It has been
interesting, in recent days, to see the number of, not just “family oriented”
movies, but the overtly “Christian” movies being shown in movie theaters. God’s
Not Dead and Heaven’s For Real
are the two big examples, thus far. We
have had biblical themed Hollywood movies, as well. There was Noah,
which, while having a much bigger budget and all of the Hollywood special
effects, took such creative license that it just ruined the movie in terms of
being true to the biblical story. I am
much more hopeful for the movie about Moses and the Exodus scheduled to be
released in December.
Nevertheless, these latter two
are different from the former two. The
latter two seek to tell a biblical story, i.e., at least a story based upon a
story in the Bible. However, they are
not being produced in order to propagate either a Jewish or Christian
faith. They are being produced . . . to
make money . . . and, perhaps, to make an artistic contribution. This is different from the other two that I
have mentioned.
You see, the former two may hope to make money, as well, but they come
from and seek to express a particular understanding of the Christian
faith. They seek to be a means of
evangelism, or at least a Christian apology.
More specifically they seek to express the Christian faith as understood
in popular evangelical circles.
On October 3 we will see the release of yet another movie that seeks to
be “evangelical.” It seeks to promote a
particular understanding of a certain aspect of the Christian faith that is
popular in many American evangelical circles.
- The problem is it is wholly
unbiblical. It is based on a misunderstanding
of Scripture which first made its appearance in the 1800’s (which means it was
wholly absent in Christian teaching for 1800 years!).
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New 2014 Movie |
The movie in question is Left
Behind. It is actually a remake of a
movie that starred Kirk Cameron some fourteen years ago. It is based on Tim LaHay’s popular Left Behind novel series. But, to be clear, while the books and the
movie, themselves, are works of fiction, they represent a very real (though
mistaken) theology. This time around,
the movie has a bigger budget and a little more star power in the form of Nicolas
Cage, which makes it even more unfortunate.
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Original 2007 Movie |
So what’s the problem
with Left Behind? It is the whole concept of a “secret rapture”
where people (Christians and children) all of a sudden simply disappear without
a trace leaving planes hurling toward the ground and cars careening off of
cliffs. - What is wrong with that? Well, there is not one verse in Scripture
that teaches that . . . nowhere . . . not one.
Oh, there are two
passages (two only) that are referenced to support this understanding. The first is 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 which
says:
For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with
the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s
trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then
we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with
them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.
The second comes from Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24:36-44 which, in
part, says:
. . . so too will be the coming of the Son of
Man. Then two will be in the field; one
will be taken and one will be left. Two
women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. .
. .
“Well, of course,” some
might say, “there you have it in black and white” (or red, if you have a red
letter edition). But is that the
case? -
Take a closer look. Neither
passage says anything about people disappearing
without a trace. Neither passage says
anything about this being some secret event,
where people have no clue as to what happened.
Neither passage says anything about our going to heaven to live
eternally with the Lord. Neither passage
says anything about leaving a world in chaos.
So what do they say and how are they to be understood?
Let’s look at the Thessalonian
passage, first. What we find here is
something that those in the Middle East would readily recognize. It draws on the image of when a king comes to
a city. When a king is arriving at a
city, before he ever actually enters the city, loud trumpets are sounded. People go out of the city in order to meet
the arriving king, and they then usher him in in great fanfare and glory. In fact, as was pointed out by the Rev’d.
Peter Doyle, a colleague of mine, the actual Greek verb used in the passage is
used in two other places in the New Testament.
In both of those places it specifies this very action of going out in
order to usher one into the city. In
other words, far from our disappearing without
a trace, we are going out to usher our King, Jesus, back upon His return to
rule and reign forever! And, as is
stated in the Book of the Revelation, every eye will see Him.
What, then do we make
of the meeting Him in the air/clouds and our being with Him forever? We meet Him in the clouds, because Paul is
emphasizing what was stated by the angels in the Book of Acts, viz., “This
Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as
you saw him go into heaven” (1:11). He
is affirming what Jesus has said about His coming in the clouds, and what St.
John wrote, “Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him . .
.” And, indeed, we will be with Him
forever, for He has returned to dwell among us forever!
How are we, then, to understand
Jesus’ teaching in Matthew, then? Well,
it is helpful to read it in context.
- If we start back in verse 29,
we discover that this is in the context of Jesus’ second (and final coming), when “. . . all the
tribes of the earth will . . . see ‘the
Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory” (vs.
30). So, again, this is not a secret rapture, where no one knows what
happened.
In the immediate
context, Jesus is explicitly stating that it will be like “the days of Noah”:
For as in those days before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah
entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will
be left . . .” (vs. 37-40).
In other words, it is the one who is taken
that is the one who is in trouble!
They are the ones who are “swept away in judgment.” The Rev’d. Joel Parsons, another one of my
colleagues, lets us know that we want to
be “left behind,” because to be taken is to be taken in divine judgment! That is clear from the context of this verse.
And folks, that was the
understanding of these passages found in the entire Church until the 1830’s!
And, it remains the understanding of these passages in the vast majority
of the Church, today. The exception is
in much of the American evangelical world which has been indoctrinated with
this new (novel) position.
So, if that is the
case, then where in the world did this whole secret rapture idea come
from? -
Well, hold on to your seats! - It originated in Scotland with the purported
vison of a fifteen-year-old girl named Margaret MacDonald. She reported that her vision revealed this
“two-staged” second coming. In other
words, Jesus came in the incarnation, He would “come” secretly to “rapture” the
Church away, and then He would come yet again in glory to reign. - In
no place does the Bible teach this.
Nevertheless, her
vision caught the attention of an evangelist named John Darby, who went looking
for biblical support for this girl’s visions.
The “support” he found? The two
passages cited, above. From this, Darby
developed an entire system to talk
about the “end times.” The message was
popularized in a war ravaged America by Dwight L. Moody and the Scofield
Bible. The people of the day were quite
open to this idea of escape, because,
in the midst of war, they had lost hope in the concept of redeeming the
world. As the message spread,
organizations like Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Theological Seminary arose
promoting this new dispensational understanding of the “last days.” And so the evangelical community embraced the
various “end times experts” and had their visions reinforced by popular novels
and other books.
But, if we should
“leave behind” the misunderstandings that form the basis of the Left Behind movie, then where should we
Wesleyan Christians stand? - We should stand with the Scriptures and the
historic teachings of the Church. We
hold to the ecumenical and orthodox faith of the Church as found in the creeds. We do not find in them any mention of a
secret rapture, but rather they clearly affirm our beliefs in the resurrection
of the body and that Jesus will “come again to judge the living and the
dead.” In short, we believe that “Christ
had died; Christ is risen; and Christ will come again!” -
Thanks be to God!
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Special thanks goes to Randall Hardman, whose
blog article prompted this article.