John
Walliss, Senior
Lecturer in the Sociology of Religion
Hope
Centre for Millennialism Studies
Department
of Theology and Religious Studies
Liverpool
Hope University
Abstract
This article examines the contours of contemporary rapture films,
examining them as cultural documents that reflect the particular
religio-political worldviews of their producers, and more broadly of the
evangelical Christian/premillennialist milieu in which they are produced and
consumed. In particular, it argues that the films may be seen to operate on
several levels simultaneously. On one level they seek to educate their viewers
in the specifics of premillennial understandings of prophecy in an entertaining
manner and encourage those who have not yet done so to undergo a born again
experience. However, on another, equally important level, they also serve to
articulate and possibly even redefine a sense of evangelical identity within
the context of a late modern, increasingly globalised world through the
language and imagery of the apocalypse.
Introduction
[1] Over the
course of the last decade or so a small but growing literature has developed
which focuses on various aspects of premillennial “rapture fiction,”
specifically the Left Behind series of novels
produced by leading Dispensationalist author Tim LaHaye along with Jerry
Jenkins. To date, however, relatively little attention has been paid to the
related genre of “rapture films,” that is films produced by evangelical
Christian filmmakers in order to present popularised
premillennial/Dispensationalist understandings of the End Times. Paul Boyer
(1992), for example, in his magisterial analysis of American premillennialism When
Time Shall be No More gives only a cursory mention
to the A Thief in the Night series of films,
while Timothy Weber (1987) in his Living in the Shadow of the Second Coming ignores it completely, despite the films having been seen by a
reported three hundred million people. Similarly, the volumes on the Left
Behind series by Forbes and Kilde (2004), Frykholm
(2004), and Gribben (2006b) focus almost exclusively on the books themselves,
typically mentioning the three Left Behind films
(Left Behind: The Movie; Left Behind:
Tribulation Force; and Left Behind: World at War) only in the context of the broader Left Behind franchise. Discussions of rapture films are also surprisingly few
and far between within the literature on religion and film (although, see
Ostwalt 2003), with debates focusing
instead almost exclusively on secular apocalyptic films such as Armageddon,
12 Monkeys and End of Days.
[2] In this
chapter, I aim to go some way towards filling this lacuna in the literature by
discussing the contours of contemporary rapture films; examining them as
cultural documents that reflect the particular religio-political worldviews of
their producers, and more broadly of the evangelical Christian/premillennialist
milieu in which they are produced and consumed. In doing so, I will argue—following
McAllister’s (2003) and Frykholm’s (2004) analysis of rapture literature—that
although the films are ostensibly concerned with depicting a prophetic future,
they are also very much about, and indeed, responses to, the present (see also
Boyer 1992, 270; Urban 2006, 7). Without wanting to suggest crudely that a
variety of evangelical fears and bugbears may be “read off” from the films, I
will argue that, in a similar way to rapture fiction, the films convey a series
of messages about a variety of religious and geo-political issues that exercise
their producers and audience, ranging from fears of a one-world global order
and a resurgence of “old Europe,” questions about the nature and certainty of
salvation, an ambivalence towards technology and the mass media, and last but
no means least, beliefs about the nature of “true Christianity” and the place
of evangelical Christians in the contemporary world.
[3] More
broadly, drawing together Heather Hendershot’s (2004) work on rapture films and
Amy Johnson Frykholm (2004) and Glenn W. Shuck’s (2005) analysis of the Left
Behind novels, I will argue that rapture films may
be seen to operate on several levels simultaneously. On one level, as
Hendershot suggests, rapture films seek to educate their viewers in the specifics
of premillennial understandings of prophecy in an entertaining manner and
encourage those who have not yet done so to undergo a born again experience.
However, on another, equally important level, following Frykholm and Shuck I
will argue that they also serve to articulate and possibly even redefine a
sense of evangelical identity within the context of a late modern, increasingly
globalised world through the language and imagery of the apocalypse. The films
thus, in a manner akin to science fiction (see, for example, Booker 2006),
allow both their producers and audiences to explore their present concerns and
issues by projecting them into a near future where they will all be brought
into stark relief. So, for example, concerns about growing internationalism and
its impact on Americans’ freedom at home are expressed by reading them forward
through the lens of prophecy into the Antichrist-led United Nations and the
Mark of the Beast, while issues around the nature of salvation and what is true
Christianity are explored by depicting both the types of Christians who will be
“left behind” following the rapture and the means by which they attempt to
achieve salvation. To this end, my article will be structured in three parts.
In the first, I will set the context for the subsequent discussion by sketching
a brief overview of the contemporary rapture film “industry,” highlighting both
the main films and key trends within the genre. Following on from this, I will
then discuss several key recurring tropes found across a range of rapture
films, highlighting the ways in which they reflect both the present and future
concerns of their producers and audience.
