blog: LEFT BEHIND, The Movie
Left Behind, the movie, opened in theaters nationwide on October 3, 2014. The film is based on Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’s 1995 bestselling novel and is a remake of Kirk Cameron’s 2000 release of Left Behind.
Nicolas Cage and Chad Michael Murray barely hold the movie together as the audience awaits the big moment, “the rapture.” While I do not expect any Academy nominations, the movie is a must see and does raise several serious questions. These questions will be in the back of your mind as you leave the theater, even if you do not verbalize them to anyone.
- Will Jesus return in the clouds and remove the Christian church from the earth, “the rapture”?
- When does the rapture event take place?
- Will I be left behind?
The film’s message should serve as a catalyst for a biblical dialogue concerning eschatological events that could happen at anytime. One major point that cannot be escaped is the incredulous mindset of the folks left behind. It appears that they have little or no knowledge that Jesus could appear in the clouds at any time and “rapture” the church as the scripture says:
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven,with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NIV)
The most realistic part of the movie that mirrors society is the fact that so few people have a clue that Jesus could return before I finish typing this blog. Here we are on the brink of His appearing and mankind has hardly an idea that “soon and very soon we are going to see the King.”
Click Here to read more on the “rapture of the church.”
