This was an EXCELLENT post (The Rapture Index and the 2004 Election) to our Rhetoric site.
Thank you Jim Morrison for passing it along.I'd like if I may, to add something to what you posted based on my own personal life experience in this area. I can attest to the truthfulness of the excerpts from Bill Moyers and George Maniot (hope I got the names spelled right). I used to belong to a two different denominations, so called "non- denominational" evangelicals who subscribed to exactly the scenario of the rapture described in these excerpts. For thirteen years,until I fell out of these beliefs and more or less deprogrammed myself, I heard such teachings every Sunday from the pulpit woven into the sermons given. This sounds wild-eyed and nuts but it is indeed an integral part of the beliefs of most 'fundamentalist' Christian churches in the United States. I came across an old-style preacher on the radio in the 1970's by the name of Walter Martin, who had founded an anti-cult apologetics organization to combat the teachings of non-orthodox teachings such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Sun Myung Moon, etc. This radio preacher showed from the Bible how this rapture teaching is not supported in any reasonable reading of the Bible and he showed it elowquently cross referencing between books of the New Testament, to show that the early Apostles believed that the Church (believers) would GO THROUGH THE TRIBULATION. But you can't convince any right-wing, fundamentalist today hardly anywhere of this. They have swallowed this, I would call it, heresy, hook, line, and sinker and they are adamantly convinced that it is literally coming to pass before our eyes. I am ashamed now to admit that I too at one time believed this as a 'given' until I began questioning it after I heard the aforementioned broadcast radio evangelist, Dr. Walter Marin, who died in the late 1970s or early 1980's, but his organization lives on in the form of the Christian Research Institute in Southern California. I just wanted to thank Jim Morrison for passing this along to us. It explains a lot in terms of support for George Bush among so-called Christians, who are very sincere (but I believe sincerely wrong) in their dedication to such teachings being literally true about the rapture and doing all they can to 'help it happen'. It explains why they are 'proof' against any objective, rational analysis of Bush's myriad crimes and failures. It is mystifying to us who practice empirical observation just HOW these people can be so 'programmed' but programmed they are and they DO believe it is a matter of ETERNAL' life and death and their duty to propagate this belief and these politics by any means possible in order "to save as many as possible for Christ". I know whereof I speak. I (red faced now but really believed it back then)...was ONE OF THEM. Thank you again,Mr. Morrison, for sharing such a valuable insight. It hit the proverbial nail on the head. Bullseye. Thank you and I hope this is a wake up call to us who consider ourselves 'progressives' that the power of religious fervor is indeed strong, and I believe, very dangerous because it now is playing with the use of weapons of mass destruction. Whether Islamic fundamentalist or "God's Cowboys" here in America, we have a world teetring on the brink of any number of disaster scenarios. I can't remember where I heard it said, but I like this saying: "There is no man so dangerous as that man who KNOWS that he is RIGHT". That is a good part of how GW got back in. We thought we had the momentum behind us, we who are sick to death and sick at heart when we think of the slaughter, economic damage, damage to America's prestige and credibility....we progressives thought that finally RIGHT was on our side...and it was.....but the religious right marches to the beat of a "proof texted" "jury rigged" Christianity, as American as hot dogs and coca cola. And it indeed IS driving George Bush's Iraq policy. INSANITY to those of us, Christian or non Christian, who I believe are rational, but SALVATION to the programmed "rapturist-Fallwell- Robertson-Right-Wing-God's-American-Political-Army" people ********************************************************************* ****************************************************************** Excerpts from an address given by Bill Moyers to the Society of Professional Journalists 2004 National Convention, September 11, 2004 The Rapture Index and the U.S. election How do we explain the possibility that a close election ... could turn on several million good and decent citizens who believe in the Rapture Index? That's what I said ­ the Rapture Index. Google it and you will understand why the best-selling books in America today are the twelve volumes of the Left Behind series which have earned multi-millions of dollars for their co-authors who earlier this year completed a triumphant tour of the Bible Belt whose buckle holds in place George W. Bush's armour of the Lord. These true believers subscribe to a fantastical theology concocted in the l9th century by a couple of immigrant preachers who took disparate passages from the Bible and wove them into a narrative millions of people believe to be literally true. According to this narrative, Jesus will return to earth only when certain conditions are met: when Israel has been established as a state; when Israel then occupies the rest of its "biblical lands;" when the third temple has been