LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 348

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348 THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

A Lutheran Response
to the Left Behind Series

Introduction*

A provocative interpretation of the book of Revelation, indeed
of the entire Bible, was offered in 1995 when Tim LaHaye and Jerry
Jenkins published Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days.
At the start of this book, on a 747 bound for London’s Heathrow
Airport from Chicago, the flight attendants suddenly find half the
seats empty, except for the clothes, wedding rings and dental fill-
ings of Christians who had been suddenly swept up to heaven.
Down on the ground cars begin crashing, spouses wake up to find
only bedclothes next to them, and all children under twelve disap-
pear as well. The pilot of the 747—-Rayford Steele—soon comes to
the sickening realization that the rapture has just occurred. Else-
where, Pastor Bruce Barnes and his church secretary, Loretta, both
of whom are also left behind, quickly realize what is going on. The
next eleven books in the series (with the final book, Glorious Ap-
pearing, released in March 2004) chronicle the tribulations suffered
by those left behind and their struggle to survive as they seek to
spread the Gospel of Christ to a dying world. At the same time, the
books unfold like disaster movies, from car crashes and pandemo-
nium initially caused by the rapture itself to the subsequent world-
wide “Wrath of the Lamb Earthquake,” oceans of blood, fiery
hailstones, World War III and war in the Middle East—all leading
up to Armageddon. According to LaHaye and Jenkins these nov-
els, with their fictionalized accounts of the rapture and the rise of
the Antichrist during the subsequent seven-year tribulation, reflect
the true teaching of the Bible.

By serializing the tribulations of the book of Revelation the Left
Behind novels have become the all-time best-selling Christian fic-
tional series. A visit to www.leftbehind.com reveals (among other
things) an encouragement to view two Left Behind full length
movies, buy a CD entitled “Left Behind Worship: God is With Us”
and purchase “Left Behind”—a board game. The website also of-
fers for sale Left Behind: The Kids Series. It is estimated that Tyn-
dale Publishing House has sold over 55 million copies of the Left
Behind books.

In these unsettling times when absolute truth claims are an in-
creasingly rare commodity in Western culture, the Left Behind ap-
peal to certain future events offers an anchor. In the midst of
increasing threats of terrorism and chaos, millions of people are
looking to these novels to provide answers to some of today’s most
pressing questions. Where are the events in the Middle East finally
taking us? Will there be an all-out worldwide nuclear war? And
what about the predictions of an all-out social, environmental and
economic meltdown? Through their interaction with these books
many people believe they have discovered answers to these ques-
tions, as well as comfort, strength and inspiration for Christian liv-
ing. They are offered the assurance that God is at work in the world,
judgment is coming and Christ will return soon.

To be sure, these books have heightened awareness of such end-
time topics as the millennium, the rapture, the Antichrist and Ar-
mageddon. Yet the ideas expressed in the Left Behind series are in
many ways contrary to the teaching of Holy Scripture. Though con-
taining a fictional story line, the books promote a theology that is,
in important respects, at odds with the biblical revelation.

General Response

This response to the Left Behind series does not attempt to deal
with every detail in the books themselves, nor does it attempt to ad-
dress every theological issue raised in them (e.g., conversion, sacra-
mental theology, Christology, etc.). Rather, it focuses on the
theological framework that underlies the series. This framework is out-
lined in the companion book to these novels, also written by Tim La-

2007 Convention Workbook

Haye and Jerry Jenkins and titled Are We Living in the End Times?
Current Events Foretold in Scripture...and What They Mean
(Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1999). This book makes it clear that the
doctrinal foundation for Left Behind is premillennial dispensational-
ism, a system of theology that divides history into seven dispensations
with the final era being a 1000-year earthly reign of Christ.

When the first-century church was faced with uncertainty and
confusion regarding the end times, the apostle Paul demonstrates
his pastoral concern in the words, “Now concerning the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you,
brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some
prophecy ...” (2 Thess 2:1—2). Paul then goes on to provide apos-
tolic counsel to the Thessalonians, concluding his discussion with
these words: “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Fa-
ther, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement
and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every
good deed and word” (2 Thess 2:16-17). In this same spirit, the pre-
sent investigation seeks to address the current confusion over end
time issues so that Christians may be encouraged and strengthened
in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The goal is to bring a scriptural and
Christ-centered witness, and to clarify end times details so that the
biblical teaching of Christ’s Second Coming might bring true peace,
comfort and joy to those who trust in Christ.

It may be helpful at the outset to identify certain aspects of the
general theological orientation of the Left Behind series. First of all,
the central theological focus in the Left Behind series appears to be
less on the person and work of Christ as such, and more on certain
historical events and developments that the authors believe will un-
fold in the “last days” as they are depicted in the prophetic writings
of Scripture. It is certainly appropriate to examine the “end times”
teachings of Scripture. But it is important to do so in light of the cen-
tral teaching of Scripture, which is justification by grace through
faith in the historical person and work of Jesus Christ. Second, when
the Left Behind series does give attention to the person and work of
Christ, it does not consistently maintain a central focus (as do the
Holy Scriptures) on the completed and fully sufficient work of Christ
accomplished through His suffering on the cross, His atoning death,
and His resurrection on behalf of all people. Rather, the central
Christological focus of the Left Behind series is on Christ’s future,
unfinished work—namely, the second (and third, and even fourth)
coming(s) of Christ. As a result, the novels tend to emphasize God’s
power, sovereignty, wrath and judgment far more prominently than
they do God’s mercy and grace, patience and forgiveness for sinners
offered through Jesus Christ.

It is true, of course, that God’s Law must be proclaimed clearly
and fully alongside the Gospel]. But the underlying thrust of Left Be-
hind’s story line tends to shift the centra] focus of the Law away
from the ultimate and all-important judgment of eternal separation
from God in hell as a result of sin to the threat of facing earthly suf-
fering, horror and tribulation at the hands of the Antichrist. Ac-
cordingly, it shifts the focus of the Gospel away from the free and
incomparable gift of forgiveness and peace with God in Christ now
and forever to the hope of being delivered from earthly sufferings
and tribulation through the rapture of the church.

Although the fictional characters in the book that come to faith
in Christ after being “left behind” certainly cling to the hope of eter-
nal salvation, the fundamental and non-fictional message of the
books is analogous to the Roman Catholic teaching of purgatory
where intense suffering is experienced before entering into eternal
life. Put another way, the Left Behind message may be construed as
saying: “Don’t be left behind. Accept Christ now so you will not
have to endure the terrible earthly suffering and tribulation to
come.” This different center of theology, along with its different un-
derstanding of Law and Gospel, has profound implications for how
Christians view the hope of Christ’s Second Coming, bear witness
to their faith and live out their lives in this world. To offer just one