The
Rapture Film Industry
[4] The
emergence of the contemporary rapture film industry may be traced back to the
release of A Thief in the Night in 1972. While the production of films by evangelical Christians
dealing with the End Times goes back further to at least 1941 with the release
of The Rapture (see Wright, forthcoming), it was
this film that has single-handedly defined the rapture film genre. Indeed, as
one-commentator notes, “it is only a slight exaggeration to say that A Thief
in the Night affected the evangelical film industry
the way that sound or colour affected Hollywood” (Balmer 2006, 64). Despite
being seen by an estimated three hundred million people worldwide, Thief did not receive a theatrical release, but rather was shown on 16mm
film in churches and at Christian youth camps, where it was typically followed
by an “altar call”; the relatively gruesome content of the film, it was hoped,
providing the necessary impetus for lost souls to “give their heart to Jesus”
(Balmer 2006; Hendershot 2004).[2]
[5] One person
among the many millions who saw and was affected by Thief and its sequels was the Canadian Peter Lalonde, who, with his
brother Paul, formed Cloud Ten Productions in the late 1990s. Since its
inception, Cloud Ten has been at the forefront of the rapture film industry,
producing a string of films between 1998 and 2005. In 1998 it produced Apocalypse: Caught in the Eye of the Storm, in
cooperation with Jack Van Impe Ministries, which was followed by three sequels, Revelation (1999), Tribulation (1999),[3] and Judgement (2000). In the same
year that Judgement was released, it also
released an adaptation of the first Left Behind novel, Left Behind: The
Movie (2000), which was, in turn, followed by two
sequels, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force (2002) and Left Behind: World at War (2005),
with a fourth film in development.[4]
[6] While
clearly influenced by A Thief in the Night, the
Cloud Ten films differ from it in a number of ways. Primarily, its films are
produced on significantly larger budgets and, in contrast to Thief’s use of willing amateurs, feature casts of “name” actors, such as
Jeff Fahey (The Lawnmower Man), Gary Busey (The
Buddy Holly Story, Lethal Weapon), Corbin Bernsen (LA
Law), and Lou Gossett Jr. (An Officer and a
Gentleman).[5] More importantly, in contrast to
the explicit evangelism and scare-tactics of Thief, Cloud Ten has attempted to market its films as “supernatural
thrillers” that could appeal to mainstream audiences and “send a message to
Hollywood.” The majority of its films, however, do not receive theatrical
release—Left Behind: The Movie being the
exception—but are instead released straight to DVD and video. When they
are exhibited publicly, they are typically shown not in multiplexes but,
rather, like Thief, in churches; the films
receiving what are referred to as a “Church Theatrical Release” (see Hendershot
2004 and Walliss forthcoming for discussions).
[7] The most
commercially successful rapture film to date, however, was not produced by
Cloud Ten, but rather Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Theatrically released
in 1999, The Omega Code grossed over $12.6
million at the box office; three times the amount earned by Left Behind: The
Movie. Nevertheless, its sequel (Omega Code II:
Megiddo) did not fare as well and it would appear
that its success represents the high water mark commercially-speaking for
rapture films. Indeed, subsequent rapture films seem to owe more to the low
budget aesthetic of Thief than to The Omega
Code and the big budget releases of Cloud Ten. The
Moment After, for example, cost just $90,000 to
produce, and in the tradition of Thief, features
friends of the producers/actors in acting and producing roles. A number of sets
used in the film are also properties belonging to the producers of the film, or
to their friends.[6] Such low budgets does not necessarily, however, mean that the
desire to produce high production value product à la Cloud Ten is no longer a strong motivation for the producers of
these films. The producers of Gone, for example,
are keen to point out on their webpage that, despite its apparent low budget,
the film was shot on the same Sony High Definition camera that “Mr. George Lucas used on his
latest instalment of “Star Wars” [Episode III: Attack of the Clones].”[7]
The
Contours of Contemporary Rapture Films
[8] The last
decade, then, has witnessed several attempts, most notably by Cloud Ten and by
those behind The Omega Code, to produce rapture
films that can reach a broader audience outside of the evangelical Christian
community. However, despite this growing emphasis on the potential
entertainment value of rapture films for mainstream audiences, they remain
nevertheless fundamentally niche market products. Indeed, in many ways their
producers’ desire to communicate to a wider audience and achieve some level of
mainstream success is itself motivated more by the desire to propagate Biblical/apocalyptic
“truth” to audiences outside of churches, and hopefully “win souls for Christ,”
than to achieve success for its own sake (Schultze 1996, 63-64).
[9] As a genre of filmmaking, rapture films attempt to
depict to their audiences what their producers believe, based on a
premillennial/Dispensationalist reading of apocalyptic texts, will be the
horrors of the End Times. Thus, the films catalogue the awful state of affairs
that those “left behind” after the rapture of the faithful (1 Thess 4:16-17)
will have to endure during the Tribulation period; the rise to power and
earthly rule of the Antichrist through a reborn Roman Empire (Dan 7; Rev 13:1), God’s
wrath being poured out onto the earth (Rev 6; 8-10; 15-16), the (possibly forced) establishment of the “Mark of the Beast” (Rev.
13:16-18), the emergence of the “False Prophet” and a One World Religion (Rev
13:1-15), and the organised persecution of all those who refuse to worship the
new, satanic world order (Rev 6:9-11; 20:4). Indeed, in many ways rapture films
present almost identical dramatis personae and
plot motifs, with each film often only differing in the actors that play them
and the way in which particular motifs are emphasised and presented.[8]
The
Horrors of the Tribulation
[10] Without
doubt the most important character found across rapture films is the
Antichrist. Whether alluded to or portrayed on screen, the Antichrist and his
seven-year rule during the Tribulation form the central geo-political backdrop
against which rapture films’ respective narratives unfold. Drawing on a
tradition within Dispensationalist exegesis stretching back to at least Hal
Lindsey (1971) and echoing the profound unease among American premillennialists
concerning growing internationalism in the post-war era and America’s place in
an age of increasing globalisation, rapture films explicitly link the
Antichrist and the Reborn Roman Empire with the United Nations and with the
forces of globalisation (Boyer 1992; Lindermayer 2001; Gribben 2006). In A
Thief in the Night, the Apocalypse and Left Behind series, and The
Omega Code and its sequel, for example, the
Antichrist is portrayed as a charismatic European man, who comes to power as
the leader of the United Nations (or functionally similar body) promising peace
and security, global unity, an end to famine, and other seemingly desirable
geopolitical aims. In some films he even offers answers to why people across
the world have suddenly disappeared, and to bring order back to the chaos of
the post-Rapture world. To this end, he proposes
that nations adopt a common world currency, cede their sovereignty to a UN-led
world super-state, and adopt him, as head of the UN, as the leader of the
world, if not the messiah himself.
