The Rapture, End Times, Zionism and Other Pseudo-Christian Falsehoods
Clearing the air of human attempts to impose "God" on the world
“Mysticism is the art of union with (spiritual) Reality”— Evelyn Underhill
NOTE: Thanks to reader Emilie for suggesting an exploration into the Rapture and other Christian evangelical beliefs. I will do my best to write about them from my own heartfelt perspective.
So much has been made of Christian fundamentalist attempts to impose their own belief and order upon the world, according to their God (which they claim is THE God). There is a fatal problem with that. No God conceived in the mind of humans comes close to expressing or translating the eternal and infinite majesty of the Uncreated Creator. All attempts to do so will inevitably end up in self-idolatry.
Idolatry is exactly what we have today in many religious quarters. All idolatry, I observe, boils down to one tendency: The attempt to establish “proof” of God’s presence and power through human efforts. Any honest spirituality recognizes the higher ALWAYS creates and provides the nectar of its own blessing. We don’t. We receive our very lives from a Creator, and we give back in gratitude and in faith and knowledge as these may be imparted to us through our hearts and souls.
The smallness of our beings and the magnitude of our ignorance, ensures (if we are honest), the humility of our proclamations and judgments. Yet, here we are using our minds and bodies (instead of hearts and souls) to pretend WE are gods, and WE know who the “right” God is, and “You petty heathens don’t.” With that kind of attitude, there is no wonder there are so many atheists and “spiritual but not religious” people in these post-modern times. Who wants a slave-driver as a supreme being with no room for one’s own spirit and voice!
The Beatitudes (Blessings) in the New Testament (Christian Bible), put it rather plainly: “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God… Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven… Blessed are the meek/gentle/humble, for they shall inherit the Earth.” There is nothing in here about “Accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior”.
These blessings are not political, social, religious, or even personal. This is about spiritual character and RELATIONSHIP— giving yourself over to a loving God and welcoming God’s wordless inspiration in your own heart your true practice. Anything else (i.e. churchgoing), is either a sincere and supplementary bonus to faith (if it is humble) or a war against a larger Creator’s leadership (if it is arrogant).
The only two real Christian commandments
Jesus himself boiled Christianity down to two commandments:
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] There is no commandment greater than these.— Mark 12:30-31
What does Jesus mean when he enjoins us to love God with your entire body, mind, heart, and soul. It means giving ourselves over completely to spirit, and the way spirit (the real language of God) speaks through these various aspects of our beings. It means to serve spirit, and the God which created spirit. It is a supernal language, not of words, or even of feelings, but a surprising wisdom, acceptance, and peace that knows “this too shall pass,” orients toward love and creation, and guides away from fear and reaction (along with those things that come from fear and reaction— insecurity, pride, “I’m right and you’re wrong,” etc.).
That is how you can tell the difference.
What does Jesus mean when he says to “Love your neighbor as yourself”. It means to love ALL people (including strangers and your enemies), regardless of religion, creed, station in life, moral maturity, etc. This is not easy, especially since humans can fall into toward abusing others and imposing their beliefs on others.
These are tall orders, but they are the foundation of REAL Christianity nonetheless. They are not options. They are requirements. If you don’t do them, you are not credibly Christian. “Well,” you might say, “that leaves OUT about 90% of the self-professed Christians, in my opinion!” Maybe, but let’s accept that we are all in the process of spiritual development, and as long as there is real sincerity with regard to these simple but demanding requirements, let us extend good will and grace.
However, let us also confront those habits and attitudes and theologies that actively undermine these two commandments.
Problematic and fallen forms of Christian faith
I will briefly list and describe what I consider to be fallen and/or mistaken forms of Christian faith. These are my heart-discerned and head-elaborated evaluations of the difference between God-inspired OPENING and DEEPENING of the spirit and man-manipulated RESTRICTION and CHEAPENING of the spirit. You don’t have to agree. In fact, I hope you comment if you agree or disagree and add your own discernment.
Christian fundamentalism was inspired in the late 19th century and early 20th century by changes to society, especially scientific and technological studies that cast doubt on the literal proclamations of the Bible (i.e. that the earth was 6,000 years old). Again you see the same mistake of literalism and the need to “prove” the spirit in worldly terms. God cannot be reduced to human words, so it is not surprising that 6,000 years could simply be a poetic or metaphorical way to express “a really, really LONG time.” Many rational Christians restate this premise by saying the Bible ought to be taken “seriously and not literally.” The Bible is not a history and geography book. It is a rendition of faith, which mixes the poetic, wisdom literature, historical accounts, myth, metaphysical dreamlike sequences, and moral instruction.
End Times (Eschatology and Apocalypticism) in Christian fundamentalist terms is a notion that at a certain period of time in human history, physical reality will cease and the faithful will be drawn up to heaven in a Rapture, and others will be cast down into hell or be annihilated forever. This is based mainly on the Book of Revelations, the last book in the Christian Bible. Again we see the tell-tale signs of human coveting and desire to “master” the uncertain future by imposing a belief system on it. This religious tendency has a name, “Futurism.” Most scholars believe that the Book of Revelations were speaking of trials during the tumultuous times it was written. Futurists hijack this to affirm their own apocalyptic certainty about who will be saved—them—and who will be damned—you.
