WILL YOU BE LEFT BEHIND ?

Text : 1 Thess 4:13-18

Introduction
The book Left Behind, published in 1995, became an instant bestseller.
The subtitle says AA Novel of the Earth=s Last Days.@ It describes events
surrounding the secret rapture which many Christians believe will take place
7 years before the Second Advent.
Volume 16 of the Left Behind series was published in 2007 under the title
AKingdom Come: The Final Victory.@ This series of Christian novels has been
a phenomenal commercial success. The 16 volumes have sold about 70
million copies and generated more than 700 million dollars. There is now a
Before We Were Left Behind series with 3 books published thus far. 3 movies
and a video game are also on the market.
The Left Behind juggernaut is steered by two devout fundamentalist
Christians, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, who take the readers on an
apocalyptic journey through seven years of tribulation in the future, based
on a literalistic interpretation of the book of Revelation.
The Left Behind Teaching
The Left Behind series teaches that the second coming of Christ takes
place in two distinct phases:
1.
First, Jesus comes invisibly to remove His church before a sevenyear tribulation during which the rest of humanity must face the
Antichrist. A key text is Matthew 24:40-41 "Then two men will be in the
field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be
taken and the other left.

2. Then, at the end of those seven years, Jesus will again return but this
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time visibly to deliver those who became Christians during the sevenyear tribulation. In other words those who were not raptured get a second
chance during the seven year tribulation. At the second visible coming,
Jesus also pulverizes the enemies of Israel at the Battle of Armageddon.
Because the rapture teaching has been promoted so heavily in America, a
rumor has it that some higher-ups at American Airlines want at least one
non-believing pilot aboard each flight B just in case!
Foundational to the rapture teaching is the concept that God has two
separate plans B one for the Israelites or the Jewish people
B another for non-Jews or Gentiles.
The plan for Israel or the Jews is revealed in the Old Testament. However,
when the Jews rejected Jesus, the Messiah, the prophetic clock for Israel
stopped and the Church Age began.
When the church is raptured, i.e., when the Christian saints are taken to
heaven, the prophetic clock begins ticking again and God=s plan for the
Jews takes its course. This means that the Christian Church exists outside
the Bible=s prophetic timetable. It exists in a prophetic time warp, called the
Agreat parenthesis.@ As one proponent of this concept has said:
It is vain to look into the prophetic page in order to find the church=s
position, her calling, her hope. They are not there. It is entirely out of
place for the church to be occupied with dates and historic events. . . .
The Christian must never lose sight of the fact that he belongs to
heaven. (C. H. Mackintosh, Papers on the Lord=s Coming [Chicago:
Bible Institute Colportage Association, n.d.], 104-5)
The prophecies in the OT are meant only for Israel, i. e., for the Jews.
In Revelation 4:1 John says:
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After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in

heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking
with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must
take place after this."
The Left Behind theology teaches that this verse is a picture of the
rapture. This means that the prophecies in the book of Revelation from
chapter 4 on refer only to the last seven years of earth=s history. Why seven
years? The seven years are taken from the 70-week prophecy in Daniel 9:2427.
24

"Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy
city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make
reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal
up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.
25
"Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the
command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be
built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.
26
"And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for
Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the
city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the
end of the war desolations are determined.
27
Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in
the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on
the desolate."
The first 69 weeks are seen as pointing to the Messiah. At the end of the
62 weeks the Messiah is cut off or killed (v. 26a). While Bible students
throughout history have seen the last week in verse 27 as referring to
Christ=s death, the Left Behind theology applies the last week in verse 27 to
the future. The Ahe@ in verse 27 is no longer Christ but the Antichrist of the
future.
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Soon after the rapture the Antichrist will be revealed. He will make a
covenant with God=s people, the Jews, pledging to protect them from their
hostile neighbors, but in the middle of the seven years he will break that
covenant, outlaw all religious practices of the Jews, who by then have rebuilt
the temple in Jerusalem and have begun to sacrifice animals again. The
Antichrist will enter the temple in Jerusalem and demand to be worshiped as
God. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:4
He [the Antichrist] will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called
God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself
to be God.

This verse is understood literally. Therefore, the temple in Jerusalem has

to be rebuilt so that the Antichrist can literally sit in the temple. He will
begin a reign of terror against the Jews, who by then have accepted Christ
(144,000 are all Jews) but he will also persecute the Gentiles, who have
accepted Christ since the rapture of the church.
In retaliation for the attacks against His people, God will pour out the
seven last plagues on the earth, which will throw most of humanity into
agony and despair. During the sixth plague, a literal Battle of Armageddon
will take place in northern Israel. Israel=s enemies will make a last attempt
to destroy it, but Christ will appear in the clouds of heaven and annihilate
the attacking armies.
With the conclusion of Daniel=s 70th week the victorious Messiah will
restore the throne of David, and the millennial kingdom will begin. It will be
a Jewish kingdom with Jesus reigning from Jerusalem over all the earth. In
this way, all the prophecies intended for Israel at the first advent, when the
Jews rejected Christ, will be fulfilled in the future.
After a thousand years of Christ=s reign, Satan will be freed from his
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prison to foment one last rebellion. After it is quickly suppressed, the

resurrection of the dead and the last judgment will occur as outlined in
Revelation 20.
Origin of the Left Behind Theology
The Left Behind Theology, also called dispensational theology, goes back
to John Nelson Darby, a minister of the Church of Ireland, who became the
founder of the Plymouth Brethren in England. He claimed that the doctrine
of the rapture jumped out of the pages of the Bible, once he understood the
absolute distinction between Israel and the church.
Before his death in 1882, Darby visited the US and Canada six times to
spread the teaching of the rapture. One of his early converts was Dwight L.
Moody. However, not until the beginning of the 20 th century did the rapture
theology become an important doctrine in American Christianity. Today, it is
the driving force in evangelical Christianity. Most of the conservative
churches teach the Left Behind theology.
The Pillars of the Rapture Theology
What makes this theology so appealing to conservative Christians is the
fact that several events they predicted would take place before Jesus can
return have come to pass.

