Most of you are probably aware that a false teacher named Harold Camping has predicted that Christ will return to rapture His church on this Saturday - May 21, 2011. I wrote a blog post about Mr. Camping's false teaching several months ago. While Mr. Camping's prediction will be proven bogus when the clock strikes midnight this Saturday, it has managed to accomplish one thing. Apparently, it has caused Christians to think about the welfare of their pets following the Rapture.
Until last Wednesday, I had no idea that post-rapture pet care had become such a thriving business. Check out this article that a church member shared with me to see what I'm talking about. There are at least 3 post-rapture pet care services that want your business. Two of them are run by atheists, and the third is a Christian-owned service that claims to coordinate "with atheist animal lovers nationwide who volunteer to take care of left-behind pets." The price for post-rapture pet care services range anywhere from $10-$135.
While I can appreciate the fact that Christians want Rover taken care of in the event of their departure, I find all this post-rapture pet care stuff to be a little disturbing. A few initial observations immediately come to the surface. First, this seems more like a money-making scheme than anything else. If the Christians aren't going to be here to insure that their pets are taken care of, what makes them think that they will be? Are they just going to take the atheists' word for it? And by the way, when the rapture occurs all the atheists will realize that they've been left behind. Do we really think that pet-care is going to be their top priority?
The greater concerns are biblical in nature. Christians, instead of investing our money in the post-rapture care of our pets, why not use our money for the pre-rapture salvation of the lost? The fact that a group of Christians would be concerned in working with atheists to provide pet care rather than presenting them with the Gospel is a telling sign of how misplaced our priorities have become.
To me, that's the most tragic part of this whole story. Are "Christians" now going to be known more for their love of pets than for the lost? Perhaps we already are. Statistics tell us that nearly every mainline Christian denomination in America is now baptizing fewer and fewer people with each passing year. Is it any wonder? We're now thinking more about the earthly welfare of our pets than we are the eternal destination of the lost.
God help us never to forget these words of a certain rich man whom Jesus said is now burning in hell: "Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame" (Luke 16:24). If God's people would often stop to consider the eternal destiny of those who die lost apart from Christ, my guess is that post-rapture pet care services would become a thing of the past.
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