I have a lot of respect for religious people. I find their ability to believe and follow in faith admirable, and perhaps even enviable. But if you were a con man looking for a new gig then picking on the legions of happy clappy hands-in-the-air Christians might just be as easy as taking candy from a baby. – Enter youvebeenleftbehind.com, a website that enables subscribers to send emails to their loved ones after the Rapture! Hallelujah!
Jesus is coming! That’s been the battle cry of many a God fearing Christian over the years, and according to the Bible when he does all true Christians alive on the earth will ascend into heaven to meet the Lord. This is called the Rapture. Clearly there are some obvious logistical difficulties about ascending though the earth atmosphere, but it’s all part of the Christian faith to believe that God has got you covered, so there’s no need to go out and buy a pressure suit and breathing apparatus moments after singing ‘Shine Jesus Shine’ for the first time.
The problem with the rapture is that loads of people will be left behind because they didn’t choose to become Christian or they gambled their eternal soul on the ‘wrong God.’ That’s where youvebeenleftbehind.com comes in, a $40 per year subscription service for Christians who want to have the opportunity to send a final email to loved ones left behind after the Rapture.
According to the youvebeenleftbehind.com website the company has set up a system to send documents to the email addresses provided by paying subscribers six days after the Rapture. “Our purpose is to get one last message to the lost, at a time, when they might just be willing to hear it for the first and last time.” Reads the website.
The site claims to be programed and run by Christians, for Christians. Rapture monitoring is done by five, presumably qualified, ‘true Christians.’ who each have to log in at regular intervals in order not to start the automated Rapture delivery system.
According to the site, the Rapture delivery system starts “when 3 of our 5 team members scattered around the U.S fail to log in over a 3 day period. Another 3 days are given to fail safe any false triggering of the system.”
Business website KillerStartups.com says. “There are probably enough [Christians] out there who will sign up and make this site a success. The cost of $40 per year is pretty reasonable if that means that you give your friends and family a chance to re-think and go and meet the Lord.” However they site also have some doubts about viability issues, asking; “Will the Lord accept people who needed an email to convince them to become true Christians?”
In an effort to help its subscribers know what to write in a final message there is the youvebeenleftbehind blog from which to garner some inspiration. In one example Heather writes “Dear Freind,” That’s her typo, not mine. “I’m sure you’re terrified and confused by all of the terrible events that have occurred. I’m sure you have heard the Rapture theories by now, and you may wonder why I’m gone and you’re here.” She then links her would be recipients to a website about getting ‘saved’ before signing off her email with one alarming addendum; “PS – Look out for the guy who wants to bring peace!”
The site encourages subscribers to make use of their alloted 150Mb of encrypted space in which to store “personal and private” documents. A now removed portion of text on the site (found in Google’s cache) read; “In the encrypted portion of your account you can give them [friends and family] access to your banking, brokerage, hidden valuables, and powers of attorneys’ (you won’t be needing them any more, and the gift will drive home the message of love). There won’t be any bodies, so probate court will take 7 years to clear your assets to your next of Kin. 7 years of course is all the time that will be left. So, basically the Government of the AntiChrist gets your stuff, unless you make it available in another way.”
Bruce Schneier, a security technologist from California is concerned. “What if the creator of this site isn’t as scrupulous as he implies he is?” He asks. “What if he uses all of that account information, passwords, safe combinations, and whatever before any rapture? And even if he is an honest true believer, this seems like a mighty juicy target for any would-be identity thief.” Worse still, despite the sites claims that the data can be encrypted, Schneier says that the encryption key is stored on the server with the data.
Of course, I’d like to believe this is a joke, perhaps by the same people who created all the hoopla that surrounded the God Hates A Fag music video, but I’m not sure. It could be a scam, but there’s something about the hair-brained amateurish nature of all this with its poor execution and flakey forethought that screams ‘Christian’ to me. So you see, it might be worse than a scam, it might be real!
