Notes on…

A Thief in the Night(1972)

Dir. Directed by Donald W. Thompson

Two things stuck out to me. By this film's account, the end of the world has nothing to do with the happiness and spiritual joy of being reunited with Jesus for eternity. Rather, the rapture is portrayed entirely as a punishment for your enemies, and it does so through a suburban authoritarian fantasy that reeks of projection. Secondly, the film's beef is far less with atheists, Jews, Muslims or those weird non-Abrahamic religions, but instead its villian is simply the church down the street. Reminds me of the story that Christopher Hitchens liked to relay about the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut writing to Jefferson in 1802 expressing fear of persecution from... the Congregationalists of Danbury, Connecticut.

Oh yeah, according to Wikipedia, this film made $4.2 million dollars.

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Synopsis: Patty, a young woman caught up in living for the present with little concern for the future, awakens one day to find her husband missing and the radio reporting that millions of people around the globe have mysteriously vanished. As dramatic, earth-shaking events begin to unfold around her, Patty realizes she is living in the end times spoken of in biblical prophecy.