What’s wrong with ‘Left Behind’?

One of the biggest lies perpetuated in modern American Christianity is about the end times. Just by paying attention to popular culture and conversation, you would assume that the “Left Behind” theology is the most accepted — and maybe the only — way to think of the end times. That estimation, however, would be wrong.

Premillennial dispensationalism, the exact name for the “Left Behind” theology, always has been and remains a minority view among global Christians. And even though it was first espoused in England, this theology took root mainly in America.

Furthermore, neither the early church leaders nor the majority of Christian leaders throughout history would have known about premillennial dispensationalism because it is an invention of the mid-19th century.

How, then, did a fringe theological idea gain such prominence that it dominates discussion about the end times across America? The answer, in a word, is marketing.

From England to America

John Nelson Darby was an Anglican minister in England, born in 1800. He went on to become a founder of the Plymouth Brethren and is the person credited with first fully articulating ideas now known as dispensationalism and a pre-tribulation rapture. (More on what that means in a moment.) From about 1831 until his death in 1882, Darby wrote and lectured about his views, which were rejected by the Anglican Church but took root in certain other segments, mainly parts of the Presbyterian movement and eventually among Baptists.

Darby in turn influenced an American lawyer-turned pastor, Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, who led quite an interesting and tumultuous life before converting to Christianity somewhere in the late 19th century. By 1883, Scofield, then age 40, was ordained as a Congregationalist minister and sent to Dallas to lead a small mission church called First Congregational Church.

An interesting side note: That church, later renamed in his memory as Scofield Memorial Church, now exists within walking distance of my home in Dallas. However, I came under the influence of Scofield long before I ever moved to Dallas.

The Scofield Reference Bible

Growing up in a conservative Southern Baptist church in central Oklahoma, I was given as a teenager my own copy of the Scofield Reference Bible. This was the standard-issue, gold-standard Bible for faithful Christians in my orbit to use, not only because of its premillennial dispensationalist theology but because of its clever inclusion of a running series of notes throughout the text. This book is Bible and commentary packaged together in one product as though they are the same.

And, indeed, that was the promise and the problem. The Scofield Reference Bible, which first was published in 1909, melded premillennial dispensationalist theology with the King James Version of the Bible so seamlessly that impressionable teenagers like me assumed both parts were “authorized.”

While Catholics and most mainline Christian denominations were not pulled into Scofield’s orbit, many Baptists and the emerging group of nondenominational churches were. Another person influenced by Scofield was the American evangelist Billy Graham. In fact, there is a direct line of connection from Graham to the “Left Behind” books and films.

‘A Thief in the Night’

Back in the 1970s, when we had just three or four channels of TV available and you had to go to a theater to see a movie, it was popular for religious films to be disseminated through churches, where people would gather in sanctuaries or fellowship halls to watch films on portable screens. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association had an entire division dedicated to producing and distributing these films. And one of their most popular was a film titled “A Thief in the Night.”

I remember as a young teenager watching this film at church and having nightmares afterward sparked by fear of being left behind in the rapture. The film’s haunting theme also became popular in churches and on earlier Christian radio stations: “I Wish We’d All Been Ready,” by Larry Norman.

Here’s a quick summary of the movie’s plot: Patty Myers considers herself a Christian because she attends church. But we soon learn that neither she nor the pastor of her church are true believers because they get left behind at the rapture. Patty awakens one morning to discover her husband vanished — along with millions of others worldwide. Then she experiences a classic dispensationalist interpretation of the book of Revelation, as the United Nations establishes a global government that requires all adherents to receive a mark — the Mark of the Beast — or be arrested.

In case it’s not already obvious, you can see how this film, released 50 years ago, plays into several evangelical Christian cultural stereotypes about evangelism, culture and politics. Even the pastor of Patty’s church is not a true believer, so everyone should be wary of the certainty of their salvation. That’s the message I grew up hearing, which is why I was baptized twice — once as a 9-year-old and once as a 15-year-old. As a teenager, I became convinced I had not been truly saved at age 9 and needed a do-over.

But also note the role the United Nations plays in this film, becoming the evil agent of the antichrist. Understand that in the 1970s, belief that the United Nations was part of an anti-Christian, anti-democratic conspiracy was indeed a fringe belief. And yet, here that conspiracy is given a starring role in a Billy Graham film. There’s a direct line from there to the chants of “America First” in our times.

Premillennial dispensationalism hits the big time

To recap, we’ve gone now from John Nelson Darby in the mid-19th century to C.I. Scofield in the late 19th century to Billy Graham in the mid-20th century — there are other points along the way that I’ve left out for brevity — and that sets the stage for premillennial dispensationalism’s acceleration to the big leagues.

