A Thief In the Night: An Experience With Terror

Greetings, ATS!

I would like to share with you a true story of how my youth minister terrified me when I was younger.

Before I began, I want to make it clear that I am NOT attacking Christians. I was/am a Christian (I actually call myself a Christian agnostic) and my family is Christian. My family’s church is a wonderful, loving, accepting place. They do a lot of good in the community and they deserve credit for that.

Now, to the event that haunted me for years. We had a lock-in one night at the church when I was about 13 years old. In case you are unfamiliar with lock-ins, this is basically a slumber party at the church where you stay up all night with your friends. They are a lot of fun.

At this particular lock-in, our youth minister (a wonderfully funny person I’ll call Wade) showed us a series of videos. These videos, made in the 1970s, were about the rapture and what happened to those left behind.

I’m going to link the first video in the series, A Thief In The Night, at the end of this post so you can watch it should you feel the urge. If you want to watch the video, skip the next couple of paragraphs.

Spoiler Alert! In the video, the rapture occurs and millions disappear. A New World Order takes over and trials and tribulations occur. Towards the end of the movie, the new government forces everyone to receive “the mark of the beast” in order to purchase items such as food. The main characters are taken into a building and led, one by one, to the front. There they are asked if they will take the mark…if they say yes, they go out one door. If they say no, they go out another. The heroine of the story says no…and is led outside to a guillotine.

ATS, this movie absolutely terrified the holy hell (pun definitely intended) out of me. In fact, I would go so far as to say it traumatized me to an extent. For the next three or four years I would have nightmares that the rapture occurred and I’d been left behind. These nightmares scared me so badly that I would get up and sneak into my parents’ room to see if they were still there (my reasoning was that if my parents were still there, the rapture hadn’t occurred).

As I grew older, I began to seriously question why my minister showed us these series of movies. Did he want to scare us? If so….it worked. But they led me on a journey of reflection and study…and eventually to my agnostic stance today.

Has anyone else had something similar happen to you with regards to religion (any religion)? How did you deal with it?

Looking forward to your stories and insights,

smylee

Here's the video. I watched part of it last night, its amazingly cheezy and the hairdos are a hoot.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Yep!

I grew up in an Assembly of God, Pentecostal household/church, and was indoctrinated in the rapture ideology to the point that I was terrified to be alone. As a little girl, if I came home from school and nobody else was home, I would become very scared. I would get on the phone and start calling people whom I was sure would be raptured. If they answered the phone, I would just hang up. If not, I would dial someone else, until someone that I thought would be taken answered!

It's difficult to express the fear that was pummeled into me, the feeling of always being at risk for being left behind. Geez, anything could do it, having an angry or questionable thought, liking a boy, eating something from the fridge that mom had planned for dinner, watching the wrong TV show, like Bill Cosby, or listening to Rock and Roll!

I left the church, well was kicked out for refusing to have an abortion at 17 years old, and thrown out of my family home (back in the '70's). That's when I told God and Jesus to "Go to Hell!"

My fear of being alone persisted and escalated, leading to many a drug and alcohol induced session of despair and escapism, and many "one night stands." Those were rough and rocky days. It's amazing that I made it through them alive as suicide was a constant temptation. Thank god I had a baby that needed me more than I wanted to die!

reply to post by smyleegrl


I grew up as a Methodist and the Rapture was not a part of their teaching at the time, I don't know if that has changed since then. It was not until many years later that I even heard of it and don't know why somepeople think they can scare you into believing something. Sorry you and windword went through this and I noticed that on the youtube page there were similiar comments..I have not seen the movie yet but will watch it first chance I get.

Talking about movies which burn into your brain....

I had a sleep over too, as a child, at a 'born again Christians' house (grade 5 I think)
We watched a movie too.
It was a real life doco a mother had done about her daughter hooked on heroin.

So mum followed with a camera to clubs and other places showing her daughter shooting up, and making a mess of herself in various toilet scenes. Classy stuff.

Then her mother locked her in her bedroom, gave her a bucket and a mattress and filmed her withdrawls, which lasted for many days, probably weeks. Wasn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination.

