ALBANY — Based on a prediction offered a few months ago by a South African pastor and recently picked up and amplified by — you guessed it — social media, the apocalyptic religious upheaval known as The Rapture will happen on Tuesday or perhaps Wednesday.
While, as of this writing, nothing has been confirmed, the Times Union wants to cover its bases by providing useful information to its readers before the end of the world. Here are some questions you might have:
Wait — what’s this now?
The Rapture is a stage in the end of the world as predicted by many evangelical Christians and dramatized in the wildly popular Clinton-era “Left Behind” novel series. More recently, the concept was sent up in the uproarious Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy “This Is the End” and explored in the HBO series “The Leftovers,” which filmed partially in the Lower Hudson Valley.
When The Rapture occurs, those who have led righteous lives will ascend to their reward, which includes the return of Jesus Christ. The rest of us — sorry, the rest of you will remain on Earth to witness a series of deeply unpleasant tribulations (war, plague, natural disasters, real wrath-of-God stuff) before the eventual Second Coming brings about a millennium of peace.
Has this been predicted before?
Yes, quite a lot of times by different charismatic religious leaders who so far have an error rate of 100%…