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youvebeenleftbehind.com (For all your Rapture needs)
youvebeenleftbehind.com press release
God Hates A Fag music video
Dodgy website targets US God Squad
Stuff Christians like
postrapturepost.com (Your post rapture letter delivered by hand!)
justincaseitstrue.com (Sell your assets in a rapture futures market)
[Video] Classic ‘Six Feet Under’ start scene
Wrote the following comment on Jun 8, 2008 at 12:57 am
For the record, the concept of the rapture is a highly publicized belief, but it is a minority, fringe belief within the Christian community. The vast majority of Christian groups today and throughout history have not believed in it, or in the idea of the “End Times” as depicted in Left Behind, et al.
So phrases like, “according to the Bible” aren’t strictly accurate. It’s more like, according to Pentecostal interpretation, the Bible teaches that….
Wrote the following comment on Jun 8, 2008 at 1:01 am
So noted Nick. Hey, I think you might appreciate the video link at the end of that post too. :-)
Wrote the following comment on Jun 8, 2008 at 2:53 am
LOL! What do you suppose the chances are that the valuable private documentation will experience a “Rapture” long before its owner!
Wrote the following comment on Jun 8, 2008 at 3:18 am
This is actually funny! And I am a Christian. This is like comparable to the old “Cure All” Salesman during the depression, really it is.
Wrote the following comment on Jun 8, 2008 at 4:56 am
So this Christian website feel that 2 thirds of it’s team might not actually be real Christians? What, so those staffers might have lied about their faith then? And these are the very same guys that are asking fellow Christians to trust them with their stuff? That’s too funny!
Wrote the following comment on Jun 8, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Simon, you must not make light of this. You must instead be prepared! http://www.raptureready.com
Wrote the following comment on Jun 8, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Being a Christian, I think it’s important for my loved ones to know where I stand with Christ before a rapture if there is one. Hopefully I’ll have done my job and represented Jesus in my life and there for would not need to send emails after I’m gone.
Wrote the following comment on Jun 9, 2008 at 3:56 am
Wait, there’s going to be a time on earth where there won’t be any christians? Well that’s something to look forward too!
Wrote the following comment on Jun 9, 2008 at 6:19 am
i put a lot of study into this subject in college.. and there are many interpretations about the end time events. One thing I do know, as Nick said earlier, this idea that the Christians will be taken up to heaven before the 7 years of tribulation etc. is a relatively new idea.
The church through history has shifted a little from one extreme to another… sometimes too legalistic, sometimes too passive etc. I think this theory on the end times, that the christians will be raptured and escape the torment of those days, is a result of a shift that’s taken place the past 100-200 years. We hear prosperity preachers teaching that God wants to bless us abundantly with BMWs, or that if you have enough faith you will definitely be healed- that sickness is a sign of a sin we have committed cause we should all live perfectly healthy lives.
Within this movement, there seems to be this core idea that as a Christian we shouldnt feel any physical pain or suffering on this earth- a western ideology for sure. (Go to the church in the east and this sort of message doesnt hold up; when you or friends are being tortured and living one day to the next, whether or not God owes you a BMW is the last thing on your mind).This idea of rapture though falls right in line with this core- its an idea that gets you out of pain or suffering- an escapist mentality. I think its sad that the church has gone this way some… but the good news is its not the whole church- just a branch of it.
Wrote the following comment on Jun 9, 2008 at 11:17 am
Well what is it they say about idle hands Rachel? :-)
There are many things which I think are a little screwy about the church, things like the notion of predestination and the fact that in that theory God created the majority of us to walk around making up the numbers before being plunged into hell to “burn in eternal pain.” While that might be true, I like the ‘God is love’ crowd better because at least their God isn’t full of hate in the same way.
It’s completely understandable that this will happen though. The Bible is a book that followers have to apply loads of interpretation to, it’s not a hard and fast book of rules. Therefore one persons way of interpreting something may well differ from anothers.
The problem with about being a follower is that there’s a fine line between being a follower and being a fool. I think people who sign up for this service are crossing that line purely on the grounds of the security implications that a site like this has. Most of them would never dream of helping a nigerian king who wants to give them half of his $600m fortune if only they would lend him their bank account for a few days, yet because this is marked ‘Christian’ it might somehow earn some trustworthy points in their minds just because of that fact alone.
