Tribulation Force: Left Behind Vol. 2 (Book Review)
The idea of a world united under one government, one currency, one religion might sound like a paradise. Without the various faiths, currencies, and political boundaries to create conflict humanity would at long last be at peace as a single species. It's an idea that many have longed for throughout history, but one that—if Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins's Left Behind series is to be believed—would signal the end of the world.
In the first book, Left Behind, millions of people vanished into thin air, leaving behind grieving loved ones and a rising political figure by the name of Nicolae Carpathia. We soon learned that the disappearances were the result of Christ's rapture of his Church. That's right, the events of these books are based not on the imaginings of the authors but on the Bible. The primary focus is on the Book of Revelation, and we are taken on this journey with an interesting foursome as our guides: Rayford Steele, Chloe Steele, Cameron "Buck" Williams, and Bruce Barnes.
As I said in my review of Left Behind, the Rapture and the Bible are not science fiction; so please do not flood my inbox with cries of heresy. But the purpose of this forum is to discuss society as well as SF, and the Left Behind series certainly fits that bill. Plus, for many the events portrayed in these books may indeed seem like SF. If you are not a believer, the idea of an antichrist rising to power and uniting the world sounds like something out of the best of the genre.
I will not be discussing Tribulation Force as SF, however. I would like instead to focus on the quality of LaHaye and Jenkins's work as well as a social
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