The Remaining (2014) movie

Imagine the Christian "Rapture" event as a horror film and you have The Remaining, a 2014 Christian-horror movie. Combining elements of cinéma vérité, mainly the handheld camera, the film follows a group of 20-somethings after the events foretold in the Bible's Book of Revelation unfold following a wedding reception. The movie is graphic in some of its imagery. As with many of these movies based on someone "documenting" the events with a video camera, the end of the film leaves many questions unresolved.

Will the world end on October 7, 2015?

Yet another (to be) mistaken Biblical prophecy has popped up with a specific date as to when the world will end: October 7, 2015.

Postscript: Doomsday May 21, 2011

May 21, 2011 has come and gone nearly everywhere in the world and the world has not been ravaged by earthquakes nor have any Christians been gathered up by the Rapture, at least not that any of the mainstream media have reported. That's one less prophet to worry about now. I do feel sorry for those who have been duped by their faith in this man. To err is human, after all.

Doomsday May 21, 2011

In case you had not heard, the end of the world (Judgment Day in Christian circles) is supposed to start on May 21, 2011, with a series of earthquakes just before 6 pm (not sure what time zone though) and the Earth will be utterly destroyed in October 2011. All this according to various news reports about Christian "prophet" Harold Camping who preaches through his Family Radio Christian network (FamilyRadio.com). Camping apparently did his calculations from Biblical verses but only counted forward from 4900 BC. Other Christian leaders have dismissed his claims. Camping had previously calculated Doomsday to be in September 1994, so clearly he has no credibility. Robert Fitzpatrick's book The Doomsday Code (2010) is based on the Camping Calculations.

Judgment Day (2005) Novel

Judgment Day (2005) is a novel by James F. David, that, like the Left Behind series, takes the New Testament's Revelation to John (the last book of that part of the Bible) as a starting point for a fictional romp through apocalyptic times.

The Armageddon Factor (2010) book

The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada (Random House Canada, 2010) by Marci McDonald is the first book-length examination of the link between Christian fundamentalism and Canadian national politics in particular. The author, a journalist, has investigational expertise in this area through past interviewing and reporting on the issues she addresses in her book.

The End of the World (1998) book

Edited by Lewis H. Lapham with Peter T. Struck, The End of the World (1998, c1997) is an anthology of essays, memoirs, and extracts from historical writings about events that were considered apocalyptic at the time of their occurrence. The first of these is the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh from around 3000 BC. The book is divided into three parts:

1. The Ruins of Empires


2. The Fall of Nations


3. The Twentieth Century: The End in a Void

The last part includes reference to and information from the Rapture Index.

There is also an "End Times" table with predicted dates for the end of the world. This table does not include the supposed Mayan calendar prediction of the world's end in 2012 AD.

Have a Nice Doomsday (2007) book

Former Simon Fraser University history professor Nicholas Guyatt, published Have a Nice Doomsday: Why Millions of Americans Are Looking Forward to the End of the World in 2007. He examines the Christian obsession with The Rapture and an apocalyptic viewpoint inspired by a literal interpretation of the last book of the Bible's New Testament, the Revelation of St. John.

Three Rapture sites from 2009 newpaper article

A local newspaper article published December 2, 2009 described these three Rapture sites. According to the article, "basic Rapture doctrine says Jesus will unexpectedly return and will bring faithful Christians to Heaven, leaving non-believers and followers of other faiths to face a prolonged period of global strife."

RaptureReady.com, founded by Todd Strandberg of Benton, Arkansas, in 1987, features the weekly Rapture Index. How, if Jesus is returning unexpectedly, this index is supposed to have any predictive value is beyond me. Maybe Jesus will return when the index is at its lowest value rather than its highest.

YouveBeenLeftBehind.com, a subscription-based service, lets its members store messages and e-mail addresses of those they want to reach after the Rapture. But if there's global strife, especially if the time of Tribulation immediately follows the Rapture, would those messages even get delivered?

The atheist-run site Eternal Earthbound Pets is committed all those pets from Christian homes where the owners have ascended to be with Jesus. Poor Spot and Fluffy. But those who think they are bound for Heaven can keep their pets safe by subscribing to this service. What's $110 a pet for peace of enraptured mind?