A Thief in the Night

This is an interesting treatment of a subject that is quite controversial, (just read the other comments on this film). Apparently, you either love it or hate it and it seems most people make that distinction based on whether they believe the tribulation and end times will happen as portrayed in the movie.

Basically, the film - and its sequels - were made for about $1.30 each. The production values are right down there with "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and the acting is about on the same level as "Glen or Glenda", (my apologies to Ed Wood). Putting aside the religious message, the story is as scary as they come. Add in even the slightest thought that the story might actually be close to something that might happen in the future and it becomes even scarier.

This movie, and its sequels, didn't try to bring in the reasons why the tribulation happened when it did. "Left Behind" and "The Omega Code" tried to get in everything "Thief" did and to explain all the politics and maneuvering in the Middle East leading up to it. The net effect was "Thief" did a much better job on the scary part of movie, instead of spreading itself too thin trying to explain what was happening in the Middle East at the same time.

Forget the politics and watch this movie, and its sequels, for what they are - horror stories. That they may be horror stories told, indirectly, by God makes them just that much more frightening. If it makes you think about the subject, it has done its job - even if you never believe.

I ran across "A Thief in the Night" while scanning Prime Video looking for something to watch in bed one evening. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I ended up watching all four films in the series over the next few nights just because they were so incredibly bad that it was entertaining in a sad sort of way.

First, the theology. I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church, so the beliefs expressed weren't new to me. My mother really got into "The Late Great Planet Earth" by Hal Lindsey when it came out in 1970, making this view of eschatology all the more familiar in our house. As a kid, it scared and traumatized me. I grew up believing there was no point in planning for college, a career or family of my own because I didn't expect the world to be around for that long -- or at least not a world that would be fit to live in if I were unlucky enough to be left behind (to borrow the title of a future book and film series on the subject).

But today, 50-plus years later, I'm still here. I've been married 42 years, have grown children and grandchildren, and have retired from a 45-year career. And the world goes on. So if the events outlined in these movies (made between 1973 and 1983) have any validity at all, Jesus at the least apparently decided to tarry much longer than I was led to believe when I was a kid being told this stuff. However, I think it's much closer to the truth to say it isn't simply a matter of tarrying (a favorite word of the preachers I heard as a kid) but of this end times scenario being fictitious to begin with. I now see it as nothing more than a wildly off-the-mark misinterpretation of some very symbolic language never intended to be taken in the literal way this scenario takes it (which, of course, is what those who believe this way would expect heathens to say). This is a fanciful story (complete with elaborate charts and timelines, as depicted in the four films) designed to scare people into faith. And I now realize, as an adult, that true faith never works that way. It isn't possible scare anyone into authentic belief; that's something that has to come from the heart.

So, in a nutshell, it's a series built around a fantasy, as surely as "The Lord of the Rings" or "Game of Thrones." One is about as believable as the others. The world ends on a daily basis for people everywhere -- it's called dying -- and it will perhaps end once and for all someday for all of mankind. But I don't expect it to be in the slow, methodical horror show way depicted in these movies, nor do I expect it to be in the near future. I expect my grandchildren to have a future the same as I did, filled with both good and bad.

Secondly, as far as the acting and production values, they're about as bad as it gets. In all fairness, I'm sure the makers of these films weren't aiming for high production values and an appeal to a commercial market. No doubt, these were intended more as evangelism tools within churches. Fair enough. Still, it's really bad. The acting and dialogue are what one would expect from a entry-level acting class, if that. And the lighting and effects, even for the 1970's, is pretty dismal.

In short, if you're the kind of person who finds entertainment value in the truly awful, these films are worth trying. But that would be the only reason to watch, as I admittedly did. As a kid, they would have scared the living daylights out of me. Now, I can appreciate them, in a perverse way, for what they are.

I was raised in a "very Christian" household since birth. I was saved before I saw this movie and the rest of the series and was forced to watch it in a youth group at my church. This movie was highly disturbing. I saw it when I was about 12 years old and literally had nightmares about it for years. I used to lay awake in bed and listen for the sounds of my mom's footsteps upstairs. If I didn't hear her footsteps, I would sneak upstairs to make sure she hadn't been raptured. I used to pray so hard every night for salvation because I was terrified of Jesus forgetting me. This is definitely not something I will show to my kids until they are much older, if at all. It took me years to shake the fear that this movie gave me.

My mother used to make us watch this movie and movies from this series every New Year's Eve when we were small kids (maybe 5). To say that this movie traumatized me as a 5 year old is an understatement. I couldn't stop thinking about it and talked about it so much that even my friends who had not seen it were terrified. I had nightmares for at least 15 years and I think that making children see these movies is child abuse. I still dread New Years Day because of this and although I know this was just a movie, I still have a sense of dread for the future that I've never been able to shake. If I were not brought up to think that this was true and had this shoved down my throat, I wouldn't found the bad acting and ridiculous plot entertaining, but being told at 5 that this is what is going to happen to you can cause lifelong trauma.

