Nathan E. Lewis

I am reading Daniel Radosh’s “Rapture Ready: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture,” published in 2008 by Simon & Shuster. Radosh describes himself on page 2 as a “liberal New York Jew in my middle-thirties.” Half-way through the book, I am wondering, “how does he see the problems of the evangelical/fundamentalist movement so clearly?” I am also asking, “Why do I agree more with a liberal New York Jew in his middle-thirties, than I do with many of my evangelical, fundamentalist family and friends?” Please do not tell anyone that I am recommending that you read this book, because I am not doing so. If you are an evangelical Christian in the mainstream of Christian pop culture, then you will be disgusted, if not offended, by Radosh’s presentation of Christian pop culture. You will think that he is bitter, critical, doesn’t understand the church and is bereft of the Holy Spirit. But I am writing to tell you that part of common grace is God allowing a liberal New York Jew to yell out, “The emperor’s naked!” Here is a man who does not embrace the gospel but he knows that a large segment of the church has at least blurred the gospel and is interested and vested in that which is not the gospel. It’s chilling. Through out the book, Radosh finds the marketing of the Christian faith to be disgustingly remarkable. He interviews Chuck Wallington, owner of Christian Supply in Spartanburg, South Carolina (the largest retail Christian Book Store in the USA). Wallington shows Radosh one of his best-selling gift items (Radosh is noticing that the gift/trinket space in the Christian book stores across America are increasing): the gift is a Christmas tree ornament, a gold plated medallion, and selling for $15.00. Around the circumference is printed, “Merry Christmas from Heaven.” On the back there is space to engrave the name of a departed loved one. In the center is a short poem - “I love you all dearly, now don’t shed a tear/ I’m spending my Christmas with Jesus this year.” Believe me, to even write these lines on my blog is revolting to say the least. Why is Christmas and tree ornaments more important to Christians than maintaining the sacredness of Christ and his beloved ones kept safe in death? Why do we settle for such poor poetry? Do you really think that we will celebrate Christmas in heaven? Do you think that your loved ones speak from their graves or from heaven? Radosh simply reports this while these questions belong to me and I am left wondering why evangelicalism has taken us back to the trinkets and talismans of the Middle Ages.
Chapter 5 is a must read, in my opinion. Radosh takes on the premillennial dispensational view of Christian eschatology. His brief history of American eschatology is chillingly accurate and embarrassing. He sends the reader to www.RaptureReady.com including a “post Rapture survival guide” for those of us who miss the Rapture. He quotes off the site: “Since you have decided to reject Christ’s offer to join in the Rapture, your concern is how to maintain good health in the post Rapture era. You must build a supply of multiple vitamins with particular emphasis on anti-oxidants such as C and E and minerals. It will also be necessary to have a supply of disinfectants, particularly one that can be added to water to make it potable. Above all, do not accept the mark of the beast on your right hand or forehead.” What’s with the obsession with health? Do you see how these well-meaning Christians trivialize the mark of the beast by making it an afterthought to maintaining one’s health in the post-Rapture era? Do you see how these Christians’ view of spirituality and vitality is not only trivial but external? These concerns have nothing to do with relationship or heart, but health and a literal mark on the skin.
The real tragedy is this: the gospel is completely blurred if not lost in this presentation. This is evangelism gone bad. At the site you may purchase discs or videos of this presentation to leave in conspicuous places in your unbelieving family members’ and friends’ homes so that when they are left behind they can pick up the guide to survival in a post-Rapture era. If there is a post-Rapture (and I think not) then I would think that the gospel presentation would be the same post as it has been pre-Rapture. Many Christians think that they are proclaiming the gospel by sharing their peculiar views about the Rapture and other sensational ideas about the end times. The plea is for their loved ones to beware the post-Rapture era and then to survive it. The gospel, on the other hand, makes a plea for faith in Christ alone and repentance of sin, turning to Christ and his righteousness. The gospel is about the cross, resurrection, and ascension. It’s about a past event perfectly completed - Jesus satisfying the justice of God and atoning for our sins. The gospel has nothing to do with this concocted event called “The Rapture.” Watch out! Radosh likes to lace his writing with the “F” word, and in one sense, I don’t blame him. But I would blame you if you let his crude language to prevent you from hearing and receiving his harsh and shocked criticism of Christian pop culture. He rightly places all of this end times madness of our life time in the sack of pop culture. Sadly, many Christians, have not been studying the Bible, but instead, they have opened their Bible as a ruse to discuss pop culture and sensational ideas and figments of mere human imaginations.
Radosh’s contrast between the 1972 film “Thief in the Night,” and the 2000 bestseller, “Left Behind,” and sequels is a must read. Radosh writes, “While scaring children may not be the most noble way of spreading the gospel, its worth noting that the film’s attitude toward its unsaved characters is markedly different from that of Left Behind: It feels sorry for them. When people are sent to hell in “A Thief in the Night” and its sequels, viewers are meant to mourn the loss of their souls, not celebrate their defeat at the hands of the righteous….There is no sense in the Left Behindbooks that the authors actually wish we’d all been ready. They’re far more invested in having someone around to get their asses kicked.”
There is more, much more, and if you read with the gospel clearly fixed in your mind, then you will discover departure after departure from the gospel in Christian pop culture. When you speak of the end times and the coming of Christ, remember the words of Jesus Christ concerning his coming: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there you may be also.” Remember the words of Paul to the Church at Thessalonica, to “wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” Hear the gospel inseparably connected to the apostolic presentation of the end times? The resurrection; our redemption from wrath. T
I am praying for Radosh, who has mixed with hundreds of Christians and Christian ministries across America. I wonder how many times he was given a pure, clear presentation of the gospel? I can assure you that he was offered not a few “Test-a-Mints,” another best-selling gift, breath mints for Christians. Gag me! Why would anyone give a liberal New York Jew a “Test-a-Mint”? Is that what we call witnessing? Do I have a testimony? Can I get an Amen! Does not such a gift trivialize the gift of the blessed exchange - the Perfect Son of God taking upon himself our sin and giving to us his perfect righteousness and standing in God’s love forever? As Radosh says, “Jesus junk.”