Raptured

Rating:
Summary: I think that people are focusing on the wrong thing
Review: Here's the bottom line. Do you believe in God? Do you believe that one day, he's coming for his people? Do you want to be saved? I'm surprised that people like Barbara Rainey (look at her review below) are focusing on things like whether or not the Four Horsemen of the Apocaplypse rode down the street or not!

Yes, the book of Revelation is confusing. However, it clearly states that the rapture will happen...The book is great and it brings the message of the rapture to those who do not read the bible, or to those that have read the bible with hard hearts.

Rating:
Summary: A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE!!!
Review: I just want to start off by saying how this book is a must read for everyone. Whether you are saved or not, everyone MUST read this book. The contents of this book is basically the book of Revelation put in a story form. I've been saved for some time now, but it wasnt until I read this book, that I TRULY knew what it means to be saved and living the lifestyle. To everyone reading this who is not saved or who is saved and maybe has been out of fellowship with the Lord, I plead with you to get this book and get your lives right with God. ... Also for the people who are saved, please share this book with others that you know need it desperately...

Rating:
Summary: I think that people are focusing on the wrong thing
Review: I LOVE THIS BOOK. I COULD NEVER FULLY UNDERSTAND THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS, UNTIL A FAMILY MEMBER TOLD ME ABOUT THIS BOOK. IT TOOK ME ROUGHLY ONE DAY TO READ IT AND I'VE READ IT AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR SINCE THEN. IT GAVE ME A NEW UNDERSTANDING ON THE RAPTURE AND WHAT TO EXPECT (EVEN THOUGH I KNOW I WON'T BE LEFT BEHIND). I'M CONSTANTLY BUYING COPIES FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS WHO STILL DON'T REALLY BELIEVE GOD EXISTS; OR FOR THOSE WHO THINK THAT THEY WILL GO TO HEAVEN BECAUSE THEY ARE GOOD PEOPLE. YOU CAN BE THE NICEST PERSON IN THE WORLD, BUT, IF YOU DON'T SERVE GOD YOU WILL GO TO HELL OR BE LEFT BEHIND AND BE PUT TO THE TEST IN THE END. WHY GO THROUGH THAT WHEN YOU CAN JUST SAY "YES" TO HIM NOW? I URGE YOU TO READ THIS BOOK, IT IS VERY INEXPENSIVE AND ONCE YOU START READING IT, IT WILL BE HARD TO PUT DOWN. SO WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE?!?!?!?!?!?!

Rating:
Summary: A TRULY MUST HAVE
Review: I LOVE THIS BOOK. I COULD NEVER FULLY UNDERSTAND THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS, UNTIL A FAMILY MEMBER TOLD ME ABOUT THIS BOOK. IT TOOK ME ROUGHLY ONE DAY TO READ IT AND I'VE READ IT AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR SINCE THEN. IT GAVE ME A NEW UNDERSTANDING ON THE RAPTURE AND WHAT TO EXPECT (EVEN THOUGH I KNOW I WON'T BE LEFT BEHIND). I'M CONSTANTLY BUYING COPIES FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS WHO STILL DON'T REALLY BELIEVE GOD EXISTS; OR FOR THOSE WHO THINK THAT THEY WILL GO TO HEAVEN BECAUSE THEY ARE GOOD PEOPLE. YOU CAN BE THE NICEST PERSON IN THE WORLD, BUT, IF YOU DON'T SERVE GOD YOU WILL GO TO HELL OR BE LEFT BEHIND AND BE PUT TO THE TEST IN THE END. WHY GO THROUGH THAT WHEN YOU CAN JUST SAY "YES" TO HIM NOW? I URGE YOU TO READ THIS BOOK, IT IS VERY INEXPENSIVE AND ONCE YOU START READING IT, IT WILL BE HARD TO PUT DOWN. SO WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE?!?!?!?!?!?!

