Christians who believe they might one day be physically swept up to heaven in the Rapture will be able to send e-mails to loved ones left behind on Earth nearly one week after the apocalyptic event takes place, thanks to a new website.
YouveBeenLeftBehind.com lets subscribers send an e-mail message to up to 62 people exactly six days after they've disappeared from the face of the Earth, Wired Magazine's Threat Level reports.
The website, run by Mark Heard along with four other Christians, dispatches the e-mails when at least three staff members fail to log in for six consecutive days. Its main purpose is to give Christians one final shot at evangelism.
"You've Been Left Behind gives you one last opportunity to reach your lost family and friends for Christ," states the website.
The site is predicated on one interpretation of Christian theology that puts the day of Rapture as the beginning of The End Times or Armageddon. Believers, according to this viewpoint, would be physically lifted up to heaven while those who have not accepted Christ would be left behind to suffer seven years of Tribulation under a global government headed by the Antichrist.
In addition to the e-mail function, users of YouveBeenLeftBehind.com can also store personal and financial documents on the site. Up to 150 megabytes of information would be sent to up to 12 people after the presumed rapture.
"In the encrypted portion of your account you can give them access to your banking, brokerage, hidden valuables, and powers of attorneys," explains the site.
"There won't be any bodies, so probate court will take seven years to clear your assets to your next of kin. Seven 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."
The services offered by the site cost $40 a year. Heard told Threat Level that he already has paying subscribers.
Some Christians have praised the idea.
"I do believe in the rapture. As far as the website goes I think it’s a great idea, because if you believe in the rapture (like me), you know that the time remaining on earth is short and is going to be the worst days the world has known. However, those left behind still will have the opportunity for salvation which is the message I would want to get across," wrote one Christian identified as "skinthemboys" on a forum site for Washington Redskins football fans.
But the site also has plenty of critics that include both Christian and non-Christian bloggers. Some call the site "ridiculous" and "disgusting."
"In a world where only 16% of 16 to 29-year-old non-Christians express favorable view of Christians (Barna, 2007) , and only 3% of 16 to 29-year-old nonChristians express favorable views of evangelicals... we Christians should try to avoid doing stupid stuff like this," vents Jonathan McKee, president of The Source for Youth Ministry, on his blog.
Heard told Threat Level that he has politely responded to some of the site's critics and has turned their negative comments into "constructive criticism" for improvements to the site.
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Dear non-believers back on earth, because of air pollution that we caused when we were mortal... Heaven is not so great anymore. We have to wear full bodied gas masks. It smells like diapers. The clouds are gooey and they stick to your robe. Alot of the angels have weird skin diseases and are gross to look at. The water tastes like Satan's pee. So we're all thinking of forgetting this whole eternity in the clouds deal. How is it down there? We all kind of want to come back, if that's okay. We would like to apologize for all the chaos we created with religious wars and unnecessary deaths we caused while our stay on earth. If you take us back, We promise we'll just accept people and their choices for what they are and vow to stop forcing our ideals onto politics, which greatly puts barriers on progress in science, healthcare, and society in general. Because we understand now that we are completely wrong and our beliefs are silly and outdated, we will begin our path to progressive enlightenment, and live in harmony without the blinding brainwash of religion preceding our judgement. Instead of before when we were being ignorant about global warming, polution and gas emissions, we will contribute to taking care of our fragile planet. I know that this isn't an excuse, but we did think that the earth was kind of useless. Sorry about that. Can you forgive us? ~ Sincerely... Christians."
Oy. Zey zaynen meshungeneh goyim...
As a practicing capitalist, I see a stunning opportunity for financial growth in a business that must have legitimate competition so as to promote competitive pricing AND world-class services that demanding consumers will choose over similar service providers.
Therefore, it is with no small amount of pride that I announcing the formation of Coon Air Rapture Notification Services, a division of Coon Air Animal Husbandry Services. Initial operating headquarters will be located at Area 51 at Roswell, New Mexico, and all transactions will be handled by a liquid nitrogen-cooled HAL 2000 computer,
Human staffing of the facility will not be necessary as all functions and tasks are to fully automated and the use of sensory devices proven through service aboard various NASA space shuttles will be employed to assure immediate response to the initial onset of rapture.
