Book Reviews
The Black List – Shattering the Left Behind Delusion
Critiqued by Dr. C. Matthew McMahon
This Sour Puss Stamp goes to John Noē. His book was an attempt to “shatter” the “Left Behind” delusion which is sweeping the nation (thus the title of his book, “Shattering the Left Behind Delusion”). No doubt, the “Left Behind” series is seriously flawed and in grave error. Just think about it – the Gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive. Why then is the series so popular with the world? (You can buy it in any bookstore, and even in Walmart!) This should cause all true Christians to baulk at the series immediately. Their hyper-dispensational foundation is utterly unbiblical and John Noē is in the right for desiring to write a book against that series. I just wish he did not write this one.
The view Noē is propagating is called Preterism. It means, simply, that all prophetical Scriptures are fulfilled, even those concerning the resurrection. All the prophetic Word is fulfilled in Christ and there is no “blessed hope” to hope for, or no “resurrection” of the body yet to happen. The resurrection is not really a resurrection of the physical as much as it is a spiritual resurrection, according to Noē. He claims that in AD 70 Jesus Christ came in judgment against the Jewish nation, and the Matthew 24-25, as well as all the OT prophecies have been completely fulfilled since Jesus said “This generation shall not pass away…” until all is fulfilled.
I will commend him on his treatment of Adam and Eve’s expulsion in the garden – that was well done. But the other exegetical problems are far too obscene to overshadow the one or two good points he made. (The exegetical problems in his book are too numerous to post here and would require a whole book in rebuttal.) Any student of the original languages will immediately see the difficulties, and just plain bad exegetical work, which Noē is propagating in some cases. For instance, he believes there is a “compartment” called “Abraham’s bosom” based off of the passage in Luke Where Jesus tells the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (I guess because a gap between them seems like Abraham and Lazarus are in a compartment??), and in Peter where the apostle tells us that Christ preached to those held in prison from the days of Noah (Why is Jesus preaching to lost people who are damned in hell? Did they not go to hell?). This is simple eisogetical nonsense. But a great part of the book, and his resurrection theory hinge on this. Another example is his strained interpretation of the word for “air” used by Paul (“and we who are left will be caught up together in the air…”). He believes it to be our “breath”, or the air around and inside of us. (yes, I agree with you when you say “huh?”, it is a quite strange interpretation used only in this “eschatological system”). To base a critical doctrine on a strained interpretation (at best) of the word, is to find the entire doctrine dubious at the start. And Noē does not use or deal with many of the Scriptures which refute his teaching. Nor does he ever deal with the wicked and their resurrection to damnation – which is a very important bit of information to leave out. Although, as I said, Noē’s desire to refute the teaching of the erroneous “Left Behind” saga is commendable, someone now needs to write another book called “Destroying the book called Shattering the Left Behind Delusion,” or something to that flavor.
