The Rapture, Star Seeds and the Anunnaki
Victoria Hardy
May 03, 2007
I have heard that a writer isn’t doing his job unless he offends someone and keeping that in mind, I will step onto ground that intrigues me and may offend many. I am an avid reader, I read to learn, to avoid things in my world I’m not ready to face and for entertainment. The bookshelves in my home are primarily non-fiction and reference, but I tend to hang on to fiction books that have hit a certain chord in me and that I may want to read again. Recently I was compelled to pull the Left Behind series off the shelf for a re-read and now I am left to ponder The Rapture.
I wasn’t raised in the church and my primary experiences in and around the church have been funerals, so I am no expert. And as a reader of more books than I could possibly count, something inside of me revolts when I hear that the only truth and path to salvation is through one book. I have always known there is a higher power, God, I think Jesus is cooler than anyone I have ever met and I saw my first ghost when I was eight. (The ghost was my sister and it was the night she was buried.) I’ve seen miracles, paranormal events and synchronicities that defy logic more times than I remember. Whatever you choose to call it, for me, I know without doubt that there is more in life, to living and death, than we can imagine.
With that being said, I turn to religion and the Rapture. It seems the idea of the Rapture became popular in the 1830s and it was due to an interpretation by Jon Nelson Darby of 1 Corinthians 15:52 which states “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” From that statement, it has been taught among the conservative Protestant community that Christians, by the millions, will disappear in an instant. The saved ones will ascend into Heaven and those that remain on earth, the unsure and the evil, will then endure the tribulation, a horrible time of pain and suffering. At the end of that period, Jesus will return and there will be Heaven on earth for a thousand years.
My mind stirs with this issue and I don’t know why, as I wasn’t raised in the church and religion hasn’t been instilled in me. Of course, I recognize that having grown up in the Bible belt it’s hard to escape without some knowledge of the Bible and religious ideas. I don’t know if the Rapture will happen as stated, but I feel something big is brewing. I sense that we are at a convergence of time, ideas, prophecy and awakening that means something important in our society and I am struggling to know where to look. When I seek I find many ideas and dark pictures, certainly not how I wish to perceive my future and I understand it may be purely an individual experience, but as I look about the world I see many are asking similar questions.
Over the Christmas holidays I watched just about every Christian show I could find on the television, I knew what I was looking for, my own research had led me to the conclusion that one of those evangelist was going to mention space or something coming from space. And on Christmas night the prophetic televangelist Jack Van Impe announced that the New Jerusalem would be coming from space. Even though I expected it, I was startled.
I was even more intrigued to pursue the Christian perspective after the announcement on the winter solstice by the mainstream media that a Komodo dragon had experienced a “virgin birth” by laying 7 eggs without a male companion. I imagined that Christians worldwide would be offended by this announcement, coming, as it did, right before the celebration of Jesus’ birth. I was confused when I discovered that none of the televangelists mentioned the national coverage of the dragon’s virgin birth and only a handful of Internet Christian bloggers mentioned the news. Understanding that Eve was deceived by a serpent and the fact that in Revelations the devil is referred to as a dragon, I couldn’t conceive why mainstream Christianity hadn’t addressed this issue, wasn’t this some sort of sign?
Another reason I am so intrigued by the idea of Rapture is because it reminds me of other theories, from the belief by many New Agers that their mother ship is coming to rescue them, the star seeds, from the planet. To the theory of the Anunnaki, an alien race, who many believe are the serpents mentioned in the Bible. It is said that the Anunnaki created us by blending their DNA with Stone Age man some 250,000 years ago and desire, now, to rid us from the planet. So when Mr. Van Impe began speaking of the New Jerusalem descending from space, the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 states, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Are we talking UFOs and spaceships here? And if we are, would believers follow a Jesus who descended from space? Surprisingly, in the first book of the Left Behind series it makes mention that no one would ever hear of a UFO sighting over the O’Hare Airport, but we did last November and I found that to be a rather strange coincidence. I know it is said that confusion is a tool of the devil, conveniently inferring that we should not question, but it seems to me that our faith is a pretty important aspect of our lives and needs to be given some thought. And part of my mind thinks that the Rapture is a misdirection or a delusion, a contrived way to get believers to willingly sacrifice themselves, only to discover too late that they have been deceived.
Since there seems to be a lack of unity between the churches that follow the Rapture theory about whether Jesus is suppose to return pre-, mid- or post-tribulation, I have to wonder if there would be any agreement if Jesus did return. Who would believe and follow him and who would call him the Anti-Christ? And how do we know he hasn’t already returned, the news has certainly mentioned his name a lot of late and how do we know we are not already thick into the tribulation, the world is certainly undergoing many tribulation-type events. Are we waiting for the governments and the media to inform us? Is that when we will know? Or will we only accept that Jesus has returned when millions disappear in the twinkling of an eye?
