#612. Worrying about the rapture.
Sep 4th by admin(Rob Stennett is a friend of mine and he is funny. When he told me about his most recent book, The End Is Now
Worrying about the rapture
When I was eight years old my parents showed me a movie called A Thief In The Night. This movie was incredibly frightening to watch as an eight year old because it is scarier than 7 out of 12 Friday the 13th movies. If you’ve never been lucky enough to see it let me just say it is the ultimate rapture movie, the front-runner to Left Behind and The Omega Code, A Thief In The Night did for the rapture what The Godfather did for the mafia.
My parents showed me this movie because it was based on biblical prophecy, and because some if not all the events in the movie could really happen. I was sure they were right. I’d walk home from school, hear a marching band playing the background, and grow certain the Lord was warming up and the ultimate a trumpet sound would soon blare. I distinctly remember during a couple of sunsets looking in the distance and thinking I saw The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night thinking I was in heaven and wondering why it looked just like my bedroom.
But I’m not alone. Worrying about the rapture is another thing Christians have liked for years. And because Christians also like their sermons delivered in three points I will give you three examples of when Christians worry about the rapture:
1) Worrying about being raptured before a major life event.
When I was eight I was scared that I’d be raptured before I got a girlfriend. I’d never had a girlfriend; never even kissed a girl. Sure, I loved heaven and Jesus but I didn’t know if they allowed girlfriends and kissing in the afterlife. So, I wanted to make sure I experienced this before I was whisked away. But that’s just the beginning. Many Christians like to worry about being raptured before graduating high school, college, getting engaged, getting married, having their first kid, having their first grandkid, and most of all before seeing their favorite sports team win the world championship. (Ask any Cubs fan what needs to happen before they get raptured. Red Sox’s fans on the other hand are safe; they can be called home at anytime now.)
2) Worrying about signs of the rapture
Many Christians have a little of the Da Vinci Code’s Robert Langdon in them. They look at the world’s events and think each event is a piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is the end of the world. A Middle Eastern country gets its hands on a WMD. There’s a piece, they’ll think. South Park is syndicated into prime time. Uh oh, this is getting really interesting. Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon all passing away within 48 hours—Houston we have a problem.
3) Worrying about how the rapture is going to unfold
This has got to be a top ten-debated topic in all of Christianity. For many Christians the worries are not linked to a question of when but how when it comes to Armageddon. Will the rapture happen pre-tribulation (that is before the antichrist, marks of the beast, and war to end all wars), mid-trib (somewhere in the middle) or post-trib (once the new earth and the thousand years of peace begin). For other Christians, they like to debate not how the rapture is going to happen, but if it’s going to happen at all. “How are you so sure that the passages in Revelation mean what you think they do?” If this question comes out between two people on different sides of this issue, well get your popcorn ready. This is going to be entertaining.
At the end of the day I’d like to think that worrying about the rapture is one of the biggest contributions Christian’s have made to Hollywood. Just look at the string of apocalyptic films that have been made in the last 10 years or so: (Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow, Knowing, 12 Monkeys, 28 Days Later, and anything starring Keanu Reeves.) Some would argue these movies are destructive and cause unnecessary fear, but that’s too pessimistic for this author. I like to think maybe this is not an entirely a bad thing. Maybe if worrying about the end of the world as we know it causes us to take stock in our life on earth, then this should continue to be one of things Christians like.
Comments
To all you posters who are afraid of the rapture/end of the world/wtc. , I really recommend reading Barbara Rossing's book "The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation".
Ms. Rossing is A Lutheran Minister and a respected Biblical Scholar.
It seems really odd to post something unrelated, but I suppose I'll just follow the directions anyway.
I did the survey!
Oh my gosh, Claygirlsings! I had forgotten about "The Burning Hell" until you mentioned it. Sadly, I saw that, too.
What was my mother thinking?
Anyone who grew up in a Christian home has had those moments when the house is just too quiet and you have to go upstairs and make sure the rest of your family hasn't been raptured.
