Catholic writer Carl Olson was struggling as he led his audience through the maze of competing Christian beliefs about the Second Coming of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n
There are premillennialists who believe Christ will reign for 1,000 years on earth. But it wouldn\u2019t be fair to lump them with the ultra-literal premillennial dispensationalists, he noted, since these camps contain bitter rifts over the timing of \u201cthe rapture.\u201d That\u2019s when the trumpet sounds, the dead rise and Christians soar to meet Christ in the air. Then there is the ancient amillennial stance, without a 1,000-year kingdom. Oh, and don\u2019t forget the postmillennialists.<\/p>\n\n
Rows of middle-aged, cradle Catholics in Salem, Ore., gazed back \u2014 utterly lost.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI was getting absolutely nowhere,\u201d said Olson. \u201cSo I finally asked them: \u2018How many of you have ever heard a single sermon or even some kind of talk at church about what the Catholic faith actually teaches about the Second Coming?\u2019 There were 200 or more people there and four or five hands went up. That\u2019s what you see everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
These Catholics didn\u2019t know their catechism. But, many could quote chapter and verse from another doctrinal source \u2014 the \u201cLeft Behind\u201d novels by evangelical superstars Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. This amazes Olson, who was raised in what he called a \u201cstrong, fundamentalist Protestant\u201d home before converting to Catholicism.<\/p>\n\n
The first 11 novels have sold around 50 million copies and that doesn\u2019t include the racks of children\u2019s books, audio editions, games, comics, DVDs and music products. Now the climactic \u201cGlorious Appearing: The End of Days\u201d is out, complete with a warrior Christ on a white stallion leading the angelic version of shock and awe.<\/p>\n\n
The powers that be at the New York Times were struck by this scene: \u201cTens of thousands of foot soldiers dropped their weapons, grabbed their heads or their chests, fell to their knees, and writhed as they were invisibly sliced asunder. Their innards and entrails gushed to the desert floor, and as those around them turned to run, they too were slain, their blood pooling and rising in the unforgiving brightness of God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
For millions of modern Catholics, this is more exciting than the works of Justin Martyr, Augustine and the Second Vatican Council. Olson said it\u2019s hard to know what chunk of the \u201cLeft Behind\u201d audience is Catholic, but publicists say that 11 percent is a good estimate.<\/p>\n\n
This shouldn\u2019t be foreign territory for Catholics, said Olson, author of \u201cWill Catholics Be \u2018Left Behind\u2019?\u201d In every Mass, they say they believe Jesus will \u201ccome again in glory to judge the living and dead.\u201d Catholics are taught \u2014 along with Orthodox Christians, Lutherans, Anglicans and many others \u2014 that \u201cthe rapture\u201d will follow a time of tribulation and happen at the Second Coming, not seven years earlier as taught in the \u201cLeft Behind\u201d series.<\/p>\n\n
But it\u2019s hard to resist thrillers in which the mysterious Book of Revelation is decoded into visions of United Nations plots, global media, Chinese armies, Israeli jets and, well, Satan running the Vatican.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cLots of Catholics tell me that \u2018Left Behind\u2019 can\u2019t be bad because LaHaye and Jenkins have the pope getting raptured along with the good guys,\u201d said Olson. \u201cThey don\u2019t even notice that this pope is considered a radical because he has started preaching what sure sounds like evangelical Protestantism. In other words, he\u2019s a real Christian. The next pope turns out to be Anti-Christ\u2019s right-hand man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Meanwhile, most priests and bishops are silent, said Olson. Many fear being called \u201cfundamentalists\u201d if they even discuss issues of prophecy and the end times. Others may not believe what their church teaches.<\/p>\n\n
The Catholic bishops of Illinois did release a \u201cLeft Behind\u201d critique, claiming: \u201cOverall, these books reinforce an unhealthy and immature belief in a harshly judgmental God whose mercy we earn by good behavior.\u201d But Olson said too many Catholic leaders refuse to take seriously the content of the books, movies and television programs that shape the beliefs of their people.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIf you want to be a good shepherd, you have to care about this stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cThese kinds of books and movies are where most Americans \u2014 including Catholics \u2014 get their beliefs and attitudes about faith and spirituality. \u2026 You cannot wish these things away. They\u2019re real.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Catholic writer Carl Olson was struggling as he led his audience through the maze of competing Christian beliefs about the Second Coming of Jesus. There are premillennialists who believe Christ will reign for 1,000 years on earth. But it wouldn\u2019t be fair to lump them with the ultra-literal premillennial dispensationalists, he noted, since these camps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1532,192,1534,680,780,864],"class_list":["post-1275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-catholics","tag-christian-fiction","tag-evangelicals","tag-premillennialism","tag-second-coming","tag-tim-lahaye"],"yoast_head":"\n