The "Left Behind" books: How the Christian Right Uses Jews and Israel.

Salon.com (via Alternet) ^ | August 2, 2002 | Michelle Goldberg

[Commie Basher]

FWIW, some neo-pagan revisionists claim that Druids were peaceful and one with nature. That Ceaser lied about Druid human sacrifices to disparage his enemies.

As you may know, the Libertarians are running a practicing Druid for governor of California this year.

But you're right, all religions have killed in the name of their faith. That's why I keep using the term Judeao-Christian-Islamic. They share common violent roots, as well as common good ideas.

And yes, pagans too have commited savage deeds. Just yesterday I heard on the Art Bell Show how Native Americans would offer rituals of gratitude to the animals they killed before eating them, and how Native Americans believed that the whale was the "grandfather of the ocean," a "brother" who was given domain over the waters just as men were given domain over the earth.

I'm so tired of liberals ooooh and aaaahing over "spiritual peace-loving Native Americans," just as I'm tired of Jews and Christians and Muslims each thinking their religion is somehow better than the others. Tired of smug atheists too.

I guess I just don't like people, :-)

[Commie Basher]

Aren't the "lost tribes" simply Israelites who stopped believing in Judaism? Why assume they moved into Europe? Wouldn't it make more sense to imagine that they stayed where they were, absorbed into the surrounding area. Maybe the "lost tribes" are Arabs ... even Palestinians!

Wouldn't that be ironic.

[Commie Basher]

Tribe is a Gene Scott devotee. Have you ever watched Gene Scott on late night TV?

Yes, a colorful character. Great hat collection.

if you disagree with Lost_Tribes, the name-calling and dancing graphics will start in, because LT can't take any disbelief of his views. He can get very obnoxious.

Never known LT to be obnoxious. Persistent in his views, but not upset at disbelief.

[freebilly]

The Christian concept of Crusading and burning heretics, and Islam's Jihad, echoes the Israelite's being told by "God" that the land of Canaan is really theirs, just go in and kill those infidels.

Yeah, those Christians are still burning heretics < /sarcasm>

[LostTribe]

>Aren't the "lost tribes" simply Israelites who stopped believing in Judaism?

(If I may) The "Lost Tribes of Israel" were never Jewish.  They were from the Northern Kingdom, which was never Jewish.

>Why assume they moved into Europe? Wouldn't it make more sense to imagine that they stayed where they were, absorbed into the surrounding area.

That is the classical "default" presumption, used when authors and theologians don't want to admit they simply don't know.  There are also groups in whose interest it is that the Lost Tribes are NEVER found.

But it's not a matter of "assuming" anything.  The historical record is becoming increasingly clear that the Lost Tribes became the Celts became the Europeans became the Americans.

Please read the 3-MINUTE HISTORY at my FR LostTribe Profile for the story.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Don't take the LaHay/Jenkins books serious. They are out there just to make a buck. Get back into Bible reading and forget these fictions. They are a waste of time, profitable for nothing.
Just for the record, I'm premillinial, fundamental and pretrib.

[Commie Basher]

Are you truly so ignorant of Scripture to not know the difference between the Antichrist and the False Prophet, and that they are two seperate persons?

I never even heard of a False Prophet.

How come there's no mention of him in The Omen; Lost Souls; The Seventh Sign; Child of Light, Child of Darkness; Fear No Evil or any other "coming of the Antichrist" horror film?

[Commie Basher]

I think it is America and Israel against the world right now. The day we turn our backs on Israel is the day we will face the tribulation.

I hate it when people drag theology into politics. Makes me wish for more "separation of church and state."

[SandfleaCSC]

- The extent to which men like Tim LaHaye will go in furthering the social gospel is truly amazing. LaHaye held the position of paid chairman with Sun Myung Moon's now defunct Coalition for Religious Freedom (CRF). (Moon is the founder of the Unification Church, and is the self-proclaimed Messiah to the world. He teaches the particularly vile heresy that not only did Jesus fail in His earthly ministry, but that He had sex with the women who followed Him.)

- Lahaye peddles Freudian temperament types as being accepted scripture, when it fact it is simply an evolution of occultism and paganism. Take a day to read his, "Four Temperments, Astrology, and Personality Testing."

- Lahaye's books have both Mother Teresa and the Pope being "raptured". This is quite funny since both of these never received Christ by faith alone, but instead subscribe to the Roman Catholic Church doctrine of works-salvation.

- Lahaye's books feature two women who are established Bible teachers. Funny, but the Bible strictly forbids this. (1 Timothy 2:12)

- Beverly LaHaye is also a supporter and signatory of the (now defunct) Williamsburg Charter Foundation (WCF), an ecumenical amalgamation of professing Christians, humanists, atheists, New Agers, Eastern religionists, etc., whose stated goal was religious pluralism and tolerance in education, but all the while promoting a new one-world religion.


Berned, Val was right as rain on this and all you did was attack her personally. Shame on you as an adult and a professed Christian. An apology would show a lot of class on your part. The Lahayes are in bed with Mormons, Moonies, New Agers, and every other Christian apostate and heretic group that's out there. They are no different from Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggart, or Sun Yung Moon in placing charisma, money, and ecumenism over the word and the will of God.

[berned]

I never even heard of a False Prophet.

How come there's no mention of him in The Omen; Lost Souls; The Seventh Sign; Child of Light, Child of Darkness; Fear No Evil or any other "coming of the Antichrist" horror film?

Good question. The False Prophet is mentioned quite a bit in Revelation. In fact, it's the False Prophet, not the antichraist, who will force the people of earth to get the Mark of the Beast.