[11] Thus, the Apocalypse series depicts the rise to power of the “European Union President”
Franco Macalusso in the chaotic aftermath of the Rapture. Claiming to be none
other than “the God of your fathers” (2 Thess 2:3-4; Matt. 24:15), Macalusso
promises humanity “a new age of peace and prosperity…[and]…human enlightenment!
... Heaven on earth!” and establishes a unified global order, O.N.E. (One
Nation Earth; motto Mundus Vult Decipi—The World Wants to be Deceived), with himself at its head. Similarly, in the Left Behind series, the Antichrist emerges to world power in the form a
charismatic young Romanian politician, Nicolae Carpathia, who, at the behest of
the world’s leaders, becomes Secretary General of the United Nations. Claiming,
like Macalusso, to want only to bring the world peace and security in the chaos
of the post-Rapture world, the Carpathia-led UN quickly subsumes nation states
under its control, establishes a one world currency, and takes control of the
world’s media. Finally, in The Omega Code,
veteran British actor Michael York plays Stone Alexander, a “beloved media
mogul turned political dynamo” who becomes “Chairman of the European Union.” In
this role, he quickly brokers a seven-year peace treaty between the
Palestinians and the Israelis (Dan 9:27), and reorganises geopolitical affairs
into a one world union of ten zones (Dan 7:7). After coming back to life from a
fatal head wound (Rev 13:3), he has the Temple in Jerusalem rebuilt and from
there declares himself, like Macalusso, to be none other than God himself.
[12] Having
gained control of the world at the geopolitical and economic levels, the
Antichrist/UN’s attention then turns to gaining control over other spheres of
life. As several commentators have noted, within rapture fiction generally, the
Antichrist’s totalitarian control over the world and individual souls is
portrayed as multidimensional, combining political power through the UN,
economic/financial power through a common currency, and cultural and religious
power (McAlister 2003; Shuck 2005).
[13] In their portrayals
of the Antichrist’s control over the cultural domain, rapture films again draw
on established trends in popularised dispensational exegesis by focusing on
technology and the mass media as the methods by which the Antichrist will win
power over the hearts and minds of individuals. At least since the 1960s,
numerous popularisations of prophecy have woven computers into their depictions
of the End Times, with some going so far as to claim that the Antichrist may
itself be a computer (Boyer 1992). Nevertheless, when compared to these earlier
negative accounts, rapture films appear much more ambivalent in how they
portray technology (Frykholm 2004). While, on the one hand, they draw on these
earlier ideas of technology being a tool of the Antichrist, they also portray
his opponents using it both to resist and battle against him.
[14] Without
question the most important technological means within rapture films by which
the Antichrist attempts to win control over individuals is “The Mark of the
Beast”; a form of barcode or chip that is implanted into the body in order to
mark an individual as a follower of the Antichrist and, in some cases, allow
him to control their actions. In A Thief in the Night, for example, a spokesman for the UN-established body UNITE (or United
Nations Imperium of Total Emergency) is shown on a
TV broadcast requesting that citizens “show [themselves] a true citizen of the
world,” by reporting to their “local UNITE identification centre.” The film
then shows individuals queuing at a centre to have an electronic barcode
tattooed on either their forehead or hand, with one old man telling the UNITE
official: “put it right there [points to his forehead]. I’m not afraid to be a
good citizen!” The film’s heroine, Patty, however, declines to do so and the
viewer sees her walking around with a despondent air being turned away from
various shops displaying “Citizens Only” signs for not having the Mark (Rev
13:17). Likewise, The Moment After and its
sequel draws on contemporary fears of the satellite tracking of individuals by
referring to the Mark as the “B” or “BEAST Chip,” an acronym for Biological
Encoding And Satellite Tracking. In both cases, individuals have little or no
choice over whether they take the mark; they must, the films show, take the
mark or face what the UNITE spokesman refers to in Thief as “arrest and prolonged inconvenience” [sic].
