Episode 153: Yom Kippur and the Rapture

No, I am not suddenly endorsing the Rapture hypothesis but I am going to talk about how it is incompatible with any idea of white American (like me) and European Christians qualifying for it based on both Isaiah 58 and Matthew 25 and the historical reality of the persecuted church worldwide never being snatched from far worse than we can even imagine. This is a clarion call to all of us to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, without which, all the fasting in the world won’t impress God. For those of you unfamiliar with my pre-Yom Kippur broadcasts, just know that I don’t pull my punches.

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In Matthew 25, in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Yeshua self-identified with the least of these—the oppressed, wrongfully imprisoned, sick, poor, hungry, cold, widowed, orphaned and foreigner/resident alien. And this wasn’t just a casual or spiritualized association because Yeshua had and would experience many of these during His life. Despite being a Jew in Galilee, He lived in exile because of the Roman dominion over the land that subjected himself and His fellow Galileans to severe, back-breaking taxation as well as whatever brutality the authorities wished to inflict on them. He and His cousin John would be wrongfully imprisoned and executed. He certainly wasn’t a wealthy man because we know that a number of prosperous women supported Him as He traveled—a wealthy man would hardly accept such support from female patrons in an honor/shame society. For forty days in the wilderness, He experienced severe hunger, thirst, and temptation. We have no idea how old He was when Joseph died, but His mother was certainly a widow by the time He began to preach. And so, I have to ask, given our Master’s voluntary and intimate association with the “least of these” why does the Western church (and yes, this is unique to us), hold on so tightly to so many elitist beliefs and doctrines?

Be warned. If you are not familiar with my pre-Yom Kippur broadcasts then you need to know that you might be in for a bumpy ride.

Hi, I am Tyler Dawn Rosenquist and welcome to Character in Context, where I teach the historical and ancient sociological context of Scripture with an eye to developing the character of the Messiah. If you prefer written material, I have many years’ worth of blog at theancientbridge.com as well as my six books available on amazon—including a four-volume curriculum series dedicated to teaching Scriptural context in a way that even kids can understand it, called Context for Kids (affiliate link) and I have two video channels on YouTube with free Bible teachings for both adults and kids. You can find the link for those on my website. Past broadcasts of this program can be found at characterincontext.podbean.com and transcripts can be had for most broadcasts at theancientbridge.com. If you have kids, I also have a weekly broadcast where I teach them Bible context in a way that shows them why they can trust God and how He wants to have a relationship with them through the Messiah.

Have you ever noticed that Yeshua never preached anything that privileged the rich or created an insurmountable barrier for the poor? If anything, He gave those who are wealthy the toughest barriers to climb. Consider the rich young ruler of the synoptic Gospels—now that is an account that really makes people squirm but it is very important to understand. The young man wanted to know what he had to do in order to inherit eternal life, and after assuring Yeshua that he had kept all the Decalogue commandments since birth, he was challenged to sell all that he had, give the money to the poor, and to become a disciple. And people like to try to lessen the directive because we want our stuff and we love financial security, right? But Yeshua was making a very clear statement, “You have inherited much wealth and you are in a position of power. As someone who is privileged, you have an obligation (as per Isaiah 58) to use your influence, honor and wealth to further the Kingdom—it isn’t yours to do with as you want, if you want to follow me. In all honesty, a man like that could do a lot to alleviate suffering and could follow Yeshua just by staying at home and benefiting the “least of these” instead of living in luxury. He could raise the economic level of those around him by funding those who were in danger of losing their land to the Romans, support community food production and be a voice for the voiceless at the city gate. And this is the same for all of us—are we doing what we can according to our measure of privilege and influence?

And so, it is shocking when Americans (who are extremely privileged compared to the rest of the world) cling so tightly to the non-biblical doctrine of pre-tribulation rapture and claim that it is imminent whenever the economy tanks, there are natural disasters, or a Democrat gets elected to office.

This year was worse about it than most, with major predictions that should have happened last Monday—but didn’t. Just, you know, like they never do. But the truth is that American believers are very drawn to the idea that despite the horrible tribulation that other believers in the world are enduring—in Central and South America, Asia and Africa where believers live in unimaginable poverty and are subject to wrongful imprisonment, persecution, summary execution by the State and mob violence, torture, rape, mutilation, being burned alive and decapitated—that somehow we will be spared despite our own country being founded and built through colonization, genocide, and chattel slavery. Added to that, our consumption of and demand for inexpensive products despite the fact that it is provided to us through overseas slave labor, child labor, and virtual slave labor here where migrant workers (aka resident aliens and foreigners Torah demands we care for) can be victimized, defrauded, and oppressed by their employers (not to mention looked down upon by “good Christians” as though they are lowlife trash instead of people who have to work a heck of a lot harder than the people who are devouring the “reasonably priced” produce that would be a lot more expensive if they were paid according to their work ethic). Sex slavery, worldwide, is epidemic. Sexual and psychological abuse in the church is pervasive.

