It’s also important to note that when the Puritan’s migrated to the Colonies, they came for two reasons; to escape religious persecution in Europe and to convert those who inhabited this land to their faith, Christianity. The problems arose when the Puritans began running out of food and started raiding the supplies of the natives, which resulted in several conflicts and an eventual “war” on the Indians. The Puritans, to justify their actions labeled the natives as “agents of the Antichrist” - therefore making it “Christian” to murder those who represented the Antichrist and gave them the rationale and moral high-ground to murder countless thousands of innocents under the name of God. (Odd, but you won’t find this fact in history books used in the education of our youth. It seems that the “Christian influence” in government is attempting to re-write history so that Christianity will be viewed in a more favorable light, but as the extermination of Native American Indians have shown, there is much darkness associated with that light!)
Also in the 19th Century, a Preacher by the name of William Miller argued that the entire Book of Revelations was unfulfilled, and predicted the end of the world between 1843 and 1844. When his original date was missed, he stated he had made a miscalculation, and came up with another date in the near future. His followers, known as “Millerites“ actually quit working in the fields and performing their regular duties while waiting for Armageddon in an era that was dubbed to be “The Great Disappointment” .
In the 1920’s and 30’s, Chain Stores were seen as an agent of the Antichrist as they pushed some small businessmen out of business and introduced complicated systems of numbers for inventory control, which were viewed as tools of the Antichrist.
Hal Lindsey was one of the most famous with his novel “The late Great Planet Earth.” The book has sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 35,000,000 copies. Consider all of those sales in spite of the fact that Hal Lindsey forecast that the end days would be within the generation of the establishment of Israel in 1948 and believed that a generation in the Bible was 40 years. Therefore, by 1988 Jesus would have established his kingdom. Virtually none of Lindsey’s verifiable predictions have been confirmed by history.
Now, for the current day reemergence of the “Rapture” culture, we can turn to Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins for their enormous success of the “Left Behind“ series, one that I actually read myself. The storyline was interesting, and each volume was a cliff-hanger, leaving millions of people not-so-patiently awaiting the next release of the series. After it was finished, I sighed and felt good that in the end, evil was vanquished and as was expected, the good guys won the final battle. It was a great fictional series, I enjoyed it, and made a mental note to NEVER allow anyone to tattoo my forehead or hand, just in case there was any possibility that reality turns out to be as strange as fiction!
The problem is, millions of other Americans and Evangelical Christians took this fictional interpretation of the Bible and Book of Revelations literally; the original book, “Left Behind” was released in October of 1995 and since then, religiosity has returned to the United States with a vengeance; conservative right-wing Evangelical Christians are attempting to dominate politics, remove a woman’s right to free-choice, bashing gays, and generally demanding that millions of Americans bow to their views and beliefs rather than minding their own business. A casual reader might assume that I am anti-Christian or on a broader scale, an atheist who respects no religion. Nothing could be further from the truth, however I will admit that I am against any religious influence in government, whether it be our Presidency, Congress, or other countries that tie their national identity with religious concepts. Religion and politics don’t mix and history is the indicator that religion and government, inter-mixed, is a recipe for disaster.
One final word on LaHaye and Jenkins; I was researching the original release date of “Left Behind” in an attempt to correlate the rise of Evangelical Christians in the States, and it does correspond almost perfectly, although I did note an oddity, which is without doubt a marketing technique which will further add to the individual wealth of both authors. Their latest book, “The Rapture,” is slated for release on 06-06-06. Take out the zeros and you have the sign of the Beast, an interesting day to release a fictional novel that offers those who “believe” a way to escape the coming Apocalypse. One thing is certain; there is a lot of money to be made on forecasting doom and gloom. Scientists have predicted that earth is in the 6th major extinction cycle, global warming is wrecking havoc on the climate, and other coincidental events heighten the fear of a world about to end. I won’t say that we aren’t in big trouble from the standpoint of nature and an extinction cycle that has occurred five (5) other times; but, I am aghast at those who use science and fear to line their own pockets, all the while affecting international politics with their stories of doom and gloom while they attempt to divide the earth into two distinct groups, good and evil. Unfortunately, it’s never that simple!
I am not the only one to recognize the danger of mixing religion with politics, and Madeleine Albright made the point quite well on CNN:
Albright fears Bush’s faith in God
LONDON, England (Reuters) — U.S. President George W. Bush has alienated Muslims around the world by using absolutist Christian rhetoric to discuss foreign policy issues, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says.
“I worked for two presidents who were men of faith, and they did not make their religious views part of American policy,” she said, referring to Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, both Democrats and Christians.
“President Bush’s certitude about what he believes in, and the division between good and evil, is, I think, different,” said Albright, who has just published a book on religion and world affairs. “The absolute truth is what makes Bush so worrying to some of us.”
Bush, a Republican, has openly acknowledged his Christian faith informs his decisions as president. He says, for example, that he prayed to God for guidance before invading Iraq.
Some Muslims have accused him of waging a crusade against Islam, comparable with those of the Middle Ages. The White House says it has nothing against Islam, but against those who commit terrorist atrocities in its name.
But Albright says Bush’s religious absolutism has made U.S. foreign policy “more rigid and more difficult for other countries to accept.” http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/22/albright.bush.reut/index.html - This link no longer works.
NOTE: Again, as I am attempting to edit this article, I found that CNN has lost or destroyed this story; the original may be out there somewhere in cyberspace, however I haven’t been able to find it in the CNN archives. The above post is verbatim from CNN’s original article, and I did find other references that substantiate the above story: Albright: Bush is alienating Muslims
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