Great movie that one.
Anyway we got stuck into a cake on the bench late that night, and blamed the rats and then stole money from her wallet (notes), and used then as book marks in the bible for the only one time I ever went to Sunday school.
We ended up giving the money back the next arvo.
----
When that dude predicted rapture, was it last year or the year before? Can't remember....anyhoo
said to my husband
"Come sit on the front step babe, the rapture happens today"

The sunset was beautiful, no one paints a sky like that one can.

Southern Baptist, fire and brimstone here: Mom and Dad thought they would give the gift of religious thought to their young heathen so it was church on Sunday and Wednesday every week unless revival was going on which meant an extra Friday.. I liked a couple of girls so it was OK with me and think I got Baptized at the age of 12.
We were church goers but not bible thumpers and looking back I think it was about socializing as much as religion?

So I was covered about the whole bit "have you been saved thing".

Dad was transferred to a different state so we moved. I suppose I was 13 and was already playing guitar with a few friends. The new small city was basically ran by the local Baptist minister and his huge church. No dancing barely any dating or fraternizing outside of church. In the mean time myself and 4 other guys had formed a rock & roll band and were trying to work up all the top 40 songs being played at that time. Somehow the Methodist preacher heard about us and made contact. His plan was simple. He wanted to refurbish the community center and have us play after the foot ball games which in his mind would get the kids off the street and stop some of the drinking and driving going on in our small town.
The first night we played we only had 23 songs worked up and yet we played over 4 hours...Special request are a wonderful cover line!
The place was packed and the Baptist preacher thought the whole town was going to hell except those who did what he said god commanded.
I made allot of money playing (paid for my schooling, cars, flying lessons..etc.. allot is relative) and never set foot in another Baptist church.

Music was something I enjoyed but I knew if I were not rich and famous by 20 it would be time to hang up my strings and go for my first love which was flying. I am so glad I did looking back on those who remained in music and have nothing today except some bar to play in for money to live on..... or have been dead for many years.

Fast forward a few years and I was in S.E. Asia living with a girl by the name of Daah. She was a devout Buddhist. I really liked her kindness to all living things and some of her actions really got me to thinking about God religion etc etc. I sat down and read the Bible (New testament) from cover to cover figuring instead of listening to someone else I could probably figure some of this stuff out for myself.....I did and my belief system has remained intact since a sunny day sitting on a porch in S.E. Asia.

Am I Christian, well I was baptized, am I a Buddhist, I respect all living things. Am I a Muslim well I don't knock my head in the dirt or prayer mat 5 times a day so what am I? Just a "me" that is totally at peace with my spiritual beliefs. I found out long ago one size does not fit all. I do not pray, beg or plead, nor do I look over my shoulder fearing some biblegod; in my world god is everywhere in all things. I eat therefore I kill but not needlessly...(well feral pigs don't count because there is a need) however if I am pressed and have to fight or kill it is not something I lose sleep over. The old adage me or them comes to mind....

I grew up with a preacher for the "Church of the first Born". Joe lived and preached that the rapture was just around the corner even though no one can know the day and time, for it will happen like a thief in the night.....Joe went to his grave waiting and praying just as all the other religious fear mongers I have known. He being first born had a special place in heaven while all the other lessor religions not so special a place. Joe and I had many a discussion and when he said we would not land on the moon I just waited. In spite of some of the threads around here when the event happened the whole world watched and believed. I pointed this out to Joe and he actually said he might have been wrong about the moon just being a light in the sky. First time I ever heard him say he was wrong on something in the Bible....Joe was the kind of guy who could stick a knife in you and you would still like him. But some of his religious views were ......Joe's views obviously...... yet he preached and had many followers...hahahah I never went to his church even though he begged me; for my soul to be saved of course.. Is there evil in the world, yep. Is there good in the world, yep. Mankind is quite capable of the grandest of things all by his lonesome.

Someone wants to be religious go for it. Does it bring happiness and well being to there life; then bless and be happy for them. If it brings fear and hatred or makes them feel they have to convert all others to their beliefs then keep that crap to yourself I do not want to hear the "joys" of your fear or god. Either way, peace or death is always a choice and the hereafter will be known when you die; so don't sweat it. We will find out sooner or later whether it is a "great continuance" or a "nothing"; I honestly don't care for the truth will be known; just a matter of time.