When I was a Baptist kid, I heard a sermon on the "one taken and the other left" passage and somehow concluded that at the moment of the rapture, everyone on earth would be in pairs in which one was a Christian and one not. So I figured that in case I turned out to be unsaved, I could actually prevent the rapture from happening if I only hung out with nonchristian people. Sorry, Brother Becvar, but this was just the first of many sermons I would come away from with some crackpot idea.
Everyone here is so holy!
My friends and I also wanted the Rapture to wait. But we said we didn't want it to wait till we got married.
We said we were afraid it would happen before we'd had sex.
I spent an entire summer of my childhood (I was around 8 or 9, I think) expecting the rapture any day. At the end of the summer, I decided that the "soon" they were talking about at church wasn't any kind of "soon" I knew about, so I stopped worrying.
As a high schooler, I went to a Christian club meeting (name withheld to pretect the guilty) where they were showing an end-times movie (definitely from the 70s, so maybe it was "A Thief in the Night"). As a first time visitor, this was super awkward and a little disturbing. I didn't go back.
Bingo. For me it was Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth, but the result was the same – a near depression over not being able to make it out of High School before the Lord was sure to come. Now that I am a late thirty-something father of three it strikes me that I need more of that sense of Christ's ability to come at any moment. That reality does help focus one to the things that eternally matter, instead of simply "existing" or worse – living for self and the pleasures of this world.
So early one morning I am woken up by a loud screaming horn. I freak and lay in bed for an hour hoping that I didn't miss the rapture, like maybe my sinner's prayer didn't stick. So I decide if my mom's car is in the driveway (she should have left for work by that time) then I'm left behind. So I sneak to the door and look into the garage and my heart drops to see her car sitting there. Then she snuck up behind me to ask what I was doing and I mumble something and walk to bed feeling stupid. From then on I put rapture worry to rest.
Man, I totally saw all of those films when I was ten or so. I 'checked' them out of the church library somehow. What's worse is that my understanding of the rapture is formed by a combination of 'Thief in the Night' and DC Talks song "I Wish we'd all been ready".
Who's with me? Didn't that DC Talk song totally freak you out…especially since you heard the original version during 'Thief in the Night' already? Creepy! I guess the 'C' in DC Talk actually meant 'Creepy' as in , Decidedly Creepy Talk.
Man I thought I was the only one who was traumatized by viewing "A Thief In The Night" early on in my Christian walk – glad to know that I am not alone!
I think I would rather have seen a movie about the rapture than be left to my own imagination. All I was told as a child was that we'd all go to heaven in one day. I spent most of my youth wondering if we'd all disappear at the same time, if my dog would be okay, if I had to be naked, or if we just boiled or exploded like in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yep…a movie would have explained a lot.
http://www.theinkwell.me
Just a note that I dropped out because I was going to get kicked out because of grades because I rarely went to class or did assignments because Late Great taught me that I was wasting my time studying. I decided (in my unwise wisdom) that since I probably wasn't going to make it even to 21, I was going to "live it up" and though Ive never spent time messing with drugs or alcohol, let's just say I wasn't exactly "holy."
I did see Thief and a couple of the other movies, but they didn't scare me. I was already a Christian at that point so I knew I was good. Besides my parents also took me to see The Exorcist and Omen. Thief was like cartoons after that!
It wasn't the fault of either the book or the movies, though, that I did those things. Since I didn't spend a lot of time on the Word, I didn't know what it actually said (as opposed to what they said it said) and so believed every thing they said. It was in a book wasn't it? It was by a Christian wasn't it? Of course it's true…I thought.
Ironically, dh and I had ministry online for several years re endtimes and why pretrib is wrong.
). Have been told that since I'm not pretrib, can't really be saved. Sadly. Anywho…good post.
One more comment-if we had a better understanding of eternity, we wouldn't feel this way about the Rapture.
As a child, I thought Heaven would be boring, because that is the lie that Satan perpetuates and churches don't emphasize it.
If anyone is interested in a great read, regardless of your theological leanings, i strongly recommend "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn.
