You might be surprised to see CE/P
reviewing a book on fiction, let alone a book on the rapture,
but we find ourselves in a situation where many of our people
are reading this fictional series by Jerry Jenkins and Tim
LaHaye. There is a hunger in the church for information about
the Second Coming of Jesus, and they are going to whatever
sources that are providing it, even if it is not accurate.
Gribben has written a book that is very helpful in dealing with
the content of what is in the current fictional series, both for
the professional as well as they person reading these works.
This book is not an attack on dispensationalism. Instead, it
deals with the three main flaws in how the books cover
conversion, the church, and the Christian life. Since 1995, this
series (and others) has sold over 60 million copies, and has
produced movies/DVDs as well.
One reason this book should be read
in the PCA is that Gribben gives a good background to the whole
dispensational position and how it has evolved over almost 200
years.
The chapter I really enjoyed was
what he called “The Origin of Rapture Fiction.” I did not know
that such works have been around since the early 20th
century. Gribben goes into detail how each era these works
reflected the political situation, finding a different
“antichrist” and “mark of the beast” in the current day.
Gribben gives many examples of how
the books give a very watered down presentation of the Gospel in
the ways people are brought to “conversion.” The importance of
the church is greatly distorted in that many pastors are “left
behind” only to discover too late that they never really
understood the Gospel until now (true in many churches, but not
in all as implied). People who come to conversion during this
period find they fellowship with other “tribulation saints”
rather than with a church. “Rapture fictions underplay the
significance of the church, its continuing status as the Body of
Christ, and the importance of its means of grace, both in the
‘church age’ and in the tribulation.” (86) This distorted
ecclesiology is evident from the poor understanding of the
Christian life. These novels celebrate the individual as
individuals instead of seeing every convert as part of the Body
of Christ. The books celebrate the wisdom of men rather than the
Scripture. The novels stake their reputation and credibility of
Scripture on the accuracy of the authors’ predictions. “This is
a gross manipulation of truth.” (93)
“If this modern evangelicalism has
lost sight of the contents of the gospel, is unsure about the
purpose of the church, has no appreciation of the significance
of the sacraments, can imagine a life of faith without God’s law
or suffering under Christ’s cross, it is an evangelicalism
unworthy of the name. More seriously, it is an evangelicalism
unworthy of the Savior. That is the tragedy of Left Behind
– and the devastating consequence of the wider evangelical
crisis.” (108-109)
What is clear is that Christians are
reading these books en mass. It is hard enough to read
historical fiction and be able to discern what is historical and
what is fiction. It is even harder for believers to read Rapture
Fiction and be able to discern truth from fiction.
The Church of Jesus Christ has a
great future to look forward to in the New Heaven and New Earth,
yet so little time seems to be spent teaching about this future.
What is evident from the sales of these books is that people are
hungry to know what lies ahead, and knowing what lies ahead
should lead us to living life now under the authority of our
Lord. We need to be teaching our people to discern truth from
error/fiction. Here is an area of great need and concern. This
book can help.
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