Reviews
A VISION FOR MISSION AND THE BLESSED HOPE - LEFT BEHIND
The
Christian’s twofold hope
The energetic and expectant people of God
are filled with hope. We long for the
manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ at his
end-of-history return (Titus 2). This is
our heavenly hope. Not heavenly because we hope for heaven – far from
it, we look forward not to ‘heaven’ but rather to beholding, enjoying and
reflecting the glory of God in Christ in Spirit-formed resurrection bodies in
the new heavens and new earth (I Corinthians 15, Revelation 21-22). No, the return of Christ is our heavenly hope
because he comes from heaven. That is where he is now. In his glorified
body, King Jesus is reigning from his heavenly throne over every atom in the
universe (Ephesians 1, Matthew 28). Indeed he must reign until has put
all his enemies under his feet (I Corinthians 15, Hebrews 10).
Meantime, there is an earthly dimension
to the Christian’s hope too. The
Christian’s earthly hope is to see the nations discipled for King Jesus, to see
the gospel spread to every corner of the earth and to see the yeast of the
kingdom fill the whole batch of human life so that every aspect of reality
declares the Lordship of Jesus and in everything he has the first place which
is his right. (Matthew 28, Matthew 13,
Ephesians 1, Colossians 1).
Thus, in a sense, Christians have two
hopes. On the one hand, within history, they hope for the evangelization of the
world, the advance of the Kingdom, the building of the church, the subduing of
Christ’s enemies. On the other hand, at
the end of history, they hope for Christ to come in his glory from heaven to
execute perfect judgment, effect perfect renewal and so bring the eternal state
into full realization.
Hence the “energetic and expectant”
people of God. Both aspects of our hope
– the earthly display of the Lordship of Christ through the fulfilment of the
great commission and the heavenly manifestation of the glory of Christ at his
end-of-history return - motivate and inspire us. Knowing that “all the ends of
the earth will remember and turn to the LORD and all the families of the
nations will bow down towards him” (Psalm 22), we delight that “repentance and
forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations” (Luke 24).
Knowing that our Saviour is coming from heaven to end pain, wipe away tears,
reward faithfulness and renew all things, we lift up our heads, sit light to
what passes away, suffer and serve with patience and confidence, purify
ourselves and get more and more excited about the prospect with every passing
day.
This is the picture which the Bible gives
us of the mind and heart of God’s people. The Holy Spirit renews and empowers
the church in pure worship, directs and energizes the church by faithful Bible
teaching, emboldens and equips the church in answer to prayer, and transforms
and matures the church in righteous living. And through missions, evangelism,
discipleship, and whole-of-life obedience, the world is won for Jesus, the
mustard seed grows into the greatest of shrubs and the stone grows to become a
mountain which fills the whole earth (Matthew 13, Daniel 2). The Lord Jesus
Christ asks the Father for the nations as his inheritance and for the ends of
the earth as his possession. And the Father says, “Yes!”
And through all of this, the church knows
herself to be a pilgrim and stranger in the world as it is currently
constituted, where Christ’s Lordship is so widely denied, Satan so active, sin
so prevalent, and the consequences of the fall so pressing. Preaching the
gospel to every creature, taking every thought captive to the obedience of
Christ, seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, the church, at
one and the same time labours to fulfil the Great Commission and longs to
behold the Glorious Coming.
The
Left Behind Phenomenon
But, oh dear, oh dear, the vision, the
priorities, and the obsessions communicated in the Left Behind phenomenon are really rather different.
Phenomenon is the word, mark you. By May
2004, the Left Behind books had sold
62 million copies. Although, according to Newsweek,
the core buyer is a “44-year-old born-again Christian woman, married with kids,
living in the South [of the USA]”, the Left
Behind series has filled many a window display in British Christian
bookshops over the last few years. Twelve books have appeared in the main
series although now a sequel and a prequel are planned. The Kids Series has forty books in it and
there are side-by-side political and military series. Go to www.leftbehind.com
and you are in another world. You can join the ‘Left Behind Prophecy Club’,
receive email updates on how world events relate to biblical prophecies, buy
graphic novels, audio and video products, or share your testimonial and prayer
requests with other readers. But it’s a world with different priorities and
preoccupations than those described above. Devoting twelve novels to what the
authors call the “tribulation” – a seven year period between what they call the
“rapture” and what they call “the glorious appearing”, the focus is upon the
twists and turns in the battle between some post-rapture converts and the
Antichrist and his forces.