And yet, we want to be rescued from liberal lawmakers and a bad economy even when we have government safety nets? Truth is that Americans have so much and have such opportunities due to our US Citizenship (well, not everyone but we will get to that later) that we live in terrible fear of what people in other countries are enduring as a normal. We think that such things are for them and not for Americans, who believe themselves to be God’s chosen people despite never doing a thing to make up for the gross oppression this country has dished out (and still dishes out) and we have benefited from even if we don’t like to admit it.

Everyone who believes that the rapture will happen before Americans suffer, is placing America on a level that we in no way deserve. We are a people of lukewarm faith, who gaslight the victims of racism, find ways of making the victims of police brutality somehow deserving of it (and I say this as the mom of a future cop who is also very upset about it), and who stand by fairly emotionless as Native Americans sit on land that is often only 5% farmable with no easy access to water and who, like Black Americans, suffer from terrible rejection, shame, deprivation and fear. They were farming before we ever got here and now they can’t—because we wanted the farmland for ourselves. We have fallen so short of the commands of Isaiah 58:6-11 that we should expect severe tribulation and certainly not an easy escape:

Isn’t this the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to ignore your own flesh and blood? Then your light will appear like the dawn, and your recovery will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard. At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer; when you cry out, he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you get rid of the yoke among you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking, and if you offer yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday. The Lord will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose water never runs dry.

These are very serious if/then statements. Have we really broken the chains of wickedness? Does every child grow up with equal opportunity for a good education and a full belly? Is every child born into a safe neighborhood? Is it even possible for them to move away if the answer is no? Did their parents’ jobs get moved to the suburbs where they can’t afford to travel? Are their parents denied loans because they live within the “red line” district of their city? Will they be profiled once they stop being cute little kids? Are they drawn to gangs because it is the only place where they can feel important, valued, and insulated from the outside world that doesn’t want them and won’t lift a finger to make things right for them? Are we willing to stomp down hard on not only sex traffickers but also the johns who are creating the demand for the degradation, oppression, and destruction of other human beings? Are Christians willing to see porn for what it is and what they are when they use it? Are they willing to see that what they do and watch being done to others is what they are doing to Yeshua, in whose image these trafficked men and women are made? If only we would be willing to imagine Yeshua as the victim, and according to Matthew 25, I believe He would own that association, who but the most despicable would be able to go back to that trough? And I say this as a former addict of over twenty years—I was an oppressor. Can you imagine fasting on Yom Kippur and checking that off your yearly list of stuff to do while knowingly participating in sexual abuse and sex trafficking? Do you think God is impressed?

Are we eating cheap chocolate at the expense of the 23% of cocoa farm workers who receive no compensation? Mostly children who are stolen from their families or are orphans who are sold to farmers for $34 each, placed in dangerous jobs, and abused horribly? And other workers who just make $1 a day, way below the poverty line? That’s Hershey’s, Mars and Nestle buying that chocolate. If we participate in this, not only aren’t we sharing our food with the hungry, or bringing the homeless and poor into our homes, but we are depriving them of enough money to provide for their families on and subsidizing child trafficking. Is chocolate even worth the reality they are living?

When we give clothing to the naked, are we just giving them our cast offs that didn’t get bought at the yard sale or are we taking them somewhere to buy them something new if we have the money? Or giving them something out of our closets that is good enough for a job interview? Do we give thinking that they should be grateful and bowing down in front of us or are we so consumed with supplying a need that we are grateful that we were given the privilege of meeting it? And do we take proper care of our relatives—and especially our children in the case of divorce? Do the kids have everything they need? Are they the priority when there are funds available? Is there even a reason in the world in which a believing parent would need to be forced to support their children? And that goes for men and women. We cannot serve mammon, money, and also do what is right. It never works. Are we working to overcome injustice in our country, state, city, and neighborhood? This might shock you, but for a year and a half I lived in what is called a “sundown” town. Now, I didn’t know it at the time—I didn’t even know there was a name for places where it is not safe for people of color to be after sundown. Willow Springs, Missouri—in the only state in the US specifically created to be a pro-slavery state in order to balance votes in the Senate. It’s the only place I ever lived where it was a casual thing for outsiders to be treated with contempt in general and to hear racial slurs that I don’t think I had ever heard in person before that. Racial slurs without even so much as a faint blush, no shame, no hesitation, no regret, no questioning about the rightness of it. But that is the demonic fruit of living in a state where oppression wasn’t just practiced, but where it served as a reason for the state’s very existence. A state created for the express purpose of making oppression safe and legal. Safe, at least, for those who wanted to have absolute carte blanche with regards to doing evil to anyone who had the audacity to be born black. You know, without interference from those uppity anti-slavery folks.

The commandments for the affliction and fasting that Yahweh desires, in addition to going without sustenance for the day (which is the only way many people are able to think about God all day long, is when their hunger constantly reminds them), are followed by what will happen IF we do what is right. These are all “if-then” statements but we have turned a blind eye to our complicity in, and benefit derived from, oppression. When famine came upon the Land of Israel for three years during the reign of David because of the violence perpetrated against the Gibeonites, whom Saul slaughtered for purely racist reasons (2 Samuel 21). Long after Saul’s death, David was told by Yahweh that they were suffering because of Saul’s murderous campaign against the Gibeonites and so David called the Gibeonites to himself and promised to do for them whatever they wanted because he recognized the wrong and even the generational nature of it—children growing up without fathers and women widowed with no source of support and the damage that brings on a multitude of generations. They asked for the lives of seven of Saul’s sons in exchange—grandchildren, actually, were delivered up to them.

