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

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obin-bobin Social and Political Messages 175political paralysis. Christians should not get involved withorganizations like the United Nations and perhaps even shouldavoid political candidates who seem friendly toward them. But,ultimately, Christians of this worldview believe that they havevery little control over the future. It is already “written inadvance,” as the raptured pastor of Irene Steele’s church putsit. 5 For this reason, whether there is political support for theUnited Nations or not, the antichrist is coming and we can dolittle more than try to convert others in the meantime.From yet another perspective, the Tribulation Force itselfdevelops a form of “global unity” in the form of the ChristianCooperative. United by faith and committed to defying theantichrist’s regime, Christians work together to exchange goodsthroughout the world. Why is this form of global cooperationbetter than the antichrist’s form? What makes the ChristianCooperative better than the Global Community? Let me suggestone possibility. The Tribulation Force is an organization run byAmerican Protestant Christians. Its beliefs, its forms of organization,its ways of thinking and acting, while claiming to be universallyChristian, in fact reflect a very small and very specificpart of Christianity. The religious language that the TribulationForce speaks, its rallies in stadiums, its Christian Cooperative—all of these are very specific American Protestant ways of interpretingand spreading the meaning of Christianity. Thus oneimportant difference between the Tribulation Force and theGlobal Community, besides the fact that one is aligned withGod and the other with Satan, is that one is dominated and runby American Protestants and the other is dominated and run byforeigners whose way of understanding and interpreting religionis, in the view of the authors, wrong. In a world that israpidly globalizing, the Tribulation Force imagines a way thatAmerica maintains its dominance and worldly power. It caststhis power in a spiritual light and imbues it with religious significance;it imagines American Protestantism as the center ofGod’s universe.The message in all of this is a contradictory one. On onehand, the United States has no central role to play. Biblicalrobin-bobin
176robin-bobin Rapture, Revelation, and the End Timesprophesiers have long agreed about this. Hal Lindsey’s The LateGreat Planet Earth contains chapters on Russia, China, andIsrael, but it says little about what role the United States mightplay. 6 On the other hand, the books participate in an importantAmerican mythology. In the rhetoric of the books, Americansare the world’s most natural leaders. The world’s believersembrace without question American Protestant language, methods,and beliefs. When a character becomes a part of theTribulation Force—whether he or she is Chinese, Egyptian, orGreek—the Tribulation Force’s bunker in the United Statesbecomes his or her second home.While the Left Behind series clearly draws on Americanmythology, does any of this have any impact on actual politicaldecisions? That is a difficult question to answer. Belief in the raptureand tribulation has had some explicit impact on U.S. policythroughout its history. One famous example comes from theReagan administration’s secretary of the interior, James Watt. Asa believer in the imminent rapture, Watt saw no reason to introducepolicy that would protect the environment for future generations.7 In his view, there simply would not be any futuregenerations. One historian has recently suggested that PresidentGeorge W. Bush has effectively used prophetic language, like thekind in the Left Behind books, to justify his decision to go to waragainst Iraq and reject multiple international treaties. When heinsists on the need for the United States to stand alone, to actagainst allied governments, and to set its own agenda, he strikesa chord with the millions of dispensationalist believers in theUnited States who fear that joining with other nations sets a pathtoward the antichrist. When we hear political rhetoric that supportsour worldviews, we tend to offer both explicit and implicitsupport to these beliefs and thus bolster their power. In this way,perhaps, such beliefs can have an important impact on howdecisions in the United States are made.Despite overt political statements on abortion and gender, theLeft Behind series has very little else to say about whathumankind should do to make the world a better place. It isthe antichrist who talks about such things, not Christians.robin-bobin
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obin-bobin3What Does the Bible SayA
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Page 203 and 204: 198robin-bobinDiscussion Questions2
Page 205 and 206: 200robin-bobinDiscussion QuestionsC
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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