Left Behind Author Miffed at Rachel Maddow

Jerry B. Jenkins, one of the authors (the other being Tim LaHaye) of the awful apocalyptic fiction series Left Behind is miffed at Rachel Maddow. Last Friday, Rachel aired an edited portion of an interview with the two men, and Jenkins took issue with the presentation.

Now, I saw the interview, and the only potentially negative thing I saw was that Jenkins barely said a word. Well, beyond the inherent ridiculousness of the whole "end times" belief system. But Rachel isn't one to gloss over something like this, and--in a very classy move--has posted the entire interview on her web site, and acknowledged that she's sorry that Jenkins didn't like the interview.

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Full video: 'Left Behind' authors join Maddow

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Since 1995 there has been a massive cultural phenomenon that has pretty much taken place under the radar of the secular media. It started with the release of "Left behind: A novel of the Earth's last days," an apocalyptic tale of good and evil - a fiction book, but based on the Bible's Book of Revelation. . .

Read more at: The Rachel Maddow Show

CNN Asks if Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ

Image from source, Raw Story

After the ridiculous "The One" anti-Barack Obama attack ad was released by the John McCain campaign, I wondered in this space if they were trying to win over the Left Behind crowd. The message would be at best subliminal to an ordinary viewer, but to a rapture rightist, all the cues are there: Is Barack Obama the Anti-Christ?

Now, my piece was not posing the question seriously, only if that was what McCain was going for. I believe I was right, and have lots of company out in the blogosphere. CNN has now, quite some time later, entered the fray. Only their angle on the story seems less focused on the believers and more interested in asking the actual question!

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'Obama the Antichrist?' CNN actually asks

Just so we're clear: Barack Obama is in fact not the Anti-Christ, sent here to feed on the souls of the innocent, resume Satan's reign over earth and bring about the apocalypse as foretold in Revelation.

Not. The. Anti-Christ.

Read more (with video) at: Raw Story

McCain's "The One" Targeting Left Behind Readers?

As noted here in several posts, John McCain has had a series of back-to-back attack ads, all attempting to portray Barack Obama in a negative light. In large part, they are all based on Obama's perceived image (or at least that which the right wishes to portray). Like the PUMA Hillary Clinton supporters, they are projecting the way that Obama is talked about in the press, and the behavior of some of his more ardent supporters onto Obama himself.

They are doing so with a lot of distortions, out-of-context quotes, and sometimes outright lies. But that isn't the point of this post. I'm more interested in what McCain hopes to illicit from these ads. In the recent Paris Hilton/Britney spears ad (seriously), bloggers and cable news speculated that the intent was to portray Obama as an empty, airy celebrity. Famous for being famous and nothing more. And a hint of race-baiting with two hot white chicks and a black man.

But what about the new ad, "The One?" This ad--stealing Rush Limbaugh's current theme--casts Obama as a self-proclaimed messiah. His supporters are his adoring flock, and Obama will deliver us. Is the ad trying to paint Obama as conceited and self-important now? Or is there a more insidious aim, as with the race-baiting?

Then I got to thinking about the fabled Republican base. Family values. God, guns and (no) gays. The Heartland. Left Behind readers! In that apocolyptic Christian fiction series of books, a charismatic, self-proclaimed messiah captures world adulation. On his charisma (and help from the Devil), he changes the world--and ushers in the rapture and the tribulation! Is this what McCain is getting at? Is he trying to portray Barack Obama as the Anti-Christ?

Just wonderin'! Here's the ad again. Make up your own mind.




Turns out, I wasn't the only one wondering. From Daily Kos: McCain's Left Behind Attack

Tell Your Hellbound Friends They've Been Left Behind!

Photo from source, Wikpedia

Speaking of doomsday cults, there is a very large one right out in the open in the US of A. They're the believers in the rapture, a time when God draws all "true believers" up into heaven bodily, with the rest of us sinners left behind! It's a much wider-spread belief these days after the mysteriously successful Christian sci-fi fiction series, Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.

Not wanting to go along trashing this series of badly-written books, I actually read them to see what all the fuss is about. Save yourself the trouble, by the way--feel free to criticise them any way you see fit, because you couldn't possibly give a worse review than they actually deserve. Unfortunately, a lot of mushy-brained Christian readers bought the whole scenario, even though it was only dreamt up in the 1800s.

But let's assume they're right for a second. Rather than watching your unsaved loved ones burn in the lake of fire (something lots of Christians are apparently eagerly awaiting), what if you could give them one last chance, after you are zapped to heaven? This site aims to let you do just that--for a price, of course.

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Post-Rapture document delivery

You've Been Left Behind is a company that stores electronic documents for later delivery to your heathen loved ones after you get swept off to heaven during the Rapture. The idea is that there will still be time to save them too. The company claims to provide secure storage, but Bruce Schneier is suspicious.) . . .

Read on at: Boing Boing

Book Report: Left Behind

Image from Wikipedia.org

I spent a good chunk of last summer reading the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Why would a heathen like me do such a thing? Well, I felt there was a hole in my pop-culture knowledge, and Left Behind has been read by millions of people, so I thought it might be nice to at least read the books before forming an opinion.

It was a mistake. And a huge waste of time. I must confess, I could not read the whole series. I read books 1 - 8, and then skipped to book 12. I missed nothing. You might think that is an uninformed opinion, but you'd be wrong.

You see, after 8 books, it became clear how this thing works. Roughly a quarter or more of each sequel book is spent rehashing what went before. It's like the old Friday the 13th movies that spent large chunks of movie time reliving previous installments. Let me just say that even the thin plotting of those movies easily surpassed the quality of writing in the Left Behind series.

But they have nothing on the gore!

Much lip-service is given in the books to how loving, perfect, all-powerful, glorious and wonderful God/Jesus are (the books treat them interchangeably and as a unit). But you never see any of that godly goodness in them. You get famine, war, pestilence, locusts, creatures, destruction, disasters, blood and guts. You have to take the goodness of God/Jesus on faith, because none is ever displayed.

The writing style is sub-eighth grade level. The characters are poorly drawn and somewhat interchangeable. The "good" people never have sex outside of marriage, and even if married never get much romance either. If they ever have the bad taste to curse, it is referred to obliquely, such as "Rayford swore." And then Rayford felt bad about it.

All of this is based on the book of Revelation, a very slim and confusing volume of the Bible, indeed. There are a few other books taken out of context to make the story work. And it's all very Earth-centric. All of this disaster and turmoil is happening on Earth. What if you're on the international Space Station, on the space shuttle, or we've colonized the moon or Mars by the time of the Rapture? Are those people going to be spared?

The series is being milked for all it's worth, with countless spinoffs, movies and tie-ins. It is quite obviously all about the money. And middle-America is now convinced--by extremely bad fiction--that this is mainstream religious fact.

If you get the urge, like I did, to see what all the fuss is about, do this: read books 1 and 12. You'll get the gist, and you'll wonder what's wrong with people.

The only good thing about this series? It inspired (and I do mean inspired) a classic The Simpsons episode, with a parody called Left Below.

Left Behind: Avoid at all costs

The Simpsons: Highly recommended