Left Behind Book Review · 9:52am Oct 31st, 2017
I was only one follower away from having 666 for Halloween. Dang. Speaking of the Mark of the Beast, as you may remember, I included a character by the name of Nicolae Carpathia into "Sour Sweet Relapse". I'm sure that some were very much confused by what the heck this "Left Behind" thing was. Well, Left Behind is my favorite book series and Nicolae is my absolute favorite fictional character (sorry Sour).
For a better introduction, I thought it would be fun to write a Halloween blog reviewing the book which started it all, Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.
Captain Rayford Steele is a 747 pilot who's fantasizing about having an affair with a flight attendant. His eyes are wandering because his wife recently became a zealous Christian obsessed with the Rapture, a sudden event where Jesus Christ will take His true followers up to heaven before the world ends. He then receives the shocking news that over a hundred of his passengers are gone. He radios his emergency in, only to be informed that it's not just his plane. Millions are being reported missing across the globe.
Cameron "Buck" Williams is a journalist who was looking into suspicious movements within international politics before the mass disappearances. After the disappearances, things are speeding up. Buck's fellow investigators are turning up shot, car bombed, and drowned. Even more disturbing, the police seem to be framing him for their murders.
Nicolae Carpathia is the charismatic President of Romania who comes to America with a radical agenda. He wants to reorganize and transform the United Nations into a one-world government for the benefit of the remaining population. The public falls in love as if under a spell. However, those who realize this has all been foretold by bible prophecy know that Nicolae is not a man of peace. He is the Antichrist.
This is the beginning of a seven-year Tribulation where the entire planet will be devastated not only by the brutal dictatorship of Nicolae, but the wrath of a God who has lost patience with His corrupt creation.
In all honesty, the story's concept really is king here. The characters are kind of flat with everyone acting so damn casually that you just want to scream, "People, the apocalypse just started! Act like it!" Nicolae is the standout, though. Sometimes he acts like an average politician, sometimes naively innocent to a super trollish level, and sometimes coldly psychotic as he shoots people's brains out. Nicolae's so awesome all he has to do is deliver a single speech and People magazine instantly declares him their new Sexiest Man Alive ( not kidding, this happens ).
The Left Behind series consists of sixteen novels ( not counting spinoffs ). What's nice about Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days is that it can be read as a stand-alone. It begins and ends with a complete story whereas the rest of the novels have cliffhangers. If anything, just read it for the entertaining Antichrist. I do.
I'll leave you with an inspirational quote meme I found on Google. Why? Because the quote is actually taken from the Antichrist's dialogue, not the author 
Interesting