What? The Good Guys Are Left Behind?

 

By Joe Southerland

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Since I first read the Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth over 40 years ago, one of the things I just could not conceive was how the Antichrist and False Prophet would be able to convincingly explain away the Rapture to all the people left behind.

I have always thought a massive lie or a great deception coming directly from the Antichrist and False Prophet would be required to explain the sudden disappearance of millions of professing Christians who were themselves predicting to the world that is exactly what would happen. All the exposure the Rapture has received in the Left Behind books and movies seemed to make a plausible lie even that much harder to pull off.

However, a recent Internet post had my jaw dropping when I first read it. [1]

It has also made me change my view on how and who Satan will be using to explain away the Rapture. It appears Satan is now showing his hand, and that he will use the apostate churches to push his post-Rapture lie to the remaining, confused masses.

Whether the author of the post is aware of it or not, Satan is using him as a front man to help lay the deceptive groundwork needed to explain away the Rapture of the Christ’s Bride to the questioning, biblically illiterate, post-Rapture world.

The mangled misinterpretation of God’s Holy Word which follows is from a self-described “Nationally-known Catholic apologist and Bible scholar, who hosts a weekly show on the Catholic Cable network, EWTN” and who holds an official position in a Diocese of the Catholic Church. So de facto, his viewpoint is sanctioned by his larger organization, the Roman Catholic Church. Here is his post’s tag line:

“In Fact, If Anyone’s Getting Beamed Up, It’s Not the Good Guys.”

Here are his post’s two main points:

“There are two problems with the Protestant “Left Behind” interpretation: First, in the passages from Luke 17 and Matthew 24, Jesus’ coming is compared to the days of Noah and the days of Lot. Let’s think about that for a moment. After the flood, who was left? Noah and his family – the good guys. The bad guys were taken and the good guys were left behind! After Sodom and Gomorrah went up in smoke, who was left? Lot and his daughters – the good guys. The bad guys were taken and the good guys were left behind!

The second problem with the “Left Behind” interpretation has to do with what I mentioned above: 1 Thessalonians 4 says that those who are “left” get to meet Jesus in the air. You want to be left behind. Why? Because those who are left behind get to meet Jesus on His return to earth. Again, when you put 1 Thessalonians 4 together with Matthew 24 and Luke 17, it becomes quite apparent that the good guys are the ones left behind to meet Jesus.”

The first thing I have to say is this:

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20).

Second, I ask you to please move past this self-anointed “scholar’s” easily-refuted, abysmal scriptural misinterpretations which would be humorous if this was not such a spiritually deadly topic.

Third, instead, consider the broader implications of this mammoth lie and its timing. Satan is now clearly setting the stage to deceive those that will be left behind after the Rapture by trying to convince them they are really the “good guys” and the “bad guys”—those evil, intolerant Bible thumpers were taken off the planet.

Satan is sowing the seeds of his deceitful plan to fool these “good guys” into joining the apostate churches which will evolve into the Mystery Babylon the Great the Mother of Prostitutes and of the Abominations of the Earth. And if they survive that ordeal he plans to dupe these same “good guys” into worshipping the Beast (Revelation 17 and 13).

As his final hours draw closer for our adversary, Satan’s activity is coming more into the open. The father of all lies, a murderer from the beginning, is working hard plucking the good seeds and planting his tares, and is roaming around ready to devour all who do not humble themselves before our Lord God (John 8:44; Mathew 4:13, 25; 1 Peter 5:8).

Protect yourself from such spiritual deception by getting fully into God’s Word. Latch onto the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:17b, 18).

And watch! “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12).

Come Lord Jesus!

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http://www.raptureready.com/soap2/southerland6.html

Endnotes

[1] “Sorry, “Left Behind” Fans, the Rapture Is Not in the Bible,” John Martignoni.