Thanks to Jesse Brooks and my friends at Allied Faith and Family, this past Thursday I attended an advance showing of the much anticipated full-length motion picture Left Behind. This movie, opening on October 3rd, focuses on the events immediately following the rapture as millions of Christians and children are taken up into Heaven.
Ray Steele, played by Nicholas Cage, is the film’s central character. Steele struggles with his marriage, infidelity, and his role as a father. As a pilot who is in mid-flight when the rapture occurs, he is responsible for dozens of panic-stricken passengers whose loved ones sitting beside them suddenly disappear.
Based upon the best-selling book series, Left Behind provides an incredible opportunity to have meaningful conversations with unchurched friends about their eternal destiny. No one will confuse the acting and production values with a Steven Spielberg film but the movie’s message completely eclipses some of the film’s shortcomings.
Also, it is important for Christians to fully support faith-based projects so Hollywood will hear our voice and produce more. Make sure you see this film and most importantly, take unchurched friends with you to discuss the movie’s meaning.
After watching the trailer, the following are 18 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Left Behind: The Movie:
- Anticipation Of The Rapture – This was the biggest lesson of the movie for me. While watching the film, you are literally on the edge of your seat because you know the rapture is coming. You just do not know when. As a Christian, I fell under conviction because God had me deal with the question, “Why am I anticipating the rapture so much in a movie but not in real life.” I should anticipate the real rapture even more because I also know it is coming. I just do not know when.
- Unchurched People Ask Legitimate Questions – The film’s opening scene dealt with many questions unchurched people ask such as “Where is God when natural disasters happen?” and “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?”
- Jesus Continually Woos People Until The Very Last Minute – Both Steele and his daughter Chloe, played by Cassi Thomson, struggle with their wife/mother’s new-found faith. Ray says, “The changes people go through between (age) 20 and 50 are enormous.”
- “If she’s going to run off with another man, why not Jesus?” – Matthew 10:35-36 (NAS) says, “For I came to set a man against his father and the daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.” This is an echoing of Old Testament prophecy found in Micah 7:6.
- Christ Is Continually Bringing People To Himself – Buck Williams, played by Chad Michael Murray, said “If look hard enough you’ll see everything you’re looking for.”
- Even Adults Need Stable Parents – The family is the primary foundational element of human history. When it is not functioning as God intended, the affects are felt for generations. Chloe, now in college, continually struggled with security as a result of her parent’s struggling marriage.
- Prioritize Relationships – We are not promised our next breath. When Chloe said hurtful things to her mother and stormed out of the house, she never realized it would be their last conversation.
- It Will Be Much, More Worse – Chloe’s response after the rapture was, “It’s a bad dream.” The rapture will literally usher in “hell on earth”. As much calamity as the movie’s producers attempted to portray, I felt they softened it quite a bit so it could be seen in church’s and youth groups in the future. The real post-rapture world will be unimaginably horrific.
- Crisis Reveals Character. It Does Not Create It. – It struck me people’s post-rapture behavior were simply amplified versions of their pre-rapture behavior. Angry people got angrier. Scared people became more frightened. Insecure people were thrust into sheer panic. People who rejected God their entire life did not repent.
- Avoidance Of Reality – Non-Christians will have no decision grid for what just happened when the rapture occurs. Therefore, they will attempt to rationalize the events. In the movie, the plane’s passengers attempted to explain the sudden disappearances as an alien abduction, terrorist attack, wormhole, or they were still there, just invisible
- God Is A Global God – We tend to think of God through an American lens. However, God is constantly at work globally. A person who remained in the hospital said, “It’s not just here. It’s all over the world.”
- Unspeakable Level Of Suffering – The movie’s most moving scenes were Chloe walking in an empty maternity ward at a hospital. This was followed by walking through her neighborhood and seeing an emotionally-stricken elderly lady sitting on her porch beside an empty pair of clothes which were obviously worn by her husband just moments prior.
- Many “Professing Christians” Will Miss The Rapture – Chloe went to her mother’s church where she encountered only one person, the pastor. When wondering why he was still on earth, the pastor said, “Knowing the words isn’t enough. You must believe.” Matthew 7:21 says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.”
- God Is For Us And Wants Our Very Best – The pastor continued, “He took them to protect them from the darkest time in this world – Persecution.”
- The Power Of A Blameless Life – Only those who live a blameless life possess the gift of credibility. Realizing the rapture had occurred, Steele tried to tell his mistress what had happened. She rejected his ideas because he had forfeited his right to talk about God.
- “As much as I want to see her when I get home I hope she’s not there.” – These were Ray’s words when thinking of his wife. For the Christian, we experience a different set of feelings. Our home is actually in Heaven. We hope when we get home as many of our friends and loved ones are there as possible.
- “Today is the saddest day of my life.” – Written by Chloe, these words will be echoed by everyone who misses the real rapture.
- Eternity Is Just The Beginning – Williams says, “It looks like the end of the world.” To which Chloe replies, “Not yet. It’s just the beginning.”
Like I said, make sure you take your unchurched friends to see this movie and prepare to discuss its meaning afterwards.
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