OK, here’s a good one - Someone I work with is an Evangelical Christiain, and she has some - what I believe - are pretty wacky beliefs.
For instance, she doesn’t carry credit cards, use checks, or keep her money in the bank (She walks around with basically her entire bank account - in cash - on her person) because she believes when the second coming happens, the antichrist is going to come through the banking system. She wants to be completely free of this, so when the big guy comes back, she gets to go right to heaven, while the rest of us schlubs who use ATMs and checking accounts deal with the troubles to come.
Apparently, there a lot of people who believe this, and a bunch of books and movies that have this ‘Left Behind’ theme.
It sounds like a bunch of hooey. I mean, come on, the second coming happens and poof all the believers just transport Star Trek like to heaven. I was surprised to even see a movie called ‘Left Behind’ made in 2000.
I was surprised and thoroughly confused by this. Can anyone shed some light on this…
Shed any light in what, exactly? Yes, there is a whole bunch of wackos around.
I think the whole Banking = Satan thing comes from garbled interpretations of “the mark of the beast” without which nobody could trade (?) Sorry, my Biblical knowledge is not too great.
“Left Behind” is a highly popular series of books and a couple of movies starring Kirk Camaren (ooohh) about the 2nd coming of Christ aka “The Rapture” and it places these events in the present day. My wife was reading them, so I read a couple of them and all in all they do hold some facination for me as a Christian and a Sci-Fi fan, but I found them getting preachy and very repititious.
It wouldn’t be a stretch for me to believe that some people think that with 9/11 happening, that the book of Revelations is currently unfolding around us and we need to be ready for the second coming of Christ.
I’m sticking with my plan or earning a living, being nice to be neighbor, and earning a bunch of money that I can use to buy food and weapons when the end is near.
“Left Behind” is a series of books describing events after the Rapture, the name for what you’re describing. There are groups of fundimentalist Christians who believe that the end of the world is near and that the saved will go directly to heaven. Supposedly, the signs are all around us.
Why? Throughout history, there have always been “prophets” cropping up and insisting the world is going to end soon and that everyone should get ready. Their predictions haven’t had a very good success rate. But for some reason, people tend to find the idea that everything is coming to an end very appealing.
“Left Behind” is a a science fiction/fantasy series about someone who didn’t quite make the Rapture, but end up fighting the forces of evil among those who were left behind. I understand it isn’t all that bad – fairly good fantasy adventure. It’s been massively popular, but it merely tapped into the Rapture mythos as a starting point.
I was shocked to find out a good friend of mine has zero, nil, no retirement plans. He does not invest in 401K, IRAs, etc., nor does he save any money in a savings account. He does have credit cards, mortgage, and traditional direct deposit checking.
His rational is that the end of the world (Rapture) events will play out in his lifetime so why worry about retirement when he’ll not be here then. The remaining stuff he leaves for the collectors to track him down in Heaven on the money he owes, I guess.
I duly informed him that as a friend of 21 years now, he cannot move into my home when he turns 65.
I read the first 10 books in the series because I received them as a Christmas gift. Repetitious is barely able to describe the horror that is the “Left Behind” series. Each book (except the first obviously)starts out which a very long summary of the entire series through character flashbacks, every new character has to go through a few pages describing how they found Jesus and the characters are more wooden than a tree. Besides this, the story telling really sucks because the characters do things that no sane person would do such as telling a detailed story while being chased by the military. Another strike is that the authors obviously know very little about technology and when describing anything modern like a laptop, it got to the point of making me want to groan. I forgive the preachyness of the books because they are Christian literature so it should be obvious that they are going to revolve around people finding Jesus. Don’t think that just anyone can find Jesus though because you would be wrong. In the books, Catholics are not included in the rapture.
All of that being said, the books deal with the subject of Revelations. The idea is that the events described in the book of Revelations happens exactly as written in the bible, no metaphors or interpretations. In the first book, everyone who is a true believer in Christ is taken to heaven in the rapture. In the bible, Paul mentions people being taken in a flash and from this, the belief in the rapture came about. So after the rapture, people are freaked and along comes the anti-christ who promises to make everything better. He persecutes the poor christian believers who are the only ones who realize he is the servant of Satan. It goes on and on and on and on and on and on and…
(All of that being said, the books deal with the subject of Revelations. The idea is that the events described in the book of Revelations happens exactly as written in the bible, no metaphors or interpretations. In the first book, everyone who is a true believer in Christ is taken to heaven in the rapture. In the bible, Paul mentions people being taken in a flash and from this, the belief in the rapture came about. So after the rapture, people are freaked and along comes the anti-christ who promises to make everything better. He persecutes the poor christian believers who are the only ones who realize he is the servant of Satan.)
So, the Christians wink out and go to heaven, but the Christians who don’t wink out understand who the AntiChrist is? Are these folks selected to the rapture by some random lottery system.
“Congratulations, Mary Smith! You’ve been selected to the rapture! Leave your beloingings behind and get ready to hit the dusty trail. Oh, so sorry, Larry Smith. Even though you went to the same services and had the same beliefs as your wife Mary, your number wasn’t called. Here’s your helmet and bible for the big battle taking place!”
A fair number of people believe in the Rapture, when Jesus will suddenly take away all Christians. Not all Christians believe that, though, and it’s based on interpretations of Revelation, a notoriously difficult to interpret book.
The part about not using credit cards is also related to a passage in Revelation which describes the government marking the worshippers of the ‘Beast’ with a number, which has over the years been interpreted as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, or some future universal ID system. That’s a lot more fringe than the Rapture thing.
I would bet that her “church”'s next step will be to say something along the lines of “You know what, it might be safer if you just give us all your money to hold on to. You can’t be too careful with that nasty banker anti-Christ!”
The louder someone shouts “Amen”, the closer you have to watch your wallet.
Tell her you will “hold on to” her cash for her, simply as a good Christian thing to do
If at the time of the rapture, you are a true believer in Christ(which does not include Catholics accourding to the books), you get zapped to go live with Jesus. The persecuted Christians in the series converted after the rapture. I left that out but I wasn’t shooting to give every detail from the books.
And don’t forget UPC codes. Through a misunderstanding of the codes, some people thought that the three guard bars were actually sixes, i.e., 666 in every code. I remember my piano teacher having some reading material out involving everyone getting UPC codes on their foreheads.
Personally, I await with bated breath the day when the Christian wing nuts decide that ISBNs are another Mark of the Beast and stop buying books altogether.
Me, I’m waiting on the rapture so I can take all their stuff they leave behind. I’ll also be able to go to Mardi Gras without some nut job coming up to me and explaining how Jesus is gonna save my drunk ass.
But for some reason, people tend to find the idea that everything is coming to an end very appealing.