I wasn’t raised in the church and my primary experiences in and around the church have been funerals, so I am no expert. And as a reader of more books than I could possibly count, something inside of me revolts when I hear that the only truth and path to salvation is through one book. I have always known there is a higher power, God, I think Jesus is cooler than anyone I have ever met and I saw my first ghost when I was eight. (The ghost was my sister and it was the night she was buried.) I’ve seen miracles, paranormal events and synchronicities that defy logic more times than I remember. Whatever you choose to call it, for me, I know without doubt that there is more in life, to living and death, than we can imagine.
With that being said, I turn to religion and the Rapture. It seems the idea of the Rapture became popular in the 1830s and it was due to an interpretation by Jon Nelson Darby of 1 Corinthians 15:52 which states “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” From that statement, it has been taught among the conservative Protestant community that Christians, by the millions, will disappear in an instant. The saved ones will ascend into Heaven and those that remain on earth, the unsure and the evil, will then endure the tribulation, a horrible time of pain and suffering. At the end of that period, Jesus will return and there will be Heaven on earth for a thousand years.
My mind stirs with this issue and I don’t know why, as I wasn’t raised in the church and religion hasn’t been instilled in me. Of course, I recognize that having grown up in the Bible belt it’s hard to escape without some knowledge of the Bible and religious ideas. I don’t know if the Rapture will happen as stated, but I feel something big is brewing. I sense that we are at a convergence of time, ideas, prophecy and awakening that means something important in our society and I am struggling to know where to look. When I seek I find many ideas and dark pictures, certainly not how I wish to perceive my future and I understand it may be purely an individual experience, but as I look about the world I see many are asking similar questions.
Over the Christmas holidays I watched just about every Christian show I could find on the television, I knew what I was looking for, my own research had led me to the conclusion that one of those evangelist was going to mention space or something coming from space. And on Christmas night the prophetic televangelist Jack Van Impe announced that the New Jerusalem would be coming from space. Even though I expected it, I was startled.
I was even more intrigued to pursue the Christian perspective after the announcement on the winter solstice by the mainstream media that a Komodo dragon had experienced a “virgin birth” by laying 7 eggs without a male companion. I imagined that Christians worldwide would be offended by this announcement, coming, as it did, right before the celebration of Jesus’ birth. I was confused when I discovered that none of the televangelists mentioned the national coverage of the dragon’s virgin birth and only a handful of Internet Christian bloggers mentioned the news. Understanding that Eve was deceived by a serpent and the fact that in Revelations the devil is referred to as a dragon, I couldn’t conceive why mainstream Christianity hadn’t addressed this issue, wasn’t this some sort of sign?
Another reason I am so intrigued by the idea of Rapture is because it reminds me of other theories, from the belief by many New Agers that their mother ship is coming to rescue them, the star seeds, from the planet. To the theory of the Anunnaki, an alien race, who many believe are the serpents mentioned in the Bible. It is said that the Anunnaki created us by blending their DNA with Stone Age man some 250,000 years ago and desire, now, to rid us from the planet. So when Mr. Van Impe began speaking of the New Jerusalem descending from space, the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 states, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Are we talking UFOs and spaceships here? And if we are, would believers follow a Jesus who descended from space? Surprisingly, in the first book of the Left Behind series it makes mention that no one would ever hear of a UFO sighting over the O’Hare Airport, but we did last November and I found that to be a rather strange coincidence. I know it is said that confusion is a tool of the devil, conveniently inferring that we should not question, but it seems to me that our faith is a pretty important aspect of our lives and needs to be given some thought. And part of my mind thinks that the Rapture is a misdirection or a delusion, a contrived way to get believers to willingly sacrifice themselves, only to discover too late that they have been deceived.
Since there seems to be a lack of unity between the churches that follow the Rapture theory about whether Jesus is suppose to return pre-, mid- or post-tribulation, I have to wonder if there would be any agreement if Jesus did return. Who would believe and follow him and who would call him the Anti-Christ? And how do we know he hasn’t already returned, the news has certainly mentioned his name a lot of late and how do we know we are not already thick into the tribulation, the world is certainly undergoing many tribulation-type events. Are we waiting for the governments and the media to inform us? Is that when we will know? Or will we only accept that Jesus has returned when millions disappear in the twinkling of an eye?
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