Prophecy Hollywood-style

Read Part 1

Something happened on the way to the end of the world: the early church continued in the same vein as their Hebrew roots, looking to manifest prophetic expectation prematurely. The apostle, Paul, dealt with the Thessalonian church who thought they missed the second coming of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:2-17), and many Jewish believers were swept up in the Roman seige of 66-70 AD that culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem—in spite of Jesus’ prophecy of these events in Luke 21:20.

At each turn, prophecy—improperly interpreted, or just plain ignored—was a snare for those who did not seek out the will of the Lord and the times of His purpose. The modern culture, deeply influenced by entertainment, science, and a renewed infiltration of ancient occult practices, has seized upon the scriptures—specifically the Book of Revelation—as a handy pre-written script for drawing all manner of horror scenes directly from the pages of the Bible.

Naturally, Hollywood twists these scenes to fit the consumption needs of an unbelieving public. Starting in the 1970s, with films like “The Exorcist”, “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Omen”, Hollywood began to filter Biblical prophecies through the gauzy lens of their own satanic culture by tapping into the human lust for horror. These films stylized aspects of the Bible and wove into the stories very dark occult themes that omitted the deity of Jesus Christ. In a generation Hollywood moved from Cecil B. DeMilles’  majestic “King of Kings (1927)” and William Wyler’s classic “Ben Hur (1959)” to the perverse, distorted visage of  Roman Polanski’s incarnate baby Satan.

What is more incredible than Hollywood’s brutal assault on prophecy is that so-called “Christian” presentations followed the same strategy: selectively choosing elements of the Apocalypse that appealed to the basest sensibility of a barely literate viewer. This dumbed down, visceral, concrètized view of the Revelation stripped away the mystery, the nuanced symbology, and sweep of this Revelation of Jesus Christ. No better—or worse—example of this mangling of scripture comes to mind than the “Left Behind” movie, based on the Tim LaHaye/Jerry Jenkins mega-selling book series, which damaged both the majesty AND credibility of the Bible in favor of brute force evangelism—and its complete manipulation of prophecy to promote a “pre-tribulation rapture”. Fortunately, the films were relatively commercial failures in spite of the hefty book sales.

Nevertheless, the film severely discredited the ability of Evangelical (so-called) Christians to advance a coherent view of what the Book of Revelation truly presents as the consummation of the present age. Its Frankenstein-like plot resembled more the popular “disaster” flicks of the 1970s—films such as “Airport” or “The Poseidon Adventure”—concertized, two-dimensional, fear based contrivances that were designed to invoke carnal fear. Adding insult to injury was the pallid script, bad acting, and muted message of the film which only invited the deserved scorn of the more professional Hollywood industry!

The brooding images of destruction, death, and judgment portrayed in the Bible continue to provide much imaginative grist for the entertainment industry. The late 1990′s TV series, “Millenium” had, at the center of most of its story line, the end of the world; as its protagonist, Frank Black, joined and then opposed a group of radical Christian black ops called the Millenium Group, who worked actively to bring on the “apocalypse.” The work of Chris Carter of the “X Files”, this series actually veered closer to Biblical truth than nearly any “Christian” film productions in this era, as it showed the dark side of the dominant political/religious structures.

Another highly successful run at “apocalypse Hollywood style” was the four seasons of  “The 4400″ on USA Network, which feaured a “reverse rapture”, a charismatic Christ/Antichrist figure, miracles and healings, a “deadly wound” killing of the “Antichrist”  (Jordan Collier, played by Billy Campbell), his “resurrection” and return—all cast against the sensibilities of post-9-11 America. Even the current popular TV series, “Fringe”, weaves veiled references to Biblical prophecy into its dark view of  covert psy-ops and exotice science.

This same pattern of  a “cinematic/dramatic” portrayal of Biblical prophecy continues to this day in the spirit of modern prophecy teachers who diagram time lines, interpret symbolic images by free-association, and string together endless destruction scenarios via “cut-and-paste” techniques that would be the envy of  the Soviet montagist, Sergei Einstein (“A Dialectic Approach to Film Form”). Yes—this is a Soviet technique!

What is presented today in both the secular and religious cultures as a vision of the prophetic works does violence to both the written text and to the revealed spiritual thrust of the inspired writings. Because what is presented and perceived as “Christianity” is fractured by belief systems as diverse as preterism, historicism, and futurism—to name just a few—there is no singular structure by which the Christian prophetic view can be gleaned.

Like that of the Hebrews of 30 AD,  these views are restricted to the expediencies of a material, literal manifestation of the prophetic writ. As was then, what we are today presented with is absent any Spirit-breathed understanding, and bereft of any due diligence to study, discern, and pray. From these factions have arisen an army of “prophecy teachers” confusing and confounding both the believer and unbeliever with a plethora of comic book prophecy scenarios that are now marketed as “teachings” and “prophecy”. As we shall see in the next part of the series, there is no shortage of “junk food” for the ADD afflicted,  ”pseudo-science junkies” who now gobble up eschatology peddled by tinfoil hat  high priests.

Next installment:

Apocalypse Concrète-Part 3: “E.T. Barnum” & Co.