Since I am a Christian believer and that includes believing in the Divinity of Jesus Christ and that He is my Personal Savior and Lord due to His Sacrifice at the Cross and coming back to Eternal Life after being raised from the dead as well as believing that the Bible is the inspired Word of God - what can I really say about this particular film?

I think the film has a powerful message, even though I have mixed feelings about its delivery. I think people should be converted through the knowledge of the free gift of Salvation provided by the Sacrifice at the Cross and Christ's subsequent resurrection. I have mixed feelings about the concept of "being scared into Heaven". But perhaps some people need to be. The idea that evil [Antichrist] can just take over the entire world after the Christian believers have been removed from the earth is scary indeed. In the past, evil has taken over entire nations such as in the Roman Empire, Napoleon's France, Hitler's Germany, and Soviet Russia. Evil continues to inflict nations in different parts of the world. Thinking about this on a worldwide scale is disturbing.

The First Coming of Christ is prophesied in several Old Testament Books. In the Book of Micah, it says that the Messiah [Jesus] will be born in Bethlehem. In another example, the Book of Daniel talks about "49 years plus 434 years" which are 483 years from the time of the Persian Empire in which the Jewish exiles were allowed back to rebuild the City of Jerusalem. Theoretically, this time reckoning brings us up to the week in which the Messiah Jesus was crucified (around 32 or 33 AD). And this is based on writings made centuries before the fact !!

The Second Coming of Christ is also described in both the New and Old Testaments such as in the Book of Revelation and in the Book of Daniel. In the last part of the Book of Daniel, to paraphrase scripture, it describes a great time interval passing until "knowledge [education] and travel have increased", perhaps describing the centuries between the times described in the Book of Daniel up though our 21st century, and perhaps beyond. After this has transpired, to paraphrase again, "the Angel Michael stands up to fight against satanic forces and the dead are risen, some to everlasting life and others to everlasting contempt". There appear to be double references in the Book of Daniel describing events about Antiochus (the Greek "Antichrist" who desecrated the Hebrew Temple) during the second century B.C. , once again, centuries before the fact, and a catastrophe [world war?] yet future to our times (the Antichrist mentioned in the film). Yet, the Bible refers to the details of these events to be sealed knowledge until the time of the end. This great time interval mentioned above could possibly correspond in part to Church History as we have known it as well as to the rise of the modern nations as we know them today. Now, Church History is approximately 2,000 years old. The question that we have is how much longer this time period will continue prior to the Second Coming of Christ. As mentioned above, the answer to this question according to the Bible remains sealed.

Once again, the writer suggests, much of this knowledge is sealed up until the time of the end "when education and travel have increased". However, historically, more knowledge has become available over the past century and a half than all of the past nineteen centuries put together. This is particularly true of scientific knowledge. Other signs that theologians talk about is the resurrection of the state of Israel and the geopolitical situation in the Middle East which appears to resemble some of the situations described in the Old Testament such as in the Book of Daniel. Whether or not we have reached the real time of the end (such as within our lifetimes) remains unknown. Why ? The Bible says this knowledge is sealed until the time of the end. There are some details that remain hidden from us about the Second Coming of Christ. Even Jesus said that He did not know, to paraphrase, " nor the Angels in Heaven, but the Father only ".

What this means is that we should continue to anticipate the Return of Christ while doing the Christian walk in our daily lives.

Speculation about the Second Coming of Christ goes back centuries.

Much of this speculation has caused a great deal of tragedy and misunderstanding, especially in the dangerous practice of date-setting. Again, one must emphasize that even Jesus did not know when He is coming back, but only the Father knows. In addition, one must be especially careful about the danger of "adding or subtracting" from the Bible. The Book of Revelation in the last chapter gives a very stern warning about tampering with God's Word.

However, just like one can tell by changes in the weather that spring is coming, one can tell from world events that human history seems to be coming to some sort of climax. Precise knowledge of whether this is really so or not remains sealed, though, as the Bible says. This is where Faith comes in.

The term "Rapture" does not appear in the Bible, but its concept is hinted at in the First Book of Corinthians in which, to paraphrase St. Paul,"he tells us a secret - we will all not die, but in the twinkling of an eye, we will all be changed into new bodies". Furthermore, in the first Book of Thessalonians, the Lord will come "like a thief in the night (sound familiar?) in which believers who have died will be raised and those believers that are still living will all meet the Lord in the air". There are different interpretations of these passages, especially in terms of sequence of events, but this is where the concept of the Rapture comes from in the movie.

Films such as this raise a certain amount of controversy about interpreting the Bible, but that is the point. It is supposed to make a person think.

If the Old Testament turned out to be accurate about the predictions about the First Coming of Christ, it stands to reason that the New Testament (as well as the Old) is accurate as well about His Life on earth as well as His eventual future return.

Blessings in Christ to everyone,

Dan Basinger