I doubt the creator will ever be honest about the financial gain (or loss) of this site, but I would be very interested in knowing how many suckers there are out there. At $40 per year he surely must be on for a least a little pocket money I think, if not enough to buy him a blessed BMW :-)
Wrote the following comment on Jun 9, 2008 at 2:58 pm
One of my college profs described the rapture madness and the attending perspective on life as “overrealized eschatology.” I like that. The idea that one group of people, who happen to believe JUST like you, will head straight to heaven, and that pretty much everyone else will be punished and suffer horribly appeals to a certain kind of xenophobic fundamentalist. Christians aren’t the only ones to come up with similar cataclysmic ideas of The End. Think of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example. But still, I think it’s still a pretty fringe belief.
BTW, it would be great to know how many people have signed up there. That could totally undermine my argument, but meh. I don’t care.
Wrote the following comment on Jun 9, 2008 at 5:36 pm
thanks for the comment! i like your blog. i’m glad you posted about this outrageous website, too. :)
Wrote the following comment on Jun 9, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Of course this had to happen…
https://www.yourestillhere.com
Wrote the following comment on Jun 9, 2008 at 6:19 pm
If you are silly enough to fall for this type of scam…….
Wrote the following comment on Jun 9, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Well Simon, It is for real. I have looked at as many “strings” on the net as i have time for. I take most of it as constructive critiscm, like, Mr. Schnieder’s security club/blog. I made some changes already do to the comment in there and have two more in the works. (ssl cert, and 508 compliance). I have always suggested in an email to customers that instead of actually storing and sending passwords and the such that they create a matrix on the back of a photo or use a page in a book, give it to the one you are writting and use YBLB to eventually send the “equa-distance letter spacing code to them. There is no way anybody could work through that. Another thing I picked up on the net was ISP concerns that everything would end up in Spam. That has been worked out also. We have created and opt in opt out newsletter which blasts from the same server. When the real Emails are sent at Rapture they will all make it to the proper boxes. Its only going to happen once!
I have not seen and do not which to see the antiGay song/video. It sounds counterproductive. Yes, I believe homosexuality is a sin but its no greater a sin than a lie. I will give my reasoning here. When God made Adam he gave him a job, ‘name the animals and tend the Garden’. When he made Eve he did not give her a job, only as Adam’s companion and helper. She took on his identity. Today a man must get before God, find out his earthly purpose and then begin the work. That is how he honors his God. It is not possible for two men to be joined and accomplish this. Nor is it possible for two women joined together to fulfill their purpose because they have none.
Just having multiple heterosexual partners causes confusion among the joined parties. This is because the Bible says, “they are joined in spirit for life. They spiritual communication that they receive has mixed multiple signals coming in. I have know this first hand. I’m np better than anybody else. I needed Jesus too.
Mark (Founder of youvebeenleftbehind.com)
Wrote the following comment on Jun 10, 2008 at 2:35 am
Today a man must get before God, find out his earthly purpose and then begin the work. That is how he honors his God. It is not possible for two men to be joined and accomplish this.
So, man’s purpose is to…be straight? That and pretty much nothing else? Wow. This is extremely subtle commentary.
Nor is it possible for two women joined together to fulfill their purpose because they have none.
I want to think that Mark simply suffers from a lack of teh smarts, but it’s more likely that he just inadvertently provided us with a little slice of patriarchal thinking. A slip, if you will. Men have a special purpose; women have none. *cough* bullsh*t *cough*
Off topic: Remember Steve Martin in The Jerk? How he found out what his special purpose was? Ah, good times.
Wrote the following comment on Jun 10, 2008 at 3:32 pm
The early Church believed in it so much that they were just sitting around waiting for it. Paul had to set them straight, get back to work! I think that the whole thing was lost when the Catholic Church was in control for 1000 years or so. It cropped up again in the 1860’s.
The most important factor for today was the re-establishment of Israel as a nation living in Palestine. That made it all a serious time issue. Jesus said, …”that generation will surely not pass away until all has come to pass”. That generation is dying fast.
I have been a past member of two churches that taught against the Rapture. I am familiar with the arguments, I cannot however, fit all of scripture into them as I can with pre-trib Rapture theory.
