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THE THEORY Preaching the gospel is the primary mission of the Christian church, according to the words of Jesus. The last words ever spoken by Christ, before his ascension into heaven was to preach the gospel to the world. Since this directive was so important, it might have been some kind of prerequisite for the return of Christ, as described in the Bible. Advances in broadcast technology in the year 1973 made it was technically possible to hear the gospel of Christ, from anywhere on earth, for the first time in history. 1973 saw the birth of the age of global television, ushered in by a new treaty called Intelsat. Created 1964 as an organization of 11 countries, Intelsat officially takes effect in 1973, making global broadcasts much easier and less expensive. This allowed many Church organizations to broadcast their messages, to a world wide audience. In 1973, SIDS Sudden Infant Death Syndrome was first coined to explain the increase in this phenomenon. The Bible speaks of the characteristics of individuals who are eligible for the rapture and will be spared the terror of the Tribulation. These are those adults who are "Saints in Christ" or people who are "saved" and children under the age of "knowledge". The age of knowledge refers to the time when a child knows the difference between right and wrong and is then responsible for his soul. After that age, a person who could still be "pure of heart", would be unique at best and rare to say the least. The death of innocents is a popular archetype in all religions, so I must also submit the fact that the Row v Wade decision was in 1973. In this year the Supreme Court was trying to deal with the fact that so many people in our consumer driven economy are so mesmerized by the lure of advertising and the mass media, that they want to avoid giving birth to their own children, just so they can participate. The archaic prohibitions on contraception still oppressing the people of the church today, combined with our consumer culture, may be the cause of women making the decision to abort their pregnancies. You can simply call it immorality, but in many cases abortion is an economic decision made to best suit living in a materialistic society. This is a complicated issue. It is easy to condemn a women who has an abortion, or the doctors who perform them. It is much harder to admit that the economic realities of raising children in the modern world, are so significant, that women and men, who are equally guilty, are forced to seek abortion. Aren't these people actually choosing the material world over their own children? This could be further evidence that the love of money is the root of all evil. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS Other possible candidates for rapture could be referenced in the words of Christ, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the Children of God". This is from the sermon on the mount and could be interpreted that "peacemakers" may be people like Mother Theresa and Gandhi. These peacemakers might qualify to be saints in Christ, because of their self sacrifice and dedication to peace and fellow man. Conversely, men of war could actually be excluded. The relatively low number of potential saints, correlates with the numbers mentioned in scriptures, when describing how many people will be included in the rapture of the church. According to a popular interpretation of scriptures, the dead saints are just asleep until the rapture, at which time they awake and are caught up to meet Jesus in the air first, followed by those saints in Christ who are still alive. Seemingly routine deaths of the early 70's could have actually been "raptured" people. Could the rapture have actually occurred by 1973 and not be noticed? The fact that no one realized it would be a fulfillment of another prophecy, "no one will know the hour" and "like a thief in the night". These quotes are referring to the idea that one sign of the rapture could be that no person left behind will realize it has happened. If a thief sneaks in and steals a few dollars from your wallet, and leaves undetected, you would only notice the money missing later and would probably think the money was simply misplaced. If the number of actual saints alive in 1973 were so few, that they could have easily been explained as normal deaths, this would also fulfill the prophecy. WANT MORE? The "Love Generation" ended in 1973, as a last gasp, off shoot movement called the "Jesus Freaks". These Hippies were disillusioned with the effects of drugs and sexual promiscuity. They found Jesus and went straight, however, they retained their pacifist beliefs, along with the attitudes, styles and music of the counter culture. They also created Christian Rock, which represents a significant market segment today. One cannot simply dismiss the significance of the whole Hippy movement and how it was modeled after the anti-materialism and pacifist teachings of Jesus, a long forgotten cultural icon at the time. Notice that clothing and hair styles of the early 70's, emulated Christ from to the long hair and clothes right down to the sandals. This was unique from a cultural perspective. It was the first time Middle Eastern clothing or the "hippy look" was a contemporary style, with mass acceptance, in the western hemisphere. The early seventies saw the Flower Power and Hippy movements splintered into many smaller religious movements, two of which were the so called Jesus People and Jesus Freaks. The year 1973 also coincides with the end of the love generation and the beginning of the "Me" generation. Something spiritual definitely happened in the late 60's early 70's, and it was crushed by the power structure. Again, just like the first time Christ lived among us! WHAT ABOUT THE ANTICHRIST? Here is the best part of the 1973 theory. Wealthy conservatives and religious groups, who opposed the Jesus Freaks and Jesus Christ Superstar as sacrilegious, could actually be the source from which the Antichrist would emerge. Just like the first time Christ appeared, the greatest opposition to his work came from the conservative religious leadership of the Temple system in Jerusalem (Pharisees and Sadducees) and the money changers. Jesus Christ was a member of the Essenes, a Jewish sect that opposed the Temple leaders, who lived in opulence and spent lavishly on the Temple, at the expense of the poor. Interpretation of scripture, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. |