Reply #8: Most traditional denominations do not accept

[tanyev]

the "Left Behind" rapture theology. One of the best books I've ever read on the subject, and I've posted it before, is The Rapture Exposed, by Barbara Rossing, a Lutheran theologian.

The Rapture Exposed:
The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation

By Barbara R. Rossing
Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 2004, Hardback, 212pp., $24.00

Review by G. Richard Wheatcroft

During the 19 th century a new theology was conceived called “premillinarian dispensationalism.” John Nelson Darby, a British evangelical preacher, made a number of visits to the United States to promote what he called “dispensations,” that is, “intervals of time ordering God’s grand timetable for world events.”According to Darby, the Bible contains a schedule of events which will precede the end of history. The first event, coming before a millennium, will be the return of Jesus to ‘Rapture’ all true believers “out of the world into heaven.” Then, after seven years of global tribulation, Jesus will return a second time as a warrior to defeat the forces of evil at Armageddon and establish a reconstructed kingdom of Israel over which he will reign for a thousand years until the end of the world. Darby claimed that the foundation of the “dispensations” is Daniel 9:25-27, the Book of Revelation and other texts from the Hebrew and Christian Testaments.

Barbara Rossing, who teaches New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, calls the ‘Rapture’ phenomenon a “destructive racket.” She writes that her book is for those who are concerned about the “simplistic” misinterpretation of the Biblical script by the “whole prophecy industry of Tim Le Haye, Hal Lindsey and others.” It is her conviction that dispensationalism must be challenged today “both because of its false theology and also because of its growing influence on public policy.” To counter this distortion and manipulation of Christian faith, she provides an interpretation of the Book of Revelation which provides “a vision of hope for God’s healing of the world.”
http://www.tcpc.org/resources/reviews/rapture_exposed.htm

If you are a Christian, I think you will find the book inspiring. If you are not a Christian, I think it is still very enlightening as it does a very good job of presenting what the Rapture Racketeers believe vs what mainline denominations believe.