Am I Christian, well I was baptized, am I a Buddhist, I respect all living things. Am I a Muslim well I don't knock my head in the dirt or prayer mat 5 times a day so what am I? Just a "me" that is totally at peace with my spiritual beliefs. I found out long ago one size does not fit all. I do not pray, beg or plead, nor do I look over my shoulder fearing some biblegod; in my world god is everywhere in all things. I eat therefore I kill but not needlessly...(well feral pigs don't count because there is a need) however if I am pressed and have to fight or kill it is not something I lose sleep over. The old adage me or them comes to mind....

reply to post by 727Sky


Loved this paragraph. So eloquently simple, yet all encompassing.

I grew up Southern Baptist myself, I understand the church twice a week deal. I was quite involved in our church, which had a wonderful community outreach ministry (this wasn't preaching, but providing supplies and services to those in need). I loved it. Loved it so much I decided to be a missionary when I grew up.

College time, off I go to major in theology. That's when I began to really see some of the "problems" with Christianity and other religions. Although I graduated with a degree in theology, I had changed my mind about my vocation. Helping people was still my primary goal, but not as a missionary. I had too many unresolved questions.

Now I'm in my late 30s and I consider myself to be spiritual but not religious. I think there is something....More....but I also think its beyond the scope of human understanding (hence the agnostic label).

Like you, I no longer worry about this. I'll find out what happens next someday. In the meantime, there are so many wonderful things to do here and now.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Thank you dear soul for the recognition of my poor attempts at an overview of a very emotionally charged subject for many.

Funny you said seminary for I too have known a few who went and dropped out to seek other endeavors; some even lost their religion in the process.

Every thinking person IMO has to find their own path...

If I take your statement 'An experience with terror', then I won't be off topic.
But yes a minister of the lord; a founder of a church I used to go to as a teenager, terrorised me.

I had asked Jesus into my heart at 5yrs and I still remember it. I was not coerced as I was a strong willed child and you couldn't make me do anything I didn't want to do.
I heard God's voice and I also astral projected to Heaven on a regular basis before I was 13yrs.
We left the first church we went to, as the pastor felt himself up in front of my mum.

So a few years later we found a local house type church that met in the local village type hall.
I would go with my sister, as my mum was disabled, to this church almost every week.
And because I am psychic and had 'abilities' I knew every week what was going to be talked about and would share the visions I had at the prayer part of the sermon.

Well after a few accidents that were nearly fatal, the top leader and founder of the church with a woman (that I knew didn't like me) came calling at my home.
In front of mum (who was in a wheelchair) they said I was demon possessed and needed to be exorcised because no one could know the things I knew. without demons.

My mum let them (she was a victim and passive I don't blame her) so I spoke in tongues-this protected me.

In my memories I still see him in a dark hooded cloak, like the emperor of Star wars. So I left that church.
I 'knew' he was not serving God, he was serving Satan. And I don't say that because of what he wanted to do-to get me infected with demons.
I knew because of the near fatal accidents-there were too many in that little local church.

Recently I read a book called 'A Prophet's handbook' and it seems I tick all the boxes that I was born a prophet. And I have been fighting this tooth and nail all my life, this book said that many christians want to be a prophet.
I don't want the responsibility.

So basically that satanic, wolf in sheep's clothing wanted to get rid of a prophet. And I used to have nightmares after that encounter.

After reading this it doesn't seem like I was terrified, that's because I have never been able to share my innermost feelings very well.

(PS I knew about the rapture but I never gave it much of a thought, I do now however. I believe it is more of a rescue.)

reply to post by smyleegrl

Has anyone else had something similar happen to you with regards to religion (any religion)? How did you deal with it?

I was raised in a sect (aka denomination) that doesn't subscribe to the pre-trib rapture, all the horrible end times stuff was the same however, eg, forced to choose or die, getting dragged out into the street and shot in the middle of the night, etc. All over whether you kept the Old Testament 7th day Sabbath or not.