[15] In
contrast, in the Apocalypse series the decision
is based more on seduction (at least initially) than on coercion and, indeed,
features a much more complex technological scenario involving virtual reality
headsets. Thus, during what is billed as “The Day of Wonders,” Macalusso
enjoins the whole population of the world to don headsets and enter a virtual
world. Once in this world, Macalusso offers each individual his or her heart’s
desire in exchange for taking his Mark (which is portrayed as a form of tattoo
666). While the majority accept the exchange, and thereby give their souls over
to the Antichrist, a few who recognise him for who he is are shown refusing and
as a punishment are executed in the VR world by guillotine, their bodies also
somehow dying in reality as well. [9]
[16] However, it
is also through the use of technology that those “left behind” are able to
resist the Antichrist. Arguably reflecting evangelical Christians’ increased
use of a variety of technology and media forms over recent decades, technology—and
as we shall see below, the media—is portrayed as a neutral medium that
may be co-opted or subverted by the enemies of the Antichrist. So, for example,
a number of rapture films show their heroes producing fake Marks that allow
them to resist the Antichrist (in some cases allowing them to access his
strongholds to subvert his plans), while in the Apocalypse series the “Day of Wonders” software is hacked into and eventually
destroyed by the films’ heroes. Similarly, the central plotline in the final
instalment in the Thief series, The Prodigal
Planet, revolves around the film’s heroes
attempting to construct a “computerised radio transmitter” that will link
together the disparate underground Christian groups resisting the Antichrist.
At the film’s finale the transmission—a choir singing “Onward Christian
Soldiers”—is broadcast worldwide, the melody of which destabilises the Antichrist’s
computer system, causing it to melt down.
[17] A similar
ambivalence is also found within rapture films in their portrayal of the media. Again, as with technology, the media are frequently
shown as the obvious means by which the Antichrist disseminates his deceptive
message to the world. So, for example, in the Thief, Apocalypse and Left Behind series, the Antichrist is shown frequently addressing the world via
global telecasts. Indeed, one of the Antichrist’s first actions after assuming
power in all three series is to take control of the media, thereby turning them
into propaganda tools. However, again, it is also portrayed as a site of
resistance; a site whereby the Antichrist’s message may be either subverted or
replaced by a Christian counter-discourse. In both the Apocalypse and Left Behind series, for example,
the lead Christian heroes are broadcast journalists who use their positions in
order to subvert the Antichrist’s message, and where possible promote a
Christian one. Indeed, in the latter films in the Apocalypse series, one of the Christian journalists, Helen Hannah, goes on the
run and begins to broadcast contemporary evangelical Christian videos about the
Endtimes from a mobile transmission van in order to spread a Christian message.
[18] In this
way, contemporary rapture films differ markedly from earlier forms of rapture
fiction that saw technology and the media as inherently evil and resistance to
the Antichrist as impossible (Frykholm 2004; Shuck 2005; cf. also Schueltze
1996, 65-67 on evangelical perceptions of the media). In contrast, both are
presented as morally neutral domains which, although under the power of
anti-Christian forces, can be subverted and “won over for Christ”; a
perspective which arguably reflects the contemporary evangelical logic of
political involvement (see Schultze 1990; Ammerman 1998; see especially LaHaye
1984 on the necessity of evangelicals reclaiming the media). As Shuck (2005)
observes, whereas earlier generations of evangelicals avoided the mainstream
media and the political domain, seeing both as inherently evil, contemporary
evangelicals believe that they must become involved in order to defend
themselves and their beliefs against what Tim LaHaye (1980, 217) refers to as
the “pretribulation tribulation” of secular humanism (see also Neuhaus 1984).
[19] This theme
of evangelical Christians being a marginalised and under threat minority within
a hostile religio-political culture is another recurring theme within rapture
films. As Gribben (2006) notes, a central theme within dispensationalist and
evangelical Christian self-identity is a sense of being an acutely marginal and
marginalised subculture, despite strong evidence to the contrary, particularly
in America. Indeed, such is the pessimistic view of the future found within
dispensationalism, that often the world is seen to progress:
… in a way decidedly hostile to the interest of these Christians,
and within the narrative, true Christianity must become increasingly isolated
and marginalised. Christians must face discrimination and persecution, the
world must become increasingly dominated by evil, and true believers must seem
increasingly scarce (Frykholm 2004, 106).
[20] Rapture
films echo—if not exploit—this fear by portraying the persecution that
those who convert to Christianity after the Rapture will have to endure at the
hands of the Antichrist. Painting a clear trajectory from contemporary
perceived marginalisation to future genocide, they portray a world where to
quote the prayer of one of the main Christian protagonists in Left Behind:
World at War: “Father, if we do nothing but admit
to knowing you and loving you they send us for re-education. If we lift a
finger to spread your word they sentence us as terrorists. Even if we make it
to court, it’s a dark and fearful world …” Or, put more bluntly by the same
character earlier in the series: “admitting you’re a Christian during the
Tribulation is just like marking yourself for death.”
[21] A perennial
theme within rapture films is thus the choice that individual Christians must
face during the tribulation; whether they should take the Mark and thereby give
their souls over to Antichrist or whether they should refuse and, if caught, be
executed. A Distant Thunder, for example, draws
clear parallels between the born again “altar call” by showing a group of
individuals held captive in a church by UNITE who are given the option of
taking the Mark or being executed by guillotine. Indeed, the scene makes this
link explicit by cutting to a scene showing an evangelist in the pre-Rapture
world inviting members of a congregation to come forward and accept Jesus.
Going further, the finale of the first film in the Apocalypse series echoes the Nazi treatment of the Jews by showing Christians
being round up as enemies of the state and placed in cattle trucks to be sent
to concentration camps.
[22] Such images
continue across both the Apocalypse series and,
in a subtler way, across the Left Behind series.
The Apocalypse series in particular portrays
Christians (who are referred to as “Haters” due to their opposition to the new
order) almost like hunted animals because of their refusal to take the Mark.
