Apocalypse Soon? (why fundies want Bush to attack Damascus, Syria)

[PresidentErnestTBass]

Ive posted stuff from this guys blog befoer but he might really be onto something with this one.

Good to remember that this is coming from a born again Christian.

Apocalypse Soon? Theorizing method to the madness of pre-trib politics
excerpt:

It can be safely said that those who consider themselves "Christians" and fall into line behind Bush can be divided into two categories: those that want to take over the world before Christ comes, and those who want Christ to destroy the world so that "if we can't have, nobody can!" The pre-tribulation Rapture folks are this latter group. They're the ones that buy the Left Behind novels in droves and keep that franchise's masters milking it for everything they can get out 'cuz they know the pre-tribbers will just come on back for more. Rabid Pre-Tribbers are the Judeo-Christian version of the Trekkies, when you think about it. But they're also the ones that, I tend to believe anyway, will vote for any candidate, nod approval for any policy, and refuse to stand against anything that actually violates the teachings of scripture, if they believe that these thing will hasten the onset of Armageddon. I heard one Christian tell me recently that George W. Bush was God's chosen instrument to trigger the events that will lead up to the Second Coming.

She was serious.

And there are millions more like her in America.

---

They want the supreme pleasure of knowing that their name will forevermore be stamped upon the peak of human history, because there will be no more human history at all: the ultimate mode of narcissism.

heres the full article

[Kikosexy2]

1. Aaaah...

the worshippers of the Anti-christ (GWB) are alive and kicking--just waiting to get 666 stamped on their foreheads.

[dave123williams]

2. Never considering the idea that there is no God, or that he's on vacation.

[htuttle]

3. God is sleeping

...in Ry'leh.



But he'll come back soon enough. :evilgrin:

[PresidentErnestTBass]

5. its not whether there's a God or not thats important here

These people believe they're the only ones that God has trusted with his plans. They don't think about the rest of us. And Mr. Knight is saying that nobody really knows how God will do this. That some Christians have said that Damascus should be destroyed and that these are the ones that usually back Bush is something to think about.

[BlueEyedSon]

4. Bill Moyers: The Delusional Is No Longer Marginal

As difficult as it is, however, for journalists to fashion a readable narrative for complex issues without depressing our readers and viewers, there is an even harder challenge—to pierce the ideology that governs official policy today. One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seat of power in the oval office and in Congress. For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a world view despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always blind. And there is the danger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to the facts.

They are the people who believe the Bible is literally true—one-third of the American electorate, if a recent Gallup poll is accurate. In this past election, several million good and decent citizens went to the polls believing in the rapture index. That's right—the rapture index. Google it and you will find that the best-selling books in America today are the 12 volumes of the "Left Behind" series written by the Christian fundamentalist and religious right warrior, Timothy LaHaye. These true believers subscribe to a fantastical theology concocted in the 19th century by a couple of immigrant preachers who took disparate passages from the Bible and wove them into a narrative that has captivated the imagination of millions of Americans.

Its outline is rather simple, if bizarre (the British writer George Monbiot recently did a brilliant dissection of it and I am indebted to him for adding to my own understanding): Once Israel has occupied the rest of its 'biblical lands,' legions of the anti-Christ will attack it, triggering a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. As the Jews who have not been converted are burned, the messiah will return for the rapture. True believers will be lifted out of their clothes and transported to heaven, where, seated next to the right hand of God, they will watch their political and religious opponents suffer plagues of boils, sores, locusts, and frogs during the several years of tribulation that follow.

I'm not making this up. Like Monbiot, I've read the literature. I've reported on these people, following some of them from Texas to the West Bank. They are sincere, serious, and polite as they tell you they feel called to help bring the rapture on as fulfillment of biblical prophecy. That's why they have declared solidarity with Israel and the Jewish settlements and backed up their support with money and volunteers. It's why the invasion of Iraq for them was a warm-up act, predicted in the Book of Revelations where four angels 'which are bound in the great river Euphrates will be released to slay the third part of man.' A war with Islam in the Middle East is not something to be feared but welcomed—an essential conflagration on the road to redemption. The last time I Googled it, the rapture index stood at 144—just one point below the critical threshold when the whole thing will blow, the son of God will return, the righteous will enter heaven, and sinners will be condemned to eternal hellfire.

more: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/the_delusional_is_no_longer_marginal.php

[GeorgeBushytail]

6. The Freepers are discussing rapture politics right now

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1343312/posts

The title of the thread is: "Rapture" Rapture - Repub's, the env., and the 2nd Coming: The origins of a liberal myth" and is linked to an article in The Daily Standard:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/244qiuuc.asp

The article of course poo-poos any connection between right-wing politics and the Rapture, ending by saying "All of this has happened without a single conservative, inside or outside of government, having ever drawn any connection, express or implied, between the supposed imminence of the Second Coming and any aspect of environmental policy."

