This is the kind of thing one thinks after injecting quite a bit of THC, but a conspiracy theory I half-believe in is that shit like Left Behind was a plot to mislead people so they wouldn’t recognize him when he showed up.

So much of what your average white fundie/evangelical Christian believes about eschatology is not really in the Bible. It’s all mostly based on a Bible edition from 1917 plus John Bircher stuff - see the obsession with the United Nations. It can sorta be an anti Catholic church thing too, but fundiengelicals have mostly had a truce with Catholics since they formed their anti abortion coalition in the 70s (in the Left Behind series, the original pope does get raptured, but most media has the pope as either the anti-Christ or an eager collaborator)

This is how they imagine the end of the world

The Antichrist is a lefty who promises peace and tolerance and good things, so there’s nothing wrong with building a statue to this great guy, almost as persecuted and powerful as Jesus himself. Global warming is fake, really the sign of the end of the world is litter boxes for furries at school.

!