One of those churches believed in a, we go through the Tribulation with a Rapture right at Armageddon, A major issue I have with that theory is that Jesus said, “no one knows the day or the hour”. If it occurs AT Armageddon we know the day and the hour.
Another Church taught “Kingdom Now and Dominion”. It is the idea the the Kingdom of God is now a physical kingdom of people who take their orders from God, through the Holy Spirit. We will evangelize the whole world and then, Jesus will come back to Earth to take up his throne in Jerusalem. What then is all this crap about the Tribulation, the Great Delusion, and the AntiChrist. I am afraid that they would fall for the AntiChrist being the actual returned Christ if they were here to see it. I think that is why The Bible says, “…he will have such power to do great signs and wonders, so as to deceive even the elect, IF THAT WERE POSSIBLE” I think it is not possible because were are not here. I do believe in a Kingdom now, but a spiritual one (we follow in the spirit) that will be manifested into the natural realms when he comes back at the end.
Other thoughts:
It does not make sense to me that he would allow his “bride” to be beaten up while he in tearing down this world system. “sit at my right hand while I make your enemies a footstool”, seems to be from the Father to us as well as Jesus. Like speaking to a husband and wife as one.
“the [antichrist} cannot come forward until the one who hold him back is removed”. Who is the one who “holds him back”. I think this verse is a clue as to WHY the rapture will take place. He said, “he would not leave us as orphans” and Paul said, “nothing can separate us from the love of God”. I believe all three of the verses refer to the Holy Spirit. He cannot remove the Holy Spirit without removing us!
The Church is not mentioned again after Revelation Chapter 3. At the beginning of Chap 4, John writes, ” after this I looked, a behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said,’Come up hither..”. After this he is shown the things which will happen. Now compare that to”… 1Thessalonians 4:16-17 ‘ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” It sounds like the same happening to me. Its at the end of the Church Age and the beginning of the revelation of the Tribulation.
Finally what would be the need to pray, “even so come quickly Lord Jesus” if the Rapture was not until the end of the tribulation? It would be a mote point then!
We would not say here that the Rapture is a teaching of the Fundamentalists. That moniker has been taken over by the Fundamentalist Baptist. They teach against a rapture. Orthodox would be a better word. I would say that Rapture believers are in the majority though.
The criteria for being taken is a relationship with the Lord. In Genesis 5:24 it says, “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” This seems to be another example of Rapture. It happens when the world has gotten pretty evil and God is about to tell Noah to build a boat. My point is prior to destruction, and Enoch ‘walked with the Lord’. We begin our walk with the prayer of repentance and acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah God, or Christ. This then puts us under the covering of the Law of Sin and Grace. We are given the Holy Spirit that Adam lost at original sin. We sin but we’re covered, our relationship does not come to an end, conviction comes and we ask for forgiveness, but we still continue in our walk with God and growth in the Faith.
I agree that too many Churches are too worried about prosperity preaching. While, the prosperity theology under “blessing’ is true, to sit and dwell on it, is to be like the rich young man that asked Jesus, “what must I do to inherit eternal life”. After assuring that he had followed the Law all of his life Jesus told him to, “go and sell all that you have and give to the poor”. Jesus saw that the rich young man did not have riches, riches had him.
Dwelling on any single teaching is like the Israelites in the wilderness failing to move with the ‘Cloud’. God taught them something and then moved on. If they failed to pack up and follow at the move of God they were outside of his area of providence and protection. They were easily picked off by their enemies. Too often this is how Denominations of Christianity got started. Someone caught a revelation and a move of God and just camped there. They missed the next move. the great Denominations in America have fallen into apostasy. God has continued leading to the promised land and they got left behind.
As far as life being too easy on the Church, that is changing right now! I believe that in the Matthew 24 discourse we are at verse 9.
Matt 24:4 “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ, ‘ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
MT 24:9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Birth pains get closer together and greater in intensity. Were in a pretty big one right now with Myanmar, China, Nevada, Greece, etc experiencing killer quakes. There were a couple of Volcanoes in the last 2 months, a near record of tornadoes in the U.S. (this time they seem to be going through cities), A record number of acres burned by fire so far this year, a couple of new deadly diseases, and several animal attacks. All of this in the last two months.