Rating:
Summary: It was the best!!!!!!!!!
Review: I read this book once to myself and enjoyed it so much. My husband and I had gone on a trip and I asked him if he would like me to read it to him. He said yes. While I was reading it, several times I got very emotional and had to stop for a few minutes. He did not have Jesus in his heart yet. The trials people will have if they get left behind are just terrible. The book is so much like I see it from the Bible. I loaned the book out to a friend and never got it back.

Rating:
Summary: Message OK; Poor writing style
Review: This book has a few theological problems including a second rapture which consists of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses, and a somewhat implied idea that salvation can be lost or is conditional upon looking for the rapture (as another reviewer has already pointed out). Also, the Bible says that "whoever calls upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved". Poor Mary calls upon the Lord several times near the end of the book, but she does not "find the Lord" until she experiences a vision. Beyond this, I don't find too much else to criticize theologically.

However, the writing style of this book is one that my high school creative writing teacher would have graded no higher than a "D". As has been said by one reviewer, the characters in this book have identical personalities. They are all high-strung and highly emotional. (They also must be physically fit since they are always running.) And almost every descriptive phrase is either cliched or trite and used over and over again. The book is also littered with ambiguity. For example, Jim Collins wife was described as being sick and suffering greatly (which, by the way, spontaneously occurs after the church service). What was she suffering from? Appendicitis? Cancer? Pneumonia? Food poisoning? Indigestion? The reader is not given any indication except that she eventually dies from her illness.

If someone wishes to read a well-written and concise novel of the end-times (and does not want to trudge through the 12 Left Behind Books), I would recommend Carol Balizet's "The Last Seven Years."

Rating:
Summary: The Worst Book I Have Ever Read
Review: This is the worst book I have ever read. Ernest Angley was certainly an interesting preacher, but had definitely risen to the level of his incompetence when he tried his hand at novel-writing.

I won't quibble over the theology too much, but suffice it to say, Angley has no conception of symbolism. EVERYTHING in the Bible, is literal to him.

At the moment of the rapture, the faithful hear, "Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him!" So God is still working out of the King James Version, eh?

Try to count the number of times in the book that "great fear seizes (someone's) heart."

Another example of bad writing: the narration tells us about a character who is damned, "All Jim cared about was Jim."

It does get entertainingly funny, however, when we enter the torture chamber. Believe me, Angley doesn't hold back there.

Rating:
Summary: It was Great!
Review: This summer when I was really into the Left Behind Series by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim Lahaye, my cousin gave me the book. It looked old and I judged the book by it's cover. I put it on my dressed and forgot about it... until Wednesday night. Very graphic and scary! The ways they tormented Christians! It was like be back 1000 years ago! Overall, a really good read!

Rating:
Summary: An first-rate example of pure camp!
Review: When I first read this book about two dozen years ago, I thought it was in some ways quite emotionally moving. But that was the thrust of it. Angley writes purely from his heart, but he does it in a way that skips his head. Everything in this story is so very mindless, irrational, unrealistic, and even downright campy!

Another thing: the characters all seem to come out of the same personality mold. They are virtually ALL highly emotional, and histronic. And the theology is also quite bad. Angley not only presents the dispensational, premillennial view of the Second Coming as the only correct view, but he places everyone who rejects this position in the "left behind" crowd.

Angley's interpretation of the Bible is so completely literal that one wonders where Angley received his theological education. He presents the Four Horsemen of the Apocaplypse as literal, physical persons who actually appear in person, even to the point of riding down the street.

Angley also presents us with extremely campiness in how the lost sinners who "take the Mark of the Beast" are characterized. One primary character, Jim Collins, is described as becoming practically a demoniac after taking the "Mark." Angley's ultimate in corn comes when the "Antichrist" is presented as sitting in a chariot (!), having a "fierce countenance," and eyes with "flames of fire" in them. He is described as sitting next to the "Antispirit," and together these two literally fly up into the sky as if by magic!

Now I realize how unrealistic "prophecy" novel writers can be when they interpret the prophetic passages of the Bible too literally.