What in Heaven's name is the difference?

"After the Tribulation" is a documentary directed by Paul Wittenberger, who also gave us "The Great Culling" and "What in the world are they spraying", two conspiracist documentaries. "After the Tribulation" is more overtly theological. It ties together conspiracist ideas about a One World Government with a Christian fundamentalist message. To all intents and purposes, the movie is really an almost two-hour sermon by Pastor Steven Anderson, backed up by Pastor Roger Jimenez and the more well-known "Dr. Dino" Kent Hovind (on a phone line from prison).

However, it's a fundamentalist message with a twist. Anderson and his colleagues reject the Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine (the "Left Behind" stuff) as a Satanic deception. Instead, he embraces the Post-Tribulation Pre-Wrath Rapture. To an outsider, the difference is pretty esoteric, as both sets of fundamentalists seem to believe in exactly the same conspiracy theories about the Anti-Christ creating a One World Government complete with microchips to control the population, etc. The main difference I could glean from the lectures is that Anderson believes that Christians will remain on Earth during the Great Tribulation, while the more popular Pre-Trib position asserts that they will be removed before it starts.

However, since Pre-Tribs presumably believe in a lot of *present* persecution, it's still not clear why this should be seen as a fundamental difference? Nor is it clear why Anderson believes that Pre-Tribs will be deceived by the Anti-Christ, since both they and Anderson himself define the Anti-Christ in exactly the same way: a future ruler who demands worship, unites the world's religions, persecutes Christians, implants microchips in the bodies of his followers, etc. The view of Israel and the Jews might be different, however, since Anderson forcefully claims that the Jews will accept the Anti-Christ as their Messiah. Perhaps wisely, this theme isn't expanded upon in "After the Tribulation".

Anderson is right that a Pre-Tribulation Rapture isn't mentioned in the Bible. But then, it's not entirely clear whether a futuristic Post-Trib Pre-Wrath Rapture is mentioned either, since in context the Book of Revelation deals with events during the history of the Roman Empire. The pastor really lost me when claiming that those who have faith in Christ will get to Heaven even if they commit murder and other heinous sins while alive on Earth (!!), while everyone else will go to Hell. If this is the message of the loving Christians, I can understand why the Anti-Christ succeeds in deceiving the rest of humanity!

"After the Tribulation" is a good film if you are interested in evangelical-fundamentalist Bible exegesis, but probably not for the general audience.