Jesus, that legendary Jewish rabbi from first century Palestine, is said to have departed this earth at least 2,000 years ago. How he departed is disputed, but some think he was whooshed up to heaven (which is a bit disconcerting as "universally" speaking, there is no "up.)Many of his followers, including the redoubtable apostle called Paul, expected him to come back momentarily. That didn't happen, so Paul changed his message accordingly. Other, later believers, insisted that his return had merely been delayed, but he'd come back soon. You could bet your Eucharistic wafer on it!
It was not to be. By the Fourth Century, while many Christians still clung to the hope he would come back someday, had put the Second Coming on the back burner.
That did not, however, discourage those "true believers," who down through the centuries continued to prophesy Jesus was coming back SOON "in all his glory." Often they offered the "second coming" as a kind of threat - become a Christian as we define Christian or you're gonna be left behind and spend a miserable eternity consigned to the flames of hell.
Today, all sorts of moronic prophetic types continue to beat the same drum. Jesus is coming, Jesus in coming! Be prepared! Repent of your sins! Go to church! Read the Bible! Tell the world about Jesus!
A website called You've Been Left Behind takes all this from the mere silly to the inane! The folks behind this "ministry" offer some very valuable services (providing your mind is incapable of common sense and/or religious realism.)
First of all, they set the stage, circumscribing the problem:
"WHY?
"We all have family and friends who have failed to receive the Good News of the Gospel. The unsaved will be 'left behind' on earth to go through the 'tribulation period' after the 'Rapture". You remember how, for a short time, after (9/11/01) people were open to spiritual things and answers. (We are still singing 'God Bless America' at baseballs' seventh inning stretch.) Imagine how taken back they will be by the millions of missing Christians and devastation at the rapture. They will know it was true and that they have blown it. There will be a small window of time where they might be reached for the Kingdom of God. We have made it possible for you to send them a letter of love and a plea to receive Christ on last time. You can also send information based on scripture as to what will happen next. Each fulfilled prophecy will cause your letter and plea to be remembered and a decision to be made.
"'WHY' is one last chance to bring them to Christ and snatch them from the flames!"
How, you wonder, can people believe this crap? Let me remind you that George W. Bush able to steal the presidency on two occasions because enough Americans checked his name in the ballot box! If they believed that con artist/liar, they'll believe anything!
We're not through, though. You've Been Left Behind offers several services to make your job at "snatching" your loved ones from the flames a bit easier.
"We have set up a system to send documents by the email, to the addresses you provide, 6 days after the 'Rapture' of the Church. [Okay, you can stop laughing now and read the rest!] This occurs when 3 of our 5 team members scattered around the U.S. fail to log in over a 3 day period. Another 3 days are given to fail safe any false triggering of the system.
"We give you 150mb of encrypted storage that can be sent to 12 possible email addresses, in Box #1. You can load any documents and choose which documents go to who. You can edit these documents at any time and change the addresses they will be sent to as needed. Box #1 is for your personal private letters to your closest lost friends and relatives."
YBLB also will give you 100mb of unencrypted storage from which you send send email to 50 addresses. These must be people you really don't care much about, but would feel guilty if you didn't try to "snatch" them at the last minute.
All of this wondrous stuff will cost you only $40 per year!
They don't say, but I suppose if the Rapture comes, you lose your $40 bucks.
All I can say about this website and it's services is "Holy Crap!"
1 comment:
It is unbelievable to me that people will send $40 a year for such services, but I know many will. I think these guys are con artists seeking people’s money. Obviously they can not give viable guarantees.
After more than 2000 years, these people are convinced that some know when Jesus is coming to America, probably to their neighborhood. I have said it before and will say it again, how do we know He hasn’t retuned many times to many places? He might not have liked what he saw and went home. He might have been greeted with derision, hostility even death and we would have no way to know. He could be living in a non Christian part of the world because He did not like the fancy churches, the mega millions spent on things He might think frivolous while so many people suffer on Earth. Who really knows? When He decides to come and to make His presence known, we will all know, even those that do not believe in Him. In the meantime, we could try to be kinder to everyone on earth and accept that if God is truly in charge, He will do whatever He feels best for us.
It is possible that another galaxy is more to His liking and that is where He lives. Can anyone accept that we simply do not really know?
Bob Poris
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