They are also accused of terrorist activities such as blowing up school buses,
orphanages and old people’s homes; crimes which are in fact covert attempts by
O.N.E. to discredit them in the eyes of the world. Indeed, in the final film in
the series—which centres around the leader of the Christian underground’s
show trial for “crimes against humanity”—we see that O.N.E. has gone so
as to establish a “Haters Hotline,” where concerned citizens can report those
they suspect of being “Haters” to the authorities. The Left Behind series, in contrast, while referring
to the persecution that Christians will have to endure during the tribulation,
does not portray it as explicitly on screen, leaving it more to the imagination
of the viewer. That said, however, the Antichrist in the series arguably
develops the most ingenious method of dispatching Christians when, in Left Behind:
World at War, he has Bibles sprayed with chemical
agents that kill their readers as they read and handle them.
[23] Linked to
this marginalisation and persecution of Christians during the tribulation is
the concomitant emergence of “the False Prophet” and a One World Religion; an
emergence which, again, is portrayed as the culmination of existent perceived
counter-Christian trends. Thus, for example, in the later films in the Thief series, the “World Church” is portrayed as
pro-Corporation and anti-Israel; more concerned with secular matters—particularly
making profit from war—than with the spirit. In more recent films,
however, it is the New Age Movement and “self spirituality” (Heelas 1996) more
generally which are linked with the Antichrist, a shift arguably reflecting a
growing critique of such spiritualities among contemporary evangelical
Christians (Lindsey 1971, chap. 10; Saliba 1999; for examples see Cumbey 1982;
Groothuis 1988; Baer 1989; Noonan 2005). Franco Macalusso, in particular, is portrayed
as a form of New Age guru, offering humanity the key to unlocking their hidden
potential. In one of his first telecasts, for example, after announcing that he
is God, for example, he declares to the world in a speech replete with New Age
buzzwords that “we are ready to take the next great step of evolution”:
I will show you the wonderful powers that lie within you, waiting to
be unleashed; powers that have been your birthright from the very beginning.
What has held you back until now were those who refused to believe in the power
of the human mind. Those who believed that our true power came from outside
ourselves, I tell you today that the power is not outside yourself. It is
within yourself. It always has been! (cf. 2 Thess 2: 9-12)
[24] In order
for humanity to unleash these powers, however, he claims that “cancer cells in
our collective body” have first to be “removed.” The following scene then shows
scenes of mobs attacking Christians and burning down churches while a news
broadcast voiceover declares that “the world is united in a common hatred of
Christianity and Jesus Christ.”
[25] Similarly,
in Tribulation Force, Nicolae Carpathia
announces that humanity must put aside their differences—“the deadliest
of all” being their religious ones and look for answers within themselves; his
call being expressed through a clear inversion of the Lord’s Prayer:
There is no heaven or hell, there is just us, here, now. Let us not
look beyond ourselves, let us look to ourselves.
Together we need not fear temptation or evil for ours is the kingdom, the power and the
glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
[26] Later in
the film, Carpathia’s ambitions are made explicit when he proposes to “to give
[humanity] faith … by creating spiritual unity … a one world religion [of]
tolerance, harmony and peace.” Again, the New Age credentials of this
Anti-Christian religion are clear from its logo that is a bright New Age-like
Mandala, complete with mystical symbols such as Yin-Yang, surrounded by a red
border containing the words “God is in us. God is us. We are God.”
[27] The message
of both films is thus unambiguous: the New Age quest for divinity within is, if
not Satanic itself, clearly inimical to Christianity.
This theme is also explored, albeit in a much more subtle way, through the
character of Gillen Lane in The Omega Code. At
the beginning of the film, Lane is shown as motivational speaker who, although
raised a Christian, rejected it after his mother died in a tragic car accident
when he was a child. Thus, echoing words which could have come from Macalusso
or Carpathia, he tells an interviewer of how “I’ve seen too many held back
waiting on some higher power,” adding that “not until we grasp that we are the higher power can we take the next step in our evolution, and finally become whole!” However, over the course of the film this cynicism is replaced by
his former faith and, after undergoing a born again experience, he confronts
and attempts to kill his former employer, the Antichrist. Lane’s journey within
the film is thus one from (New Age) deception/weakness to belief/strength; his
newly (re)found belief giving him the strength to attempt to kill the
Antichrist.
“Save
me, Jesus”
[28] Moving from
the geo-political to the personal, another recurring motif across rapture films—but
particularly in the more low-budget offerings—is a focus on individuals’
born again conversion after the rapture. On one level at least, as Hendershot
(2004) points out, rapture films are conceived by their producers as didactic
tools for those wishing to convert either now or after the rapture, it is
therefore of no surprise that the films contain many exemplary portrayals of
conversion formulas (specifically the so-called “Sinner’s Prayer”) and
experiences. It is equally of no surprise that many rapture films—the Thief series being the notable example—deploy numerous scare
tactics in order to jolt their viewers into wanting to “open their heart to
Jesus” before it is too late. The recurring musical theme of Thief, for example, is the Larry Norman song “I Wish We’d All Been Ready,”
which features lines such as “A man and wife asleep in bed/She hears a noise
and turns her head he’s gone/I wish we’d all been ready” and “There’s no time
to change your mind/The Son has come and you’ve been left behind.” Its sequels
are also replete with images of individuals who waited until after the rapture
before undergoing conversion experiences being executed by guillotine; a motif
that, as noted earlier, is reprised across a number of subsequent films.
