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What, you mean because it's sold millions of copies? Heck, if that is true then God really likes gothic romance books . . . They sell by the ga-zillions . . . |
Posted on 10/22/2004 8:11:53 AM PDT by missyme
The publishers of "Left Behind" are launching a new series that challenges the end-times theology of the phenomenally popular books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.
Illinois-based Tyndale House Publishers says the first book in the new series, "The Last Disciple," by "Bible Answer Man" Hank Hanegraaff and award-winning fiction author Sigmund Brouwer, asks the question, "What if the prophecies of Revelation have already been fulfilled?"
The opposing interpretation of the Bible is presented in a historical novel centered in first-century Rome and Jerusalem, the publishers say, as "these historical sites begin to experience the turbulence Christ prophesied as the beginning of the 'last days.'"
"Tension mounts as a villainous adversary seeks to find the disciple John's letter (the book of Revelation) and destroy it," a promo reads. "As a result, the early Christians must decipher a mysterious code in order to survive."
Hanegraaff, president and chairman of the board of the evangelical-based cult watchdog Christian Research Institute International, hosts a daily radio program, "Bible Answer Man," that boasts more than 6 million listeners a week.
"This series of novels constitutes one of the most significant projects I have ever been privileged to be involved in," Hanegraaff said in a statement. "Indeed, this initial novel is intended to be the first 'shot' in a debate that I believe will produce a paradigm shift -- a change in the way many in the church look at the end times."
He hopes the book will help people "read the book of Revelation, as well as the rest of Scripture, through the eyes of the early believers to whom it was originally written."
Hanegraaff also wrote best-sellers "The Prayer of Jesus," "Resurrection," "Christianity in Crisis," and "Counterfeit Revival."
Hanegraaff succeeded Christian Research Institute founder Walter Martin after Martin's death in 1989. Some Christians have criticized Hanegraaff for moving beyond Martin's critique of groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses and charging prominent evangelists with false teaching.
Hanegraaff contrasts the "Exegetical Eschatology" in his book with "Left Behind's" Dispensational theology, which grew in popularity in the 19th century and is embraced by many evangelical Christians today.
Dispensationalists believe in a future "rapture" of the church in which Christians will be suddenly taken to be with Jesus Christ before a seven-year period called the Tribulation. Jesus then will establish a 1,000-year reign on earth before Satan is released again on earth and then thrown in the lake of fire. They believe God will then establish a new heave and earth.
Hanegraaff believes most of the prophecies of Jesus and the book of Revelation were fulfilled with the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. The tribulation, he contends, was the persecution of believers during the reign of Emperor Nero in Rome. When Jesus returns again, Hanegraaff says, he will immediately judge all peoples and establish a new heaven and earth.
Meanwhile, Tyndale has signed with LaHaye and Jenkins to extend the 12-book "Left Behind" series, creating two additional books.
The plot of one takes place before the first book, "Left Behind," and the other is set after the 12th book, "Glorious Appearing."
One further thought. If one looks at the writings of early church fathers, one will find that even way back then there was not one eschatology that was embraced by all. I consider the question to be a minor doctrinal issue where reasonable people can disagree as opposed to a major doctrinal issue, e.g. the deity of Christ, that is fundamental to the Christian faith.
a great marketing hedge, if I say so myself.
~sigh~
$-kaching!-$
FYI.........ping...........666
Sad, to hideous.
He will learn how mistaken he is. I hope it's in this life.
Which interpretations, beliefs about end times and the 2nd Coming do you think
satanically inspired Godless Communist leaders in China put Christians to death for?
;^D
"Tension mounts as a villainous Preterist adversary seeks to find the disciple John's letter (the book of Revelation) and destroy it," a promo reads. "As a result, the early Christians must decipher a mysterious anti-dispensational code in order to survive."/Sarcasm
/Sarcasm........the nation Israel ONLY has a 'future' as a Preterist/Noahide cult?
Well, I read the Left Behind series, finishing it mostly out of curiosity since they were very poorly "written." (and I use that term loosely).
