The Taken And The Left Behind Revisited

The Taken and The Left Behind

Submitted by Thomas Stidl

The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 17, Verses 26-37 the prophecy of Jesus concerning the taken and the left behind. The passage says that two people will be in bed; one will be taken, the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left. They said to Him in reply, “Where, Lord?” Jesus said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.”

How many Christians have heard of the “Left Behind” series of books and movies? Christian Protestant ministers point to this passage to be the fulfillment of the rapture of the just. Protestant ministers relate to us that the just will rise to meet the Lord in the clouds of heaven either before the seven years of the Great Tribulation or at the midpoint of the Great Tribulation. They preach the taken and the left behind part, but they seem to forget the next verses.

The bodies of the taken are given to the vultures. As most of us know, vultures eat dead bodies. This does not sound like a glorious homecoming to meet the Lord. Rather, this sounds like another prophecy of Jesus where the angels will gather the wicked first to be bundled together to burn in unquenchable fire. The righteous will be gathered as fine wheat into his store house. I hope that this article will enlighten Catholics about misinterpretations of biblical verses. This article does not prove or disprove the theory of the rapture. All Catholics believe that Jesus will raise the just from the dead and make our bodies like his glorious body to live with Him forever. Jesus will always have his five wounds to remind us of the terrible that He alone had to pay for our redemption.

Until next time, Laus Tibi, Christe. Deo Gratias. Gloria Tibi Domini. Laus Deo. See you in Paradise.