The Church is at the edge of losing its right to teach the word of God and speak the truth here in America. The tide is rising against it. We have a legislature that hates the Church and two presidential candidates that can’t get far enough away from the Christian position. If it weren’t for a conservative Supreme Court we’d be dead meat.
Regarding the number of people who have taken subscriptions to date is between 1 and 1000. That’s all I’ll say concerning that. At 1000 I’ll make another press release and announce the price has gone down. it probably won’t get picked up in the secular press like it did this time though. At the moment i am footing the bill for this thing. I’ve also pledged 25% of the 1st 1000 subscriptions to https://www.songtime.com/ This man has been a 40+ year faithful servant of God. I’ve listened to him for years and had lunch with him. His ministry crosses generations and national borders. His doctrine is sound. After the 1st 1000 subscriptions I’ll be giving 12.5%.
Some of the income monies will be used to create a second income account for this site. As it grows it will pay for itself and i can reduce the cost.
Mark (Founder of youvebeenleftbehind.com)
Wrote the following comment on Jun 10, 2008 at 7:38 pm
So Mark, you mention the word ‘elect.’ This is an interesting one to me. If I’m right that’s the belief that God has pre-chosen some people, and not others. That seems like a very shady teaching to me and one that really negates the need to do anything even remotely christian. After all, there is no way to know who is elect and who isn’t, so why bother at all. If you’re one of the ‘elect’ then you’re in, and if you’re not then you’re going to hell no matter how many good deeds you do.
I’m not sure though, maybe you’re not a person who believes in that ‘elect’ idea. After all, you’re showing a degree of faith in the fact that the unholy heathen types can be saved after this rapture thing with your website. If you believed in the ‘elect’ theory then you surely wouldn’t bother.
I’m puzzled why God would even decide there should be an ‘end time’ anyway. Most western religions believe that, but it puzzles me. If God “so loved the world”, then why end it and put everyone through all that suffering?
Going back to your site, I appreciate you don’t want to tell us too much about how much of a success it’s been so far, but perhaps you could tell us if you believe it has actually been a success thus far? No need to cite figures, but in your opinion, does this service seem to be something that people out there are embracing?
Also, it’s killing me to know what made you choose a limit of 62 people, why 62?
As a web professional myself perhaps I could be so bold as to suggest that one way of making the site more appealing and trustworthy would be to include a little background about yourself and your team. People respond well to faces, so pictures of you and the team would be a great idea I think. Some contact details would also probably go a long way to taking the edge off the ‘scam’ feel of the site too?
Wrote the following comment on Jun 10, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Many believers have adopted these fictional books as a stand-in for biblical truth. But what most “Left Behind” readers – as well as those disturbed by the implications of the books – probably don’t know is that LaHaye’s grand vision teeters not on sound theology, but an obscure, contortionist, 19th-century interpretation of the Book of Revelation.
Now comes Lutheran minister – and New Testament scholar – **Barbara R. Rossing with a long-overdue response to the simplistic “prophecy” expressed in “Left Behind” and, frighteningly, adopted as fact by so many. “The Rapture Exposed” convincingly debunks the methodology of “end times” philosophy and shows why all this is more than just a theological spat in our war-torn world.
Rapture Exposed
The invention of the Rapture
If one accepts Revelation as a literal scenario of the end times, there is only one reference to the second coming of Christ and that occurs after all the calamities and catastrophies occur (19:11-16). All believers and others must go through these horrible events.
A startling new angle to the end-time scenario was introduced by John Darby, an ex-Anglican cleric. On several trips to the U.S. from England in the 1850’s, he argued that there would be a secret lifting up of the believers to heaven based on Mt. 24: 40-42; 1 Thess. 4: 16-17 thus escaping the calamities of the end. These passages refer to the parousia. The Left Behind books are based on this false doctrine which is rejected by the Church and most Protestant churches and scholars.