“A Thief in the Night” inspired evangelist Tim LaHaye and writer Jerry Jenkins to adapt this theological view into the format of a popular novel. Thus, in 1995 they published the first of the “Left Behind” series. This was the theological equivalent of placing an explosive device on a rocket — vastly extending the range and influence of an otherwise still minority and biblically suspect view.

The novels — 16 in all — captured readers’ attention and made their way to the bestseller lists. More than 65 million copies have been sold. What LaHaye and Jenkins did was to take a complicated theological system and write it into a series of action thrillers as though it was generally accepted wisdom straight from God. In this way, the authors weaponized their obscure theology by making it a plot device in a series of fast-paced, easy-to-read novels.

Jerry Falwell lauded the first book in the series: “In terms of its impact on Christianity, it’s probably greater than that of any other book in modern times, outside the Bible.” Critics were not so kind, mocking both the sensationalized theology and pulp-fiction writing. But again, the books sold millions.

And then came the movies, four in total, that further popularized the theology and made it appear mainstream.

To summarize, “Left Behind” did for premillennial dispensationalism what the Mormon Tabernacle Choir did for Mormonism. It gave a public face to an otherwise obscure and minority theological view and made it appear to be as normal as mainstream Christianity.

What’s wrong with Left Behind?

And by now, some of you are wondering what’s so wrong about premillennial dispensationalism and the “Left Behind” series. Why have I just expended more than 1,000 words giving the history of this viewpoint?

The short answer is that premillennial dispensationalism is, itself, a lie. It is a tortured misreading of the biblical text that appeals to fear, racism and jingoism as substitutes for wrestling with the hard questions of Scripture. It is a system that offers too-easy answers to complex life questions and that thrives on appearing to have a secret decoder ring that no one else has.

Dispensationalism — like Calvinism, from which it is an offshoot — pretends to have all the answers and the only right answers to some of life’s most difficult questions. Its adherents give no notice that other devout Christians understand the Bible and the end-times prophecies differently. And it makes huge doctrinal leaps from words and ideas that don’t appear anywhere in the biblical text — chief among those being the word “rapture.”

Yes, I understand that not all biblical doctrines are spelled out by name in the Bible — the doctrine of the Trinity being a chief example of a key teaching that is inferred from Scripture but not identified by name anywhere in Scripture. I would argue, however, that the component parts of a doctrine of the Trinity are much more visibly present in Scripture than are the ideas of dispensationalism.

Understanding the challenges of Revelation

First, understand that Revelation is unique among biblical books because of its style. It is the only book in the Bible written in an apocalyptic style. This was a style of writing popular among Jewish audiences between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D.

Apocalyptic literature is not meant to be read literally. And this is a dominant failure of premillennialism, forcing a literal reading on a poetic text. It’s like reading a spreadsheet and trying to understand it as a novel. That’s not its purpose.

Further, premillennialists want to see symbolism behind parts of Revelation but not others; for example, reading the vivid images such as beasts and dragons as symbolic but insisting that numbers such as seven and 1,000 must be literally understood.

Among the things that argue against a literal interpretation of Revelation — and offer a clear clue that it is apocalyptic — is the repeated use of the number seven. There are seven churches, seven seals, seven bowls, seven trumpets. This is not coincidental. Seven is a number that in apocalyptic writing conveys completeness. It is a code more than a literal number. Likewise, multiples of 12 convey another meaning, and references to 1,000 years most likely symbolize a long time more than an exact number of years.

Most important, we must remember that Revelation was written to a specific group of people at a specific time for a specific reason. Good biblical interpretation requires that we first understand this context before attempting to transfer the teaching to modern times.

Revelation’s purpose

If you believe the “Left Behind” hype, you’d think Revelation was written to give us modern-day Christians a blueprint to the end times, sort of like Nicholas Cage putting the pieces together in “American Treasure.”

Yet seen in its proper context, we may understand the primary purpose of Revelation as to encourage the early church amidst intense persecution. We know that Revelation was written during a time of persecution of the early church. We just don’t know which exact time of persecution spawned it. Most scholars agree that the book describes the imperial persecutions of the Roman emperors. Altogether, there were 10 emperors believed to have persecuted Christians, but only two of them did so within John’s lifetime. Those are Nero, who reigned from 54 A.D. to 68, and Domitian, who reigned from 81 A.D. to 96.