[29] However, on
another level, the films may also be read, again following Shuck (2005), as
articulations—or perhaps even redefinitions—of both a certain form
of Dispensationalist spiritual economy and a sense of evangelical identity.
Numerous commentators, for example, both from within academic and theological
quarters, have raised concerns about how the Left Behind novels introduce what they consider to be new and novel elements
into the dispensationalist salvational scheme (see for example, Barry 2000; Gribben
2006; Sweetnam 2006). Gribben (2006), in particular, in a recent critique of Left
Behind has highlighted how the novels introduce
several elements into the dispensationalist salvational scheme which, he
argues, not only lack biblical foundations, but are also at odds with the
beliefs of earlier dispensationalist writers. Most notable among these, he
claims, are the notions of that the unborn and those before puberty will
automatically be taken up in the rapture, that individuals may have a “second
chance” to be saved during the Tribulation, and that this salvation is achieved
through the recitation of the “Sinner’s Prayer.”
[30] Both the Left
Behind and Apocalypse series, for example, refer to children being taken up in the
rapture; the latter series in particular showing news footage of a distraught
woman pushing an empty pram screaming that someone has taken her baby.
Moreover, as a rule rapture films invariably feature at least one individual
undergoing a born again conversion after the rapture, often through reciting
some variation of the Sinner’s Prayer. Thus, while, as discussed above in the Apocalypse series there is a larger plot focusing on the rule of the
Antichrist and his plans to gain the souls of humanity, this in some ways
merely provides a context for each film’s central plot, which revolves around
their respective leading characters coming to accept the gospel and undergoing
a born again conversion. Likewise, The Moment After films focus on two FBI agents, Adam Riley and Charles Baker: the
former undergoes a born again conversion at the end of the first film, while
the latter undergoes one in the second while hunting for his fugitive former
partner.
[31] In this
way, then, rapture films are as much concerned with reinforcing and redefining
the beliefs of their viewers as they are with winning new souls. In particular,
the portrayal of born again conversions may, aside from potentially providing a
sense of Schadenfreude at the thought of what
awaits non-believers who realise the error of their ways after the rapture
(Shuck 2005), serve to reinforce viewers’ convictions that they are themselves
indeed saved—particularly if they too have used the “Sinner’s Prayer”
(Cordero 2004; Frykholm 2004). More broadly, by portraying characters moving from
a position of often militant non-belief to confirmed belief (even in the face
of death), the films also provide characters whom evangelical audiences can not
only root for, but who also, again, confirm the validity of their beliefs
(Goldberg 2002). In other words, in the absence of any firm guarantees that
they are indeed saved, rapture films provide for their viewers cinematic signs
of election similar to that described by Max Weber ([1904] 2001) in his classic Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism;
signs that while not guaranteeing that they are indeed saved, do offer them
some degree of self-assurance in their position in the salvational economy.
[32] A similar
phenomenon may be observed in rapture films’ portrayal of mainline Christians;
all of whom, as non-evangelicals, are ipso facto portrayed as being left behind after the rapture. A recurring dramatis
personae from A Thief in the Night through to the Left Behind series is
the Christian—particularly the Christian minister—who, although
believing themselves to be “good persons” and pious Christians nevertheless
find themselves left behind after the rapture. So, for example, in A Thief
in the Night there is the figure of Pastor Turner
(played with relish by the film’s producer, Russ Doughton), who is painted as
an archetypal mainline Christian; a man who criticises evangelicals and rejects
literal interpretations of the Bible as merely “the poetic expression of those
greater principles by which man lives with man.” After he is left behind, he comes
to realise that not only has he been living a lie but, arguably more
importantly, that he has been leading his flock astray. Faced with this
terrible realisation, Turner goes out of his mind before, in the final two
films in the series, he seemingly repents and becomes a fervent
dispensationalist, spending most of his screen time in front of a giant
tribulation map interpreting the “signs of the times” for the chief
protagonists. Turner’s conversion journey is thus, again, one from a position
of being diametrically opposed theologically to that of his audience to one of
accepting (albeit too late) their beliefs. Similarly, in the Left Behind series, Pastor Bruce Barnes is portrayed as a pastor who also comes
to realise the error of his ways when his congregation are taken up in the
rapture, leaving him behind. Thus, in the scene where he is introduced, he is
shown distraught in his empty church praying:
Oh boy, oh god, what a fraud I am … and everybody bought it [laughs]
except you. I knew your message, I knew your word, I stood right here and
preached it and I was good, but they’re gone, they’re gone and … but knowing
and believing are two different things. I’m living a lie, I’m living a lie …
Again like
Turner, he comes to embrace a dispensationalist position and, indeed, becomes a
key member of the so-called Tribulation Force of newly-converted Christians who
seek to resist the Antichrist.
[33] As Frykholm
observes, figures such as Barnes and Turner raise questions and anxieties among
evangelical audiences concerning their own salvation. Both, after all, look and
act and, indeed, believe themselves to be Christians, but they are in fact, at
best, deluded, and at worst hypocrites (Frykholm 2004, 147). The films,
however, potentially resolve this tension by showing that only non-evangelical
Christians will be left behind; all genuine “Bible Believing” Christians in
contrast are always taken up in the rapture. In addition they show how those
left behind “Christians,” such as Turner and Barnes, ultimately come to reject
their former position and accept a premilennialist theodicy. The films thus
provide their evangelical viewers with potential tools to both reaffirm their
own identity and place in the salvational scheme and challenge the mainline.
