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The Tribulation Force believed that Antichrist and his
minions were about to attack Israeli Christ-followers and that, when they fled,
Rayford and his recruited fellow believers would serve as agents of rescue.
He dressed in a khaki shirt and shorts and went looking for Albie, his
second-in-command. The helpers, rallied via the Internet by Rayford’s
daughter, Chloe, from the safe house in Chicago, had only recently finished the
landing strip. They had alternated shifts; some were instructed in flight plans
by the same personnel who had checked them in and verified the mark of the
believer on their foreheads, while others ran heavy equipment or toiled as
laborers.
“Here, Chief,” Albie said, as Rayford took in the row after row of
helicopters, jets, and even the occasional prop plane lining the far side of the
strip. “First mission accomplished.”
The small, dark, former black marketer, nicknamed after his home city of Al
Basrah, wore his bogus GC deputy commander uniform and had in tow a large young
man who, Rayford was not surprised to learn, was from California.
“George Sebastian,” the tall, thick blond said, extending a powerful hand.
“Rayf—”
“Oh, I know who you are, sir,” George said. “Pretty
sure everybody here does.”
“Let’s hope nobody outside here does,” Rayford said. “So you’re
Albie’s choice for chopper lead.”
“Well, he, uh, asked that I refer to him as Commander Elbaz, but yes, sir.”
“What do we like about him?” Rayford asked Albie.
“Experienced. Smart. Knows how to handle a bird.”
“Fine by me. Wish I had time to socialize, George, but—”
“If you have just another minute, Captain Steele . . .”
Rayford glanced at his watch. “Walk with us, George.”
They headed to the south end of the new airstrip, Rayford’s eyes and ears
alert for unfriendly skies. “I’ll make it quick, sir. It’s
just that I like to tell people how it happened with me.”
“It?”
“You know, sir.”
Rayford loved these stories, but there was a time and place for everything, and
this was neither.
“Nothing dramatic, Captain. Had
a chopper instructor, Jeremy Murphy, who always told me Jesus was coming to take
Christians to heaven. ’Course, I thought he was a nutcase, and I even got him
in trouble for proselytizing on the job. But he wouldn’t quit. He was a good
instructor, but I didn’t want a thing to do with the other stuff. I was loving
life—newly married, you know.”
“Sure.”
“He invited me to church and everything. I never went.
Then the big day happens. Millions missing everywhere. Smart as I’m
supposed to be, I actually tried calling him to see if my session was called off
that day ’cause of all the chaos and everything. Later that night somebody
found his clothes on a chair in front of his TV.”
Rayford stopped and studied George. He would have enjoyed hearing more, but the
clock was ticking. “Didn’t take you long after that,
did it?”
George shook his head. “I went cold. I felt so lucky I hadn’t been killed. I
prayed, I mean right then, that I would remember the name of his church. And I
did, but hardly anybody was there. Anyway, I found
somebody who knew what was going on, they reminded me what Murphy had been
telling me, and they prayed with me. I’ve been
a believer ever since. My wife too.”
“My story’s almost the same,” Rayford said, “and
maybe one of these days I’ll have time to tell you. But—” --end excerpt
Authors
ALWAYS Have Characters Saved in the Very Circumstances Scripture Promises They
Cannot Be Saved
I have already
explained in other articles that the infallible Holy Bible tells us that anyone who
"received not the love the truth that they might be saved before the Tribulation begins--
when that Wicked is revealed-- will not be saved. Those who
would not believe the truth but instead "had pleasure in
unrighteousness" will all be damned. Read Second Thessalonians,
chapter 2.
Over and over the authors make sure
they have characters who have already heard and rejected the truth before the Tribulation
began, become Christians after it starts. The
authors, in George's case, make certain the reader knows he "had pleasure in
unrighteousness" and refused to love the truth so that he might be saved,
but they neglected to even give the gospel message in this account.
This theme is repeated over and over in the series. They make
sure the reader knows the character had been witnessed to before
the Tribulation began and that they enjoyed their unrighteousness and so
refused to be saved. These
people, the ones scripture promises will be sent strong delusion by God
Himself and will believe the LIE, are the ones who are being saved in the LEFT
BEHIND series!
