LEFT BEHIND.

Normally, I really don’t get involved much with end times discussions.  It’s not because I don’t look forward to the second coming of Yeshua (Jesus)...I really do!  It’s because this topic seems to be so divisive and very controversial and people are forever arguing about it.  I prefer to focus on being ready to meet Yeshua, not trying to figure out how it will happen or when.  WIth that being said, I am really disturbed in my spirit about the latest film ‘Left Behind’ and the unbiblical truths it portrays.  This article is not meant to make people mad or argue, but to make them think about what they believe and why.  

Yeshua had so much to say about the end times and his second coming. I find it really odd that he had nothing to say about a secret rapture of believers...instead he spoke most firmly about who would be taken in the event of a worldwide sweep. (Matthew 24:36-41) “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

So let’s think about this for a moment, when the flood came and took them away...who was taken?  Noah and his family?  Nope.  It was the wicked who were taken away in the flood.  Yeshua said that is how it would be when he returns, the wicked will be taken and the righteous left.  Let’s look at another teaching of Yeshua, Matthew 13:24-29 Yeshua told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.  “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’

So what does it mean?  Well, Yeshua goes on to explain further down in verses 36-43.

Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

So let me ask a question...who were the first to be taken?  Was it the righteous?  Nope.  It was the weeds which represent the wicked.  The weeds are called tares in this parable and the amazing thing is...the tares looked a lot like the wheat and grew right beside it.  The difference was, at harvest time the wheat would become heavy and bend down and the tares would stand straight up because they were light and had no substance.  It was easy to spot the difference between the wheat and the tares at harvest time.  Yeshua said he will send his angels to the four corners and they will gather the tares to be burned, THEN they would gather the elect.  The tares were clearly removed from the field (which is the world) first. 

People refer to Yeshua’s second coming as ‘a thief in the night’ and this is correct.  But it is not about being a secret and no-one knows until after the fact, it is clearly about the element of surprise - not being expected.  Look what Yeshua says in Luke 12:35-46  ‘Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Peter asked, “Master, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” The Master answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

Notice again how Yeshua speaks of dealing with the unbelievers and the wicked and he says he will come at an hour when not expected.  This passage also ties in with the parable of the virgins which is excellently explained by Psalm 119 ministries in their video here.  http://119ministries.com/the-ten-virgins

So the issue is not that the master will come secretly, it is that he will come unexpectedly and if we are not faithful in obeying him and become lazy and don’t keep our lamps burning, we will be assigned a place with the unbelievers and be left out of the kingdom.  The ‘Day of the Lord’ as referred to in scripture many times is said to be a day of darkness, not light (Amos 5:20, Joel 2:31).  Why?  Simply because it is a day when the wicked and the evil will be swept from the earth and judgement will be executed.  Psalm 91 has an interesting promise for those who serve YHWH.  “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of YHWH, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.”  Again we clearly see that the righteous will see the wicked punished before their eyes.  When the children of Israel were in Egypt, they saw YHWH destroy the Egyptians in front of them.  YHWH did not remove them first and then strike Egypt, he worked his wonders in front of them.

Left Behind is an entertaining piece of fiction - at best, but it should not be taken seriously as biblical fact.   It portrays a very dangerous philosophy that believers will be taken before YHWH strikes the earth with trouble and tribulation...it is a ‘feel good’ doctrine...but it is false.  I think the great ‘falling away’ has already started and so have the judgements of YHWH.  We will begin to see the wicked destroyed in front of us and the meek shall inherit the earth.  The word rapture never appears in scripture and it was a theory brought forth in the 1830s.  Do the research yourself and tell me what founding Fathers of the modern day 'church' ever taught this doctrine?  Many Eastern believers are not aware of the rapture doctrine and when they hear of it, it is rejected as being unscriptural.  Why?  They are familiar with suffering and are willing to suffer tribulation...we westerners on the other hand are so ‘molly coddled’ and live in such ease and safety that the mere thought of tribulation makes us tremble!  How convenient to have a doctrine that will allow us to ‘escape’ tribulation.  This doctrine is in danger of making us lazy and unprepared to suffer hardship and worse, it portrays a false image of a Heavenly Father who ‘bails his children out’.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were protected in the furnace, Daniel was protected in the Lions Den, Noah was protected in the Flood, YHWH protected his children in battle numerous times but he never bailed them out of the situations they were in.  Rather, He protected them from within and they saw him destroy the wicked ones while protecting them.  Why do we suddenly think that we will ‘escape’?

