"promote conspiracy theories; they demonize proponents of arms control, ecumenicalism, abortion rights and everyone else disliked by the Christian right; and they justify assassination as a political tool. Their anti-Jewishness is exceeded by their anti-Catholicism. Most basically, they reject the very idea of open, democratic debate. In the world of Left Behind, there exists a single truth, based on a purportedly literal reading of Scripture; anyone who disagrees with that truth is deceived or evil."

As someone who has read a number (far too many) of the Left Behind series novels, I concur with what Gorenberg wrote in his book review of the ongoing series. The Gorenberg article, titled: "Intolerance: The Bestseller," appeared on September 23, 2002.

Gorenberg noted the video-game atmosphere of the novels, explaining that "LaHaye and Jenkins work sermons into the story," to explain their theological and political views stemming from their reading of the book of Revelation, "but these are short intervals between long chase scenes in which the faithful drive souped-up cars or fly jets while shooting large-caliber guns and engaging in atrocious dialogue on satellite phones."

Gorenberg highlights the role of the chief villain in the Left Behind series of books: "Nicolae Carpathia, the man who turned the United Nations into a one-world government with himself as dictator," on behalf of Satan. In fact, Carpathia is the dreaded Antichrist, Satan's chief henchman in the End Times.

"Perhaps the most striking scene in the Left Behind series is the climax of book six, The Assassins. Carpathia is speaking at a mass rally in Jerusalem. Out in the crowd is Rayford Steele, armed with a high-tech handgun. He prays for God's guidance, and finds himself firing what appears to be a fatal shot at Carpathia. Intentionally or not, this is an eerie rewrite of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination at a Tel Aviv peace rally in 1995 -- but the authors are on the side of the fanatic killer. In the next novel, Rayford Steele's daughter asks Ben-Judah if her father is a murderer. "I believe we are at war," answers the voice of truth. "In the heat of battle, killing the enemy has never been considered murder." Having demonized religious and political opponents, LaHaye and Jenkins suggest a method for dealing with evil leaders."

In December 2006 Craig Unger penned a devastating look at dualistic Christian apocalyptic culture, "American 'Rapture.'" in Vanity Fair. The teaser line for the article suggests "Best-selling author and evangelical leader Tim LaHaye has contacts that extend to the White House. That could spell trouble, since his theology espouses a bloody apocalypse in Israel."

Unger went on a trip to the Holy Land featuring Tim LaHaye as a guide. Unger is turning his experiences into a book. In the Vanity Fair article, Unger traces the apocalyptic and millennialist theology embraced by LaHaye, including the belief that a bloody apocalypse is inevitable in the Middle East. According to this specific reading of Biblical prophecy from the book of Revelation, God orders Christ to place all those who have not converted to Christianity into a winepress like so many grapes to feel the wrath of God. These "grapes of wrath" are then squeezed into blood flows freely.

As Unger explains:

"With its highly figurative language, Revelation is subject to profoundly differing interpretations. Nevertheless, LaHaye's followers insist on its literal truth and accuracy, and they have gone to great lengths to calculate exactly what this passage of Revelation means.

"As we walk down from the top of the hill of Megiddo, one of them looks out over the Jezreel Valley. 'Can you imagine this entire valley filled with blood?' he asks. 'That would be a 200-mile-long river of blood, four and a half feet deep. We've done the math. That's the blood of as many as two and a half billion people.'"

And people are upset because of a few bodies on a cyber street?

Sources

Gorenberg, "Intolerance: The Bestseller," book review of Left Behind series by T. LaHaye, J.B. Jenkins, American Prospect, September 23, 2002, http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/17/gorenberg-g.html

Craig Unger, "American 'Rapture,'" Vanity Fair, December 2005.
http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/articles/051128roco02?page=1

Brenda E. Brasher. 2001. "When Your Friend is Your Enemy: American Christian Fundamentalists and Israel at the New Millennium." In Millennial Visions: Essays on Twentieth-Century Millenarianism, ed. Martha F. Lee. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood.

Brenda E. Brasher and Chip Berlet. (2004). "Imagining Satan: Modern Christian Right Print Culture as an Apocalyptic Master Frame. Paper presented at the Conference on Religion and the Culture of Print in America, Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America, University of Wisconsin-Madison, September 10-11, 2004.

Chip Berlet. 2004. "U.S. Christian Evangelicals Raise the Stakes," (The Threats to Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount), BitterLemons (International), Volume 2, Issue 34, September 2, online magazine. http://www.bitterlemons-international.org/previous.php?opt=1&id=55#226

Chip Berlet and Nikhil Aziz. 2003. "Culture, Religion, Apocalypse, and Middle East Foreign Policy," IRC Right Web (Silver City, NM: Interhemispheric Resource Center) online at http://rightweb.irc-online.org/analysis/2003/0312apocalypse.php

"Left Behind Video Reflects Bigoted Apocalyptic Violence of Original Fiction Series," (6/12/2006)

"LaHaye and Jenkins: Why is the Criticism Left Behind? "

The World According to Tim LaHaye: A Series
Part One: Hunting Down the Enemies
Part Two: Pre-Trib Perspectives
Part Three: Satanic Secular Humanism
Part Four: Secular Humanism as False Religion
Part Five: The Secular Humanist Web
Part Six: The Council for National Policy
Part Seven: Humanists Attack the Family
Part Eight: The Age Old Conspiracy