Their end-time scenario rests of five pillars:

1. The Jews have to return to Israel B this was fulfilled during the first
half of the 20th century hundreds of thousands of Jews returned to
Palestine.
2. Israel must be restored as a nation B this was fulfilled in 1948 when
the State of Israel was created. Since then millions more moved to
Israel. The population of Israel today is close to 7 million.
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3. The city of Jerusalem must again be in Jewish hands B this was

fulfilled in 1967 during the six-day war.
4. The temple must be rebuilt and the temple service restored B this
is what they are all waiting for now. The problem is that The Dome
of the Rock stand where the temple is supposed to be built.
5. The Antichrist must rule over a united Europe, which will be the
revived Roman empire B The European parliament and the events
in Europe today are seen as a prelude to the rule of the Antichrist.
It is remarkable how these events have been fulfilled. As if a supernatural
power was guiding these events; and I don=t think it is God who is guiding
them.
The linchpin of their theology is the restoration of Israel. This is the
reason for America=s total commitment to Israel. The evangelical lobby in
Washington is pushing the government to support Israel and its expansion at
all costs. No matter what happens to the Palestinians. (Book On the Road to
Armageddon).
In January 2006 Ariel Sharon, the prime minister of Israel, suffered a
massive stroke. A few days later Pat Robertson stated that God had
punished Sharon for withdrawing from Gaza and giving the land to the
Palestinians. Evangelical believe all the land of Palestine belongs to the Jews.
What is Wrong with the Left Behind Theology?
What is wrong with the Left Behind Theology. Why aren=t Adventists
buying into the Left Behind Theology? There are basically four reasons why
we cannot accept the Left Behind Theology:
1. The Bible does not teach that the 70 weeks can be split into two time
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periods. The first 69 weeks reaching to the death of Christ and the 70 th
week still in the future. We believe that the 70 th week begins with the
baptism of Jesus and ends with the death of Stephen in AD 34. This has
been the teaching of conservative Christians until John Nelson Darby
appeared on the scene. The one who confirms the covenant and brings
to an end sacrifice and offerings, therefore, is Jesus and not the
Antichrist.
2. The rapture of the saints will not be a secret rapture with people
disappearing while life goes on here on earth. The rapture will happen
when Jesus comes back visible for all the world with the voice of the
archangel.
1 Thess. 4:16-17 AFor the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And
the dead in Christ will rise first. This doesn=t sound like a secret rapture
to me.
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Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always
be with the Lord.

Before the rapture occurs the resurrection of the dead in Christ will
take place. After the dead are raised, the living saints will be translated
and together the two groups will be raptured, that is, Athey will be caught up
together to meet the Lord in the air.@ Nowhere does the Bible teach a secret
rapture before the resurrection of the dead.
3. The Bible does not teach that the Jews as a nation will again be God=s
people after the church is raptured. The special status of the Jewish
nation as God=s people came to an end in AD 34 at the end of the 70
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weeks. (Matt 21:43)

I saw that God had forsaken the Jews as a nation; but that
individuals among them will yet be converted and be enabled to
tear the veil from their hearts and see that the prophecy
concerning them has been fulfilled; they will receive Jesus as the
Saviour of the world and see the great sin of their nation in
rejecting and crucifying Him. (EW 231)
Individuals among the Jews will be converted; but as a nation they
are forever forsaken of God. (1SG 107)
4. Nowhere does the Bible teach that people who have not accepted
Christ will get a second chance during the seven years between the
secret rapture and the Second Coming. Why would only the last
generation get a second chance why not the rest of mankind from Adam
on?
Don=t be left behind?
The Left Behind Theology is not scriptural. Adventist, therefore, cannot
accept it. Nevertheless, the Left Behind Series reminds us that when Jesus
comes some people will be left behind. The Question each one of us has to
consider is, AWill I be left behind?@ What do I have to do that I will not be
left behind?
When the rich young ruler asked Jesus, "Good Teacher, what good thing
shall I do that I may have eternal life?" Jesus said to him, Aif you want to
enter into life, keep the commandments."
When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?" They said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,
you and your household."
What does it mean to believe and accept Jesus? How can I know that I am
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a disciple of Jesus? In the Gospel of John Jesus gives two definitions of a

disciple@
John 8:31

"If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.@

John 13:35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have
love for one another."
So, to the question AWhat do I have to do that I will not be left behind?@
various answer have been given: Keep the commandants, believe on the
Lord Jesus, abide in His word, love one another.
I believe John summarizes it in his first letter when he says in 1 Jon 2:6
AWhoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. Walking with Jesus
and walking like Jesus will ensure that we will not be left behind. May this be
the experience of us all.

Gerhard Pfandl, Ph.D.

Associate Director
Biblical Research Institute