This is anti-evangelism, no
doubt! This is false hope, yes, a snare even,
to millions who think they can wait and see some visible proof-- the
physical evidence of millions missing-- before it becomes absolutely
necessary to commit one's life and soul to the Lord Christ.
WHEN will "that Wicked" be revealed? We don't know exactly, but a
falling away must happen and whoever is keeping him from coming to power (only
God can do that) will be taken out of the way at some point and then "that
Wicked" will be revealed. Once that time has come and "that Wicked" is
revealed, those who have rejected Christ will be sent strong delusion
straight from God himself, and will believe the lie, which is believing what
"that Wicked" wants you to believe...that he is as God! Nobody, no
matter how cleverly they preach, can open the door of faith and "let them in"
to be saved.
Think of how many people in Noah's day heard Noah's
preach for one hundred twenty years of the coming
flood and they would not love the truth and be saved. They would not repent. Look
what happened to them! Once God
closed the door, nobody could open it and
let them in! The time they had for repentance was closed to them.
Their "seeing is believing" lack of faith sealed their eternal
doom. They should have repented while the window of opportunity was still
there, but they had too much pleasure in their unrighteousness and when the
flood began it was eternally too late.
I have addressed this issue in
my book, GOD'S WRATH on "Left Behind."
Let's look at George's situation.
Yes, the authors want the reader to know George was having too much pleasure in
righteousness to heed the message his friend tried to give him about God: "but I didn’t want a thing to do with the other
stuff. I was loving
life—newly married, you know.”
Yes, another person was saved in the
storyline when according to the Bible he would have
definitely been not been saved and would been sent strong delusion by God to believe the LIE.
Believing that Jesus Has
Already Returned (or Will Return) is NOT the Message of Reconciliation to
God. It is NOT the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
I could see it coming, slowly but surely in the other
books, and now I see it blatant and plain as day! The
gospel has been redefined in DESECRATION,
chapter one to mean that Jesus will come back before the tribulation to take Christians to
heaven. This is what
being a believer means? (Remember, the devils
believe Jesus is returning to take Christians to
heaven according to the word of God, but they certainly don't qualify as being
reconciled to God.) Not a word is mentioned of the gospel of Jesus
Christ in this exchange. Not a word! George became a "believer"
by believing that disappearances and missing people equals the RAPTURE, and
believing the rapture occurred equals being a believer.
What made George believe? Millions missing
everywhere. What was the fact that millions were missing everywhere
supposed to make George believe? That Jesus
returned to take them to heaven and he was still here. Believing this made
him a believer?
This is a phony salvation, and
since that is how the entire Trib Force was saved could very well explain why
they are still in the "bond of iniquity." None of the
presentations of their conversions focused on them being saved from their sins
as the reason for coming to faith in Jesus Christ, with the exception of
Rayford. In the series,
the REASON the characters came to faith is because there were worldwide
disappearances and someone convinced them that Jesus Christ had returned and
they did not go with him.
In the LEFT BEHIND series, salvation
from sin was usually a lesser issue in comparison
to being saved from not believing what someone had told them in the past about
the rapture. Characters were not first
and foremost saved from their sins; they were saved from
not believing in the rapture which supposedly got them to believe to
the point where they "prayed the prayer" even though the reader is
never privy to what that prayer contained exactly, except in the case of Rayford.
I remember in the first book Rayford was
quite sorry he had not believed his wife's preaching about the rapture, and he
was sorry for his sins concerning his adulterous emotional relationship with
Hattie, his mistreatment of his wife, his lust for money and prestige,
etc. The other members of the Trib Force had changes in their lives
initially as
well, but the FOCUS was always being saved from not believing in the rapture to
believing that it had occurred and they missed it.
Rayford knew he neded forgiveness of sin, and it says so in
LEFT BEHIND page 213. When he prayed to be saved, he admitted being a
sinner and being sorry for his sins. He asked for forgiveness from
God and asked to be saved. He actually had faith in the blood of Jesus to
pay the price for his salvation. This was all included and made known to
the reader in the prayer on page 216.
The pressures of living during the Tribulation have not
caused Rayford to believe and heed the Bible's command to have "the patience of the
saints" and to "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of
Jesus." (See Rev. 14:12) He can lie and "bluster" his way
through life serving "the cause" with the rest of them now.
