Song: Weight of the World | Refuting Left Behind Series |

Friends,

Today I'm off to see Dolphins in Maui. The Banyan Tree in Lahaina is recovering from the devastating fire. It gives me hope for the earth.

-Elizabeth

A Thief in the Night

When I was in junior high school, my youth group leadership showed the film A Thief in the Night. It was a story of the beginning of the rapture--an evangelical theology about the end of time. It comes from the theology developed by John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), and popularized by Timothy Le Haye and the Left Behind book series.

Our lectionary reading for Sunday, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, opens with the Day of Lord coming when we don't know it: like a thief in the night.

Because we don't know when the Day of the Lord will come, Paul advises we be woke, sober, and live lives in the light. That we stick closely to our faith. The Day of the Lord is not good news for those who stray from the life Jesus has laid out for us.

What is a woke life? How do we be ready? The lectionary offers us Zephaniah's similarly anxiety provoking outlook for the Day of the Lord. The lectionary selection (1:7, 12-18) skips the opening promise that the earth will be wiped away, and also the punishment of the ruler and their children in verse 8. Zephaniah predicts that punishment is due to those who fill their master's house with violence and fraud, and those who engage in trade, and weigh silver. This text is about the destruction of people whose focus is making money off of others. In verse 13 Their wealth shall be plundered and in 18 neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them.

These images make the word "thief" appropriate--the Day of the Lord is taking away wealth from those who are depending on it. For whom is the day of the Lord a threat? For the wealthy and the violent. For those that act as thieves rather than caring neighbors.

That is not the story of the film I was shown at that youth group meeting. In that story a young white woman who reads the bible, and goes to church, is not certain what she believes. Her pastor is kind and caring but does not push her to decide. When the tribulation comes, the "true-believers" disappear, but she is left behind. I still have nightmares of the scenes where the father's razor is buzzing in the sink where it was dropped. Someone's slippers are by the kitchen sink, empty, the water still running. Frantic news reports with car accidents and missing people. A world of chaos and hate; people marked with the sign of the beast.

Those "saved" in this theology are only those who have made the correct statement of faith: Jesus is my Lord and Savior. All of the biblical focus on care of our neighbors is missing. This film is the first in a series describing the end times: rapture, when believers are taken off earth, tribulation, seven years of violence (often through a United Nations like structure), then the second coming of Jesus who defeats the evil forces to create a millennial age, and finally the eternal Kingdom of God on earth. Some people are rewarded based on right belief, without regard to right action, caring, love of neighbor.

Essential to this system is the idea that world as we know it is doomed. There is no reason to improve our systems because soon God will start over to create a new earth. Fixing what we have now does not make sense. For some believers continued interpersonal care of widows and orphans and people who are hungry are important but there is no place for systemic change to end poverty or oppression. The structures and systems are not to be improved, they are to be destroyed.

It is difficult to argue with this theology. It is derived only with significant contortions of scripture, but also requires what it claims is biblical literalism. (Oddly it is quite non-literal.) For believers in this system, our arguments, even our biblical arguments, make few inroads. They have been converted based on fear and fear does not respond to logic.

It is important we recognize this as a theology of fear. Believers claim they are not afraid, because they have said the appropriate words of faith, it is a faith a small slip, a doubt, a mistake can lead to doom, and doom that is coming soon. As shown in the movie, even someone who believes, but has doubts, is likely to be left behind.

Because fear that is the foundation of this theology, attacks on the believers are not helpful. Nor are reassurances. No one ever felt relieved when a parent said there were no monsters under our beds. No, trust and relief, come from the steady presence of loving people who stand firm in their belief that the world is safe. Parents cuddle and stay near, and do not ridicule our unreasonable panic. They steadily offered an alternative vision of reality and stayed close by. Over time we learned to trust in the world, and in God.

Let us offer our neighbors this gift to those we meet: we can be woke, sober, and live lives in the light, we can offer to be friends in the night.

Does your church address dangerous left behind theologies? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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Baptist News offers a rebuke of "dispensationalism", the made up Left Behind theologies.

Dar Williams offers relief from the holding all the problems of the world yourself. (3:18)

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