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

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