Todd-65

It seems I have once again discovered a disaster epic that has the intolerable effrontery to call itself "Christian". The truth is simpler: it's not even good fantasy.

Here's an interesting bit of news you might not be aware of: The Rapture isn't mentioned anywhere in the Bible -- Old or New Testament, it doesn't matter; it's never been discussed. The whole concept of The Rapture originated in the middle nineteenth century with the work of the Irish dispensationalist theologian John Nelson Darby.

Darby fell off his horse in 1827 and as a result began to believe that the "kingdom" described in the Book of Isaiah and elsewhere in the Old Testament was entirely different from both the Christian churches already well established by then and all of Judaism. He could have read any standard world history book and reached the same conclusion, but he fell off his horse instead, proving that eventually, some form of enlightenment reaches all of us, sooner or later. He eventually came to believe that the very notion of a clergyman was a sin against the Holy Spirit, because it limited the recognition that the Holy Spirit could speak through any member of the Church. This was a period when "speaking in tongues" could enliven any Bible Study meeting, and could thereby be used to validly reinterpret any of the Biblical texts with far more authority than any of the ideals advanced by educated clergy, who were, after all, primarily endowed with the Sin of Pride in authority and education. He recognized that anybody could be possessed of the Holy Spirit, and that anybody could, therefore, interpret the Bible in whatever way they wished -- provided, of course, it was the Holy Spirit coming upon them and not some other stray spirit otherwise requiring an exorcism. Fortunately, this woebegone heresy has yet to destroy the Exorcist movies enjoyed by horror fans worldwide, which is more than you can say about the repeated attempts to film "Left Behind" and its associated attempts to create Christian Apocalyptic Horror that's kicked off with a phantastic heresy.

It's very hard not to feel great disappointment that one of my favorite actors, Nicholas Cage, is forever associated with this particular effort. I have, however, always considered it an admirable trait for a working actor to accept whatever work is offered him should his expected wage be met, and have always noted that the best actors have the most interesting careers as a result of this quality. I can hardly place the blame for this mess of a movie on the actors. The blame is entirely the fault of the authors and the producers for trying to turn the heretical fancies of the Irish phantasist John Nelson Darby into a Christian folktale, and have not only failed to do so, but have insulted an entire religion in the process.

Darby was one of the original members of the Christian movement that became known as the Plymouth Brethren. It was at this point in his life that he he first began discussing his views of pre-tribulation rapture, a non-sexual transportation ethic that the true author of the Book of Revelations would have denounced in horror. Ironically, the Rapture has since become a Christian Horror movie trope that has been denounced in horror by actual horror fans worldwide, one that has been widely acclaimed as the Willie Wonka steampunk version of Dante's Paradiso, the one book of his Divine Comedy that nobody reads unless they are forced to do so, and even then only the Cliffs Notes version applies. In this reviewer's opinion, these dispensationalist musings deserve to be "Left Behind" as something the meek have established amongst us, thereby allowing them to present zombie apocalyptic structures without the necessity of raising the dead and post-apocalyptic ruminations without being forced to subdivide the atomic radioactive elements, a series of scientific belief systems that many of the unwashed and uneducated continue to deny, or at the very least to doubt the efficiency of in a world where the structure of reality must at all costs be denied, being made up, as it is, with mostly nothing wrapped up in mysteries and electromagnetic wails of intemporate disbelief.

In any case, Darby's non-Biblical ramblings about the Rapture to come quickly gained popularity among end-times-oriented Christians, thanks especially to its incorporation into the notes and illustrations of study Bibles, such as the Scofield Reference Bible (1909). Darby translated numerous versions of the Bible and included his note on the Rapture whenever he could do so. It should be remembered, however, that none of it can be found within the actual pages of the Bible, and cannot, therefore, be considered as Truth emitted and translated by the Mind and Mouth of God. And thank God for that -- anybody who has read the books or watched the movies incorporating this ridiculous heresy cannot help but be horrified with the simplicity of plot structure that's been incorporated into such stories.

There's nothing quite so annoying as a movie that refers to itself as Christian Horror or Christian Drama, depending upon how indoctrinated the authors are at denying human nature and scientific reality. I can hardly wait for the anime versions of such works to come, primarily because I cannot see anybody taking the time to retranslate such works back into the English from which they originated. The same goes for such works that refer to themselves as "webisodes".

In any case, given my rejection of a myth-managed belief system that remains insulting at best, it's hard to become enthusiastic about stories that are wrapped-up in such insults. That is the primary problem with the books these movies came from, and it reflects poorly on the movies themselves. It stands ill-engaged upon the consequences of one's belief in scientific truths, insisting that the errors of one's education, Christian or not, given the contempt for Christianity that the belief in Rapture tends to propagate, will ultimately prevent one from being swept up in the mass disappearance of "decent" Americans, leaving only the tribulation audience to inherit and ultimately destroy the nation and world that most of us have grown to love, with the possible exception being those who assert themselves as better than human, a further step in their personal evolution of the species who cannot apparently love anything so worthy as an inheritance.

This movie isn't even worth the discussion of value. It is insulting, irresponsible, and contemptible in its major themes. Calling itself Christian anything is an insult to Christianity. The theme of Rapture is not Christian at all. The whole idea of the Rapture was invented by a 19th century Irishman who introduced his silly theology in the advertising section of Bibles he was clearly pleased to promote. It is contemptible in that it denies the Judgment all men must strive for in order to erase it from the possible history of those who accept this warped version of God's will. Its heroes are the vanished and the unJudged, and as such it promotes any ugliness those men who consider themselves worthy of God's Dispensation may elect to rediscover for themselves as such men who place themselves, their lives, and their desires above those of other men have always done. Should you Reject what they Reject, Believe what they Believe, and Silence those they wish to Silence, than you too can carry yourself and your soul into the new world without fear of Judgment by man or God. That and only that is the true message of Dispensation, and as such it is an obscenity that also lacks the energy that true horror builds within itself.

The cold and uncalculated contempt for the ordinary that "Left Behind" has promoted is not drama and is not horror -- it is merely what happens after the "blessed" beings of Christ's "true church" vanish from the Earth in an act neither Christians nor Jews have ever imagined, let alone promoted as a tenet of their faith.

I could still have gone along with it, however, if the story being told had at least been an enjoyable ride. It is not. It's just more tripe by those who deny the world and place themselves above it. It's just religious elitism that hides underneath a truly self-serving and insulting tale that rejects both science and reality. This collection of senseless thought isn't even worthy of the curiosity it might otherwise evoke in those ignorant of its roots. You can't lose yourself in the story, so it's best just to lose the story itself. Then you can hope for yourself that it stays lost longer than the Nag Hammadi scrolls that were rediscovered in 1945. Unlike the Nag Hammadi library, The Left Behind series -- books and movies -- deserves anonymity and eventual extinction.

I rate this one a single star 'cause it's a repeat and it's still a mess. And that's a gift.