I have been known to worry that, if I can't reach someone on the telephone, I've missed the rapture.
RebekahKay, I agree! I'm halfway through the book.
What about "worrying that everyone else has been raptured and you've been left behind because you can't get hold of some Christians you know…."
I can't tell you how many times that I've thought… "I hope the rapture doesn't come before I get married, or at least have a serious boyfriend!" LOL
This was a great (and funny) post!
This blog cracked me up! This is exactly what my sister and I were talking about earlier today lol. We grew up in christian home and our parents were always talking about the rapture. We both saw A Theif In The Night as well as The Omega Code when we were very young and it terrified us. My sister was more affected by it than I was. We were just making up a list today of all the ways christian culture tends to "scare the hell" out of you and rapture movies were on the top of the list lol. My sister is 20 and she said only recently has she stared viewing the rapture as a good thing lol. It's nice to know that we're far from being the only ones who grew up this way lol.
Don't recall seeing that movie, but do remember my thoughts being occupied much of my childhood with Jesus' return. Used to stare at the clouds when they looked like they were parting and trying to see if Jesus was peeking out (as if I'd have to look for Him when He returns!). Fun post.
I never saw a video, but I was treated to an equally traumatic flannel graph story about a little boy who comes home from school to find houses on fire and his parents have disappeared. Why anyone thought this was a good idea for seven-year-olds I will never understand. It took me years to get past this; in high school, I suffered from a panic disorder that focused on the Second Coming. It's still a very touchy subject for me, and only within the last year or two have I been able to face reading the book of Revelation on my own and thinking of Christ's return as something to anticipate with joy, not fear. Still working on it, really; just hearing the phrase "The End Times" sends my anxiety levels through the roof.
I will be really annoyed if the rapture happens before I have the chance to get married and… uh, consummate said marriage. Hey, might as well be honest!
I was on my way to work recently when the Christian radio station I was listening too suddenly went dead. I didn't think much about it but when 30 seconds had gone by, I started looking around for accidents. I was positive that the rapture had occurred and I wasn't part of it!
The Rapture CAN NOT happen until my teenage daughter is saved. I talked to Jesus about it and He said He'd wait
so,here's the deal…we've all struggled with these movies…but I Thessalonians really drove a good point home for me…the thessalonians were worried that people were dying before Christ returned…Paul had to remind them that it wasn't about about the when of the return, but the importance of persevering until Christ returned. Don't get distracted…
we can take any Christian motif and twist it…rapture, sabbath,communion,etc…
my father in law was preaching on Revelations a few years back and he made this statement:
"…a lot of people will come to hear me preach on Revelation because they think it is about the end times…I'm here to remind them that it's not about the end times, but Christ who is King."
I cannot tell you what a relief this post is! I was certain that I was the only one scarred by those movies; I still can't think about them. My friends all thought I was crazy to be scared – with all that 70's hair how could I possibly have focused on the message!? – but I was traumatized! Again, my Christian school showed them ridiculously early, pre-jr. high I think. Now I cannot abide any "end of the world" type movie or show – Survivor style reality tv scares the living daylights out of me. Good to know there is still hope.
And oh yeah, now I am totally looking forward to the rapture -or whatever it is – that finally brings me face to face with Jesus. I mean what could be funner than that?
When I was a kid I took the quickest showers. My parents used to tell me how proud they were of me for being aware of the cost of water.
I finally told them last year that I could have cared less about the water. I was always scared that I would be raptured while taking a shower and float to heaven naked. Not cool and kinda scary when you're a kid.
Ah yes, a reminder of the perks of being amil.
I had the same reaction to learning of the rapture in my church when I was a child. Between that and the threat of burning in hell forever, I was convinced that I'd better accept Christ – or else! So I did. Over and over – just to make sure. Looking back on those days, I have a certain amount of resentment that I was so easily manipulated by my church leaders. Having grown into a full-fledged athieist, however, has given me peace, in that I can now live my life free from such guilt-inducing superstitions.