Maybe because of scriptures like Luke 12:36 that are preached out of context?  “So be alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to take your stand in the presence of the Son of Man." The word for escape in Greek is ‘ekphygein’ which means ‘to flee’.  Flee what, the earth?  No, to flee sin that we may be able to take our place in the presence of the Son of Man...that is why we have to watch and pray lest we become lazy and lose our inheritance.  Look at the Passage of Luke 12 starting in verse 34 to give context... “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape (flee away from) all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Let's look at the 1 Thessalonians scripture that is often referred to as the rapture chapter. "But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Yeshua will YHWH bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of YHWH, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Master, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For Yeshua himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of YHWH and the dead in Messiah shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Master in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Master. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."    The greek word (nephelé) that is translated here as 'clouds' is actually singular 'the cloud' and the word 'air' in Greek is aér which literally means the air we breathe, not up in the sky somewhere.  The context of this passage is to assure believers that those who have died in Messiah will be resurrected and we will be gathered together with them...above ground in the air.  Paul talks about a 'cloud of witnesses' in Hebrews 12:1 does this literally mean a puffy white cloud?  No, it means a gathering of some sort...the same is true for 1 Thessalonians.  We will be gathered together in the air we breathe (above ground).  When Yeshua comes back literally in the clouds, it says that 'every eye will see him' it will not be a secret! (Revelation 1:7)

In 1 Corinthians 16, another 'rapture' verse, the context is again speaking of the resurrection of the dead.  It was assuring believers that there would be a resurrection when Yeshua returns.  The Corinthians were a society that believed death was final and that the soul perished.  "I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."  Take a look in Revelation and see when the last trumpet sounds...it is AFTER the tribulation, not before it.  It is not a secret coming but one that will be seen by the whole world...past and present together.  Psalm 47:5 says that YHWH descends with the sound of trumpets.  

Yeshua’s coming will be sudden, sobering and soon...but it will not be a secret coming where no-one will see him but we will disappear leaving our clothes behind.  There are hundreds of scriptures about his first coming, hundreds about a second coming...why only a handful of supposed scriptures about a secret rapture?  These scriptures are often twisted and taken out of context to 'fit' the rapture doctrine.  I must confess, I am skeptical of any book like Left Behind that makes it to the top of the New York Times bestseller list and claims to be preaching truth.  If the world accepts truth so readily...why is it still so messed up?  I have never seen a book about taking up your cross, denying yourself or preparing for persecution make it to the top of the best seller list.  Just nonsensical fiction, worldly ideas, skewed truth that sounds like scriptural teaching but is hollow and dangerous ideas about how God wants us to have a ‘purpose driven life’ by authors who embrace “Chrislam”. 

God wants us to have a Yeshua centered life that is lived in obedience to His commandments, not focusing on ourselves and our need for purpose but rather to focus on Him and His instructions for our lives.  We need less self esteem and more God esteem, we must diminish and He must increase.  We need to watch and be ready to flee sin and be found alert and pure at the coming of the Son of Man.  He is coming soon and His reward is with Him.  He will judge us according to our deeds as it is written in Jude 1:14-16 “See, YHWH is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

Are you practicing righteousness friends?  “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine (Yeshua) and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27

For further study please go to: http://leftbehindrapturemovie.com/