{"id":6761,"date":"2012-03-11T21:28:44","date_gmt":"2012-03-12T01:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=6761"},"modified":"2012-03-11T21:28:44","modified_gmt":"2012-03-12T01:28:44","slug":"fred-clark-highlights-the-ridiculousness-of-left-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/03\/fred-clark-highlights-the-ridiculousness-of-left-behind.html","title":{"rendered":"Fred Clark Highlights the Ridiculousness of Left Behind"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/03\/09\/tftm-happy-endings\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Fred Clark has been blogging about the Left Behind books and movies, lately focusing on the second movie, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force. His comment about Rabbi\u00a0Tsion Ben-Judah\u2019s \u201cresearch\u201d which led him to faith in Jesus says it all<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBen-Judah reveals that his years of research mostly focused on the works of Josh McDowell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/images3.wikia.nocookie.net\/__cb37462\/leftbehind\/images\/thumb\/4\/4b\/Ben_Judah.JPG\/130px-79,948,0,768-Ben_Judah.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"130\" height=\"115\">I saw the movie at some point, and found the same moment laughable. I understand that most Christians who read Matthew\u2019s Gospel don\u2019t look up the original context of his quotation from Hosea 11:1 in Matthew 2:15. But that a rabbi didn\u2019t seems utterly implausible. But folks like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/03\/05\/antichrists-and-aliens-and-the-end-of-the-universe\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Tim LaHaye<\/a> and Josh McDowell don\u2019t know any better, since they seem not to have looked up the original context either, and so aren\u2019t aware that they have not done research, and thus don\u2019t know how to depict characters doing research.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/03\/09\/tftm-happy-endings\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Here\u2019s more from Fred Clark. Click through to read the whole thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Despite what Tim LaHaye says, John of Patmos was not writing a series of Nostradamus-like predictions to be decoded thousands of years later on a continent he\u2019d never imagined. John\u2019s Apocalypse was written for specific people in a specific place who were suffering through a horrible story under the heel of a triumphant Empire.<\/p>\n<p>John\u2019s contention, in spite of the way this story was going, was that the triumph of the Empire was not the real end of their story. Their story, he insisted, would ultimately have a happy ending. The Empire will fall, the horse and rider will be hurled into the sea, the first will be last and the last will be first and God will wipe away every tear.<\/p>\n<p>I like John\u2019s idea of a happy ending better than LaHaye\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fred Clark has been blogging about the Left Behind books and movies, lately focusing on the second movie, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force. His comment about Rabbi\u00a0Tsion Ben-Judah\u2019s \u201cresearch\u201d which led him to faith in Jesus says it all: \u201cBen-Judah reveals that his years of research mostly focused on the works of Josh McDowell.\u201d I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[131,139,81],"tags":[3592,4089,4784,5941,6444,7128,9642,9877,10293,12609,12897,12966],"class_list":["post-6761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-religion","category-fundamentalism-religion","category-revelation-bible","tag-fred-clark","tag-gospel","tag-hosea","tag-josh-mcdowell","tag-left-behind","tag-matthew","tag-prophecy","tag-rabbi","tag-revelation","tag-tim-lahaye","tag-tribulation","tag-tsion-ben-judah"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fred Clark Highlights the Ridiculousness of Left Behind<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fred Clark has been blogging about the Left Behind books and movies, lately focusing on the second movie, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force. His comment\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/03\/fred-clark-highlights-the-ridiculousness-of-left-behind.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fred Clark Highlights the Ridiculousness of Left Behind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fred Clark has been blogging about the Left Behind books and movies, lately focusing on the second movie, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force. His comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/03\/fred-clark-highlights-the-ridiculousness-of-left-behind.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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