But please look at the characters' "conversions" as you proceed through the
series. They get farther and farther away from what the Bible says a
Christian conversion is until you have this blatantly false conversion in
chapter one of
DESECRATION,
and most people are so conditioned by the slow
erosion of Bible truths in the series that they don't even notice this
counterfeit conversion experience of being saved from not believing in the
rapture. ALL the conversions in the LEFT BEHIND series are false
because none of the characters (biblically speaking) would have been able to
resist believing Carpathia was "that Wicked" or antichrist.
Why? Because they "received not the love of the truth" but
instead "had pleasure in unrighteousness" before the Tribulation
began. None of these people would have received any Holy Ghost conviction
of sin and believed the gospel...it wouldn't matter how smart they were or who
witnessed to them after the Tribulation started. God's word in
Second Thessalonians is so hard hitting about this that nobody could miss this
truth unless they did it on purpose.
When George went to the church did they tell him he was a
sinner and needed to repent and believe the gospel? No.
"they reminded me what Murphy had been telling me, and they prayed with
me." What precisely was it that Murphy had
been telling him? Whatever it was, it was not important enough for George to
mention to Rayford. The only thing important enough to mention was that he
"found
somebody who knew what was going on." We know what that implies. They knew the rapture had occurred. Those who "knew what was going on" prayed with George.
What was the content of the prayer? The authors don't have George disclose
this so the readers can benefit from it. Again, it must not
be important enough to mention.
This is not even remotely close to a
gospel presentation. Are you noticing the way the authors are making the
readers think a certain way? It's not just what is written, but
WHAT IS LEFT OUT. Anything other than believing the rapture occurred
and he was left behind, was deemed too insignificant in George's
"conversion" for the authors to bother revealing in the dialogue between characters.
Believing the rapture happened is NOT the gospel of Jesus
Christ! Yes, Jesus will return in the clouds (the same way he left, praise
God! Rev. 1: 7) for his saints, and those who become Christians DO believe that Jesus died
for our sins, was buried, rose again, and is coming again, but believing he has
returned (or will return) is not the message of reconciliation to
God! Do you see the redefining going on here?
It is probable an unbeliever could read
this and think that if one day he sees large numbers of people missing, he will know for sure the rapture has really happened, and once
he believes this
has taken place, then he will consider himself to be a believer.
Where is the sinfulness of man and need of forgiveness from
a holy God mentioned, or the necessity of repentance, salvation by grace through
faith, the blood of Christ, the cross, or reconciliation to God?
Where is the teaching of George being turned from darkness to light, and from
the power of Satan unto God, that he may receive forgiveness of sins, and
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Jesus
Christ? (See Acts 26: 18)
Where is the truth that when one believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ, one is delivered from the power of darkness and translated into
the kingdom of God's dear Son? Where is the truth of redemption through
the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins? Where is the
peace we can have with God only through the blood of Christ, and that by Him we
have reconciliation to God? (See Col. 1:13, 14, 20. Where is the
truth that Jesus Christ gave himself for the purpose of redeeming us from all
iniquity, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works?
(See Titus 2: 14)
Well, if that was taught in the storyline in the series then
the readers would have
good reason to wonder what kind of "cause" the Trib Force is working
for because they are still under Satan's power, after an initial change that
they did not continue in. What evidence do I have to say they are
under Satan's power? They lie as a lifestyle! The Bible is clear
about the fate of liars: "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the
abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all
liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and
brimstone: which is the second death." Revelation 21: 8
"Oh, but you don't
understand. These liars are Christians! They are saved liars.
They have to lie to get by during the time when Antichrist rules the
earth!" I'm sorry, but the word of God, which "liveth and
abideth forever" (even during the Tribulation) says ALL liars shall have
their part in the lake of fire. All unrepentant liars will have their part
in the lake of fire. Please don't allow the Left Behind series to
condition you to actually believe that Christians may lie as a lifestyle and go
to heaven to be with a holy God whose name is TRUTH. God is not so small
that his people have to adopt the morals of satanists in order to survive during
the time of the Tribulation.
That is what the patience of the saints is for,
and what the grace that has appeared to all men
(even during the Tribulation) teaches us:
teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,
in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:" (See Titus 2:12)
If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ
you must love the truth and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth
and the life. Therefore, you must renounce all lies as well as the Father of
lies.
return to: Exposing
False Doctrines in the Left Behind Series
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