He starts being mentioned in Rev 13

[berned]

SandfleaCSC signed up 2002-06-07.

You signed up to Free Republic 2 MONTHS AGO and you're Judging who's right and who is wrong and ordering people around about who should apologize to who??

[P-Marlowe]

According to Christians... Jews and Moslems (and other non believers) will spend an eternity together because they haven't accepted Jesus.

According to Christ all non-believers will spend an eternity in hell. Christians are just those who follow the teachings of Jesus. If you have a beef, take it up with him.

[MSCASEY]

Just because someone signed up only two months ago does not mean by anyway should they apologize to you. It does not mean that they were just born yesterday. Pehaps anyone who signed up earlier than you did is always right and you should apologize to them. Please keep to the topic not how long or short period of time someone has been on the fourm.
MCD

[MSCASEY]

Would you please show the verse that says this in the bible. Thanks
MCE

[MSCASEY]

Good question. The False Prophet is mentioned quite a bit in Revelation. In fact, it's the False Prophet, not the antichraist, who will force the people of earth to get the Mark of the Beast. He starts being mentioned in Rev 13

Is not the false prophet also the little horn mentioned in Daniel 7?

[SandfleaCSC]

Ah yes...the last resort of the FReeper who knows he's wrong and doesn't have a leg to stand on...publish a poster's sign up date. How predictably lame and overdone. For your info, I had to replace my hard-drive about two months ago and due to forgetting 90% the passwords contained on it, lost my original FR name along with a whole lot of other more useful things. Much to everyone's chagrin, I'm still here albeit with a slightly modified name. That's neither here nor there is it?

Back to the subject, what part of my post were you not able to comprehend? I'll go over again with you if you like, I'd just prefer FReepmail instead...there's no reason to embarass you in a public forum if I don't have to. I didn't check your sign-up date, for all I know you may have been posting in this forum years before myself. Even with all that time, basic concepts like class, grace, and the ability to form coherent thoughts seem to have eluded you.

Here it is again one more time for you. You were wrong, wrong, wrong. The Lehayes have shown themselves eager to prostitute the living word of God for financial gain. They have in the past and continue to have close ties with Sun Yung Moon's Unification Church....a blasphemous abomination before God if there ever was one. Lehaye contradicts the word of God in his fiction. Tim and Beverly Lehaye both chair ecumenical conferences whose goal it is to promote a "one world religion". I don't know what Christian church you attend, but espousing any of their ideas in any real Christian congregation would result in getting yourself tossed out on your ear. In South Carolina, they might just drag you outside and burn you at the stake. They're touchy about heretics down here, we are behind the times after all.

BTW, are you still sending money to Benny Hinn and the Bakers? If so, could you please send them 20 bucks for me so I can get into Heaven too? I'll pay you back next week, I promise.

[SWake]

Second, while the novels' popularity has received lots of media attention, their actual content is utterly off the radar of the kind of people who write about books. Nobody, it seems -- except, of course, for the series' millions of fans -- is reading Left Behind.

I love this part of the article. Nobody is reading it ... except for the 50 million who actually buy the book. Kinda like the folks who can't understand why conservative books tend to predominate the non-fiction best seller's list. "Nobody I know is reading this stuff, so how good (or factual, or informative, or whatever) can it be?"

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I had already resolved the animal soul debate down to ants, snakes, etc by the time I was ten. I guess I decided that only cats and dogs were entitled to souls since one hamster or gerbil was pretty much the same as another, let alone bugs and snakes.

I think the nuns engaged in a lot of folk-theology, and were not necessarily consistent among themselves. They relied on the fact that a merciful God would assure that the kids would forget everything they said in a couple of weeks anyway. One thing was certain, in the 1950's even rabid anti-semites in the United States were very circumspect in what they said in public about Jews and I do not think there were any antisemites among the sisters I knew. We were taught that it was our obligation to convert the Jews, by example and by encouraging them to find Christ. They we never presented as enemies, all non-believers were children of God who had not yet found Him. I do know that our Parish gave the old convent to a Jewish Congregation to be their temple for free. That's how people felt about Jews in those days, I remember the then-young couple who ran the delicatessen had numbers tatooed on their arms and as a seven-year old could hardly believe and little comprehend my Mother's explanation. There weren't many Jews in our corner of Queens. It was funny seeing the former small convent (actually just a big old Victorian) fixed up and with a Mogen David on it.

In H.S. I had some theologically semi-serious brothers, who did not presume to speak for God, (and of course some who did) and were intellectually stimulating. One thing I am certain of is that it was definely not Roman Catholic doctrine that non-Christians were going to Hell regardless of what O'Reilly says.

[7thson]

At the risk of being labeled a racist, I look last week to Bill Clinton telling Jews that he would fight and die for them. And they cheered!!! Now, what is that suppose to tell me about American Jews?

[William Terrell]

Aren't the "lost tribes" simply Israelites who stopped believing in Judaism? Why assume they moved into Europe? Wouldn't it make more sense to imagine that they stayed where they were, absorbed into the surrounding area. Maybe the "lost tribes" are Arabs ... even Palestinians!

I understand the northern kingdom was particularly bad about turning from God into inequity, hence the Assyrian spanking. And you could assume that except for all the Assyrian records, about 20,000 tablets, rock inscriptions and engraved cylinders which say otherwise, plus other archeological evidence.

Besides, it that were true, what would you do with Biblical passages like Hosea 1:10,11?

The idea that they may be the Palistinians and other arabs is entertaining. I could get into it, just to hear the global laughter. But I don't think the record supports it.