rebuilt on the site now occupied by the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques; and, then, when legions of the Antichrist attack Israel. This will trigger a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon during which all the Jews who have not converted will be burned. Then the Messiah returns to earth. The Rapture occurs once the big battle begins. "True believers" will be lifted out of their clothes and transported to heaven where, seated next to the right hand of God, they will watch their political and religious opponents suffer plagues of boils, sores, locusts and frogs during the several years of tribulation which follow. I'm not making this up. We've reported on these people for our weekly broadcast on PBS, following some of them from Texas to the West Bank. They are sincere, serious, and polite as they tell you that they feel called to help bring the Rapture on as fulfillment of biblical prophecy. That's why they have declared solidarity with Israel and the Jewish settlements and backed up their support with money and volunteers. It's why they have staged confrontations at the old temple site in Jerusalem. It's why the invasion of Iraq for them was a warm-up act, predicted in the 9th chapter of the Book of Revelations where four angels "which are bound in the great river Euphrates" will be released "to slay the third part of men." As the British writer George Monbiot has pointed out, for these people the Middle East is not a foreign policy issue, it's a biblical scenario, a matter of personal belief. A war with Islam in the Middle East is not something to be feared but welcomed; if there's a conflagration there, they come out winners on the far side of tribulation, inside the pearly gates, in celestial splendor, supping on ambrosia to the accompaniment of harps plucked by angels. One estimate puts these people at about l5 per cent of the electorate. Most are likely to vote Republican; they are part of the core of George W. Bush's base support. He knows who they are and what they want. When the President asked Ariel Sharon to pull his tanks out of Jenin in 2002, over one hundred thousand angry Christian fundamentalists barraged the White House with emails and Mr. Bush never mentioned the matter again. Not coincidentally, the administration recently put itself solidly behind Ariel Sharon's expansions of settlements on the West Bank. In George Monbiot's analysis, the President stands to lose fewer votes by encouraging Israeli expansion into the West Bank than he stands to lose by restraining it. "He would be mad to listen to these people, but he would also be mad not to." No wonder Karl Rove walks around the West Wing whistling "Onward Christian Soldiers." He knows how many votes he is likely to get from these pious folk who believe that the Rapture Index now stands at 144 --- just one point below the critical threshold at which point the prophecy is fulfilled, the whole thing blows, the sky is filled with floating naked bodies, and the true believers wind up at the right hand of God. With no regret for those left behind. (See George Monbiot. The Guardian, April 20, 2004 (following) I know, I know: You think I am bonkers... But this is just the point: Journalists who try to tell these stories, connect these dots, and examine these links are demeaned, disparaged, and dismissed. This is the very kind of story that illustrates the challenge journalists face in a world driven by ideologies that are stoutly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. Bill Moyers Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power US Christian fundamentalists are driving Bush's Middle East policy George Monbiot Tuesday April 20, 2004 The Guardian To understand what is happening in the Middle East, you must first understand what is happening in Texas. To understand what is happening there, you should read the resolutions passed at the state's Republican party conventions last month. Take a look, for example, at the decisions made in Harris County, which covers much of Houston. The delegates began by nodding through a few uncontroversial matters: homosexuality is contrary to the truths ordained by God; "any mechanism to process, license, record, register or monitor the ownership of guns" should be repealed; income tax, inheritance tax, capital gains tax and corporation tax should be abolished; and immigrants should be deterred by electric fences. Thus fortified, they turned to the real issue: the affairs of a small state 7,000 miles away. It was then, according to a participant, that the "screaming and near fist fights" began. I don't know what the original motion said, but apparently it was "watered down significantly" as a result of the shouting match. The motion they adopted stated that Israel has an undivided claim to Jerusalem and the West Bank, that Arab states should be "pressured" to absorb refugees from Palestine, and that Israel should do whatever it wishes in seeking to eliminate terrorism. Good to see that the extremists didn't prevail then. But why should all this be of such pressing interest to the people of a state which is seldom celebrated for its fascination with foreign affairs? The explanation is slowly becoming familiar to us, but we still have some difficulty in taking it seriously. In the United States, several million people have succumbed to an extraordinary delusion. In the 19th century, two immigrant preachers cobbled together a series of