Facts Behind The Left Behind Series

The Facts Behind The LEFT BEHIND SeriesMy flight to Baltimore included hour-long layovers in three airports. With that much time, I naturally did two things: got some coffee, and checked out the bookstores. In each, I was surprised to find books related to this month’s theme of the Lord’s coming prominently displayed. In front of each bookstore was a large stack of the mammoth bestseller, Left Behind, surrounded by smaller stacks of the other seven titles in the Left Behind series. This still-developing series, by fiction writer Jerry Jenkins and prophecy scholar Tim LaHaye, begins with the Rapture, when the Lord snatches His own out of this scene, and is proceeding through the Tribulation, eventually to conclude with His victorious coming to reign.While the stories are fiction, the thread of truth binding them together – and keeping them on Christian bestseller lists for over two years – is taken from 1 Thessalonians 4 and the Revelation. But Left Behind, the first book of the series, has also been on the New York Times bestseller list for almost as long. So it’s not just Christians who are reading this exciting story of events surrounding the Lord’s coming. And testimonies abound in Christian circles of how readers have either come to Christ or have returned to Him as a result of reading these books. The bookstores are pushing these bestsellers about the Lord’s coming, but how many people are actually reading them? I counted eight on my flights. When I asked a woman seated next to me how she liked the series, she said it has changed her outlook on the future. We hope the same thing happens when you read this month’s features. She also said she has been sharing them with friends. We hope you’ll do the same. The Left Behind series (not available from G&T) presents a fictional account of what life will be like from the Rapture to the Lord’s coming to reign. Our features present the facts. And we think the facts are more exciting than the fiction!By Larry Ondrejack