The Rapture is an eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Christians who are still alive, together will rise "in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air."[1]
Oh, the temptation of a final, once-and-for-all event that will reward the just and faithful and punish the wicked and unfaithful! Again, psychologically, I get it. If you are using your power, as a ruthless, faithless atheist, to dominate and exploit me as a faithful Christian, it certainly looks in worldly terms like my faith is not being rewarded and my God is either weak or unjust. With this Rapture story I can convince myself “you are going to get yours in the end,” my faith will be rewarded, and justice will be restored.
Do you see the faithless frame this evokes for both believer and non-believer? A mature faith does not look to the future, and does not need simple proof of “justice” in the world, to see the love, power, and wisdom of God. Spiritual love, power, and wisdom happen most notably as an inner experience and union with a deeper reality, transforming our RELATIONSHIP with an unjust world, teaching us to love even our enemy. There is nothing more powerful than to pay back hate and fear with love and spiritual confidence. At that point, you are invincible. If you are martyred by a human interloper or God extends grace, it is “all good.” You have done your part, and you have stayed present, faithful, and loving in the face of all things.
Dispensationalists use a literal interpretation of the Bible and believe that divine revelation unfolds throughout the Bible. They believe that there is a distinction between Israel and the Church, and that Christians are not bound by Mosaic law. They maintain beliefs in premillennialism, Christian Zionism, and a rapture of the Church that will happen before the Second Coming of Christ, generally seen as happening before a period of tribulation.[6]
Dispensationalism brings much of the religious psychology of these fundamentalist schools of thought together: 1) Need for clear unambiguous rules and dictums (literalism), 2) Belief that an ineffable, beyond-speech God can “speak” through human language without ANY loss in translation between the spiritual and the physical, 3) Obsession with structure and prediction and control, 4) Comparison between insiders and outsiders, the saved and the damned.
No, you are not crazy if you think these attributes communicate the exact OPPOSITE of spirituality. They do. These efforts are a kind of warfare against the very mystery of God and the beyond-ness of faith:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.— Hebrews 11:1 (ESV, New Testament)
Millennialism is a very historically popular form of eschatological or “end times” belief “where God will judge the living and the resurrected dead.” Numerous are the times when people thought doom and final judgment were right around the corner, all proven incorrect, but the pull of wanting a “once and for all” solution to all the contradiction and injustice in the world is a strong psychological draw.
Note, however, that, in many ways, Millennialism is the opposite of a more mature faith that accepts the mystery of human existence and God’s participation in it. This more mature faith tries to find messages and lessons in the turmoil to grow toward God and arrive at a spiritual peace within oneself. Again, with a mature practice of faith, one is going beyond emotional reaction and doomed efforts to impose power from a finite, under-equipped, ego-oriented mind.
As long as the day of redemption is yet to come, millennial hopes console the suffering and inspire patience and political quiescence. Driven by a sense of imminence, however, believers in apocalyptic millennialism can become disruptive and even revolt against the sociopolitical order in an attempt to bring about the promised kingdom of peace. Thus, apocalyptic millennialism has been a powerful and volatile catalyst throughout the ages. No matter how often apocalyptic beliefs have proved wrong and no matter how much chaos has been wrought by millennial efforts to establish God’s kingdom on earth, apocalyptic expectations are repeatedly revived. From the Jewish revolts against Rome in the 1st and 2nd centuries, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, to the Taiping Rebellion in the 19th century, which led to 20–35 million deaths, such movements tend to self-destruct in spectacular fashion. For all the costly failures, however, the appeal of millennialism remains, and generation after generation of devotees have sought the chimerical kingdom.
Christian nationalism is a form of religious nationalism that focuses on promoting the Christian views of its followers, in order to achieve prominence or dominance in political and social life.[1][2] It seeks to establish an exclusivist version of Christianity as the dominant moral and cultural order.[3] In countries with a state church, Christian nationalists seek to preserve the status of a Christian state.[4]
Not satisfied to inflict a self-righteous, intolerant view of correct Christianity over other Christians, Christian Nationalism seeks to enforce nominally Christian laws on society in general, especially in the arenas of policy and politics. You see this in recent attempts for the Louisiana Congress in the United States to install the Ten Commandments in “all classrooms” in 2025. No Constitutional regard for the First Amendment here— i.e. “not establishing” a state religion.
The irony is not lost on me. The Ten Commandments come from the Judaic bible, not the Christian New Testament. Why is no one pushing to post the Beatitudes in every classroom? Why? Because it is a radically loving, spiritual message that, if followed, would make a mess of American materialism and the designs of a global capitalist ruling class.
Christian Zionism
“Christian Zionists maintain that the Book of Genesis says that God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse it. They insist that if America, as a country, does not "bless" Israel (that is, offer its government its unconditional support), God will curse America," (leading Christian Zionist, John Hagee) proclaim(s).
