"For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." (Luke 21:22)
Posted on 09/15/2008 10:29:54 PM PDT by Gamecock
Obsessed with Rapture
Hello and welcome to another broadcast of the White Horse Inn. Like many kids growing up in the wake of Hal Lindsey's best-seller Late Great Planet Earth, I recall waking up in the middle of the night, startled by the thought that my parents had been raptured and I'd been left behind. Maybe I was a little more exposed than the average evangelical 11 or 12 year-old. My parents managed a camp for disadvantaged inner-city kids from the S. F. Bay Area at Lake Tahoe. And every summer we had about 4 sessions, repeating the same cycle for 4 different groups. At the closing night, with the infamous evangelical campfire crackling in our midst, each group would be treated to that quintessentially 1970s rapture movie Thief in the Night. As the plot unfolds, the moral to the story becomes perfectly clear: Don't be left behind during the Tribulation. Get right with God now before the rapture.
I had always been a little too tightly wound about whether I was really saved, but after 2 or 3 viewings of "Thief in the Night" per summer I was a basket case every August.
America has always been fertile soil for end-times apocalyptic scenarios. Hal Lindsey's book was the best-selling book of the 1970s and Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series was the best-seller of the last decade. The rapture is still big business in America. But does the Bible teach the doctrine of a secret rapture that is distinct from Christ's second coming? And is it possible that speculation and intrigue surrounding end-time events takes our focus off of Christ, who is after all the point of biblical prophecy? The Secret Rapture: that's our topic in this edition of the White Horse Inn.
For your ping list.
Christians are not the only ones obsessed with rapture as New Agers also believe in a coming ascension as well.
Sigh.
Not obsessed at all.
Merely watching and preparing as Christ Exhorted.
***Merely watching and preparing as Christ Exhorted.***
Don’t confuse what you correctly describe with those who seem to make Dispensational theory the centerpiece of Salvation, not the life, death and resurrection of Christ.
I think that’s more than slightly overstated even for the obsessively interested that I know.
Every one of those I know would insist that CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED etc. is the central message of The Gospel.
Emotion is not equal to doctrine.
“I think that’s more than slightly overstated even for the obsessively interested that I know.
Every one of those I know would insist that CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED etc. is the central message of The Gospel.
Emotion is not equal to doctrine.”
....And do not forget, RISEN as well, because that is the foundation of Christian faith.
Later on, I had a strong spiritual conflict because I could not tease the same apocalyptic scenario out of my Bible no matter how carefully I read it. I finally decided to go with what was plainly written in my Bible and dispense with the whole "Left Behind" scenario.
36If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.
37What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!' "
"For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." (Luke 21:22)
How does that exhortation fit with the pop end times scenarios we seem to find on “Christian” TV and radio, in the book stores, and many fundamentalist sermons? Looks like lots of folks are real sure Jesus is gonna return any minute now, and many are not shy about suggesting dates for the timing of all this. (I hear that Fall of 2014/15 is the latest date being suggested.) Just take a peek at the devotees of these date-suggesters over on the “Rapture Ready” board. The spiritual children of Hal Lindsey and Chuck Smith never seem to learn the lesson.
I realize many of these folks are theologically naïve and could not exegete themselves out of a brown paper bag, but they seem to have a large group of followers to their error.
It is not a salvation issue so let them look up all they want.
Indeed.
And “tuned out” and “in denial” and “disbelieving”
are, imho,
many layers, deeper, WORSE than “sleeping.”
CERTAINLY, OF COURSE.
AND, that if someone pulled some prophecy out of the scripture and it ‘wasn't’ good news, then their prophecy is wrong...Because with Jesus Christ, there is only, good news...
Or something to that effect...
All I can say is; the bible for those folks at White Horse Inn must be about a quarter inch thick...
Many folks are duped into thinking they are prepared for the Lord's return because they have read all the Left Behind novels and participate in pre-trib blog sites. They can also name all the prime ministers of Israel since 1948 and know exactly where they are breeding red heifers. They get their end times facts from Jack Van Impe and the Jerusalem Times.
In the meantime they are content to ignore Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations because the nations are not worth saving. They believe Jesus will rapture them and the world will go off to destroy itself.
The folks I know personally who are MOST WATCHING, MOST PREPARED, MOST ENERGIZED by the END TIMES era we live in
Reality trashes yet another silly notion.
You might see wisdom in Ezekiel 13, especially versus 18-20, and in Jeremiah 23especially versus 25-27, on this subject.
Maybe you could tell us exactly what you're getting at here.
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