Here's the strange thing. I rebelled quite early against the Sabbath, and was very consciously a wicked fellow from about ages 11 - 16, real juvenile delinquent. But I had it all worked out in my head:

Similar to you checking to see if your parents were still in bed; I had the whole list of end time events laid out by the Sabbath School teachers. 1 would happen, then 2 would happen, then 3, then probation would close so that it's too late to repent, then a bunch of other terrible things would happen, then Jesus would come. So I figured, OK, I'll just wait for 1 or 2 to happen, then I'd repent!

I grew wearied of wickedness and accepted Jesus when I was 16, and began the journey toward becoming a main stream Orthodox Protestant Theologian, all the while going through the motions of being a semi kosher quasi Jewish Christian, while my friends were mostly dispensationalist Israel is number 1ers. So it took from 1972 to 1982 for me to openly be confirmed as a Lutheran.

Secretly, in my heart, though, I never gave a rap about the Sabbath or the Old Testament claimant of creatorhood, aka Yahweh. So I've never really even been a Trinitarian. I'm a crypto neo Marcionite. Which means, I've spent a very large portion of my life as a hypocrite. May the gods have mercy on me and all the people I've fooled into believing things that I didn't really believe myself.

I didn't intend for this to be a confession piece. Well, it's written now and I'm too lazy to try to make myself look better. So be it.

----------
Wait! That's not what I wanted to say.

I'm sorry. I hope you people can forgive me. It wasn't the gods I hurt.

I much rather would have been shown this than what they showed us in Youth Group at the church I went to.

They showed us video's of abortions and how it's a sin. I never told my mom they showed us that crap and I never went back.

I went to Sunday group and Youth Group in HS. We even babysat the pastor's baby but they went too far with that video and wanting to "save me" because I questioned everything in class. Oh and forget it if you couldn't quote the darn bible you were basically a sinner to them.

It was a methodist church and I liked some of the people there but it just got a little creepy for me when they tried dictating my life and then showing a 16yr old video's of abortion. They had no right to do that what -so-ever. I will never forget that night, I even remember the room and what it looked like that night. It was a night on "sin" and that was the topic of discussion.

reply to post by smyleegrl


When I was in Junior High - a teacher asked me and a few friends if we wanted to watch a free movie in the auditorium. Oh boy - who wouldn't?!

It was one of these

I can only remember one thing from the whole story - a mother sent her little girl on an errand to get some butter. At a certain point in the story people were missing, the girl was missing - and all we saw was a stick of butter on the sidewalk, melting in the sun...

:-)

I wasn't raised in any religion - so this was one of my first real introductions to Christianity

I wasn't terrified - but it took me a little while to realize they were serious

reply to post by smyleegrl


Yep, I was a Weslyian (however you spell it) and my whole church watched this movie! I was absolutely terrified as a child and I don't think they should show this type of movie to anyone as it is fear mongering! There is no such thing as the rapture, it was made up in the 1800's. Google it if you don't believe me. I don't believe in the rapture anymore.

reply to post by smyleegrl

Has anyone else had something similar happen to you with regards to religion (any religion)? How did you deal with it?

I was never exposed to people who believed in the Rapture and all of that (of the now well publicised "left behind" type) until I was like 23, so wasn't terrified of that as a child. I was a bit by the Seventh Day Adventist (the church that I was born into) end of the world type scenario with a rapture type event after the tribulation. The way it is described, I think I was more afraid of the rapture type event than anything else.
We didn't have videos, but it was described in rather frightening terms by preachers. Maybe the dispensationalist version does not make it clear that in practical terms, the rapture and judgment are the same event, where in the Adventist church, it is made clear.

When I was young, I was scared one night when I thought it might be Judgment Day. I understand what it was now, but at the time, I didn't. A good comparison today that people should know, is the Norway Spiral. We lived near one of the two major missile launch sites in the US, and one apparently failed at a very high altitude with a very huge explosion which was visible because the sun that was very far below the horizon for us, was hitting it and lighting it up. We spotted it early, when it first became visible, and watched as it quickly expanded into this huge glowing cloud that we thought had to be Jesus returning. A little traumatic, but I don't know what I would have made of it if I had never been taught about this expectation of a glorious second coming.
Anyway, it was something really fabulous to see, like some of these great nebula photos from the Hubble telescope, but in fast motion.

reply to post by jmdewey60

reply to post by defcon5

“non-Sabbath” worship is the “Mark of the Beast”