Causes
for concern
In fact, the whole Left Behind literature and movement give several causes for
concern:
1.
Unhelpful genre. The Left Behind series is historical fiction
which is odd because these novels are about the future. With historical
fiction, whether that of Sir Walter Scott, Jean Plaidy, or Elllis Peters, we
are able – to oversimplify – to divide up what is “historical” from what is
“fictional”. We may, if we choose, go and check which of the settings,
characters and events are real and historically attested and which are
imaginative creations. With the Left
Behind series, however, no such checking process is possible. The reader of
fiction enters the world that the author has created and agrees, so to speak,
to abide by the rules. But in the world of Left
Behind the rules are not only “we invent a character and as you read you
believe that s/he exists” but also “we give you an interpretation of Biblical
prophecy and apocalyptic and as you read you accept it”. On emerging from the
make-believe world the reader is able to declare, “Rayford Steele and Buck
Williams are imaginary characters”. But what is s/he to do with the assumptions
that the rapture, the progress of the Tribulation, the methods and
characterization of Antichrist, the location and form of Armageddon are as
portrayed in the novels? The way that
these are presented have now become the reader’s default interpretation. In
other words, the whole way in which the series is set up makes it a education
in a particular interpretative approach to the last things (a pre-trib rapture
dispensational premillennialist approach!) while modestly claiming to be
fiction. As well as “let’s pretend that a pastor named Bruce wasn’t raptured”
we effectively have, “let’s pretend that Revelation 6-16 all refer to a seven
year period in the future in which one-world government and religion will be
established and … and …” Ingenious and
unhelpful.
2.
Unreliable teaching. Some readers of EN may disagree, but to my mind, the
whole futurist reading of “last days”, “rapture”, “tribulation”, “Great
tribulation”, “Antichrist”, “Armageddon” and suchlike imposes an unbiblical
mythology onto these biblical concepts and phrases. There is not space here to
explore these matters. At the least, however, we need to be clear that
affirming the evangelicalism of brothers and sisters with whom we disagree on
matters of ‘eschatology’ is not at all the same thing as suggesting that what
we believe to be their errors are unimportant. In my view, the eschatological
views of dispensational premillennialism are hermeneutically incompetent and
politically dangerous. I believe that they lead to unbiblical views of
spiritual warfare, an underestimate of the present reign of Christ, a failure
to delight in the “mystery” of the Gospel (Ephesians 2-3) and a world-denying
escapist mindset. A series of novels which reinforces such views is hardly a
matter of indifference.
3.
Limited vision and misplaced priorities.
I do not claim that Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins believe that the
events of what they call the “rapture” and the “tribulation” ought to be the
subject of Christians’ overriding interest. Nor do I claim that for a series of
books to carry a “danger” is the same thing as for them to carry an inherent
error. That said, as mentioned above, to
enter the Left Behind website is to
enter another world. Here history tells a tale of increasing wickedness, Bible
study means making connections between parts of the book of Revelation and the
events in a series of novels, devoted attention to those novels is a sign of
spiritual seriousness and true believers comfort each other with the excitement
of the latest product release. By all means let us take time for recreation and
read good novels. But we must not allow those novels to obscure the character
of the hope which is to fill our hearts nor the nature of the calling which is
to fill our lives. The world – and every inch of our lives – belongs to Christ.
Our hope is to see the ultimate realisation of that possession and our calling
is to live in such a way that God’s will may be done – as much as in our power
by grace lies – here and now on earth as it is in heaven.
Grumpy
old man?
Listening to myself over these last few
paragraphs, I can hear a ‘grumpy old man’ having a moan. Be that as it may, I
think that there is more to it. For
myself and for my children, for my fellow church-members and my students, I
want biblically-informed fascinations, Christ-centred preoccupations, and
Spirit-driven motivations. The church is to set her heart and mind on those
things which will cause her to strive energetically to fulfil the Great
Commission of her Redeemer-Lord and to meditate expectantly on the Glorious
Coming of her Bridegroom-Saviour. Sad to say, if you give too much attention to
LaHaye and Jenkins’ novels then it is precisely these God-given priorities
which will be ‘left behind’.
Further Reading
Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness (American Vision,
1999)
C Marvin Pate, Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Zondervan, 1998)
Stephen Sizer, Christian Zionism, Road Map to Armageddon? (IVP, due Sept 2004)
R C Sproul, The Last Days according to Jesus (Baker,
1998)