Still, I think Hanegraaff thinks far too much of himself. I'm not a fan of his.
Even though I'm a Pre-Trib Rapture guy myself, I couldn't finish LaHaye's series. It was just too painful.
Where did all the good Christian authors go?
Some of us just haven't been published yet. ;-)
Maybe you should try Tyndale House. After all, if they'll publish Left Behind....... ;^)
Well, okay, but I have to finish writing the drivel first...
Ugh, but those books were lousy. I managed to read the first volume and a half, even though I disagreed with the theology, but painful is the best way to put it.
It's embarrassing to go into a Christian book store.
Thanks for the ping!
Exactly. An evangelical ponzi scheme.
Do you guys have the equivalent on your side of the Tiber?
Do you guys have the equivalent on your side of the Tiber?
:-)
Of course. It's far less civil on our side, however. You can see some of that stuff right here on FR.
Charlie Ponzi wasn't an Orthodox Jew...
The same way that SO many challenged the Davinci Code. A work of pure fiction, but everyone started attacking it as though it was an actual fact.
D-spensationalists challenged by D-nialists.
As a believer in in plenary, verbal inspiration, and in the perspicacity of Scripture, I'll take the former, anytime.
Dan
..........D-spensationalists challenged by D-nialists............
:-)
The book was written to 1st century Christians about 1st century events. The first verse of the book affirms that the events of the book were shortly to come to pass. To take the dispensational view is to rob the book of significance to the people it was addressed to.
Agreed this type of book is plain ol" wrong to try and confuse Chrisitians about the entire Book of Revelation"
I do not hold with preterism, or with its early dating of the book of revelation.
If it was all fulfilled with John, and Polycarp was John's disciple, and Ireneaus was Polycarp's disciple, why is there any discussion at all over the meaning of the book?
Wouldn't they have passed it on? Why was Irenaeus writing years later a piece about trying to figure out who the coming antichrist would be?
More fundamentally, if it was all fulfilled, then language means nothing, and we should toss our Bibles away — or yield them up to the new Magisterium.
Dan
I agree with you, of course.
But, it makes one scratch his head to read Irenaeus talking about trying to figure out who the coming antichrist will be.
Why do that if it was already fulfilled and passed on by John?
I find it to be a devastating critique of the early dating of Revelation.
SAY WHUT?
How about some context, please?
And a suggestion at least TOWARD a point I'm supposed to ponder?
Weighty isolated topics on invisible skyhooks are hard to wrap a response around.
Either my mind is elsewhere and not multitasking well today or these are very arcane and obscure points of dubious import.
What exactly of any remotely lasting substance is there in all this which you would like some response to?
Hannegraaff has been storing up some reaping from his sowing for a long time. I pray his Salvation survives the discipline headed his way.
He's a Calvinist pastor. Give him a break.
Besides, it's readable enough. And their speculations are as valid as a lot of others.
AT LEAST, GOD SEEMS TO HAVE USED the series to get key ideas before the hurting world such that when such events transpire--however similar or different they are from LaHaye's treatment of them--people will be inclined to go
DUH, YEAH, MAYBE THAT GUY LAHAYE WAS RIGHT AFTER ALL, I THINK I'D BETTER GET MY RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD SQUARED AWAY ASAP.
I consider that quite a good result. More power to them.
BTW, God evidently has a more positive view of the series than even I do. So, who am I to throw rocks at it. God has used it profoundly. Praise The Lord.
And, I'm not the least bit bothered that it doesn't fit some starchy, rigid, fossilized, tiny, tidy little boxes of some religious spirit addicted folks who seem to be quite overly bound up in their denominational/creedal/doctrines of men little boxes.
Fascinating point!
Particularly from Dan!
I beg to differ.
Understanding that God would wrap all things up in a very dramatic, triumphant way many centuries hence would reaffirm the expectations they had had earlier about
The Messiah coming as conquering King.
It could have given them a sense of closure and comforting satisfaction that God Almighty in the Old Testament was really following through on a grand plan that had a grand finali which they could partake in, in their glorified bodies.