Conclusion
[34] Rapture films, then, may be seen to operate on
two levels. Primarily, following Hendershot, they may be seen to operate as
didactic tools; educating their audiences in the specifics of
premillennial/dispensationalist visions of the Endtimes and enjoining them to
undergo a born again experience now before it is too late. However, on an
arguably more important level, rapture films may also be seen to provide sites
whereby a contemporary form of evangelical identity may be articulated and
redefined through the language and imagery provided by a premillennial reading
of apocalyptic texts. As I have argued above, rapture films take the
contemporary concerns of evangelicals regarding, for example, growing
internationalism, the role of technology and media in their lives and their
perceived marginalisation, and give voice to them by projecting them into a
near future where they are shown to be manifested in their most extreme form.
So, for example, a clear trajectory is portrayed between contemporary internationalism
and, in particular the role of the UN in contemporary geopolitical affairs, and
the future rise of the Antichrist and the one world state. Similarly, the films
also portray a future genocide against Christians at the hands of the Antichrist
and the emergence of a New Age One/ecumenical One World Religion as the
radicalisation of perceived contemporary trends within the public sphere that
marginalise them and their beliefs. However, in doing so, the films do not
simply encourage passivity. Rather, while still accepting that the prophetic
framework is set, they show their viewers how both now and in the future they
can resist these trends. Thus, in contrast to earlier portrayals in both
rapture fiction and prophecy literature that saw technology and the media as
inherently evil, rapture films portray them as potential sites of resistance
and struggle. The media may be in the hands of antichristian forces, they show
their viewers, but this control may be resisted and subverted.
[35] More broadly, the films may be seen to articulate
a contemporary form of evangelical identity; giving voice, in particular, to
the anxieties faced by evangelicals regarding their place in the salvational
economy. Whether by showing the young and unborn being taken in the rapture,
holding out the possibility of a post-rapture “second chance,” valorising the “Sinner’s
Prayer,” or showing how mainline Christians will be left behind alongside
non-believers, rapture films speak directly to these anxieties, offering their
audiences confirmation of their place in the spiritual economy.
[36] Whether or not the films succeed in these aims is
open to speculation. While the producers of the A Thief in the Night series, for example, make claims regarding
the number of souls that have been “saved” as a consequence of watching the
films, and there are a number of reviews of several of the films by Christian
viewers available on the internet, this evidence is at best anecdotal and
selective.[10] Further research is needed, along the
lines adopted by Frykholm (2004) and Gutjahr (2002) in their analysis of the Left
Behind series’ readership,
into the dynamics of rapture films audiences, focusing on their responses to
the films (see also the religious audience research of Clark 2003 and Hoover
2006). Do they, for example, watch them simply as Christian equivalents of
mainstream horror films or supernatural thrillers purely for escapist
fantasies, or are they also seeking to the theologically informed (perhaps even
uplifted)? More broadly, given the paucity of academic discussions of the
rapture films phenomenon vis-à-vis rapture fiction, research is needed generally on the
dynamics of the rapture film industry and the role that it plays within the
Evangelical Christian community in the ongoing maintenance and (re)construction
of both contemporary premillennialist visions of the Endtimes and contemporary
evangelical identities.
Notes
[1] A version of this paper was presented to the Centre for
Millennialism Studies Inaugural Conference, Liverpool Hope University,
Liverpool, UK, July 13, 2007. I would like to thank Melanie Wright, Crawford
Gribben and the JRPC reviewers for comments on
an earlier draft of this chapter
[2] The
film’s Executive Producer Russ Doughton on the director and producers’
commentary accompanying the DVD release of A Thief in the Night provides this estimate. One young man who
saw the film and was not affected in the way the filmmakers would perhaps have liked
was Brian Warner, who would later take the name Marilyn Manson.
[3] As well as citing the involvement of Van Impe, Tribulation was also produced in association with John Hagee Ministries and
T.D. Jakes Ministries.
[4] For details on Cloud Ten and its films, see its webpage, See http://www.cloudtenpictures.com/
[5] The four films in Cloud Ten’s Apocalypse series cost between $1,000,000 (Apocalypse: Caught in the Eye of
the Storm) and $11,000,000 (Judgement) to produce, while Left Behind: The Movie cost $17.4 million. In contrast, the production costs for Thief were just $68,000 (Hendershot, ibid.).
[6] The film’s director, Wes Llewellyn, on the ‘Behind the Scenes’ DVD
extra on The Moment After 2
[7] Quoted at http://www.gonethefilm.com/GONE%20WEBSITE%209.8.05/home.htm
[8] That said, however, looking across the genre there are marked
differences, largely reflecting budgetary constraints, among rapture films in
terms of how they approach their subject matter. Thus, while all rapture films
are very much narrative driven, those with a larger budget (such as, for
example, the Left Behind, Omega Code and Apocalypse series of films) are
able to portray the larger global, geo-political context of the Antichrist’s
rule, while those produced on a smaller budget (such as, for example, The
Moment After series or Gone) focus instead more on the personal dimension and on depicting
conversion narratives.
[9] The image of the guillotine as the primary means whereby those who
refuse to take the Mark are dispatched is a recurring theme in A Thief in
the Night and the Apocalypse series; seemingly taking its influence from Rev 20:4, where its
author describes seeing “the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness
of Jesus, and for the word of God”
[10] For reviews of the various films, see for example, www.amazon.com, www.imdb.com,
and www.hollywoodjesus.com.
