Left Behind

 

The Left Behind novel series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins is as extensive as it is controversial. Its sixteen volumes portray the end of the world as described, or rather interpreted, in the Revelation to St John, the last book of the New Testament. It is a very imaginative and creative "what if?" scenario, a bit like my own Roswell trilogy, see: http://hpanwo-bb.blogspot.com/2018/12/roswell-redeemed-is-here.html. The central characters in the story are a family who have been living ordinary secular lives. They are religious agnostics and commit "sins!" of one form or another on a regular basis. The exception is Irene Steele, the mother, who regularly attends church and bible classes. The first book begins with her mysteriously vanishing along with millions of other devout followers of Christ. This is what is known as the "Rapture". The vanishing incident is very literal. People instantly dematerialize openly in front of others, their clothes suddenly dropping empty to the ground. This concept comes from an interpretation of St Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians 4:17 which states: "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." The Latin from which the King James Bible is translated uses the word raptura which means "to seize", "lift up", "snatch" or "carry away". The word has been handed down to English as "rapture". Those left behind, hence the title, after the Rapture have to face the "tribulation", seven years of war, famine, political upheaval and natural disaster which ends with the Second Coming of Jesus. Along with Irene Steele, her young son is also raptured. Children too young to understand the choice between following Jesus or Satan are raptured by default. The rest of the family left behind realize what has happened and are born again as "tribulation saints", the post-Rapture name for the Christians. The world of the tribulation period is ruled over by a global leader who is gradually exalted to the status of a living God. His name is Nicolae Carpathia and he is actually the antichrist. He has to face the "tribulation force", believers in Christ who are challenging his global tyranny, which is very like real plans for the New World Order. At the end of the tribulation Jesus appears in accordance with the Nicene Creed: "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead." Those who are Godly folk are allowed to live with Jesus during the "millennium", a thousand year period in which Jesus rules on earth. Those who are not worthy are tossed into hell for eternity. The description of these judgements is explicit and frightening. The whole story is very vivid and it captures skilfully what it would feel like for ordinary people to be put into this extraordinary situation. It reminds me slightly of Stephen King. In one scene a young woman dies in sin and the tribulation saints hold a funeral for her, knowing she is inevitably going to hell. Their thoughts and feelings are explored in depth. Interestingly, Jesus is never described physically, as if it is something beyond description or something the reader is deliberately left to imagine. At the end of the millennium of Christ, the New Jerusalem descends and the old earth burns away and the people live for eternity in Heaven, matching Revelation 21-22. The series has become a cult phenomenon and has been adapted into three films which cover the beginning of the story. There are also children's books based on the series. Source: https://www.tyndale.com/sites/leftbehind/.
 
There is prequel trilogy within the series, books 13.14 and 15. These tell the background to the main narrative, especially the birth and growth of the antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia. I read those first. Carpathia reminded me very much of "Centaur", see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2012/09/centaur.html. The third and final prequel book, number 15, is called The Rapture- In the Twinkling of an Eye. Countdown to Earth's Last Days. It ends at the beginning of the first volume: Left Behind- A Novel of the Earth's Last Days. I had a strange experience, possibly a supernatural one, connected to book 15 which I describe here: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2021/04/something-strange-is-going-on.html and: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2021/04/antichrist-book-livestream.html. The Left Behind series is not the normal kind of thing I read. I am not a Christian and did not accept the theological premise of the story; I still do not. A lot of the logical and ethical contradictions of the bible that are well known to philosophers and religious critics are not resolved in this series, or even seriously addressed. This complex and lurid vision of the end of the universe is not doctrinal in Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism or the Orthodox churches. It really is confined pretty much to the evangelical Protestantism of North America. The moral of the story is very opposed to spiritualism and the occult. The mentor of Nicolae Carpathia, Viv Ivins, is a psychic medium who reads the Tarot and runs a Spiritualist church. Clearly these things, which I am interested and even enthusiastic about, are considered "the work of the Devil!" in the authors' eyes. Left Behind strikes a chord with many pious churchgoers in the US "Bible Belt", but it has also received harsh criticism from both secular and other Christian readers. The franchise has also been lampooned by The Simpsons, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4h2PqStbEs. Despite all this, I felt oddly compelled to read the series. It took up a lot of time and it didn't affect me. I have not changed my mind about Christianity from reading these books. I must admit that part of my decision to persevere with them was my strange experience. It is also because I have been researching the general subject of the "End Times". I might include the theme in a future work of fiction, but if I do it will be very different from LaHaye's and Jenkins' epic.
See here for more information: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2020/08/apocalypse-soon.html.
And: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2020/07/programme-379-podcast-apocalypse.html.