There is a rather convoluted rationale for that.
Supposedly there are three angels described in Revelation that go out with the 'everlasting gospel'. So, from that, they suppose that there has to be a period of time between the angel going forth, and the 'final judgment' of Babylon.
Then an angel demands that people worship the God who made the 'fountains of water', which they take to mean the creation in Genesis, where you had God take the seventh day off, then later included it in the Ten Commandments.
People are then punished who have the mark of the beast, so it must be because they did not follow the angel's advice of worshiping the creator God by keeping the Sabbath.
The problem with that theory is that most likely they were not angles but vultures where the idea is misinterpreted. The vultures are stating the current condition that judgment had already come and they were there to feed on the carcasses of those killed in it.
If you look at the verses before the three somethings are introduced, it describes a vulture flying in the air. Then the section on the three somethings begins by saying that there was another something flying in heaven. Other than this one section in Revelation, nowhere else in the Bible describes angels flying.
The Greek word for "angel" is the same as for "messenger", and if the vultures were flying around saying things, then they were messengers, and not the nice human looking beings that we think of as angels. They were vultures with a commentary on the destruction of Babylon that already happened and they were taking advantage of the aftermath.

reply to post by jmdewey60

reply to post by defcon5

. . . the criteria that the “mark” entails . . .

This presupposes that Revelation is to be taken literally, which I don't think was how it was meant to be understood.
I think that there was an intentional interpretation creep built into it, where at one point this means this, then it means something else, then it means yet another thing, progressing along until it includes everything that is possible to comment on.
So it is a cascading effect that started out as allowing some things to be tolerated in order to get along, then you are at the end in a full-blown branded-slave situation, which of course removes you completely from the sphere of the protection from God, and then actually quite the reverse, where you are now literally part of the enemy itself.

Originally posted by jmdewey60
reply to post by defcon5

 

. . . the criteria that the “mark” entails . . .

This presupposes that Revelation is to be taken literally, which I don't think was how it was meant to be understood.

YES!! That is the crux of the matter.The book of Revelation is a book of signs and symbols... NONE of it is literal historical future, past or present events.It does clearly state.....The testimony(witness) of Jesus[translated from Hebrew Yahoshua which means Yahweh(God) is salvation] is the "spirit"(life) of prophecy.

ALL of the prophecy in the scriptures is prophecy about ONE thing only... Yahoshua..Gods salvation.The mechanism of it(incarnation,death,resurrection of the seed) is ALL fulfilled...It is done.Salvation we experience now is a time/space process that is for ALL creation for ALL mankind. ...Not a few.

God is not "angry" like a man gets angry and going to fry the mass majority of his creation "eternally"(which comes from the Greek aeon meaning age not endless time) for punishment for not following religious doctrines of men...that is blasphemy of the highest order.

It is mind boggling how badly those movies were (are ) made. I feel very fortunate to not be brought up in the church system.With a little research it is easy to find how the whole end time "apocalyptic cataclysm"scenario has ZERO foundation in the Truth or the scriptures.The perps are trying to "scare" people out of hell like God is a schizoid Freddy Kruger..saying he LOVES you out of one side of his burnt mouth and ....if you don't LOVE me back I will torture you..FOREVER!!!...anyone who does not believe the myth of eternal punishment of hell should feel VERY fortunate that God has opened their eyes(and only God can do that) to see past this heinous blasphemy

reply to post by smyleegrl


OMG i totally remember that movie!! they showed it at youth group...Wow memories!!
I wasn't traumatized by the whole rapture bull# that has become popular in western belief in the past 150 years but I was traumatized in several other ways... Numero uno, I wasn't a "normal" kid and I knew things that I could not explain.. I was very christian ( my uncle was a southern baptist minister) so my whole clan was deeply devout, and I understood that this "knowing things in advance" was a gift of god... but soon after they showed this movie they started talking about the occult and how everything was apart of the occult.. I could have sworn I was possessed by the unholy for years.. I was deathly scared. ( I won't go into details) Another crappy event was that the guy that did my baptism when I was like 9.. asked me a month later when I was going to be baptized... LMAO... I told him that even if he didn't remember I'm pretty sure god did... so sit and spin.