Spiritually distorted notions of Christian Zionism and fundamentalism have teamed up with those of Judaic Zionism and fundamentalism to cheerlead the effort to turn Palestinian Gaza into a “parking lot,” in the current conflict/genocide there.
A zealous, almost suicidal, militarism has emerged in a Judaist-Christian Zionist alliance quite at odds with Jesus himself who said in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the Sons of God.” Again, we see the emergence here of a tiresome, anti-spiritual inclination PASSING itself off as spiritual. Lust for worldly power and “proof” of God “ruling the world” is sanctified over and above the Christian biblical necessities of love and justice.
The grisly irony here is that “End Times” Christian Zionists believe once Jews do take over the entire “Greater Israel” region and build a third temple, God will kill two-thirds of them, and give the other third a chance to convert to Christianity or be killed! On the other side of alleged alliance, Israeli attacks canceled Christmas celebrations in the birthplace of Jesus Christ, Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine in 2023 and 2024.
The Third Temple and a “Greater Israel”
Along the lines of John Hagee, Christian and Judaic Zionists believe that a new physical Jewish temple needs to be built and the Jews need to take over their biblically outlined territories in order to bring on the Second Coming of Christ The new third temple for Israelites would involve demolishing a sacred Muslim mosque (Al Aqsa) and the Dome of the Rock shrine (the oldest examples of Muslim architecture in the world) and constructing a human-built Judaic holy place upon its remains.
This religious and physical commitment only underscores the difference in orientation between faithful, Jesus-following Christianity and a certain kind of zealous Judaism— on one hand a Christian God establishing a divinely constructed sovereignty on earth through voluntary self-sacrifice, and on the other, a Judaic man-made temple established on the sacrifice and destruction of other faiths. It must be noted that there is dissension among the Judaic ranks here:
Following the Second Temple's destruction, "most rabbis adopted the position that Jewish law prohibits reconstructing the Holy Temple [Third Temple] prior to the age of messianic redemption, or that the law is too ambiguous and that the messiah must come first."[3]
However, this does not stop the atheist Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu (along with influential atheist Israeli Prime Ministers Golda Meier and Ben Gurion) from justifying such actions and militarily pursuing a Greater Israel. Nor does it prevent Christian Zionists from ignoring Jesus’ own words that HIS BODY was the Third Temple to be destroyed and resurrected in three days.
In the Christian understanding, when Jesus refers to his body as a "temple," he is essentially saying that his physical body is the new and true place where God dwells on Earth, effectively replacing the physical temple in Jerusalem, making his body the "third temple" in a spiritual sense; this is primarily based on the Bible verse in John 2:19 where Jesus says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," referring to his own body. (Chrome Browser, AI summary, March 2, 2025)
Alleged “Christians” who believe a Greater Israel and a Third (physical) Temple are necessary to bring on the Second Coming of Christ are ignoring Jesus’ own words.
The Second Coming of Christ
One could make a valid Christian argument, given the above evidence, that the Second Coming of Christ has already happened in the form of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to preside over a humanity whose sins have been atoned for. Many Christians believe, as per a certain interpretation of the Apostles’ Creed, that Jesus rose BODILY into heaven after being resurrected. I do not personally believe this is true. The “clothes of light” shown to disciples in the transfiguration of Jesus would seem to be a much more apt and likely vehicle for Jesus’ ascension into heaven. The same with the Rapture: Most Christians seem to think we reclaim our bodies so we can be fully human and fully divine in heaven. I believe we leave our bodies behind.
When we die, we are resurrected SPIRITUALLY not bodily or physically. Jesus may have made an exception to this for a few days after his death, but where is the need for a physical body in an ethereal, higher realm? I would think, due to its density and restrictiveness, a human physical body would be either incompatible with a higher realm or would impede one’s ability to thrive in the higher realms.
Similarly, I don’t believe that a larger than life Jesus’ will descend in a Second Coming (or Third Coming, depending upon how you are counting). The Second Coming of Christ, I believe, with come in reality of Christ-love and Christ-consciousness arising within and transforming the hearts of all people (very much along the same lines of the Beatitudes), thus transfiguring all of us to a higher, more spiritually evolved existence.
Let me know what you think, and if you have any spiritual questions you would like me to explore.
All blessings, Zeus
Emilie, I am in the process of developing these short form podcasts. Prospective title: “How to Be a Real Christian”. Meant to be a little playful and provocative both as well as informative.
Hi Zeus! So, I just now got around to reading this whole posting. Thank you so much for such a thorough discussion of the topic. What really stood out to me of all you mentioned is the extremely strong need that humans seem to have for a “savior.” The lengths people will go to to hasten the coming or return of the savior figure is kind of wild to me. As you mentioned (and this is my belief as well), a mature spirituality is about direct personal relationship with the Divine and a radical sense of personal responsibility that accompanies that. With true freedom comes deep personal accountability, so I kind of get why people want to blaming the devil while they wait for a savior.