Friday, November 12, 2004

The Rapture took place in August 1945

Dear Friends,
It cannot be stressed too greatly that many Bush voters believe in the rapture. They believe that planet earth, or at least its fragile shell of life, is doomed to destruction. Their reading of passages such as the gospel for today (see below) is that nuclear war is prophesied, the elect will be taken directly to heaven, and the rest of us will be left behind to perish in the flames. They believe that this is God's plan, and that Bush, with all his destructiveness, has been chosen to further it.

As a psychiatrist, I recognize psychotic suicidality when I see it. When it strikes a voting majority of the citizens of the world's only superpower, I am alarmed and look for remedies. I know that a delusional system cannot be simply erased, it must be replaced by a more sensible and positive set of ideas.
Please read the gospel passage below, on which Tim LaHaye's LEFT BEHIND series is based, and then resume my commentary. We will never be able to save America and the world unless we understand and address the mass suicidal psychosis which has overtaken Bush voters.

Gospel Lk 17:26-37
Jesus said to his disciples:
"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man;
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage up to the day
that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot:
they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building;
on the day when Lot left Sodom,
fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all.

So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
On that day, someone who is on the housetop
and whose belongings are in the house
must not go down to get them,
and likewise one in the field must not return to what was left behind.

Remember the wife of Lot.
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses it will save it. I

tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed;
one will be taken, the other left.
And there will be two women grinding meal together;
one will be taken, the other left."

They said to him in reply, "Where, Lord?"
He said to them, "Where the body is,
there also the vultures will gather."
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/111204.htm

This passage has been interpreted in various ways over the centuries. One common interpretation is that this prophecy of Jesus, made around 32 AD, refers to the razing of Jerusalem and the temple 38 years later.

Numerous sects have fixed a certain day for the "event" described in the above passage. They have thought of it as "the second coming", and prepared in various odd ways to meet Jesus, including giving away all their belongings, castrating and flagellating themselves, and voting for Bush. When the appointed date comes and goes without anything happening, the sect members are often bitterly disappointed.

These sects, or cults, clustered around the turn of the first millennium, and again around the turn of the second, which coincided with Bush's first run for president. They have sometimes ended in mass suicide, as did Jonestown and the Heaven's Gate group in recent memory. They are characterized by charismatic leaders who persuade the duped to give up all their possessions and submit to an authoritarian regime involving self-sacrifice. The Republican party is turning into such a cult.

I have been searching for a way to understand this scripture, and others like it, that will lead us to peace rather than to nuclear holocaust. The commonest response is to ignore it, and act as if such Bible passages are not worthy of a second glance. This is mass stupidity on the part of progressives. Around 70 million people have read at least part of the LEFT BEHIND series, and many of those believe that it is an accurate interpretation of Biblical prophecy, which they accept as the unerring word of God. It behooves us to understand and rebut this way of thinking.

I offer the following interpretation: the "Son of man revealed" is referring to a worldwide spiritual event which occurred in August 1945, when the atom bombs were dropped on Japan. World consciousness changed abruptly and drastically that month, as humanity grasped that it had the power to destroy life on earth.
Those "taken" are those of us who were awakened that month to the need for love and peace, personified by Jesus Christ, to rule on earth. Nuclear weapons have made hatred and war obsolete. Those "left behind" are the people stuck in the old ways of thinking, including Bush and Cheney and their ilk, no matter what their lips profess.

Jesus was saying that this realization, that only love and peace can save us, must impel us to drop our earthly pursuits and work with Him to bring about His kingdom on earth. His kingdom is not a powerful empire using shock and awe to cow its "enemies", but a shining city of hope, with its 12 gates open to everyone.

Those of us who were awakened in 1945 hold this vision in our hearts, while we fight off the vultures who are gathering over the spoils of war. Jesus says: Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. This would not be true in the case of nuclear holocaust, but it does apply to spiritual life.

If we cling to oil, and coal, and nuclear power, if we cling to a high standard of living and comfort based on these fuels, we will lose the biosphere and the hope of life for the future. Only by letting go of our attachments to the current corporation arrangement can we save our souls and our coporeal life.

The 19th chapter of the Book of Revelation describes the battle of Armageddon, with Jesus on a white horse confronting the kings of the earth and their armies, who are allied with the beast. 15Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter..

The sword of His mouth is the tongue, words spoken for the sake of truth without thought of personal gain. The iron scepter is the threat of all-out nuclear war, wielded in August 1945, which has forced us to see all humanity as our neighbors. The "night" is prolonged, as we struggle with the lesson that we learned that month. It's so simple, yet so difficult.

Matthew 5: 43 "You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you" .

When we grasp this, then we are taken by Jesus. This is the true rapture.

In the name of the Prince of Peace, Carol Wolman

For more applications of the Bible to current events, see
http://biblequotes.blogspot.com/

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