Please check frequently at www.coonair.com for forthcoming announcements about our state-of-the-art rapture notification services and capabilities, as well as many other highly popular Coon Air services.
I for one dont care what happens to my finances and my stuff....I do believe what we recieve in heave will be so much better than anything we can comprehend. So if you are still around, you can have it..ha ha. Just being with the Lord Jesus Christ is all I want.
tamna
The explanation of sending the emails after the rapture takes place is not very clear from the story. I, like you, at first, thought that they were saying you could send emails to your loved ones from heaven. But, after reading it again and reading what was on their website, that is not the case.
You write the email now. After the rapture takes place then 6 days later the computer system will send the email(s) plus personal information about yourself for probate sake to who you want them sent to. This can be deduced (emails are written now) from the information in the story that you can store important financial information about yourself that you loved ones need to know for probate sake should you vanish from the earth. If you do that now (the financial information for probate) then that also implies that you write the emails now. Go to their website and they will better explain this, though not well, plus they will explain their method on determining how they know the rapture took place.
Prophet wrote:
"tamna,
Pay attention to what this article says. It doesn't say that Christians will be able to email from heaven. Re-read the article. It will make more sense."
Prophet: FYI. From the article:
"Christians who believe they might one day be physically swept up to heaven in the Rapture will be able to send e-mails to loved ones left behind on Earth nearly one week after the apocalyptic event takes place, thanks to a new website."
How do you think they are going to send the e-mails from heaven? By carrier pigeon?
Maybe reading the article again would be of benefit to you. It will make more sense to you then.
Joel 2:31 - "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come."
Could it be that we will be entering into Daniel's 70th week very soon. Something to pray about.
Interview with Mark Biltz on Solar and Lunar Eclipses in 2014/2015 (Pt 1) and (Pt 2)
http://www.prophecyinthenews.com/
Why give money to these folks to send an email to your left behind loved ones when you could just as easily leave a taped message, a letter or whatever in your home with you personal information they think they will need in case you disappear? Also, emails cahnge all the time. How do you know that the email today will be the same for tomorrow? Of course, they probably allow for you to change it if it does, but you never know, your email may never reach them.
Again, why spend the money when there are other means? I think these people are just wanting to profit off a very real concern that Christians have about the tribulation period that is very close to beginning.
I agree with CarolTexGirl, that we should be busy now about witnessing to our lost friends and family and the stranger on the street about there need for Christ and the coming tribulation.
I agree that we ought to be witnessing now. But, let me ask you: Do you have anyone in your life that you have witnessed to for years but they just have not responded? I do. I'm not saying this is what I would do, but it is at any rate a good idea to have a dead-man option to communicate important information to your loved ones in case of an accident. If that "accident" is the rapture, same result. I myself believe in a mid-trib rapture, so I am more concerned that my loved ones will be able to hold up under the martyrdom they may be called upon to face. I have a friend who thought this is just a money-making scheme; that is possible as well. But if you believed in a pre-trib, surprise rapture wouldn't you be responsible if you make some preparation for it?
I think this is crazy just because I beleive we need to be witnessing to unbleliver NOW not hoping an email will get to our loved ones or friends. If you really care about them witness to them NOW before its too late. I want my loved ones to go with me to heaven not left behind to go through the 7 years of torment.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal lifethrough Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
We are not responsible to the opinions of the world. Remember how Jesus was killed? We are responsible to our Lord, and to other believers in the Church, to be wise and obedient servants. We must do as conscience dictates and be ready for when we "will be hated by all nations because of His name". This hatred is one sign of the approaching return of Christ.
Another sign is very clear, the gospel will be preached in every nation. This is happening or close to happening.
For people who take Jesus' teaching in the Scripture seriously, this is the sort of thing that they ought to be doing, I suppose.
the rapture will always be just around the corner, justs as it was 1000, 100, 10 ago and 10, 100, 1000 years from now. good luck with that rapture thing......
star,
I dont remember your email addy. Could you email me so I can send those figures I said I would?
Quecat, what concerns me more is that in order for this to occur, they would have to provide the website with all this personal information (as stated in the article). I smell a large identity theft scam here, or, if they really mean well, a hacker's dream resource.
"Where the cash cow grazes there will be much manure."