On Unwrapping the Rapture

 

-         WHEREAS, “The Rapture” has become a part of the American vernacular through the fiction of Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye; and

 

-         WHEREAS, they have sold more than 62 million copies of the “Left Behind” series of novels; and  whereas, in a Newsweek Poll 55% surveyed “think that the faithful will be taken up to heaven in The Rapture” (Newsweek, May 24, 2004); and

 

-         WHEREAS, these books inform a vision of the end time that is not consistent with the teaching of Jesus regarding his return or the vision of the Lamb recorded in The Revelation to John; and

 

-         WHEREAS, Barbara R. Rossing, professor of New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, flatly states and cogently argues that “this theology is not Biblical, and… The Rapture is a racket” (The Rapture Exposed, The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation, Westview Press, 2004, pgs. 1 & 2); and

 

-         WHEREAS, most Americans are unaware of the origins of this fiction:

 

·        That in the 19th century an Irish British evangelist, John Nelson Darby, fabricated and espoused a theory of “premillennial dispensationalism” which includes these tenets:

1.      for Jesus to return Israel must be reconstituted within the borders defined by the Hebrew Scriptures;

2.      that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem must be cleared and that the Temple must be rebuilt so that animal sacrifices may be resumed there; and

    • That Darby brought his ideas to America and influenced Dwight Moody and Paul Scofield whose “Reference Bible” reflected Darby’s views to the point where dispensationalism became a normative approach to Bible study in many circles; and

 

-         WHEREAS, dispensational theory has become linked to current events through Israel’s foundation in 1948 and the expansion of its territory subsequent to its victory in the 1967 war; and

 

-         WHEREAS, the theory of “The Rapture” is espoused by many Christians who are prominent in the media ~ Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Brandt Gustafson, president of the National Religious Broadcasters, and political organizer Ralph Reed; and

 

-          WHEREAS, these leaders and their followers support the party and policies of the extreme right in Israel who wish to reclaim all of Biblical Israel (Judea and Samaria, which includes the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem) by displacing 3.5 million Palestinians of whom approximately 1- 2% are Christian; and

 

-         WHEREAS, these leaders and their constituents have the ear of our President and      many congressional leaders and lobby to subvert our nation’s present stated policy of a two-state solution for Israel/Palestine; and

 

-         WHEREAS, Christian doctrine dating back to the Nicene Creed does not speak of a    two-stage return of Jesus at the time of final judgment; and

 

-         WHEREAS, our time might be better spent engaged in the study of Christian doctrine and pursuing serious Biblical scholarship than “trifled away” on the escapist, violent fiction of the “Left Behind” series; and

 

-         WHEREAS, time is truly running out for the Palestinian people as they are killed,   walled in, driven from their homes and farms, mosques and churches, and “left behind”  in hunger, misery, and poverty; and

 

-         WHEREAS, millions of Americans exhibit no compassion toward them because they are enraptured with the fantasy of “The Rapture,”

 

Therefore be it resolved, that every United Methodist household and congregation in Northern Illinois be encouraged to purchase, read, and discuss the following books:

 

   The Rapture Exposed, The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation, by Barbara R. Rossing, Westview Press, 2004, and

 

   Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians Are Not Being Told about Israel and The Palestinians, by Gary M. Burge, professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, The Pilgrim Press, 2003, and

 

 

Be it further resolved, that every United Methodist household in 2005 be encouraged to give prayerful consideration as to how God may actually judge us for our silence about and complicity in the crushing of the Palestinian people and return to the 2006 Annual Conference informed, repentant and eager to work out our salvation and to participate in acts of mercy and faithful witness working to secure peace and justice for all persons in the Holy Lands.