Comprehensive information and links about Left Behind II: Tribulation Force

Left Behind II: Tribulation Force is a series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, dealing with Christian dispensationalist End Times: pretribulation, premillennial, Christian eschatology viewpoint of the end of the world. It is also the title of the first book in the eponymously-named series. It is published by Tyndale House, a firm with a history of interest in dispensationalism.

table series for teens. Audio dramatizations based on the first thirteen titles have also been produced for broadcast on Christian radio. The first two books have been made into movies by a Canadian motion picture studio, Cloud Ten Pictures. A series written for teens has also been written, called . The plot of this series is the same as the adult series, but the main protagonists are teenagers. The main books were also turned into movies, Left Behind: The Movie, Left Behind 2: Tribulation Force, and Left Behind: World at War.

Two spin-off series have been written; a political series by Neesa Hart, and a military series by Mel Odom.

Summary

Based on fundamentalist interpretation of prophecies in the Biblical books of Revelation, Isaiah and Ezekiel, tells the story of the end times, in which many have vanished, leaving the world shattered and chaotic. As people scamble for answers, a Romanian named Nicolae Jetty Carpathia, who, in his political rise to the United Nations, has promised to restore peace and stability to all nations. What most of the world doesn't realize is that Carpathia is actually the Anti-Christ. Coming to grips with the truth and becoming born-again Christians, Rayford Steele, his daughter, Chloe, Bruce Barnes, and young journalist Buck begin their quest as the Tribulation Force to help save the lost and prepare for the coming tribulation, in which God will rain down judgement on the world.

Rayford Steele, mid-forties; 747 captain for Pan-Continental; member, but non-attender at New Hope Village Church; Mount Prospect.Cameron "Buck" Williams, early thirties; senior writer for Global Weekly; author of Newsmaker of the Year story on Chaim Rosenzweig; New York.Chloe Steele, early twenties; student at Stanford; skeptical of Christianity; lost mother and brother; Rayford's daughter; California.Bruce Barnes, mid-forties; assistant pastor at New Hope Village Church; must lead new congregation; Mount Prospect.Hattie Durham, late twenties; flight attendant, Pan-Continental; works with Rayford; Mount Prospect.Nicolae Jetty Carpathia, mid-thirties; president of Romania; masterful politician; invited to speak at the United Nations; Romania. It is revealed that he is the Antichrist.Leon Fortunato, mid-thirties, Carpathia's right-hand man and later revealed to be the False Prophet from Revelation.Chaim Rosenzweig, late sixties; Israeli botanist and statesman; discoverer of a formula that made Israeli deserts bloom; former Global Weekly Man of the Year; Jerusalem.Al B, A Muslim by faith, he has connections to the black market and supplies things for Mac McCullumJudd Thompson, age 16, lives in Mount Prospect; is on Rayford Steele's plane when the Rapture occurs.Lionel Washington, age 13; son of reporter Lucinda Washington, who is left behind with his uncle André.Ryan Daley, age 12, best friend of Raymie Steele; loses his unsaved parents to severe accidents following the Rapture. list of bestsellers. Nick Parmley, a charismatic Baptist minister from Portland, Oregon, has called on Evangelical Christians to adopt this series as "required reading". In other areas, such as continental Europe—where dispensationalism is largely non-existent—the books have been far less successful.

The popularity of this series has spilt over beyond the Americas and the English-speaking world. It has been translated to many languages including Chinese and Japanese. There is, however, a protracted lag in translation. (As at September 2005, the Chinese version of Book 11 is in the press and the Japanese version of Book 6 has been published.)

magazine writer Michelle Goldberg described what she believed was one of the series' attractions: "On one level, the attraction of the Left Behind books isn't that much different from that of, say, Tom Clancy or Stephen King. The plotting is brisk and the characterizations Manichean." [1] However, she considered the books to be an attack on Judaism and liberal secularism, and pointed out that the near-future "end times" the books are set in seem to reflect the actual worldview of millions of Americans, including many prominent conservative leaders.

The "Left Behind" books and movies have done much to create an interest in Bible prophecy. Some evangelical Christians including those who believe the Holy Scriptures teach a Post Tribulation Rapture are pleased about this. These novels and movies have helped to break the "conspiracy of silence" that supposedly continues to cloak the subject of the End times in most denominations of the Church. However, some evangelicals have expressed some concerns over the "Left Behind" series and the doctrine upon which it is based. They feel that a belief system that features an escapist or survivalist attitude to the climactic end-time blood covenant witness to Jesus is not supported by the Bible.

Some evangelicals view the scenarios in the "Left Behind" series as melodramatic and less than inspiring. Some of the scenes in the "Left Behind" series describe Christians as hiding out in safehouses and avoiding the witness of Jesus Christ. They have expressed concern that such actions are out of character for the true Church. This is quite unlike the behaviour of the Apostle Paul and the behaviour of those faithful Christians in the early Church who came up to trial before the powers of Rome. Foxes Book of Martyrs reveals that when the actual hour of trial arrived Christians under persecution did not try to escape. They found themselves pleased to bring their testimony before the kings and rulers of nations, come what may. It is argued by some evangelicals that these dramatic and inspiring elements of Christian faithfulness are missing in these novels.

Many practicing Christians, evangelical and otherwise, consider that the social perspectives promoted in the series unduly sensationalize death and the destruction of masses of people. Many preterist Christians do not interpret the to predict future events. Instead, it is seen to be foretelling or documenting historical events such as the burning of Rome, Nero as Antichrist and the earlier destruction of the Temple.

Some critics are concerned that exposing teenagers or children to an apocalyptic outlook proposed by the series's author may lead to teenage depression and fanatical fundamentalism in response to the material.

Influences on the authors

LaHaye and Jenkins cite the influence of Russell S. Doughten, an Iowan film-maker who directed a series of four low-budget feature-length films in the 1970s and 1980s about the Rapture and Second Coming. The films' popularity among Christian fundamentalists have led to increased study and speculation as to the events described in the Book of Revelation.

books have led to the release of three motion pictures based on the series so far. The movies have been produced and released by Cloud Ten Pictures, a Canadian Christian movie studio.

In 2000, the studio released , based on the first book of the series. In a very unusual marketing scheme, the studio released the movie on video and DVD first, and then released it to the theatres. Though the movie fared well in theaters, it was the video release that turned heads in Hollywood, competing with blockbusters such as star Kirk Cameron, a practicing evangelist (and co-host with Ray Comfort on the TV show The Way of the Master) who finds the series inspiring, as Buck Williams.

In 2002 the sequel, was released first to churches on October 21, 2005 for church theatrical viewings, and is being released to DVD and video on October 25, 2005. The new movie is based very loosely on the final fifty pages of , and features Louis Gossett Jr. playing the President of the United States, Gerald Fitzhugh. The third movie was the least identifiable with events in any of the books. Recognizable events were the marriages of Buck with Chloe and Rayford with Amanda, the death of Bruce Barnes, and the U.S. president heading an attack, with Britain and Egypt, against the Global Community. Major parts of the movie, however, were not in any of the books: the poisoning of Bibles by the forces of Nicolae, and an attempt by Fitzhugh to assassinate Nicolae. Buck's meeting with the president in the books makes it into the movie, but in a totally different form.

With the great success of the movies so far, it can be expected that Cloud Ten Pictures will continue to produce more films, possibly even covering the entire series.

It is of special interest to note that in 2004, Cloud Ten Pictures made a deal with Sony Entertainment to release all of its pictures under the Sony banner, and has been doing so ever since.