References
Ammerman, N.T. 1998. “North American Protestant
Fundamentalism.” In L. Kintz and J. Lesage (eds.), Media, Culture and the
Religious Right, 55-113.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Baer, R. 1989. Inside the New Age Nightmare. Lafeyette, LA: Huntington House.
Balmer, R. 2006. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in
America. Fourth Edition. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Barry, A.L. 2000.
“The ‘Left Behind’ View is Out of Left Field.” http://www.lifeoftheworld.com/believe/statements/leftbehind.pdf
Booker, M.K.
2006. Alternate Americas: Science Fiction Film and American Culture. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Boyer, P. 1992. When
Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press.
Clark, L.S.
2003. From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cordero, J.
2004. “The Production of Christian Fiction.” Journal of Religion and Popular
Culture, Vol. IV. http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art6-xianfiction.html
Cumbey, C.E. 1985. The Hidden Dangers of the
Rainbow: The New Age
Movement and our Coming Age of Barbarism. Lafeyette, LA: Huntington House.
Frykholm, A.J.
2004. Rapture Culture: Left Behind in
Evangelical America. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Forbes, B.D. and
Kilde, J.H. (eds.). 2004. Rapture, Revelation, and The End Times: Exploring
the Left Behind Series. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Goldberg, M.
2002. “Fundamentally Unsound.” Salon (July 29), http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2002/07/29/left_behind/index.html
Gribben, C.
2006a. “After Left Behind—The Paradox of Evangelical Pessimism.” In K.G.C.
Newport and C. Gribben (eds.), Expecting the End: Millennialism in Social
and Historical Context, 113-30. Baylor, TX: Baylor
University Press.
______ 2006b. Rapture
Fiction and the Evangelical Crisis. Darlington:
Evangelical Press
Groothuis, D. 1988. Confronting the New Age. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity
Gutjahr, P.C.
2002. “No Longer Left Behind: Amazon.com, Reader Response, and the
Changing Fortunes of the Christian Novel in America.” Book History 5: 209-236
Heelas, P. 1996. The New Age Movement: Religion, Culture and Society in an Age of
Postmodernity. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers
Hendershot, H.
2004. Shaking the World for Jesus: Media and Conservative Evangelical
Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hoover, S.M.
2006. Religion in the Media Age. London:
Routledge.
Jones, D. 2006.
“The Liberal Antichrist—Left Behind in
America.” In K.G.C. Newport and C. Gribben (eds.), Expecting the End:
Millennialism in Social and Historical Context,
97-112. Baylor, TX: Baylor University Press.
LaHaye, T. 1980. You Are Engaged in the Battle for the Mind: A Subtle Warfare. Old Tappan, NJ: Revell.
LaHaye, T. 1984. The Hidden Censors. Old Tappan, NJ: Revell.
Lindermayer, O.
2001. “Europe as Antichrist: North American Pre-Millenarianism.” In S. Hunt
(ed.), Christian Millenarianism: From the Early Church to Waco, 39-49. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Lindsey, H. with
CC. Carlson. 1971. The Late Great Planet Earth.
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
McAlister, M.
2003. “Prophecy, Politics and the Popular: The Left Behind Series and Christian
Fundamentalism’s New World Order.” South Atlantic Quarterly 102,4: 773-98.
Neuhaus, R.J.
1984. The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Noonan, M. 2005. Ransomed from Darkness: The New
Age, Christian Faith, and the Battle for Souls. El Sobrante, CA: North Bay Books.
Ostwalt, C.
2003. Secular Steeples: Popular Culture and the Religious Imagination. London: Trinity Press International.
Saliba, J.A. 1999. Christian Responses to the New
Age Movement: A Critical Assessment. London: Geoffrey Chapman.
Schultze, Q.J.
1990. “Keeping the Faith: American Evangelicals and the Media.” In Q.J. Schultze
(ed.), American Evangelicals and the Mass Media: Perspectives on the
Relationship between American Evangelicals and the Mass Media, 23-45. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
______ 1996. “Evangelicals’
Uneasy Alliance With the Media.” In D.A. Stout and J.M. Buddenbaum (eds.), Religion
and Mass Media: Audiences and Adaptations, 61-73.
London: Sage.
Shuck, G.W. 2005. Marks of the Beast: The Left Behind Novels
and the Struggle for Evangelical Identity. New
York: New York University Press.
Sweetnam, M.S. 2006.
“Tensions in Dispensational Eschatology.” In K.G.C. Newport and C. Gribben (eds.), Expecting the End: Millennialism in Social and Historical Context, 173-92. Baylor, TX: Baylor University Press.
Urban, H.J.
2006. “America, Left Behind: Bush, the Neoconservatives, and Evangelical
Christian Fiction.” Journal of Religion and Society 8. http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/pdf/2006-2.pdf.
Walliss, J.
2008. “‘Sending a Message to Hollywood’ or ‘Preaching to the Choir’? Successes
and Failures in Mainstreaming the Rapture.” In J. Walliss and K.G.C. Newport
(eds.), Apocalyptic Texts and Popular Culture.
London: Equinox.
Weber, M. 2001. The
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
London: Routledge.
Weber, T.P.
1987. Living in the Shadow of the Second Coming: American Premillennialism,
1875-1982. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Wright, M. 2008 “‘Every Eye Shall See Him’: Revelation
and Film.” In W. J. Lyons and J. Økland (eds.), The Book of Revelation and
Effective History.
Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press.
