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

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obin-bobin Social and Political Messages 169independently on foreign policy issues or seek the help of allies?Should we sign international treaties that restrict our activitiesor should we develop our own separate policies? Each of thesequestions contains its own complexities and each individual circumstanceraises its own problems, but each of them also pointsto the question of the United States’ role in the world. This iswhere Left Behind intervenes to offer an understanding of theUnited States in the world that is very specific and part of a longtradition supporting U.S. isolationism.In every instance, a reading of Left Behind hints that treaties,alliances, and participation in the United Nations all pave theway for the coming of the antichrist. The series is suspicious ofsuch interactions, and, even though it only constructs images offuture scenarios, it still offers reason to fear them now. In orderto see how this is so, we must recognize that stories about therapture and tribulation are woven out of two elements. First,these stories are derived from the circumstances of the particulartime and place from which they are written. Second, theydraw from a stock of images and plots that remain the samefrom story to story. For example, every story about rapture andtribulation provides some depiction of the antichrist. Where theantichrist comes from, how he gains his power, even what helooks like vary from story to story, but all contain this centralfigure. In each story of rapture and tribulation, the antichristunites the world to form a One World Government. Since theend of the nineteenth century, people who have believed in dispensationalpremillennialism (usually without ever calling itthat) have believed that the antichrist will come in peace andpreach unity and brotherhood, but he will be full of lies anddeceit. Once the world is united under one government, with theantichrist as the head, he will use this position to tyrannize theworld.In Left Behind’s treatment of this formulaic scenario, theantichrist’s regime eclipses an American government beset bymoral failure. Authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins refer tothe president as the “Carpathia-emasculated President GeraldFitzhugh.” 1 The President quickly concedes his authority to therobin-bobin
170robin-bobin Rapture, Revelation, and the End TimesUnited Nations and thus to Nicolae Carpathia, the antichrist.The strong political message contained here is both a critiqueand a warning. The critique points to the weakness and corruptionof the federal government. Godless, worldly, without abackbone, the U.S. government is one of the first to crumble toNicolae Carpathia’s demands.It might seem for a moment, then, that the Left Behind seriesis anti-American and unpatriotic. But it is neither. Instead, thelegitimacy that the federal government concedes when itbecomes a part of the antichrist’s regime is transferred to theTribulation Force. While the force is, on one hand, also an internationalgroup, it has its roots and its leadership in the UnitedStates. This is no accident. Beneath the corrupt government, theseries hints at another “America,” more true to its ideals thanthe America represented by political leaders. This is an Americathat still persists in its ideals. We catch a glimpse of this otherAmerica in Tribulation Force, when hero Buck Williams confrontsCarparthia. “I am motivated by truth and justice,” Bucktells the antichrist, who sarcastically responds, “Ah, theAmerican way! Just like Superman.” 2 Buck, Rayford Steele, andthe other members of the Tribulation Force represent the trueAmerica, uncorrupted by politics and unencumbered by internationaltreaties and alliances that make it vulnerable to theantichrist.In asserting that the “real” America is separate from the government,Left Behind joins an important strain of American culturethat claims that the nation is not best represented by officialinstitutions. Part of our tradition of individualism is to claimthat real Americans are not found in the government, butinstead in people who are social outsiders—the cowboy, the pioneer,the person who starts out poor and isolated and makeshimself rich. Our stories about ourselves come back time andtime again to stories of the isolated and persecuted hero whointervenes to save society, but then leaves it again. We can findthis story widely spread in American culture, in classic westerns,in movies like Star Wars, and in books like those in the LeftBehind series.robin-bobin
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obin-bobin3What Does the Bible SayA
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What robin-bobin Does the Bible Say
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Page 203 and 204: 198robin-bobinDiscussion Questions2
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Page 207 and 208: 202robin-bobinGlossarythe end times
Page 209 and 210: 204robin-bobinGlossaryJesus or the
Page 211 and 212: 206robin-bobinGlossarydemonstrate s
Page 213 and 214: 208robin-bobinAnnotated Bibliograph
Page 219 and 220: 214robin-bobinList of Contributorss
Page 221 and 222: 216robin-bobinIndexChristians - con
Page 223 and 224: 218robin-bobinIndexmillennium, 48-9
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Rapture, Revelation, and the End Times - Conscious Evolution TV

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