Lindsey in the Late Great Planet Earth predicted the end for the 1980’s. Billy Graham said in 1950, “We may have a year or two to work for Christ, and then it will be over.” Falwell’s Liberty College spreads the rapture myth. Pat Robertson said in June 1982 when Israel invaded Lebanon that Russia would attack Israel and the world would be in flames. “It’s all in the Bible!” The year 2000 produced the Y2K scare and other doom sayers.
There has also been the lunatic fringe such as Koresh and the Waco, Jim Jones and the Kool-Aid cocktail, the Heaven’s Gate sect, and other misguided victims.
The Roman catechism says these teachings “are the Antichrist’s deception” and rejects all forms of millenarianism (paragraph 676).
About Catholic
Wrote the following comment on Jun 10, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I just watched the Six Feet Under video you linked too. Too funny! But sadly, you know that’s got to be a truth for someone out there!
Personally, I get all my end times advice from the people who know… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7DCwNzHZQQ
Wrote the following comment on Jun 11, 2008 at 12:41 am
“I was in his mind before the worlds were made” is a scripture that suggests to me that he knew me before “I was fearfully and wonderfully knit together in my mothers womb”. I think he knows who is going to choose him and who is not. There they are the elect. I would not think it safe to live a foolish life and wait to see if you will chose him or not. Think of life this way. He has a plan for your life. Its a glass full of water. The water represents all of the good things he has in mind, as well as the amount of life left. Every sin and year of sin is like spilling out a little of the water. If you turn and come to him you still get all of the life left I the glass, but what is lost is lost. You can’t get it back, and there may be, no, will be some damage that carries with you. It will reduce the quality of life. It is hard to live with a mistake even if you’re forgiven.
Hell wasn’t made for man. It was made for the Devil and his angels. There is however no place else in eternity for the person who wanted nothing to do with God. “Love compelled is no love at all” (some french dude said that, maybe Sarte). When we chose to return his love, he responds and a relationship of life is begun.
The 62 addresses is really 12 personal and 50 less personal addresses added together. I figured on a family of 12 close knit relatives. I figured that 50 would take care of any acquaintances, coworkers and lost friends.
There are so many people out there who absolutely hate us. I will consider sending a picture to subscribers. It would be unlikely that they would want to hunt us down. Really! I get some really bad mail. Things are going to get progressively worse for Christians. I can live with that but I can’t afford to have someone targeting my team.
Mark (Founder of youvebeenleftbehind.com)
Wrote the following comment on Jun 11, 2008 at 2:33 am
Not that I want to stray from the subject at hand here Mark, but the term elect implies that God was the one who did the electing, not the other way around. The elect theory in my opinion turns free will on its head and shatters the image of a gracious forgiving God. But that’s just my opinion is all :-)
I can understand your hesitant nature with regards to not wanting to put your team at risk, but hate email aside Mark, you surely can’t believe that your project is so controversial and repugnant to non-believers that people would take a picture of you from the site and hunt you down?
I think the success of your website, and indeed your ‘mission’ here, lives and dies entirely on how trustworthy your site is, and surely you have to admit that right now you’re not winning over as many people as you might. You registered the domain name anonymously, you use a gmail contact email address, your contact telephone number is a cell phone, there are no contact details on the website, not even a contact form, and there is practically no real information about the people behind the site anywhere to be found on the site itself.
If your genuine desire here is to help people to take a last chance at finding God, is it not prudent to try to make the site as open and trustworthy as possible? In hiding behind anonymous domain registrations, gmail addresses, and cell phone numbers, some might say you are hindering your own mission, and therefore not helping as many people as you might be able to.
You sound entirely genuine to me, but purely from a web business development point of view, which in this case could also be the ‘soul saving’ point of view, your unwillingness to allow possible customers to know more about who you are is damaging this sites ability to do what it is you created it to do, in effect I think you’re allowing your fears to stand in the way of your faith.
So you’ve got some hate mail, so what!? Conviction is nothing without courage. Stand up in the boots of you belief man!
Wrote the following comment on Jun 11, 2008 at 6:02 am
The entire foundation of Christianity rests on the existence of a TALKING SNAKE! So if a religion depends on a talking snake, then no telling what other kind of nonsense they may be up to. But as they say, you have to believe in something, so I believe I’ll have another beer.
