Cutting through the mass confusion about the 'end of the world' that has captured people's attention for centuries, Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”? is a thorough Catholic critique of the immensely popular Fundamentalist belief in the Rapture through which Christians supposedly escape earthly trials prior to the Second Coming of Christ. The belief in the Rapture has been popularized by books and movies on the subject, such as the Left Behind book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.
Carl Olson has written Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”? to examine the little-known origins of the Rapture doctrine. In a comprehensive 394 pages, Olson scrutinizes the underlying belief system known as Dispensationalism, upon which rests the end-time speculation of today's prophecy preachers.
Books on Bible prophecy, the end times, and novels such as the Left Behind series have sold over 100 million copies. Unknown to many people, however, is the anti-Catholic agenda contained in many of these works. In Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”?, Olson exposes the attacks on the Catholic Church presented by Left Behind creators LaHaye and Jenkins, and others.
Olson was raised Fundamentalist and attended an Evangelical Bible college, then later converted to Catholicism before becoming editor of Envoy Magazine. He once fervently held the beliefs that he carefully critiques in the book.
In seeking permission to quote from the Left Behind books, Olson contacted their publisher, Tyndale House Publishers. After consulting with Tim LaHaye, the publisher refused to grant Olson permission to quote from the books.
Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”? is written for both the lay reader and the scholar. It combines an engaging, popular approach with exhaustive research. Olson lays out the history of apocalyptic belief and theology, beginning with the early Church and including the Montanists, St. Augustine, Joachim of Fiore, the Protestant Reformers, and American Puritans.
A strong but fair critique of what Olson presents as the dangerous Rapture belief, Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”? answers both Catholics' and non-Catholics' questions about the Rapture. It shows the key difference between Catholic doctrine and “Dispensationalism.” It also shows how Dispensationalists' understanding of the Rapture departs from the beliefs of the Protestant Reformers and many Protestants today.
“I wrote this book because people need to see the big picture here,” says Olson. “They need to understand where all this Rapture talk comes from, and be aware of the erroneous belief systems in books and movies that look like nothing more than sheer entertainment, but which steer unsuspecting Catholics away from the Catholic Church and its authentic teaching.”
“If Christians are meant to avoid end-times suffering and escape by way of a Rapture, what does that say about the witness of the martyrs and the value of suffering for our faith!” says Olson. There's an inherent inconsistency there, he says, which can confuse Catholics and other Christians. Christians who buy into the Dispensationalist idea of the Rapture can become pessimistic, withdrawn and detached – and very negative in their view of Christian tradition and teaching, he says.
Karl Keating, author of Catholicism and Fundamentalism says, “Millions of Americans believe the Lord will snatch them up any day now, leaving the rest of us to the horrors of the seven-year tribulation. The hitch is that the 'Rapture' has no pedigree — but as Carl Olson shows, no Catholic or Protestant believed in it prior to the nineteenth century. It is an authentic Fundamentalist 'invention.'”
Paul Thigpen, PhD, author of Ignatius Press.