When people tell me that we shouldn’t have to pay for the oppression and sins and brutality of our ancestors, who profited (and we still profit) from genocide and stolen land, enslavement and the rape of enslaved women—I remember Saul’s sins and the price his grandchildren paid. And if they were adults, the fact that they left behind widows and orphans who would not easily be able to recover financially, much less emotionally. This isn’t to say that I condone murder, but that was the ancient Near Eastern honor/shame reality when a people were shamed that they could only get back their honor through financial compensation or eye for an eye. And in situations like this, being paid off just doesn’t cut it. The truth is that we have never made right any of the sins of this country—not against Japanese Americans, the enslaved or their descendants, the victims of racial terrorism and discrimination, or the stealing of Land from which Americans still benefit. We just move on with all our stuff and expect them to get along without our making things right. Isaiah 58 might as well have been written to us. And sooner or later, the bill comes due. It hasn’t been paid yet, just FYI, because we are too busy shutting down and gaslighting anyone who brings it up, and the financial and emotional devastation because of our corporate national exploitation.

Snatched before the tribulation? With that on our records? No way. I am telling you that if our brothers and sisters overseas—with their faithfulness even to death (and much worse) for the witness of Yahweh and Yeshua—are enduring unthinkable tribulation, hardship, abuse, sexual violation, etc. and if this has been the historical reality since the last days began with the Resurrection….until, of course, Constantine gave military power to the church and those within it weren’t above seeking revenge against their persecutors and using violence and colonization as evangelistic tools. That, and not questionable rituals, is our inheritance from Rome. Our safety net. Our way to get out of loving people and allowing God to work in His “upside down” Kingdom ways. Voice of the Martyrs, Open Doors, the Persecution Project, Frontline Missions, Asia Harvest, and so many others can show you what is happening right now and what has happened historically to believers. Check out the movies Sheep Among Wolves Volumes I and 2. Study the Holocaust. God’s people historically have suffered abuse, unless they are backed by military power and then we tend to become oppressors ourselves. This is the difference between the Northern European and American church and the rest of the world.

I want you to consider a few things: (1) God doesn’t love Americans more than anyone else, and especially since we have replaced Him with our trust in nationalism and political parties and capitalism; (2) Any doctrine that favors the rich and those who have access to technology is a false doctrine that doesn’t represent the self-association of Yeshua with the vulnerable and downtrodden—and a rapture out of harm’s way for Americans, any suggestion that one can only avoid the Mark of the Beast if they have internet access to all the YouTube theologians, or some sort of Land Bridge from here to Europe or Africa so that we can get to the Holy Land before it collapses and you can only use if you have a car, unlimited gasoline, food for the journey, and don’t somehow live somewhere in horrible poverty where you can’t even get over there. These are elitist doctrines that cater to the rich and technologically advanced; (3) Any doctrine that favors privileged white people by sparing them the harm they turn a blind eye to in other countries (and their own) is just not going to fly with our Matthew 25 Savior; (4) Can you even imagine God sending the entire unbelieving world into seven years of hell without mature believers to minister God’s love to them? Seven years ain’t going to cut it or produce people (at least not in the Western world) who are able to stand up to their convictions without a lot of help; (5) What follower of Yeshua, when they really think of the ramifications, would want to abandon the world to face tribulation alone? (6) Rapture is something that can only be argued by certain verses out of historical and biblical context and is nowhere spelled out, but that hasn’t stopped us from believing it is there so fervently that we don’t see it when we want to: (7) Rapture contributes to lukewarmness, selfishness, and breeds fear because it is an escape hatch people depend on so that they won’t have to be like every other believer in the world; (8) Where in the Bible do we ever, even once, see children spared from tribulation and oppression—assuming they will all be swept away is wishful thinking that makes rapture more palatable.

Why would anyone who allows persecution and injustice to go on unabated, in the name of national pride or turning a blind eye, get raptured? Where is the justice in that? The believers who have demanded cheap food, makeup, technology, and clothing at the expense of people suffering in sweatshops—wouldn’t we be the perfect people to undergo the tribulation that our greed and desire for more and more stuff is already inflicting on others? No, Western and European believers are headed for judgment and not for rescue. We don’t give a damn about the world, about their salvation, their suffering—just so long as it doesn’t touch us. We don’t even give a damn about the people around us who are barely hanging on. Rescue mission? For people who are overindulged and comfortable yet still wanting more and more? Or doesn’t it matter when the people we are hurting aren’t white? Aren’t like us? Are inherently foreign and therefore backwards and undeserving? I have heard people say that if God wanted someone saved, He would do something about it. Which is odd because he gave us the Bible and it is pretty clear that WE are the form His rescue mission takes now. That’s why Yeshua said we would do greater things.

Yom Kippur is about cleaning up God’s House and that’s us, folks.