How you understand the timing of the book’s writing is a key influence on how you interpret the book. And how you interpret a few key words also shapes your view. Among those key words is the meaning of the “thousand years” referenced in chapter 20. In all the Bible, only this one chapter of Revelation mentions the thousand-year reign of believers with Christ, and yet premillennialism builds an entire theology out of this.

Scores of books have been written to explain the various ways to understand Revelation and the end-times prophecies. We’ll not take time here to expand on them, just to quickly name them as premillennialism, postmillennialism and amillenialism. All three offer distinct advantages and disadvantages to interpretation. But we, seeing through a glass darkly as the Apostle Paul writes, do not have enough information to make a judgment.

And that is the source of the biggest lie perpetuated by premillennial dispensationalism and “Left Behind”: The assertion that this alone is the only valid view.

The pre tribulation rapture is a lie, a 19th century creation.

2 Thessalonians 2 is Paul writing to the Thessalonians just before the Jewish-Roman war began in 67 AD

There is no secret rapture - note that in 1 Thess 4:15 For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven with commandment, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead who are in Christ, shall rise first.
—> THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT SECRET. So the secret rapture story is non-biblical. We’re going to hear a big noise

NOTE - there is no mention of the rapture in 2 Thess 2 - there is no mention of "the blessed hope of the rapture". Nowhere in the chapter is there even a mention of the rapture.

The reason St. Paul does not mention the rapture as occurring before the appearance of the antichrist and before the second coming is simple - it is NOT what Christ told Him. Christ won't rapture His community, His Church before the final exchaton

Also, sticking to 2 Thess 2 does not teach the 2-stage pre tribulation rapture, nor a THIRD temple.

Look at verse 3 unless there come a revolt first - the revolt in the Roman empire, the Principate was brought to the edge of destruction with the death of Nero in 67 AD

Note that [13] Whereunto also he hath called you by our gospel, unto the purchasing of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. [14] Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.

There is ONE Gospel - ONE Good News

What is this ONE Gospel - which is the same for Jew and for Gentile and in fact demolishes the difference between them?

The ONE Good news is Acts 17:7 They all act in opposition to the decrees of Caesar and claim instead that there is another king, Jesus.”

To carry out the will of the Father Christ inaugurated the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Everyone is called to enter the kingdom. First announced to the children of Israel, this messianic kingdom is intended to accept men of all nations.

The coming of God's kingdom means the defeat of Satan's: "If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." Matthew 12:26, 28.

The kingdom of heaven was inaugurated on earth by Christ at His first coming

You lie, MHG -- you gave the story about Ephraim the syrian writing about the pre trib rapture, but he did not

Ireneus did NOT teach the pretrib rapture - he thought the world would end in 1000 AD. And there was no pre-trib rapture in his writings

Neither do Hippolytus, Julius Africanus, Tertullian - no one talks or even conceives of the non-biblical pre-trib rapture until the 19th century

You've copy-pasted from your pastors about this, and I've shown you with links to the actual texts that none of these in any way mentioned a pre-tribulation rapture

“Note that the point is there is nowhere by faith ALONE”
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I’m not exactly sure what this has to do with my post. But since you brought up a faith/rapture connection, consider this...
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We receive everything by faith - its how we please the Father. Note the faith connection with the mention of Enoch, himself translated, in Hebrews 11.
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Hebrews 11:5-6 (KJV)
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
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The proximity and connection between these two verses is far too much to be a coincidence.
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Nobody will be condemned for not believing that Jesus is coming for his Body before the Lord’s Day begins. But if you are a child of God, free from condemnation, made alive in Christ, led by the Spirit, seated in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus, why would it be necessary to endure the time of wrath, the period of Jacob’s Trouble on Earth? Only the religious could mess that promise up.
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No, MHG, you are following a false teacher who taught you pre tribulation rapture dispensationalist philosophy.

The pre-tribulation rapture is NOT in the Bible and here is the proof:

1. 1 Thess 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Note - there is no secret rapture - For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God

And the MEET the Lord - the verb used is exactly the same as used in the book of Acts 28 15 And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum when the Christians in Rome went to MEET Paul and - key point - accompanied him further. The verb is to meet and follow. So we meet Christ at the second coming and COME WITH HIM to His destination.

1 Cor 15:51 [y]Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Again no secret rapture - there is a loud trumpet - furthermore, this is not in a period of 7 years while Christ reigns - this is IN A TWINKLING OF AN EYE

Also remember that the Kingdom of Heaven is ALREADY inaugurated.

