Rapture Fever

Fear of Men Produces Para@s 59
both technically and culturally possible and imminent? The fact
that such things are not technically possible in the time period
claimed for them never seems to occur to the buyers of paperback
prophecy books.
A steady stream of this sort of material tends to reduce the
ability of Christians to reason coherently or make effective longterm
decisions. Sensationalism becomes addictive. Sensationalism
combined with culture-retreating pietism paralyzed the fundamentalist
movement until, in the late 1970’s, fundamentalism at
last began to change. That transformation is nowhere near
complete, but it surely has begun. (See Chapter 11.) Fundamentalists
are at last beginning to re-think their eschatology.
They are less subject to uncontrolled spasms produced by Rapture
fever. The back cover promotional copy on Whatever Hap-
$ened to Heaven? reveals that Dave Hunt is aware of the fact that
his version of pop-dispensationalism, like Hal Lindsey’s, is
fading rapidly. (Mr. Lindsey largely disappeared from public
view about the time he married wife number three. Gone are
the days of his guest appearances - and everyone else’s - on
“The Jim and Tammy Show.” He does have a radio show and
a local television show in southern California.) Hunt’s promotional
copy announces: “Today, a growing number of Christians
are exchanging the hope for the rapture for a new hope . . .
that Christians can clean up society. . . .“ The promise - unfulfilled,
I might add - of the back cover is that this book will
show old fashioned dispensationalists “how we lost that hope
[the Rapture] and how it can be regained.” The success of his
books proves that there are still buyers of the old literature who
love to be thrilled by new tales of the Beast. This means, of
course, that they do not want to hear about the biblical account
of the Beast of Revelation. They much prefer fantasy.
Conclusion
Fear paralyzes people if they see no escape, or if their
hoped-for escape is seen by them as a miraculous deliverance