Nicolae: The Rise of Antichrist (Left Behind #3)

Rating:
Summary: Non-Stop, Edge of your seat thriller
Review: The third installment of the Left Behind series starts at the begining of the tribulation. After the start of World War III, the Tribulation Force struggles for survival as Nicolae Carpathia (The Antichrist) unleases his war machine against those who oppose the newly formed Global Community (formally the UN). Adding a particularly good twist to the story. two of the core members of the Tribulation Force are now employed buy the Antichrist creating a high amount of tension that serves to be very infomative for the reader. The members of the trib force in this third installment are now without a leader due to their previous leader dying under mysterious conditions. The book escalates and proves to be a page turner that you will find difficlut to put down. Action and suspense are ever present, as the reader is taken to locales such as Iraq were the throne of the antichrist is, Chicago, and a harrowing escape/rescue from Isreal which is perhaps some of the best suspenseful writing of our time.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, great action
Review: This is where the Left Behind Series starts to get good! The Antichrist has started World War 3 and the Tribulation Force struggles for life. Buck Williams goes to Israel to rescue Rabbi Ben-Judah, while Rayford Steele is forced to work for Nicolae Carpathia and gets to hear all his dirty little secrets. Just a couple things made me uncomfortable. The eschatology wasn't so great, and it was a little too "macho." The men go out on all their adventures while the women just get in trouble and have to be rescued. I liked Left Behind The Kids better, because the girls are just as smart and important as the guy characters, and they're not all ditzy-blonde like Hattie Durham. But to get to the bottom line, this is a great story, and it's awesome to have a gospel series that gets the respect of the mainstream market.

Rating:
Summary: Christian Propaganda
Review: This series of novels is inspired by "The Revelation to John", the last book in the New Testament, the third section of the Bible, the Christian holy book. "The Revelation to John" (which is often misnamed "The Book of Revelations") tells the Christian myth of what will happen at the end of the world. Basically, the authors took this story, which is barely 20 pages long, and turned it into a series of 12 novels plus a spin-off series that deals with kids. The Christian view is that only the people that believe that Jesus lived 2,000 years ago and died for their sins will be saved and receive an eternal reward in Heaven. What makes this worse is that individual merit based on good or evil deeds is not taken into consideration, because Christians believe that human beings cannot be put right with God except through Jesus. Christians believe that they are saved through faith alone; no amount of good works can win God's approval. So, all of the people that don't believe in Jesus will receive an eternal punishment in Hell, regardless of how many good deeds they do and how caring they are to other people. Meanwhile, the Christians will be saved no matter how evil they behave, because they've got Jesus on their side. "The Revelation to John" tells of an event known as the Rapture: all of the Christians are taken up to Heaven, and everyone else is left behind on Earth. After an event known as the Tribulation and world rule by someone known as the Anti-Christ, Jesus finally returns to Earth and defeats his enemies. Then the old Heaven and the old Earth go away, and a new Heaven and a new Earth are established - with God as King, of course. This took 20 pages in the Bible. Imagine reading the same story stretched over thousands of pages. As a non-Christian, I'm alarmed at what I consider to be an evil religion perpetuated by zealous idiots. Christians base their beliefs on documents that are close to 2,000 years old but don't quite date back to the time period that the events within allegedly occured. There is no physical evidence of the existence of Jesus. There are no non-Christian records of Jesus (not even in Roman execution records). There are no records by astrologists of the time period that describe such an event as that which supposedly occured during Jesus' crucifixion. I belief that the reason that Christianity has endured and grown as much as it has is because it's the only religion in the world that threatens the non-believer with an eternal punishment. Christianity is, at its core, a religion that rewards the "yes" people and punishes the nonconformists. The Bible itself orders Christians to spread the religion throughout the world. Christians feels that it's their duty to convert all non-Christians to Christianity. They pity non-Christians and "pray for their souls". They place themselves into a group of the elite - the saved. They start missions to convert the "heathen" non-Christians and "bring them over to Jesus". The Roman Catholic Church even has a division, called Propaganda, that specifically tries to establish churches in non-Christian nations. An example of a Christian mission is this book series. The authors are trying to bring readers to Jesus through these novels, which have, sadly, become best-sellers. I think that Christians should abort their missions and just leave people of other religions in peace. I'm so glad that there are billions of non-Christians in the world. It would be horrible if the Christians converted everyone. The world needs a balance of beliefs. Otherwise, it would lose its diversity. If you want to read a good book of a battle between good and evil, then read "The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition" by Stephen King. It tells a similar story, only better and in only 1,000 pages. The premise is that a superflu kills millions of people (we don't see what's going on in the whole world, just the United States), and those that are left band into two opposing camps of good and evil. The thing that makes King's book a lot better than this series is that no explanation is ever given for why these people are immune to the superflu. All types of people are left behind, both Christians and non-Christians. The authors of the "Left Behind" series make it seem like the world would fall into chaos if all of the Christians disappear, which is ludicrous. King wisely avoids this in his book. Buy it and enjoy it. Skip the "Left Behind" series. If you want to know what happens, take an hour to read "The Revelation to John".