Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Pangea Blog

Home

Home
Progressive Christian
If You’re Reading this Blog, You’ve been “Left Behind” – Mayan Friday Fun

If You’re Reading this Blog, You’ve been “Left Behind” – Mayan Friday Fun

Last updated on: December 21, 2012 at 6:00 am by Kurt Willems

If You’re Reading this Blog, You’ve been “Left Behind” – Mayan Friday Fun 2012-12-20T13:06:10-08:00 Kurt Willems

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In light of the “end of the world” scare, I am reposting what I wrote for the day the Rapture was supposed to take place in May of 2011. If the Mayans are correct, then a great change has taken place… a new era has begun… and likely, Christians are goners 🙂 Replace any refernece to “rapture” with the Mayan 2012 stuff and this post will make lots of sense 🙂 Also, if you are familiar with basic elements of “Left Behind” this will make even more sense.

———————————————————————————–

Right now it’s 6pm on Saturday in California. There’s a possibility that I’m no longer in my home state however, as the rapture was to come on Saturday May 21st, 2011 at 6 o’clock in each time zone. If this is indeed the case, what follows is a letter to all of you who were “left behind.”

In the Bible we have clarity about why anyone gets “left behind” on the earth. The reason that you are in the world is to reflect the realities of God’s kingdom. Jesus prayed in the sixth chapter of Matthew: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

To truly live out that God-sized-vision takes utter dependence on the Creator who invites you into a movement that is bigger than you. The key to all of this is faith in the midst of the chaos you now face. For those of you who were “left behind,” you’re probably struggling to find even one ounce of faith that circumstances can actually get better. You may even feel like a failure to God. You’re also worried about being stuck in a world of violence, poverty, corruption, the unknown, and of… tribulation.

Because of God’s goodness, even in the midst of great tribulation there’s still hope. God’s invitation to you is to partner with others who yet remain on earth to form a “Tribulation Force” – a kingdom of God coalition. As a resistance movement, you will be charged with gathering up a remnant of Jesus followers to confront this day of evil that is upon creation. The signs of this evil day are clear: famine, preventable disease, war, promiscuity, gluttony, imbalances of power, slave labor, and a lack of basic resources like clean water.

And when these signs of evil are great, the resistance movement must humbly endure and attempt to undo the work of the “Beast”[1] who will receive power from the “Dragon.”[2] You have been left with a purpose. Just because you weren’t taken up into heaven (even if you thought you would be), it doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. God did not give up on you, even if you feel like giving up on God. Hope remains.

I assure, however, that in the days to come you are going to face grave temptation. Instead of resisting the anti-Kingdom, the convenient thing to do will be to choose compromise. The empire of the Beast and Dragon will be hell-bent on luring you into allegiance. They’ll offer comfort, financial stability, peace, pleasure, and security, all the while inviting you to take on their “mark of loyalty.” “The mark” will be subtle yet clear: emblems of empire, status, wealth, health, and a civil religion. The Beast will attempt to co-opt your imagination so that the only kind of world you know is one where turning the blind eye to injustice is normative. Do not be marked out by anything other than your baptism into the counter-cultural movement of new creation!

New creation. Now there’s a thought. If you’re “left behind” in the brokenness of the old creation, what would happen if your Tribulation Force used this tribulation moment to become an agent for God’s good world as you anticipate the “glorious appearing” of Jesus? For all of those who have been “left behind” hope is not lost because between now and when Christ comes to establish his Kingdom come on the earth, YOU carry forward the message of God! A day is coming soon when there will be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things [will] pass away” (Rev. 21.4). On that day, the creation will be “liberated from its bondage to decay” (Rom 8 ) and God will be “all in all” (1 Cor 15.28). YOU have the opportunity to choose the way of Jesus, to subvert the kingdom of darkness, so that the world may know of God’s love and peace.

So, on this day of confusion, chaos, pain, and evil; may all of you who were “left behind” find incomprehensible joy in the reality of God’s invitation into mission. You’ve been left with a calling – to be hope. Now do not confuse this hope as a means of escape from the days of tribulation. You will endure the “groaning” of creation. You will feel the pain of the world. You will have moments when you want to give up and find an evacuation plan… but don’t lose heart and abandon the mission. For if you remain faithful, at the “glorious appearing” of Christ, both you and the part of this world that you influenced for God’s Kingdom will discover the finality of new creation.

Being “left behind” might in fact be the greatest opportunity YOU have ever been given. YOU have been given a second chance to join in God’s redemptive story! Go, resist the Beast and his empire… flee from compromise… and live in light of the emerging new creation as you help usher in the reign of the world’s true King!

[1] In Revelation the “Beast” most likely represents the Roman Empire as a whole and the Emperor in particular. By extension it may be appropriate to ask: Who is acting like the Beast in our day?

[2] The “Dragon” represents Satan and the kingdom of darkness.

*** Just to be clear, my linking to Left Behind is not an endorsement of dispensational theology. I hope you caught on to that 😉

Previous Post

December 20, 2012

The Significance of Christmas - The Divine-Human Event

Next Post

December 22, 2012 A Letter to the NRA from a Citizen of the U.S. with a Severe Mental Illness

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category (Series) All Out War-Spiritual Warfare (Series) Church Plant Journal (Series) Dear Reader... (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times? (Series) Entering the... Conversation (Series) Evangelical Culture Myths (Series) Everything is Meaningless [Pete Enns] (Series) Evolving Evangelicalism (Series) Hell Yes. Hell No! Who Cares? (Series) Hidden Worldviews (Series) If Evolution is Right, what about Adam? (Series) in less than 300 words (Series) Jesus and Nationalism (Series) Liberating Women for Ministry? (Series) Life-Changing Books (Series) Markers of Church Plant Movement (Series) Nonviolence 101 (Series) Philemon - Reconciliation (Series) Quote to Ponder (Series) Red Letter Dialogues (Series) Resource of the Week (SERIES) Revelation Sermons (Series) Share Something Sundays (Series) Simplicity in the Burbs: $2 a day (Series) The Binding of God [Open Theism] (Series) The Creed: Anabaptist Reflections (Series) Values for Church Leadership (Series) Video to Ponder Anabaptism Animal Advocacy Books Church Ministry Church Planting Community Culture Eschatology Eucharist Evangelical Reject Evolution Fundamentalism Greek Greg Boyd Guest Contributors Hell Holy Spirit Israel/Palestine Kingdom of God Lent Missional N. T. Wright Nationalism New Creation Nonviolence Open Mic Open Theism Parenting Passover Paul Philemon Podcast Politics Restorative Justice Revelation (the book of) Rob Bell Ron Martoia Sermon Shane Claiborne Social Justice Speaking Engagement Spiritual Warfare Spirituality Temple Theology Tim Geddert Tribulation Uncategorized universalism Video Blog Women in Ministry Worship Music Youth Ministry

Select a Month August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 December 2016 October 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group follows the Augsburg Confession?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Pentecostals Lutherans Presbyterians Methodists

Support this
Column