I’ve read several reviews about Left Behind and they have been negative with cheap shots tossed at the quality, story line and disaster elements. Ironically several of these came from traditional Christian news outlets like Christianity Today. Last night I took my daughter and her boyfriend, whom we are trying to win to the Lord. Here is my question: what movie did the CT reviewer see?

First, I have to say that my husband is a stylist for television and movies. In our 30 years together I’ve learned to look for bad hair, continuity issues and, simply said, anything that I might find to critique, I would. Left Behind had very little to criticize.

The story was actually better told than the original book. It held to the basics, but has more impact. While the end landing was a bit over the edge, it was no different than any super hit like 21 Jump Street when the two heroes magically escape a shoot out. In reality they would be dead, and in reality the plane landing would have been different. In reality any part of any Hangover movie is just absurd, but entertaining in a perverted way.

The movie did not look low budget or any such nonsense. It was of good quality. Who complains about the grain of the film when we watch old Chaplin movies? And the group from Albany, Georgia who do the fantastic films like Courageous…who needs film quality when the message is quality. Just sayin’, dude reviewer, get a life.

Character development was good. The continuity of the script and editing are better than some big budget films. I was an extra in Steve Martin’s A Simple Twist of Fate where the editing crew must have had too Slurpees before they started. In Left Behind there were some issues such as the sunlight in NYC went on a little too long and it should have gotten dark quicker. These are minor.

The movie isn’t a Bible beater, but a subtle message of “you better get right with God.” The puzzle pieces of The Rapture came together in logical fashion just as they might in real life. Nothing too fantastic or magical.

Speaking of real life. On September 23 my youngest daughter had a very bad wreck. The day before her boyfriend was saying he didn’t believe in God. The morning of the wreck I texted both of them a message: you don’t know the day or the hour… . In the wreck my daughter suffered temporary, short term memory loss and a bad eye injury. Her boyfriend had a tiny cut, and he was on the side of the car where the most damage occurred. The car stopped a foot short of a log that would have impaled the car and killed them. And still he questions God.

The verse at the end of the movie was that we do not know the day nor the hour. And we don’t. There might not be a rapture, but certainly there might be an attack from an enemy outside the US. There’s Ebola. There’s unrest in the US. This is the season of tornadoes and hurricanes. And there are those car wrecks that can happen anytime, and without warning.

I took away from this movie the message that we can give excuses all day long, but at the end of the day we need “to recognize,” as my students used to say. We need to recognize that Jesus is Lord and one day we will have to give an accounting. We can pull every “but if God is so good” card and still we must give an accounting at the end of our journey. And what will you say? One of my favorite explanations is found in the old Carman video that can be found in YouTube. Check out Witches Invitation. And on that day you can either call on all your excuses or simply say: I’m saved by the Blood of Jesus and my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.