mondojohnson

“The Rapture” figures large in the zeitgeist these days, as evidenced by the bewildering popularity of those strange “Left Behind” books (aped recently on network TV — the show “Revelations,” which was pretty unwatchable).

The author covers an awful lot of ground, dissecting millenial cults from Heaven’s Gate to Jehovah’s Witnesses. It’s all very fascinating, though I felt that the “Witness” section could have used a bit of editing: he catalogs the various JW predictions about the Rapture, and (too) meticulously points out how consistently wrong they have been. His line-by-line parsing of the “Watchtower” and other JW writings seemed like overkill to me; he had me convinced way before he concluded his case. But that’s a minor criticism, as convincing *me* isn’t the objective… the copious info will greatly serve future researchers.

The most troubling millenial cult is, of course, the “Dominionist” christian faction here in the US. You know them: they’re the ones who keep a “Rapture Watch” website up and running to tell us how close we are to the blessed event. (The site also offers tips such as how to write an explanatory note to those who may be “left behind” — tack it on the fridge, or somewhere conspicous). It would all be extremely funny if it weren’t for the fact that these idiots are large and in charge, and are in cahoots with the psycho Zionist brigade (on the principle that Jeebus will only return after the Jews are returned to Israel. They want to hustle the Jews “back” to Israel post-haste, so that Jeebus can make his return all the more quickly — which will, of course, entail casting the Jews into the lake of fire).