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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us October 24, 2005 Case In Point : End Times Religions enjoy the myth of escape Eschatology is that part of theology that is concerned with final events in the history of the world, often referred to as the “end times.” In many religions, the end times means the destruction of the planet (or of all living things), but with humans surviving in some altered form, signaling the end of one age and the beginning of a new one. Many religions have as part of their end times doctrines the claim that the chosen, those who are members of the one true faith, well be spared or delivered from the final judgment and wrath of God and instead will be taken to paradise at some point either before, during or after this final upheaval. This ascension to heaven by the worthy is known, among conservative Christians, as “the Rapture.” Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism, to name just a few religions, make reference to the end times in some form. As does Norse mythology, Zoroastrianism and the belief systems of some Native Americans. The eschatology of Christianity describes the end times as apocalyptic and will precede the Second Coming of Jesus. As, well various signs, as prophesied in the Bible, will signal their imminent arrival. Examples would be world wars and cataclysmic disasters, such as have taken place thus far in 2005. Contemporary end times believers can trace their roots to the teaching of John Nelson Darby, a founder of the Plymouth Brethren religious denomination. He incorporated into his Biblical interpretation a system of organizing Biblical time into a number of dispensations, each of which marks a separate covenant with God. Darby’s beliefs were popularized by Cyrus I. Scofield in the “Scofield Reference Bible,” an annotated Bible that is popular in the United States. Many Dispensationalists believe history is irrefutably deteriorating, signaling the imminent approach of a time of tribulation, a time that will only be halted with the coming of Christ. Dispensationalism has become linked to mainline American evangelicalism, and end times speculation has grown, especially in the last 20 years. As well, Dispensationalists have gained ever more political sway in politics since the election of the current administration. Evidence of how the end times and Dispensationalists views have captured the imagination of millions of Americans are the stunningly successful sales of the “Left Behind” books by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye. This is a 12-volume series, works of fiction, which graphically depict what will happen to the believers and nonbelievers as the end times begin and evolve. Think of them as the Book of Revelation meets Tom Clancy or Dean Koontz. The first “Left Behind” novel opens with an airline pilot leaving the controls of his plane. He walks back into the cabin and finds few people and piles of clothes on the seats where the passengers had been. When he returns to his home, he learns that all Christians, those of the one true faith, all over the world, are missing. They have been “raptured up.” Those left behind on Earth will live through seven years of what is known as the Tribulation, a time of great turmoil and suffering. The “Left Behind” books are compelling, cinematic (they were the basis for a television movie), with gripping characters and plotting. In other words, religious thrillers. The “Left Behind” series has sold 65 million copies — 75 million when counting graphic novels, and children’s books. First published in 1995, the books have generated more than $650 million in worldwide sales. Fans can also buy screen savers, postcards, calendars, board games, music and apparel. The “Left Behind” Web site gets more than 60,000 hits per day. As a publishing phenomenon, with attendant merchandising, “Left Behind” mirrors “Harry Potter.” But these books transcend commercial success. The conservative Christian ideology, which is the scaffolding of these works, is embraced by millions of Americans. Think of them as meta-vindication books. Those who do not hold the core beliefs of the one true faith will be left behind, while those who are righteously worthy will ascend and sit at the right hand of God. The world, as we know it, will then be destroyed and reborn anew. Millions will die in the process. To eagerly await the Rapture (which will come unexpectedly), followed by the Tribulations and the suffering of the nonbelievers, seems a bit, well, un-Christian. In other words, for many the “Left Behind” series is not just fiction, it is uber-prophecy much wished and hoped for. Sooner than later. But then the believers of the one true faith are ready. For the rest of us, it will be a long seven years indeed. Case in Point is a weekly editorial column designed to provide in-depth commentary on current events. 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