Do You Want to Be Left Behind or Taken?
Today, we challenge traditional dispensational rapture theory.
You've heard of or seen the rapture movies. There are five "Left Behind" movies. Here's a list:
The Left Behind Franchise (All Versions): Both the original Kirk Cameron trilogy and the
Nicolas Cage reboot are the most famous examples. They show the world immediately plunging into chaos as the Antichrist rises following the mass disappearance.
The "A Thief in the Night Series": This classic series is a quintessential pre-tribulation depiction. It focuses on the "any moment" nature of the event, where those "left behind" must then face the horrors of the Tribulation.
The Apocalypse / Cloud Ten Series: Films like Apocalypse (1998) and Revelation (1999) follow the pre-tribulation model, focusing on the search for truth and the rise of a global leader after the sudden vanishings.
The Remaining (2014): This film offers a "horror" take on a dispensationalist pre-tribulation rapture, where believers' souls depart their bodies just as cataclysmic events and demonic forces begin to surface. Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End (2013): This action-focused film takes place on the eve of the rapture, depicting the event as the catalyst for the end-times journey of its protagonist. Before the Wrath (2020): While a docudrama rather than a narrative film, it is specifically designed to explain and defend the pre-tribulation view through historical and biblical research.
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The point perhaps is we should not be replacing the bible with popular culture. I'll add The Chosen to this mix. I love that show! but it is not always correct. At least the creator is honest about it and admits to taking some creative license.
Regarding the rapture theory, most of the pretribulation rapture theorists will point to Luke 17 as definitive narrative for what rapture looks like. I advise any of you who have jumped on that bandwagon to go read that passage and especially the last two or three verses of the chapter:
Jesus is talking: Luke 17:34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” 36[Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left] 37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
Do you want to be Left Behind or Taken? Notes for Do You Want to be Left Behind or Taken? Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/do-you-want-to-be-left-behind-or-taken/