I watched much of "Thief" as well as some clips of the sequels just a few months ago (I'm 27) and they scared me deeply. I could not close my eyes for several days without seeing the guillatine scene from movie 2 and 3.
I'm so deeply saddened by reading these posts–for those who have been scarred by the church and for those dreading the return of Christ. Read "Surprised by Hope" by NT Wright–Jesus is Lord.
Tell me when and where the "A Thief in the Night" support groups will be held and I'm there! My church showed it to me when I was about 9 also, and my parents were LIVID when they found out. How did they find out you ask? I slept on the floor in their room for the next 8 years…not cool.
Great article. If anyone is interested, I found some cool shirts to help spread the word! http://www.cafepress.com/jesusteesplus
recovery groups for Thief in the Night – great idea! Get this: both my mother and grandmother were in that film (along with their pastor and numerous friends and acquaintances from the Des Moines, IA area where it was filmed.) My mom was in the singing group at the "Christian" booth at the fair – brown haired girl with tall white boots. Grandma was the gray, curly-haired grandmother of the little girl who came back into the kitchen and thought the rapture had happened. I still can't believe how many people have seen that old movie.
"There's no time to change your mind, the Son has come and you've been left behind!"
Thief in the Night terrified me in my youth, and because of said trauma terrifies me today….
Fortunately i don't believe in that interpretation of John's Revelation anymore.
ah yes – the source of nightmares for all christian kids of a certain age who have never actually been allowed to see a real horror movie…
Seriously though – the house would be quiet and all of a sudden you're doubting your salvation and afraid that the rapture has just happened, leaving you all alone in the world, because you don't know any adults who aren't Christians because of the way you've been brought up…
likewise though – thats partially the theme of the scarriest nightmare I ever had – 7th grade – had been to an Al Denson concert where they played the video for the song Alcatraz (go look it up on youtube folks if you've forgotten it – lovely early 90s goodness) and I dreamt that Jesus came back and was hiding in my closet wearing a mask, and I didn't know it was him because of the mask… to this day still the freakiest nightmare I have ever had in my life…
and speaking of scary church movies – anyone else remember that one with the guy who goes home with his girlfriend, and he witnesses to his girlfriend's sister who is an atheist, and he ends up doing like inner city work with the sister, and gets shot in the middle of the street by a kid? like there's a big hole in his chest – and then the next thing we see is them sitting around in heaven (but the original girlfriend isn't there, so I guess she really wasn't a christian) and he's telling the story to these kids?
Seriously ya'll sounds much less freaky than it actually was, for me as a 4th grader – first movie where anyone got shot I ever saw… but so stupid and pathetically done now that I look back on it… its the reason I refuse to give Left Behind or Fireproof
I am happy to say that I don't worry about the rapture, ever.
In fact, I think left behindism is pretty much bumpkiss.
Erikavan–your Grandma was the lady in the kitchen scene!?!?! That was the part of the film that was burned on my brain when I saw it as a teenager. I was so worried about who would be there to turn off the mixer!
Seriously, reading the comments grieves my heart. How sad that we are preoccupied with fear when I believe the "rapture" was meant to be a message of comfort. It actually gets better than this!
Sounds like the movie had an impact. I don't think that's all bad since being left behind for real would be the ultimate "bad day." Fear is part of what keeps us alive every day.
Personally, i can't wait for the Rapture. The fundies will be gone and we can finally live in peace. Let's hope the comet/spaceship/whatever also beams up the fundie muslims at the same time, so the world will finally be spared from the effects of your religious wars. hallelujah indeed!
For crying out loud, visit Google and read "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" while there's still time to do it!
[...] I LOVE the Stuff Christians Like site. Subscribe to it, it is hilarious. For instance this entry: [...]
Yes, I went thru all that in the 70's
Thing is, Tim LaHaye et al are STILL PUSHING THIS STUFF and not being held to account! Why are they allowed to warp another generation? Haven't we learned from all their failed writings (yes you, Hal Lindsay) that they know NOTHING?
What's wrong with us?