You've Been Left Behind Emails

What do you know of "The Rapture"? What do you believe? I have heard some... well kooky, beliefs over the years but this newest "Left Behind" plan beats all I've heard in a long while. Here's how it works. A person who deems him or herself as "saved" and sure to be one of "The Elect" collects email addresses of all those they have deemed "hell bound". For an annual fee of $40.00 you can write up to 62 emails to friends and family that you have pre-judged as "not saved" or 'going to hell in hand basket' as the saying goes. These emails will be sent out 6 days after "The Rapture" to all those you've pre-listed as being "You've Been Left Behind" while you are raptured. I kid you not. Supposedly this website (link below) has precautions against any of these emails being sent out prematurely, but can you imagine how someone might feel getting an email from a loved one who has judged them as "unsaved" and going to hell for eternity? I get the intention, but it comes across as arrogant to me, not mention I personally think it's just a scheme to make money off unsuspecting Christians. The Christian run website is called "You've Been Left Behind.COM" (link below) and it's taking money to send out emails once the Elect have been raptured to Heaven.

Why? Here is what their website says:
"The unsaved will be 'left behind' on earth to go through the "tribulation period" after the "Rapture". You remember how, for a short time, after (9/11/01) people were open to spiritual things and answers. (We are still singing "God Bless America" at baseballs' seventh inning stretch.) Imagine how taken back they will be by the millions of missing Christians and devastation at the rapture. They will know it was true and that they have blown it. There will be a small window of time where they might be reached for the Kingdom of God. We have made it possible for you to send them a letter of love and a plea to receive Christ one last time. You can also send information based on scripture as to what will happen next. Each fulfilled prophecy will cause your letter and plea to be remembered and a decision to be made. "WHY" is one last chance to bring them to Christ and snatch them from the flames!"

So your $40.00 a year will help "snatch them from the flames" once you've been raptured to Heaven. Now I know there are a few different views on these tribulation periods and I am no expert on them, but what I do know is that Christ said there is a Second Coming- not a third and fourth and fifth etc., Coming. When Christ comes, that's it! It's over. There is no one to read all those emails the "You've Been Left Behind" people are paying $40.00 a year to send out. Christ comes again to judge the living and the dead. Christ isn't going to come and take some people in a 'rapture' then have a Third Coming at another point in the future to get those who read the "You've Been Left Behind" emails and suddenly become believers. I know many people believe the movies and books in the "Left Behind" series to be a true account of what is foretold and will no doubt not like my comments on this. There are 3 views on this Postmillennialism, Amillennialism, Premillennialism. Catholics tend to go with the "Amillennialism" view, that Revelation 20 is symbolic and now is the time when Christ rules in heaven and with His Church on earth and that He will come again ONCE to judge the living and the dead. I won't go into depth on these things, I am sure there are numerous sources online for anyone interested in checking them out and I am not writing this to change any one's beliefs. I will add what our Catholic catechism has to say on this and what Catholics should believe as its our faith:

#675 "Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh."
#676 "The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatalogical judgement. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name millenarianism, especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism."
#678 "Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the judgment of the Last Day in his preaching. Then will the conduct of each one and the secrets of hearts be brought to light. Then will the culpable unbelief that counted the offer of God's grace as nothing be condemned. Our attitude about our neighbor will disclose acceptance or refusal of grace and divine love. On the last day Jesus will say: "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me."

Here's my unasked for advice for those who want to leave a message behind if they are raptured: Save the $40 dollars a year and write a letter to be opened upon your rapture to heaven or sudden disappearance from the world. You can put it in a special place in the house and tell all your loved ones to read in the event of your rapture and them being left behind. Or better yet, invite those you believe unsaved to church with you. Gift them with a bible and offer to start a discussion group with them if they'd like someone to go through the bible with them without thumping them over the head with your zeal and good intentions. And most of all, live your faith. Let them see God in you, in your words and in your actions. Live your faith.

2 Peter 3:10-12 "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The Heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat."

Doesn't sound to me like any "left behind" emails are going to be sent out after His Second Coming, but that's just my opinion.

Link to the website quoted:

http://youvebeenleftbehind.com/index.html