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.

A Culture of Conspiracy (2003) non-fiction book

Professor Michael Barkun tackles millennialism and conspiracy theorists in his 2003 non-fiction book A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America.

Left Behind (2000) movie

Left Behind: The Movie is a 2000 feature film based on the first of a series of novels of the same name by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Badly acted, badly plotted and with just enough visual elements to give it some substance, Left Behind will appeal to Christian Bible literalists who see the Apocalypse just around the corner and fervently hope that they will be among the chosen few who will not be left behind during the Rapture.



It's after the mysterious disappearance of people all over the world, including many on an airline flight and lots of children -- far more than the 4400 that have also been the subject of a TV series and novels -- that the movie turns preachy. By the end of the film one of the characters has a complete conversion experience having witnessed first-hand the work of the Anti-Christ in the form of the Secretary General of the United Nations. The idea that the United Nations and two individuals, who are murdered by the Secretary General in front of UN delegates and security officials, can somehow plot to take over the world and dictate seven years of peace through the food supply is one of the most unrealistic and far-fetched conspiracy theories I've ever encountered.

For those who can't get enough of the Christian Apocalypse, two other movies based on the novels, Left Behind: Tribulation Force and Left Behind: World at War, are also available singly or as a collection with the first movie.

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.

Southland Tales (2006) movie

The ensemble 2006 movie Southland Tales starring former wrestler Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson is set in a post-nuclear-bomb USA, Los Angeles, specifically and in particular the Venice Beach area. It's a very weird tale indeed with echoes of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) and The 6th Day (2000).

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.

Racing Toward Armageddon (2009) book

Michael Baigent's book Racing Toward Armageddon: The Three Great Religions and the Plot to End the World (2009) looks at the apocalyptic fervor around the city of Jerusalem, Israel, inspired by the centuries of teachings of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Bring on the Apocalypse (2008) anthology

George Monbiot's anthology Bring on the Apocalypse: Essays on Self-Destruction (2008) is a collection of his scathing commentaries on the ways we're heading into the toilet tank of mutual, self-assured destruction.

Judgment Day (2007) novel

James F. David's Christian apocalypse novel, Judgment Day (2007), is the first in a series touted as rivaling the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins that began appearing almost a decade earlier.

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?

Legion (2010) movie

In the 2010 movie Legion the Angels of the Lord return to exterminate Mankind. And just when we thought things could not get any worse, humanity's only salvation is a single angel, Michael, who decides to help us and some strangers, including the mother of the unborn Savior, in a desert diner. I suppose the food there is just as bad.

Seven Signs of the Apocalypse (2009) TV documentary

This 2009 TV documentary, Seven Signs of the Apocalypse, looks at the end of world from the perspective of the Bible's New Testament's Book of Revelation as interpreted from a scientific viewpoint. From the few minutes I glimpsed, there seemed to be a lot of nuclear explosions and planetary impacts. This was broadcast on Canada's History Television on November 15, 2009, possibly to exploit the November 13 premiere of the movie 2012.

Armageddon (1941) short story

Fredric Brown specialized in short stories with a surprise ending. In his 1941 tale "Armageddon" a boy at a magic show manages to save the world from certain satanic doom with something very special inside his water pistol. And for that he gets punished by his father.

The Nine Billion Names of God (1953) short story

Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008), one of my favorite science fiction authors, like several other sci-fi authors, has written his share of short stories and novels around the general theme of planetary destruction, the destruction of civilization as we know it, or far-future societies on the verge of experiencing their end. One of his best short stories, first published in 1953, on the theme of not just planetary destruction but the destruction of the universe is "The Nine Billion Names of God." In this story Tibetan monks utilize modern technology (a device Clarke calls an Automatic Sequence Computer) to complete their list of all the names of God. When their work is done, the world will end.