. This is a Western phenomenon. No one in the early church had this idea. It would seem that something so critical to doctrine would have a whole lot more about it listed in Scripture than one verse and a few loose references.

I really don’t know much about Bible prophecy – I used to know everything if you’d asked me. Eschatology (as its called) is something that should have more questions than answers. Want proof? Find your favorite Bible prophecy expert and order their books from 20 years ago. If Christian doctrine swayed as much as their Revelation Unveiled “truth,” this religion would have never gotten off the ground.

The eschatology I do know is that Christ is one day coming to literally be grand emperor of Earth. I don’t mean this figuratively – I mean that all the states and nations will have one ruler to rule them all. Those who are “dead in Christ” will rise to join along in this new Kingdom.