Warning, this post contains spoilers. And, given the subject matter of the movie, that means that this post will tell you exactly how the world will end. Only keep reading if you are ready for that information.
The anti-Christ is a diabolical, inscrutable Slav -- named Carpathia, for bigotry's sake! "Carpathia" being the name of a region chock full of Slavs & where, before the Holocaust, many Jews lived -- and evil Carpathia is in cahoots with crafty Jews. Together they are gonna take over the world.
And no doubt many viewers are convinced that the Bible predicts all this.
A Jewish guy is shown with his seeds that make wheat grow in the desert. These seeds will give Nicolae Carpathia (major spoiler here), the anti-Christ, power over the world.
In the next scene, hundreds of warplanes are shown screaming out of Iraq toward Israel; similarly, hundreds of tanks are coursing across the Syrian border toward Israel. The World War Three we've all learned to fear is beginning. I found these scenes genuinely scary and depressing.
Then, of course, the Rapture. Millions of people (all believing Christians) disappear, and their befuddled survivors are "left behind" to cope as best they can.
The movie's exploitation of our fears about the Middle East as a flashpoint offended me. The movie is not saying, "Christianity is a satisfying and uplifting experience, that, in its own right, is worth taking up." No. The movie is delivering the same message as the six o'clock news:
<<The world is a scary place. You can't do anything that will change the world for the better -- cause this was all set down in the Bible thousands of years ago, right?
And anyone who speaks of world peace, feeding the poor, disarmement and the brotherhood of humanity, that is, human solutions to human problems, as Nicolae Carpathia does, (and, as Communists / Leftists / Socialists did) is in league with Satan. And anyone who does not accept Christ, as the Jewish character does not, supports Satan.
Your only option to avoid all these terrors is to literally absent yoruself from the rest of humanity, and join up with us.
Others -- those not like us -- are deluded tools at best, and satanic, at worst. Don't trust them. >>
Especially given many Christians' murder of Jews over the years, the exploitation of images of Jews as agency-less tools of Tim La Haye's end of the world scenario is just beyond offensive.
And, no, I'm not Jewish; I'm Catholic. One of those folks who believe this stuff think are going to hell.
Well, at least I'll be with the other Slavic people and Jews. Probably more interesting than being with Tim La Haye for all eternity.
The anti-Christ is a diabolical, inscrutable Slav -- named Carpathia, for bigotry's sake! "Carpathia" being the name of a region chock full of Slavs & where, before the Holocaust, many Jews lived -- and evil Carpathia is in cahoots with crafty Jews. Together they are gonna take over the world.
And no doubt many viewers are convinced that the Bible predicts all this.
A Jewish guy is shown with his seeds that make wheat grow in the desert. These seeds will give Nicolae Carpathia (major spoiler here), the anti-Christ, power over the world.
In the next scene, hundreds of warplanes are shown screaming out of Iraq toward Israel; similarly, hundreds of tanks are coursing across the Syrian border toward Israel. The World War Three we've all learned to fear is beginning. I found these scenes genuinely scary and depressing.
Then, of course, the Rapture. Millions of people (all believing Christians) disappear, and their befuddled survivors are "left behind" to cope as best they can.
The movie's exploitation of our fears about the Middle East as a flashpoint offended me. The movie is not saying, "Christianity is a satisfying and uplifting experience, that, in its own right, is worth taking up." No. The movie is delivering the same message as the six o'clock news:
<<The world is a scary place. You can't do anything that will change the world for the better -- cause this was all set down in the Bible thousands of years ago, right?
And anyone who speaks of world peace, feeding the poor, disarmement and the brotherhood of humanity, that is, human solutions to human problems, as Nicolae Carpathia does, (and, as Communists / Leftists / Socialists did) is in league with Satan. And anyone who does not accept Christ, as the Jewish character does not, supports Satan.
Your only option to avoid all these terrors is to literally absent yoruself from the rest of humanity, and join up with us.
Others -- those not like us -- are deluded tools at best, and satanic, at worst. Don't trust them. >>
Especially given many Christians' murder of Jews over the years, the exploitation of images of Jews as agency-less tools of Tim La Haye's end of the world scenario is just beyond offensive.
And, no, I'm not Jewish; I'm Catholic. One of those folks who believe this stuff think are going to hell.
Well, at least I'll be with the other Slavic people and Jews. Probably more interesting than being with Tim La Haye for all eternity.