Birthdays
Colin Baker (6th Doctor) b. 1943
Kate Wilhelm b. 1928
(won 1977 Hugo for Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang)
In the 20th Century, I proudly stated "Yes, I'm a nerd, but I never watched Doctor Who." If I ever flipped past a channel and saw a guy wearing this suit, could you blame me for not stopping?
I watched and enjoyed the first season of the 21st Century reboot with Christopher Eccleston, but I didn't last long into the David Tennant years, more from disappointment with the writing than disappointment with the acting.
In any case, happy birthday to Mr. Baker and Ms. Wilhelm and many happy returns of the day.
Movies released
Prometheus released, 2012
Prediction: In 1988, the Rapture will take place.
Predictor: Hal Lindsey and C.C. Carlson, The Late Great Planet Earth, published 1970
Reality: If any science fiction fans are offended by the inclusion of the completely non-scientific fiction of Hal Lindsey, my only defense is that I'm a sucker for exact dates. Lindsey's original calculation was a biblical generation was 40 years and the countdown started from the 1948 creation of the modern state of Israel.
Of course, 1988 came and went and Lindsey, who is still alive by the way, stood by his story. Steven Sizer, a critic of Lindsay's, wrote this on his website that summarizes the work.
"By 1994, while persisting in his belief that Jesus meant this present generation, Lindsey had begun to prevaricate and lengthen a 'biblical generation' since Jesus had not returned by 1988 as he had confidently predicted. Based on his revised calculations Lindsey claimed Jesus would return some time between now and 2067."
2067. Hmm. If that had been his original date, I never would have printed it. If I was going that far, I'd get to talk about The Jetsons (2062) and the date of first contact on Star Trek (2063), which are both more fun than Lindsey and actually fit into the category of science fiction.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Yet another future date from the mind of Irwin Allen. (Regular readers will know I use the phrase "the mind of Irwin Allen" loosely, as most of his dates and ideas seem to have been pulled out of another part of his anatomy.)
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Maybe Jesus DID come back in 1988, took a look around, and said "forget this. You all suck" and went to Aruba.
ReplyDeleteOne of the other things I like about the Rapturists is the America-centric character of their predictions. Even though the ENTIRE BIBLE occurs in the Mideast, the important parts of the Rapture tend to be in the US. When they do include the Mideast, it's usually cannon fodder locations for the AntiChristical.
Hal Lindsey's Pretrib Rapture "Proof"
ReplyDeleteIs Hal Lindsey's proof for a pretrib rapture "100 proof" - that is, 100 percent Biblical?
In "The Late Great Planet Earth" (p. 143) Lindsey gives his "chief reason" for pretrib: "If the Rapture took place at the same time as the second coming, there would be no mortals left who would be believers" - that is, no believers still alive who could enter the millennium and repopulate the earth.
We don't know if Lindsey's amnesia is voluntary or involuntary, but earlier (p. 54), while focusing on chapters 12 through 14 of Zechariah, Lindsey sees "a remnant of Jews in Jerusalem" who are mortals who will become believing mortals at the second coming and then become repopulating mortals!
During the same discussion of Zech. 12-14 Lindsey overlooks some of the final verses in Zech. 14. They reveal that some of the tribulation survivors "of all the nations which came against Jerusalem" will refuse to go there "to worship the King, the Lord of hosts." Here's what will happen to those "heathen" rebels: "upon them shall be no rain."
So the facts about the repopulating mortals, in unbelieving as well as believing ranks, cancel out Lindsey's "chief reason" for opposing a joint rapture/second coming - the ONLY rapture view to be found in official theology books and organized churches prior to 1830!
(See historian Dave MacPherson's "The Rapture Plot," the most accurate and most highly endorsed book on pretrib rapture history - available by calling 800.643.4645. Also Google "Pretrib Rapture Stealth," "Pretrib Rapture Pride," "Pretrib Rapture Secrecy," "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" and "Evangelicals Use Occult Deception.")
Although Hal Lindsey claims that his "Late Great" didn't set a date for Christ's return, many of his followers - including copycats Bill Maupin ("1981") and Edgar Whisenant ("1988") - did view Lindsey as a date-setter, and his later book "The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon" (the sort of title that date-setters and their ga-ga groupies love) became another fizzle - unless we're still living in the 1980s!
In Old Testament days false prophets were stoned to death. Today they're just stoned!