Wrote the following comment on Jun 11, 2008 at 7:16 am
The rapture is a nonsense. The pride behind the belief that you’re a ‘true enough’ and ‘good enough Christian’ to be taken up to heaven with Jesus leaving all the people who are ‘not good enough’ on earth is an incredibly prideful notion.
Wrote the following comment on Jun 11, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Mark, if you’re a christian then why aren’t you offering this service for free? Why do you need $40,000 before you consider lowering the subscription charge?
Wrote the following comment on Jun 11, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I did actually watch “God Hates a Fag”. Thats just wrong!!! God hates sin. He loves sinners. One verse that does talk about God hating someone is, ” I hateth a man that covers himself with his garment and with violence”. Covering oneself with their garment is the Old Testament way of saying, “to have sex”. This means that God hates a man that; beats his wife, practices sadism, and rape. Those are very strong words from God.
I am not ready to say that the site is not successful. I’m waiting for a full year to pass to make that judgement. Its only been a month and just two weeks since the press release. I guess that it got so much attention in 2 weeks from one press release, it has been nothing short of phenomenal. l do not yet feel that I have reached my target group. This thing has played out in the secular media, not the Christian media. I am sure they will take notice with all of this publicity.
In one surprising way totally unrelated to business success has been the way the site has cause people to start talking about biblical prophecy. I think people see the recent earthquakes, flood, hurricanes, fires, rumours of famine (rice etc.) rumours of war, nuclear proliferation by unstable irrational governments, and feel the tension. Then someone reminds them that this is what Jesus said it would be like in Matthew chap 24. Now in addition to the human tension they have to deal with God getting up in there face and saying, “I’m still here on the throne, times up, the question was what are you going to do about me?” That will make a man squirm and run out for some excitement to drowned out the sound of their conscience. Extreme sports and everything else to the extreme is just a place to run and hide. Adam and Eve ran and hid behind the fig leaves because they knew they were going to die. We run and hide in excitement to reassure ourselves that we are still alive. Each passing day slipping away closer to the reality of the end. People didn’t like being woken up.
The anonymous domain registration was not intentional. I just didn’t do it right. To P.O.box and cell phone number is because my wife is hostile to this whole thing. She was the insipiration for it. In the past she has thrown out my mail and erased phone messages she didn’t like. Its been 16+ years like this.
Mark (Founder of youvebeenleftbehind.com)
Wrote the following comment on Jun 12, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I find it interesting that you bring up Matthew 24- a scripture that really puts your dispensational ideas in question… but I dont want to argue over an idea its clear you wont change your mind on… unless of course you’re open to a changeof mind- are you open at all?
I’m a Christian, and I’d like to be honest with you Mark, do you not see how this comes across a little like a gimmick? And what if you’re wrong? What if, just by chance- Christ doesnt rescue you from the pain and suffering of those days and Christians end up staying around a little longer then you expect… what will you have done for the church? What will you have to speak for other than a big wad of cash?
I personally encourage you to spend more time in the present dealing with today’s poor and today’s sick and today’s lost then those that may or may not happen while asking for money to do it! And on a monetary note- think of what that money could do in South Africa, or Kenya. You could feed a child for a year on 40.00 in some of these countries.. so what if instead of creating a site that profits from a maybe event, you created a site that fueled money into the certain events of today, and the certain poverty we have around us? I’d like to see more genuine sites like that come up and I think in the end it would be a great witness for Christ in the hear and now.
Wrote the following comment on Jun 14, 2008 at 8:03 am
Simon – you sent me an email expressing surprise that I had not responded to this post. I did read it and found it amusing, and was going to respond, but your first responder, Nik Don, actually expressed something close to what I was thinking when I read this post.
Personally, I like the fringe, as it is entertaining and provides some needed color, but I do appreciate a distinction being made between Orthodoxy and the variety of beliefs (sometimes looney) that are found within the Xian landscape.
Oh, and the “Six Feet Under” video was fantastic. Thanks for the laugh.