Rapture, Revelation, and the End Times - Conscious Evolution TV

168robin-bobin Rapture, Revelation, and the End TimesEven though every story is the creation of an author, it is also apart of history and social context. Writers have no choice but todraw on this history and this context as they write, and often, inthe process of doing that, they draw on stereotypes, unexaminedassumptions, and political ideologies. In its examination ofthe Left Behind series, this chapter looks not only at what messagesthe authors intend to send to us about our world, but alsosome messages the authors may be less aware of sending. Iexplore what some of the unexplored and implicit assumptionsof the books might be.The social and political messages of Left Behind speak both tothe grand scale of global politics and to the small scale of everyday,interpersonal interaction. Both of these scales of perspectiveare rooted in social understandings about how the worldworks and how the world should work. These messages oftenoffer a diagnosis of what is wrong with our world as it existsand how it might be improved. At the same time, however, storieslike those in the Left Behind series are multi-layered. Theyrarely say only one thing in a straightforward way. Instead, themessages can be complex and contradictory; the actions andwords of the characters can stand in opposition to each other orbe derived from tangled views about both the past and thefuture. In this chapter, I by no means exhaust what the LeftBehind series has to say about our world as it currently exists,but I address a set of issues central to the Left Behind messageand meaning.Global Unity and the Threat of the AntichristThese are times of enormous controversy regarding the relationshipof the United States to the rest of the world. Whether thequestion is an international environmental treaty, our place inthe United Nations, or the attack on the World Trade Center,each instance provides an opportunity to reflect on the U.S.place in the world and our interaction with international bodiesand other countries. Should we stand alone in armed conflictsor only participate as part of a body of nations? Should we actrobin-bobin