Left Behind

 

The Left Behind series, written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, helped to shape and solidify the concept of Christians being raptured before a seven-year Great Tribulation. Their books “took the earth by storm”, selling over 65 million. Rapture became as popular as zombies, aliens, and UFOs. The presupposition upon which the series is built is the belief that Christians are “taken up” in the rapture while non-believers are "left behind” to endure the great tribulation and the Antichrist.

But the fact is, Christians will not be taken up in the rapture, preemptively, leaving non-believers behind to endure the Tribulation. That is a totally false notion, built upon some very faulty Biblical interpretation. It arose in the mid-19th century and became embedded in American last-days teachings. Then Tim LaHaye popularized it.

The Biblical phrase underlying the “left behind” concept is taken from the teaching of Jesus. He said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man…. that is how it will be…one will be taken and the other left.” (Mt 24:37-41; Lk 17:26-35).

Christians are not the ones who will be taken – in the rapture. That is not accurate. Look closely. Jesus is likening this future scene to what happened in the days of Noah. “People were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away” (Mt 24:38-39). It was the wicked who were taken, not the righteous. “Taken” is a military term used to this day to denote the casualties inflicted upon an enemy. Clearly, those who are taken are not Christians being taken up in Rapture, but rather causalities in war and destruction.

That leads us to conclude, then, that those who are left, as in the days of Noah, will be the few who survive the judgment of God and live through to the next era in His redemptive plan. There will be some people around the world who will live through the extreme tribulation and judgment of the last days. They will be the initial inhabitants of Christ’s Millennial kingdom (Rev 20:4-6).

The Left Behind book series amplified a very dangerous teaching. The saints will not be “taken up” in the rapture prior to the Tribulation. We Christians will endure the sword, famine, and plague of the last days alongside our fellow man. The rapture will indeed happen, but not before the time of Christ’s second coming. To be forewarned is to be prepared. That is the purpose of Revelation.

Antichrist

 

Antichrist is a dominant figure of the end of the age, for sure, but nothing like what we have made him out to be. Antichrist gets far too much notoriety in modern books, and movies. Far more than what the Bible itself gives to him. That title, Antichrist, does not even appear in Revelation, Daniel, or Ezekiel. The Antichrist, if we must use that name, is the same person as Gog in Ezekiel 38-39, as well as the man of lawlessness that Paul describes at length in 2 Thessalonians 2. He is the same person mentioned in Revelation 17:11-14, the leader of the ten-nation Arab alliance that will attack Israel and battle with the returning Messiah. It would make sense, then, that the man of lawlessness will be an Islamic Imam or Caliph.

But Antichrist is not the beast of Revelation 13. That is where most people get there colorful, larger-than-life image of Antichrist. The seven headed beast refers to seven nations, not the Antichrist. That is why I hesitate to even use the name, Antichrist, because it conjures up false images from Revelation 13 and Daniel 9:27. Antichrist is not going to lead a one-world government for seven years. He is not healed from a deadly wound. And he is not going to desecrate the temple.

The Apostle John is the one who coined the name Antichrist -- not in Revelation, but rather in his epistles (I John and 2 John). John was gravely concerned about the lies and deception that the Gnostics were spreading, particularly their teaching that Jesus was not the Christ. John’s intent was not to coin a name for the future man of lawlessness, but rather to give a creative moniker for the Christ-denying gnostic deceivers. They were anti-Christ deceivers.

So, what exactly do we know about Gog and the man of lawlessness. Paul wrote that the man of lawlessness will lead a great rebellion (confirmed in Ez 38-39 and Rev 17). He will exalt himself to be God, usurping God’s heavenly temple. He will be enabled by Satan to display all kinds of power, signs and wonders, deceiving those who are perishing (2 Thess 2: 3-4, 9-10).  Ezekiel wrote that God’s main purpose for drawing Gog into the great battle of Armageddon and striking him down is so that “the nations will know that I the sovereign Lord am the Holy One in Israel” (Ez 39:7).

If we allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, rather than letting our imagination run wild with speculation, we get a much more accurate picture of the Antichrist of the last days. When the man of lawlessness rises on the scene in the Middle East it will fulfill the final sign of the end of the age, the sixth trumpet warning – Armageddon.

Prophecy Re-examined

 

 

Prophecy needs to be re-examined. Many of our beliefs about the end times were conjecture and speculation at the time that they originated. Presumed to be true, they became embedded in writings and teachings. And when people believe something long enough, over many generations, of course it is assumed to be true, and the speculative origins are long forgotten. And that is the case with interpretations of prophecy about the last days, particularly in America.

Consider some examples of entrenched beliefs that were re-examined. The earth was believed to be flat by pre-Hellenistic cultures. It took several hundred years, from Pythagoras to Aristotle, before evidence was accepted and the earth was believed to be spherical. Galileo, the father of modern astronomy, discovered that the sun was the center of the universe, not the Earth. He was imprisoned by the Catholic Church and put on trial for heresy. Ignaz Semmelweis came up with the germ theory, about 1847, the idea that doctors carried germs on their hands from handling cadavers and spread them to mothers in obstetrics, because they did not bother to wash or disinfect their hands. The medical institutions mocked him, and opposed his antiseptic procedures. Lastly, consider the practice of slavery. It took years and years, wars and bloodshed, debate and reform on several continents, to change the belief that owning black slaves was acceptable.

I have spent a lifetime re-examining prophecy. Although I was taught the prevailing Baptist view, I have changed my beliefs. I invite you to consider these important changes, for starters.

1)      There is no seven-year Tribulation period. This is a hoax, fabricated, hatched, and promulgated in the 19^th century. The 70th week of Daniel’s Messianic prophecy (Daniel 9) was never intended to be detached from the previous 69 weeks and moved two thousand years later.

2)      The rapture of the saints does not occur before the Tribulation, since there is no Tribulation. It occurs at the time of the second coming of Christ, at the 7^th trumpet.

3)      The beast of Revelation 13 is not a description of Antichrist. The beast with seven heads represents seven world-dominating nations throughout history. And of utmost importance, the seventh nation is America, which will “rule for a little while”, then be destroyed by the eighth beast before Armageddon is launched (Rev 17:16 and Dan 7:11).

4)      The seven trumpets are not judgments of God during the Tribulation, reserved for unbelievers “left behind”. They are warnings to mankind that doom and destruction are imminent. The trumpets have been “sounding” since World War 1, and we now await trumpet #6, the build-up to Armageddon.

And there you have it. Prophecy must be re-examined. History must prevail, and speculative interpretations dispelled.