I'd think that would have made the considerable suffering sof their era quite a bit more endurable.
Goodness!
Is this a dream, a nightmare?
Am I agreeing more than once a millenium with Dan?
Dear God, please STAND BY ME--Jesus must definitely be coming soon!
This may be, however, I have it on good authority that his direct line descendants have been running the Social Security Administration these last 60 plus years.
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What, you mean because it's sold millions of copies? Heck, if that is true then God really likes gothic romance books . . . They sell by the ga-zillions . . . |
As for their speculations, I would probably agree. I've not (as yet) staked a claim in that regard, although I know where I'm leaning.
Still, I would strongly disagree with the readability. Some of the writing is just painful. I think it was 8 or 9 (I forget which book), I put down for months cause I just couldn't stomach it...
ping..........666
No, I mean by virtue of the impact on vast numbers of lives, facilitating their being drawn to Christ and becoming Saved by His Blood and making Him their Lord.
I confess, I only read the last one.
I have pains with such books for another reason--it's too easy for me to identify to intensely with the characters and their traumatic situations in such books.
But, hey, my friends rated the first Star Wars movie a
"9 tripper!'
Meaning Quix took 9 bladder breaks during the tense parts.
And, I fast forwarded through quite a number of parts of Lord of The Rings! LOL.
Well, if you are right,
then of course it's a good thing.
But I get the shakes
when I think about
the "Jesus" kids discover
in our pop culture.
I wonder if they
know Jesus, or if they will
some day live through this:
"Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"
[Matthew 7:22-23]
Well, I finished the series because I wanted to see what happened to people. But there were a couple of times when I would read something and just groan thinking "no, they really didn't write that..."
And, I fast forwarded through quite a number of parts of Lord of The Rings! LOL.
Pure heresy, with the exception of the Aragorn/Arwen flashback scenes.
Wow! It's good to see people speak out against that smelly Left Behind series. I tried a few years ago and was villified on FR for daring to criticize such godly successful men as those charlatan authors running an obvious scam against an audience desperate for something to throw their money at and feel good about themselves at the same time.
Abd, See: Strongs #6 (Hebrew) Malik is Arabic for king.
666 years after the crucifixion/resurrection Abd al-Malik standardized Muslim currency (mint of the beast). He also built the Dome of the Rock and under his reign he also standardized the Quran.
http://www.granadamosque.com/gold/index.html
NEVER,......NO WAY,.......NEVER,......666 is/means ______________
.........neither the Anti-Christ, nor the Beasts.....are Islamic in anyway.
Sorry, I know YOU don't want to hear that,.....but,.....Islam is NOT either.
Some people seem to think "Christian" trumps "good" or "readable". I don't. I look at C.S. Lewis's works - fiction or nonfiction - and then the Left Behind drivel, and wonder. Does it really please God when we as Christians praise such stuff? Leaving aside the argument over whether it's "holy and true", it's not "good".
Hopefully in the next few years there will be a Christian fiction revolution, much like the one the Christian music industry has experienced in the last few years. I don't feel embarrassed to listen to some Christian contemporary singers, because they do a good job writing their songs, as well as having nice happy Christian messages. Both parts are important.
Well, the key issue in Dispensationalism is the difference between the Jews and the Church.
A Premillennial theology that neglects this diffence would have the church inheriting Jewish blessings, a major error.
One further thought. If one looks at the writings of early church fathers, one will find that even way back then there was not one eschatology that was embraced by all.
For the first three centuries Premillennial theology was the dominant one.
I consider the question to be a minor doctrinal issue where reasonable people can disagree as opposed to a major doctrinal issue, e.g. the deity of Christ, that is fundamental to the Christian faith.
Why it is important is that it is not just a theological position but a methodologial way of interpreting scriptures.
Literally hundreds of scriptures deal with the 2nd Advent of Christ and the Millennium reign.
Do we take them literally or allegoricaly?
If literal they can be shown part of a theological system that can explain God's Plan, which is far more then just salvation.
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