An email service just for our protestant brothers and sisters . . . it's way too much to pass up. Apparently YouveBeenLeftBehind.com will send up to 62 emails out to your "left behind" friends and family explaining what happened when you are raptured. That's right, for the small fee of $40, you can send out messages to those left behind to explain the good news of Jesus Christ.
Now, I'm still trying to figure out why only 62 messages (you'll have to guess which 62 friends are least likely to be raptured). But it also appears that it's $40 a year until the rapture, which could be some time off (I'm not sure what Hal Lindsey's latest date is, but he could possibly be wrong).
As a slightly technical guy, I should point out the obvious problems from a technical perspective. But Ken Magill at Direct magazine has already done a good job of explaining the realities:
Also, let's say the service gets 10,000 subscribers. That's 620,000 messages coming all at once from IP addresses that previously have shown little to no activity. As a result, Internet service providers' anti-spam filters will most certainly block or divert them into recipients' spam folders.
Who's going to be around at You've Been Left Behind to conduct ISP relations? Maybe the group should employ a staff of the damned to make sure things go smoothly after all those who are saved disappear. Some Unitarians would probably be up for the job--they're such an amenable bunch, after all.
Otherwise, imagine Satan standing at the gates of hell laughing manically and telling a seemingly endless procession of new souls: "You should have checked your spam folders! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Lastly, envision the circumstances under which this service will operate: Among other things, four horsemen will have come riding out of the sky, the forces of righteousness will be locked in the ultimate battle with the antichrist, celestial trumpets are blowing, and the gates of hell are open and beckoning.
And someone's going to say: "Wait just a second while I check my e-mail?"
Just to explain from a Catholic perspective: the Rapture is a protestant invention brought about because protestants don't have the Mass. That's right, the Mass. The Book of Revelation (or The Apocalypse) is a book based on the Mass and is virtually impossible to understand without understanding the Catholic liturgy. Revelation explains that the liturgy we celebrate in Mass is an actual participation in the Heavenly Liturgy that is being celebrated at all times (and will be in Heaven forever).
So if you don't understand the Mass, you tend to see the book of Revelation as only a difficult explanation of the end of time. And interesting human concepts like The Rapture are invented to explain it. It's important to note that the Rapture is primarily a 20th century concept, with little to no precedent for the belief. At this point in time there are multiple versions of the belief in the rapture: pre-millennial, post-millennial, even those who are essentially mid-millennial.
So what is the Truth? Jesus Christ will come at the end of time and separate the wheat from the chaff, taking the wheat to heaven. Those who haven't achieved holiness, but aren't in mortal sin, will be perfected through purgatory.
I pray that through the Sacraments, we all become wheat for Jesus.
God bless,
Jay
Great article Jay. I can guarantee that junk would never make it past my anti-spam security.
I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't know until a few years ago that Catholics didn't believe in the Rapture. Coming from a huge protestant family who are always talking about Revelations, the end, and the rapture, I just assumed Catholics believed it too. I even let my oldest two watch the Left Behind series. They were so relieved later when I told them this wasn't true.
The book that caught my attention and enlightened me was The Rapture Trap by Paul Thigpen.
blessings,
Mary
Ya Mary
The book I read was "Will Catholics be Left Behind." A pretty dense summary of the topic and a bit deep for me. What I did notice was the great abundance of Protestants who debunk the rapture as a hoax. In fact I would have to say that the protestants have the most cogent points I read against the rapture hoax.
In Love
when we were one
Ya Mary
The book I read was "Will Catholics be Left Behind." A pretty dense summary of the topic and a bit deep for me. What I did notice was the great abundance of Protestants who debunk the rapture as a hoax. In fact I would have to say that the protestants have the most cogent points I read against the rapture hoax.
In Love
when we were one