Left Behind

Left Behind is a multimedia franchise of apocalyptic fiction written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, released by Tyndale House Publishers from 1995 to 2007. The bestselling novels are Christian eschatological narratives expounding LaHaye's dispensationalist interpretation of the New Testament's Book of Revelation. This includes the rapture of Christian believers prior to a tumultuous seven-year period known as the Great Tribulation, the main conflict narrated by the original 12 books. After rising to power, the Antichrist installs a new world order that oppresses Christian converts and forces them into hiding until Jesus's Second Coming, preceding a thousand years of peace.
The series has achieved significant commercial success, with multiple titles reaching the top of The New York Times Best Seller list and over 65 million copies sold worldwide by 2016. Critically, the series has been both influential and controversial, reflecting shifts in American evangelicalism, particularly a move toward political and social activism and a more divisive view of non-Christians. Scholars and critics have noted its triumphalist theology, perceived anti-Catholicism, sensational depictions of violence, and alignment with conspiratorial fears of globalism and one-world government, themes that some link to later movements, including QAnon. While praised by figures such as Jerry Falwell for its religious impact, others have criticized its theology, political messaging, and literary quality, with some viewing it as representative of American exceptionalism and neoliberal values.
The series has been adapted into five films. The original series of three films are Left Behind: The Movie, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, and Left Behind: World at War. A reboot starring Nicolas Cage, entitled Left Behind, was released in 2014 through Cloud Ten Pictures. A sequel, Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist, directed by and starring Kevin Sorbo, was released in 2023. The series inspired an audio drama as well as the PC game Left Behind: Eternal Forces and its several sequels.

Books

Main series

Left Behind tells an apocalyptic story about the ending of Earth over a period of seven years. The true believers in Jesus Christ have been raptured, leaving non-believers behind on Earth, now a shattered and chaotic world. As people scramble for answers, an obscure Romanian politician named Nicolae Jetty Carpathia rises to become secretary-general of the United Nations, promising to restore peace and stability to all nations. What most of the world does not realize is that Carpathia is actually the Antichrist foretold in the Bible. Coming to grips with the truth and becoming born-again Christians, airline pilot Rayford Steele, his daughter Chloe, their pastor Bruce Barnes, and young journalist Cameron "Buck" Williams begin their quest as the Tribulation Force to help save the lost and prepare for the coming Tribulation, in which God will rain down judgment on the world for seven years.
According to James Bielo, it is based on a dispensationalist interpretation of prophecies in the Biblical books of Revelation, Daniel, Isaiah and Ezekiel.

Published order	Chronological order	Title	Published date
1	4	Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days	1995
2	5	Tribulation Force: The Continuing Drama of Those Left Behind	1996
3	6	Nicolae: The Rise of Antichrist	1997
4	7	Soul Harvest: The World Takes Sides	1998
5	8	Apollyon: The Destroyer Is Unleashed	1999
6	9	Assassins: Assignment: Jerusalem, Target: Antichrist	1999
7	10	The Indwelling: The Beast Takes Possession	2000
8	11	The Mark: The Beast Rules the World	2000
9	12	Desecration: Antichrist Takes the Throne	2001
10	13	The Remnant: On the Brink of Armageddon	2002
11	14	Armageddon: The Cosmic Battle of the Ages	2003
12	15	Glorious Appearing: The End of Days	2004
13	1	The Rising: Antichrist is Born: Before They Were Left Behind	2005
14	2	The Regime: Evil Advances: Before They Were Left Behind #2	2005
15	3	The Rapture: In the Twinkling of an Eye: Countdown to Earth's Last Days #3	2006
16	16	Kingdom Come: The Final Victory	2007

Characters

Influences on the authors

LaHaye and Jenkins cite the influence of Russell Doughten, an Iowa-based filmmaker who directed the Thief in the Night series, a series of four low-budget but popular feature-length films in the 1970s and 1980s about the Rapture and Second Coming, starting with 1972's A Thief in the Night. Indeed, the title Left Behind echoes the refrain of Thief early Christian rock theme song by Larry Norman, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready," in which he sings, "There's no time to change your mind, the Son has come and you've been left behind."
The success of Frank Peretti's pioneering Christian spiritual warfare thrillers in the 1980s and 1990s was a significant influence on the authors as well.

Reception

Multiple books in the series have been on the New York Times Bestseller List. Starting in 2000, Books 7 and 8 reached number one on the list followed by book 10, which debuted at number one.
In 2016, several books in the series were bestsellers and 65 million copies were sold in various languages.

Critical response

Evangelical shift and views on non-Christians

In 1999, journalist Adam Davidson placed the series in the context of a shift in evangelical views over the last several decades on non-believers. He argues that evangelicals went from " who they were in the American public sphere" in the 1960s and early 1970s to a "major shift in evangelical thought which allowed for political and social activism" by the late 1990s, more negative and divisive. Evangelicals, Davidson states, had previously been more separatist, with little interest in attempting to create large-scale religious, moral, and political change. He uses the 1972 Christian end-times film A Thief in the Night as an example of this former approach, with its compassionate view towards unbelievers: "This is a portrait of regular people who don't know what to do and happen to make the wrong choice". In contrast, Left Behind, he contends, has a contemptuous and triumphant view of non-Christians and their suffering in the end times that he sees as symptomatic of a larger change in evangelicalism.
While writing that the series fulfills the norms of mass-market fiction, magazine writer Michelle Goldberg also characterized the books as an attack on Judaism and liberal secularism, and suggested that the near-future "end times" in which the books are set seem to reflect the actual worldview of millions of Americans, including many prominent conservative leaders.

Anti-Catholicism

The books are written from an evangelical Protestant viewpoint. Some believe the books are anti-Catholic, noting that many Catholics were not raptured, concluding that no religion is free of false converts and that the new pope establishes a false religion. While the fictional Pope, John XXIV, was raptured, he is described as "promoting Lutheran reform", and it is implied that he was raptured for this reason. His successor, Pope Peter II, becomes Pontifex Maximus of Enigma Babylon One World Faith, an amalgam of all remaining world faiths and religions. Catholic Answers describes the series as anti-Catholic.
The co-author of the book, Jerry B. Jenkins, as well as LaHaye, stated that their books are not anti-Catholic and that they have many faithful Catholic readers and friends. According to LaHaye, "the books don't suggest any particular theology, but try to introduce people to a more personal relationship with Jesus".

Violence and war

Some practicing Christians, evangelical and otherwise, along with non-Christians have shown concern that the social perspectives promoted in the Left Behind series unduly sensationalize the death and destruction of masses of people. Harvey Cox, a professor of divinity at Harvard, says part of the appeal of the books lies in the "lip-licking anticipation of all the blood", and Lutheran theologian Barbara Rossing, author of The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation, said the books glorify violence. Additionally, Paul Nuechterlein accused the authors of re-sacralizing violence, adding that "we human beings are the ones who put our faith in superior firepower. But in the Left Behind novels, the darkness of that human, satanic violence is once again attributed to God". Time said "the nuclear frights of, say, Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears wouldn't fill a chapter in the Left Behind series. "
David Carlson, a Professor of Religious Studies and a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, wrote that the theology underpinning the Left Behind series promotes a "skewed view of the Christian faith that welcomes war and disaster, while dismissing peace efforts in the Middle East and elsewhere—all in the name of Christ".
B. D. Forbes "locates the series in the context of a well-established tradition of American popular culture...that presents the good-evil struggle as 'evil from the outside' with 'the solution the destruction of the evil-doers".