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Is Armageddon Just Around The Corner?

© Richard Kent Matthews

You will know the Rapture has occurred when millions of your fellow earthlings all at once disappear-out of cars, planes, houses, businesses, offices, churches (not all those who call themselves Christians will be raptured!). We are told it will be a real cataclysm.

Thus the scenario goes. This is a very encapsulated version but you get the idea. (See the books of Daniel and Revelation for the full story.)

By the way, for some unimaginable reason, after the 1000-year period, God releases Satan again. (What?) And then, he sets up the final judgement, where each individual is sent to his/her ultimate dwelling place: heaven or hell. You see, during the tribulation, if you refuse to take the mark of the beast, you can still be saved, even though the Rapture took place already. It's a bit convoluted. I was told, when questioning this whole process, to just take it all on faith and let those who know it all do the interpreting. (Many of you have probably been in that kind of situation.)

Now, most religious or philosophical beliefs I take with a grain of salt; each has the right to believe as he/she chooses. But this particular belief seems particularly pernicious to me because those who believe it wish to force it onto society by fighting such things as the environmental movement or the teaching of self-esteem in the schools; they endeavor to pass legislation that limits certain human rights or they promote censorship; they fight the teaching of evolution in the schools as well, and much more. I heard one group in the Midwestern U.S. worked feverishly to get Christian prayer back into the public school system and then fought to keep a non-Christian religious group from holding meetings on campus.

My point is not to ridicule the Dispensationalists. Having been one for many years, I totally understand their point of view. They truly believe all of this. And I also recognize that they are living in fear, mostly fear. Fundamentalists are much more concerned with Satan than with Christ.

Spinoza once said (and it got him killed) that anyone who loved unconditionally doesn't have the right to expect to be loved in return. I believe I know what that means. God loves unconditionally and unconditional love does not demand respect, or adoration, or praise, or even acknowledgement. Rules and morals and religions are man-made and are imperfect systems. We need them, to be sure, but as we learn to achieve more of a spirit of the law rather than living solely by the letter, we come to understand the One Power in a much more important way-a truly personal way. Unconditional love seeks no revenge. Clear?