The Rapture: A Play
Christian Nationalists are performing out their favorite (un)Bible story
As someone who grew up fundegelical (fundamentalist and evangelical Christian), I’m not at all surprised that Donald Trump chose to bomb Iran. It tracks with what I know of him and the Christian Nationalist/MAGA movement. I am, of course, completely against attacking Iran on behalf of Israel, but I totally expected it. The most important thing to the movement is what happens with Israel.
Christian Nationalism is based partly on Old Testament myths, stories, and the history of Biblical Israel, but also on the book of Revelation. They want to govern the United States of America by the laws (and punishments) of the Old Testament. If this were all, it would be bad enough, but unfortunately this is just the beginning of sorrows as far as the movement is concerned.
Back in the 1830’s, a new doctrine was peddled by certain segments of American Protestantism. Using primarily the book of Revelation, several letters attributed to St. Paul, and the prophetic books of the Old Testament, some idiot named John Nelson Darby came up with a bizarre eschatological theology commonly known these days as “the rapture.”
In the 1990’s, two fundegelical grifters named Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins popularized this doctrine futher by creating books and movies that cemented this shit into the fundegelical consciousness. These mediocre at best, supposedly Christian stories were the literary equivalent of Jesus junk and were, like other Jesus junk, widely accepted within American fundegelical culture.
It’s important to note that this rapture business does not exist in orthodox Christian theology. It could probably be labeled a heresy, but that depends on who is telling the story I suppose. My point is, when the Council of Nicea convened in 325, they came up with a core set of basic beliefs for all of Christendom, and the rapture didn’t make the list. It didn’t even come up when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of a Catholic Church in Germany, or when Sola Scriptura became a thing. No, this rapture stuff is only 200 years old.
Christian Nationalists, who have been working on creating our current political hellscape for more than fifty years now, figured out the story of the rapture was perfect for their political goals.
Biblical Israel features in the story of the rapture, but Christian Nationalists don’t seem to be able to tell the difference between the modern state of Israel and Biblical Israel and so they conflate the two together. This is rather convenient because it makes their narrative easier to spin.
These people will read passages from the Bible to prove that the state of Israel has God’s blessing, when it’s actually Biblical Israel that the words of the Old Testament apply to. Marrying these two means that the Christian Nationalists are able to pretend that God’s blessing will come to the United States if we side with Israel and that God’s curses will be upon us if we do not cater to the state of Israel.
Christian Nationalism truly is political theater. These people are making decisions based on their combining of Biblical Israel with the state of Israel by using Bible stories to create political narratives that inform the movement.
Lots of fundegelical children that had already claimed to be born again Christians “got saved” (again) when the “Left Behind” books came out. After all, we had the hell scared into us on a regular basis. These books caused mass panic amongst the kids in fundegelical households and we all wanted ot be sure we wouldn’t be “left behind” after the rapture and have to go through the tribulation.
The brief version of this rapture story is that one day, when the world least expects it, at a time known only to God, all the born again (and ONLY the born again variety) Christians will disappear up into heaven quicker than a person can blink. This will send the entire world into complete and utter chaos.
If a person is on a bus with a born again driver at the moment of the rapture, the driver will be snatched up into heaven and the bus will crash because there is no driver. It will be the same with planes that have born again pilots. Someone could be at a football game and a bunch of the players disappear mid play. Perhaps somebody end up having life-saving surgery but the rapture happens and the surgeon, as a born again believer, is taken, and the patient left to die.
After this moment, all hell breaks loose. Mass panic will ensue. Things come to a screeching halt worldwide and suddenly we are thrown into the zombie apocalypse for a period of seven years. For those who heard the Gospel and chose not to get saved, they will suffer much torment through this period and then, at the end, when Jesus comes back to earth, be thrown into an eternal lake of fire and brimstone.
If a person is lucky enough that they’ve never heard of this before, they get a chance to become a born again believer, but they will still live through the seven year tribulation (or the first three and a half, depending on who you ask).
There will be a political figure rise to power who pretends to be Jesus but is really the anti-Christ, someone that is evil and merely masquerading as Jesus. Strangely enough, there is a very popular, dangerous man who Christian Nationalists have embraced as their orange messiah, and that is Donald Trump. Even though they themselves claim to believe this story, they can’t even recognize their own villian but rather think he’s their savior.
This story has Old Testament prophecies attached, which is where Israel comes into the picture. After all, the rapture cannot happen until the “Holy Land” is restored to Israel, which means they must help the state of Israel conquer it no matter what it costs. It’s a necessary part of the process and therefore they are required by God to do the state of Israel’s bidding.
Donald Trump and his cronies will do anything Benjamin Netanyahu tells them to do, because otherwise, the United States will be cursed by God. Personally I wouldn’t serve a god that required me to commit genocide to be and remain in his favor, but I’m not a Christian Nationalist. Critical thinking isn’t their strong point.
If the state of Israel wants Iran bombed, then the Christian Nationalists support it. For them this is a holy war despite the fact that war is never holy and that the so-called “Holy Land” is currently the most unholy place on earth as the state of Israel commits genocide against the Palestinian people.
If going to war with Iran is the next act of this performance, then it will be done. This is a story they have carefully constructed, a play they are performing for the masses in order to get what they want, which is power, money, and world domination. Nothing else matters to them.