Jesus is ALREADY King of the world and has been since 33 AD when He defeated Satan

Acts 17

6 [a]When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city magistrates, shouting, “These people who have been creating a disturbance all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them. They all act in opposition to the decrees of Caesar and claim instead that there is another king, Jesus.”

ANOTHER KING - JESUS. Jesus’ kingdom was already inaugurated with His resurrection. That is the vision that Daniel saw of the Lord heading on the clouds TOWARDS the ancient of days

Hebrews 11 has nothing to do with a rapture - pre-trib or not.

11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

—> this talks about Abel’s faith - he wasn’t raptured

11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

—> this talks about Noah’s faith - he wasn’t raptured

and so on, this is not about rapturing,’

The secret pre tribulation rapture is contradictory to the biblical account.

The very link you gave shows that the secret pre tribulation rapture is false

1. it points out that “ for the trumpet shall sound” — no SECRET rapture

2. 1 Thess 4:16 conveniently bypasses the previous verses -
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

—> this is about the dead joining the living to meet the Lord and continue WITH the Lord in the New earth. This is the second coming. NOT a secret pre tribulation rapture.

Then your link lies

“The church is not going through the Tribulation.”

forgetting Revelation 1:9
I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation,

Revelation 2:10
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten day

Revelation 7:14
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation,

—> these are all clear - you should not despair when you face trials and tribulations for sticking close to Christ.

The pre-tribulation rapture is a non-biblical philosophy and false dispensationalism

btw, mhg - note the beginning of 1 Thess 4

What God wants is for you all to be holy. He wants you to keep away from fornication, and each one of you to know how to use the body that belongs to him in a way that is holy and honourable, not giving way to selfish lust like the pagans who do not know God. He wants nobody at all ever to sin by taking advantage of a brother in these matters; the Lord always punishes sins of that sort, as we told you before and assured you. We have been called by God to be holy, not to be immoral; in other words, anyone who objects is not objecting to a human authority, but to God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

This means your “once saved can never sin” as not quite the biblical narrative. You ought to tell your pastors that what they teach is not biblical and not historical either.

Heretic, the Rapture will not be secret. That yo0u keep tryi8gn to portray it that way is part of the fundamental heretical nature of the spirit within you. NOTHING you post from here out wioll be read by me since you are proving yourself a heretic and I will follow what Paul advised when confronted with a lying heretic. The TRUTH is not in you, but you are brimming over with the evil one’s lies.

Furthermore, the Bible clearly says that

Matthew 24 (KJV)

21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

The days will be shortened, not eliminated.

You will face the tribulation. But you pre tribulation rapture philosophy folks will not endure to the end for Christ.

Jesus said to be prepared to suffer for His sake. You don’t want to fo that.

For 1,800 years, until John Nelson Darby, all Christians assumed what I suppose could be called an extreme limiting case of “post-tribulation rapture” - in other words, that the tribulation will happen, and that the event of believers being “caught up” to Christ will be simultaneous with the Second Coming and the Last Judgment at the end of the age (as opposed to being a separate and distinct event).

Relatedly, all ancient Christians, right up until the Reformation (and even most Protestants, until, again, the Nineteenth Century) were “amillennialists” - in other words, believed that the “millennium” of Christ’s reign would not be a literal period of divine rule on earth before or after the tribulation or the Second Coming, but rather it refers symbolically to Christ’s present rule, through His Church (which, of course, we Catholics believe is the Catholic Church, but even 300 years of Protestants believed this with respect to the “invisible Church”).

Mat 24:39-41 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

This a strong warning and should not be twisted into a strange, false comfort that believers will magically be flown off to a Neverland existence.

Further, if you consider Paul’s exhortation as rapturous (1 The 4-17). Consider that he is describing Jesus coming down to Earth as a king entering the city. Of course we would want to come out (or up in this case) to greet Him. But if you continue in the opposite direction of Jesus, you will be on the least preferable road indeed.

Paul is using a concept very familiar to his audience because subjects were required to come forth out of the city to greet and pay respect to the Emperor. Read Mat 21: 8-10 to put context to this idea - Jesus will be greeted at His second coming as He was at His first (with respect and admiration of His Kingship). A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

In 1 Thes 5:9, Paul says, “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”; it is the main summary which has been take astray by some - because they force Daniel to here. But all that is being said is choose eternal (wrath vs salvation). This entire exhortation is about:
1) Not knowing or expecting the MOMENT or the TIMING of the end (not a measurement of time)
2) being prepared by our living
3) holding firm to the eternal hope lest we fall into the eternal wrath
4) resurrection and salvation

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