Showing the right wing's mastery of inadvertant irony, the FR thread immediately degenerate into squabbles about the details of the Rapture and its implication for environmental policy. Teehee.

A few choice quotes from the FR thread:
"Revelation points out pretty clearly, the vast majority of the earth will be ravaged during the Tribulation."

"Yep, going to be the ultimate superfund of environmental clean ups this earth has seen since the first earth AGE!"

"The only "Rapture" that might be played out in the near future will be a track by Deborah Harry and Blondie."

[BlueEyedSon]

7. Sick, sick fucks.nt

[BlueEyedSon]

8. You know the great thing about the Apocalypse?

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[satya]

9. I just learned that the "Rapture" interpretation originated in the 19th

century, so it's not as if these people have centuries of tradition to support their viewpoint. It's unfortunate that our foreign policy is now controlled by the lunatic fringe.

(I'm reading Barbara R. Rossing's book, The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0813391563

In The Rapture Exposed, professor of theology and ordained minister Barbara Rossing argues that the Left Behind novels' script for the world's future distorts the Bible, is disingenuous, and flat out wrong. There is neither "rapture" of Christians off the earth, nor does Revelation predict that a seven-year tribulation culminating in war in Israel and the Middle East. Rather, Rossing argues, Revelation offers a vision of God's healing love for the world - a love that will not be left behind. The Rapture Exposed makes the case for reclaiming Christianity from fundamentalists' destructive reading of the biblical story and back into God's beloved community.

[tanyev]

10. Yay!

Great book. I plug it every chance I get.

Barbara Rossing, who teaches New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, calls the ‘Rapture’ phenomenon a “destructive racket.” She writes that her book is for those who are concerned about the “simplistic” misinterpretation of the Biblical script by the “whole prophecy industry of Tim Le Haye, Hal Lindsey and others.” It is her conviction that dispensationalism must be challenged today “both because of its false theology and also because of its growing influence on public policy.” To counter this distortion and manipulation of Christian faith, she provides an interpretation of the Book of Revelation which provides “a vision of hope for God’s healing of the world.”
http://www.tcpc.org/resources/reviews/rapture_exposed.htm

[satya]

13. Thanks for the TCPC link--I'm bookmarking it to check out later. nt

[superconnected]

14. Good

I sure couldn't find it in the NT. It takes someone with a pretty wacked out imagination to get that stuff, even out of Revelations.

[EVDebs]

11. A territorial religion is NOT what Jesus was all about ! ThirdTemple

stuff is the earthly kingdom stuff he preached against...

Christian Zionism, Evangelicals and Israel, by Gary M. Burge, Ph.D.
http://www.hcef.org/hcef/index.cfm/ID/159

shows us that there is an error in the theology of these dispensationalists:

""But the most important critique - and here I think we discover the Achilles' heel - is that Christian Zionism is committed to what I term a "territorial religion." It assumes that God's interests are focused on a land, a locale, a place. From a NT perspective, the land is holy by reference to what transpired there in history. But it no longer has an intrinsic part to play in God's program for the world. This is what Stephen pointed to in his speech in Acts 7. The land and the temple are now secondary. God's wishes to reveal himself to the entire world. And this insight cost Stephen his life. Such an understanding is a far cry from the views of Christian Zionists like Ed McAteer who recently commented, "Every grain of sand, every grain of sand between the Dead Sea, the Jordan River, and the Mediterranean Sea belongs to the Jews." Stephen would be alarmed.""

Religion and Ethics Newsweekly
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week319cover....
"Impact of Millenium on the Holy Land" shows us the Third Temple prophesies power to effect decisionmaking in the Middle East.
""Mr. SALOMON: ... and gave it to me and said to me, "Take it to Jerusalem for the rebuilding of the house of God."

LAWTON: But there's a problem. The site is already occupied, and has been for more than a millennium, by Muslim holy places. Salomon says they must be removed, but he doesn't like to be asked how.

Mr. SALOMON: Everyone is asking me this question, you know. People like to hear that I would say, "Oh, we shall explode the buildings." And it is not a fair question.""

Also, you may want to read Grace Halsell's "Forcing God's Hand", a pamphlet sized book from a former LBJ speechwriter. Very good insights.

[BeFree]

12. Ewww

So some people are going to be 'Raptured' right out of their clothes?

That means they will all be nekkid....Ewww, all nekkid and gathered up to watch the movies together? These people better rethink tha scenario, I ain't getting nekkid with a bunch a folks...Ewww.