unrelated passages from the Bible to create what appears to be a consistent narrative: Jesus will return to Earth when certain preconditions have been met. The first of these was the establishment of a state of Israel. The next involves Israel's occupation of the rest of its "biblical lands" (most of the Middle East), and the rebuilding of the Third Temple on the site now occupied by the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques. The legions of the antichrist will then be deployed against Israel, and their war will lead to a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. The Jews will either burn or convert to Christianity, and the Messiah will return to Earth. What makes the story so appealing to Christian fundamentalists is that before the big battle begins, all "true believers" (ie those who believe what they believe) will be lifted out of their clothes and wafted up to heaven during an event called the Rapture. Not only do the worthy get to sit at the right hand of God, but they will be able to watch, from the best seats, their political and religious opponents being devoured by boils, sores, locusts and frogs, during the seven years of Tribulation which follow. The true believers are now seeking to bring all this about. This means staging confrontations at the old temple site (in 2000, three US Christians were deported for trying to blow up the mosques there), sponsoring Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, demanding ever more US support for Israel, and seeking to provoke a final battle with the Muslim world/Axis of Evil/United Nations/ European Union/France or whoever the legions of the antichrist turn out to be. The believers are convinced that they will soon be rewarded for their efforts. The antichrist is apparently walking among us, in the guise of Kofi Annan, Javier Solana, Yasser Arafat or, more plausibly, Silvio Berlusconi. The Wal-Mart corporation is also a candidate (in my view a very good one), because it wants to radio- tag its stock, thereby exposing humankind to the Mark of the Beast. By clicking on www.raptureready.com, you can discover how close you might be to flying out of your pyjamas. The infidels among us should take note that the Rapture Index currently stands at 144, just one point below the critical threshold, beyond which the sky will be filled with floating nudists. Beast Government, Wild Weather and Israel are all trading at the maximum five points (the EU is debat ing its constitution, there was a freak hurricane in the south Atlantic, Hamas has sworn to avenge the killing of its leaders), but the second coming is currently being delayed by an unfortunate decline in drug abuse among teenagers and a weak showing by the antichrist (both of which score only two). We can laugh at these people, but we should not dismiss them. That their beliefs are bonkers does not mean they are marginal. American pollsters believe that 15-18% of US voters belong to churches or movements which subscribe to these teachings. A survey in 1999 suggested that this figure included 33% of Republicans. The best-selling contemporary books in the US are the 12 volumes of the Left Behind series, which provide what is usually described as a "fictionalised" account of the Rapture (this, apparently, distinguishes it from the other one), with plenty of dripping details about what will happen to the rest of us. The people who believe all this don't believe it just a little; for them it is a matter of life eternal and death. And among them are some of the most powerful men in America. John Ashcroft, the attorney general, is a true believer, so are several prominent senators and the House majority leader, Tom DeLay. Mr DeLay (who is also the co-author of the marvellously named DeLay-Doolittle Amendment, postponing campaign finance reforms) travelled to Israel last year to tell the Knesset that "there is no middle ground, no moderate position worth taking". So here we have a major political constituency - representing much of the current president's core vote - in the most powerful nation on Earth, which is actively seeking to provoke a new world war. Its members see the invasion of Iraq as a warm-up act, as Revelation (9:14-15) maintains that four angels "which are bound in the great river Euphrates" will be released "to slay the third part of men". They batter down the doors of the White House as soon as its support for Israel wavers: when Bush asked Ariel Sharon to pull his tanks out of Jenin in 2002, he received 100,000 angry emails from Christian fundamentalists, and never mentioned the matter again. The electoral calculation, crazy as it appears, works like this. Governments stand or fall on domestic issues. For 85% of the US electorate, the Middle East is a foreign issue, and therefore of secondary interest when they enter the polling booth. For 15% of the electorate, the Middle East is not just a domestic matter, it's a personal one: if the president fails to start a conflagration there, his core voters don't get to sit at the right hand of God. Bush, in other words, stands to lose fewer votes by encouraging Israeli aggression than he stands to lose by restraining it. He would be mad to listen to these people. He would also be mad not to. George Monbiot's book The Age of Consent: a Manifesto for a New World Order is now published in paperback. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. 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