Barney Kasdan Messianic Rabbi
KEHILAT ARIEL MESSIANIC SYNAGOGUE NEWSLETTER
Volume 22, Number 2, Nov/Dec 2005
Cheshvan/Kislev 5766
Email- ka@KehilatAriel.org
Mail- P.O. Box 178755, San Diego, CA 92177 Phone- (858) 490-4355
The End Times and You: A Brief Analysis of the Left Behind
Series
By David Kasdan (College Intern at Kehilat Ariel)
Partially because of the cold that I
had, and partially because of my
compulsive reading style, I have been reading a lot about the Rapture
and probably taking an unhealthy interest in it. Growing up, I would
know that Yeshua (Jesus) is coming back soon, but I didn't really
dwell on the details or read the book of Revelation. However, in
probably my junior or senior year of high school, I started hearing a
lot about the Left Behind series and I've almost reread them all this
past summer. Christianity thriller. Prophesy-based fiction. Juiced-up
morality tale. Call it what you like, the Left Behind series now has a
label its creators could never have predicted: blockbuster success.
But enough about the quotes in the dust cover. Here's what I thought
about the books.
Well written: While it's easy to write this off as appealing only to
Evangelical Christians, the series is well written. While a good chunk
of writing is filler (it is 12 books that are 400 pages each) the
authors succeed in creating believable characters. Especially well
written is the Antichrist. They managed to make a character that
actually pulls off evil-incarnate premise of the Rapture, in which all
true believers are taken to heaven, while the main characters come to
believe soon after, means that all the characters have certain
character flaws that kept them from true belief. The authors do a good
job of making sure the good guys do not come across as being "too
good."
Evangelical Christianity over any other kinds of Christianity: This
book is definitely Christian, but it is also definitely evangelical.
Throughout the series you'll hear many different stories of how
believers come to faith. While there is a token Jew and Muslim, all
the other characters would identify themselves with being Christian,
or living a Christian lifestyle. The main point of this, for good or
bad, is that YOU might not be living the right belief even if you are
Christian. The authors barely avoid a PC backlash from Catholics by
saying that the Pope installed just before the Rapture was taken up to
heaven even through he had "progressive" beliefs. In other words, a
conservative Pope might not have been taken up to heaven. The Pope
installed after the Rapture would eventually create a one-world
religion, becoming one of the main villains of the series.
God sells: Well each Left Behind book topped the charts for weeks. I
don't have a problem with that. However, the authors seem to exploit
that: releasing a trilogy of prequels and possibly even a sequel
(Would heaven have any plot conflicts?) and also releasing a series of
books that are based of the end times but on a different story arc.
They also wrote an entire series of Left Behind: The Kids, written for
10-14 year olds and following teenagers. The main series has been
adapted to films. The films (starring Kirk Cameron) are disappointing
even if you agree with the views of the movie, and have no mainstream
appeal. On the DVD Kirk has a message telling viewers to go see the
movie in theatres so that the media will make Christian movies. There
is a CD-ROM of Left Behind trivia and a video game in the works. I
have to wonder how much of it is to bring people to Messiah, how much
of it is for the authors to earn a living, and how much of it is
simply exploitative.
Alarmist: Going back to the beginning of Christianity, there has been
a belief that the world will end soon. For example.. <<insert pic>>
One problem is that the events depicted in Revelation, Ezekiel and
Daniel are vague. Some people have interpreted them as symbolic. I,
like others, think they are literal events, but even then there is
much leeway. For example.. Israel will be attacked by a neighbor from
the North. Hmm…it was going to be Russia during the Cold War. It still
is Russia in the LB series. Let's see…Babylon is the city of evil and
the final battle will take place near there. Some people think it's
actually talking about the evil Roman Empire. Some people thought both
Gulf Wars with Iraq would be the end of the world. In LB, the United
Nations moves its capitol to Babylon because Iraq is an economic
powerhouse. Guess that's not happening; at least, not yet. Alarmism
has several consequences. It sells Rapture-related material (book 9 of
LB was the best-selling hardcover of 2001). But I think it causes a
distrust of the long term. Would you put less effort into building a
utopian society when the world is most likely going to end in the next
50 years? In addition, Revelation says that a one-world government
would be ruled by the Antichrist. This creates distrust in anyone
trying to unify nations or currency. Also anyone who tries to
implement tracking tags is obviously creating the Mark of the Beast. I
think we should spend less time thinking about how the Third Temple is
going to be built in Jerusalem (so the Antichrist can desecrate it)
and more time about what Yeshua died for. Or maybe I'm the one
spending too much time on the End Times. I guess the safest way is to
always be ready for the Messiah whenever He comes.
