Left Behind Page 35
Matthew 24:38-42
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
JERRY B. JENKINS, former vice president for publishing at Moody Bible Institute of Chicago and currently chairman of the board of trustees, is the author of more than 175 books, including the best-selling Left Behind series. Twenty of his books have reached the New York Times Best Sellers List (seven in the number-one spot) and have also appeared on the USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal best-seller lists. Desecration, book nine in the Left Behind series, was the best-selling book in the world in 2001. His books have sold nearly 70 million copies.
Also the former editor of Moody magazine, his writing has appeared in Time, Reader’s Digest, Parade, Guideposts, and dozens of Christian periodicals. He was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine in 2004.
His nonfiction books include as-told-to biographies with Hank Aaron, Bill Gaither, Orel Hershiser, Luis Palau, Joe Gibbs, Walter Payton, and Nolan Ryan among many others. The Hershiser and Ryan books reached the New York Times Best Sellers List.
Jerry Jenkins assisted Dr. Billy Graham with his autobiography, Just As I Am, also a New York Times best seller. Jerry spent 13 months working with Dr. Graham, which he considers the privilege of a lifetime.
Jerry owns Jenkins Entertainment, a filmmaking company in Los Angeles, which produced the critically acclaimed movie Midnight Clear, based on his book of the same name. See www.Jenkins-Entertainment.com.
Jerry Jenkins also owns the Christian Writers Guild, which aims to train tomorrow’s professional Christian writers. Under Jerry’s leadership, the guild has expanded to include college-credit courses, a critique service, literary registration services, and writing contests, as well as an annual conference. See www.ChristianWritersGuild.com.
As a marriage-and-family author, Jerry has been a frequent guest on Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family radio program and is a sought-after speaker and humorist. See www.AmbassadorSpeakers.com.
Jerry has been awarded four honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Dianna, have three grown sons and four grandchildren.
Check out Jerry’s blog at http://jerryjenkins.blogspot.com.
DR. TIM LAHAYE (www.timlahaye.com), who conceived and created the idea of fictionalizing an account of the Rapture and the Tribulation, is a noted author, minister, and nationally recognized speaker on Bible prophecy. He is the founder of both Tim LaHaye Ministries and The PreTrib Research Center. Presently Dr. LaHaye speaks at many Bible prophecy conferences in the U.S. and Canada, where his current prophecy books are very popular.
Dr. LaHaye holds a doctor of ministry degree from Western Theological Seminary and a doctor of literature degree from Liberty University. For 25 years he pastored one of the nation’s outstanding churches in San Diego, which grew to three locations. It was during that time that he founded two accredited Christian high schools, a Christian school system of ten schools, and San Diego Christian College (formerly known as Christian Heritage College).
Dr. LaHaye has written over 50 nonfiction and coauthored 25 fiction books, many of which have been translated into 34 languages. He has written books on a wide variety of subjects, such as family life, temperaments, and Bible prophecy. His most popular fiction works, the Left Behind series, written with Jerry B. Jenkins, have appeared on the best-seller lists of the Christian Booksellers Association, Publishers Weekly, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the New York Times.
Another popular series by LaHaye and Jenkins is The Jesus Chronicles. This four-book novel series gives readers rich first-century experiences as John, Mark, Luke, and Matthew recount thrilling accounts of the life of Jesus. Dr. LaHaye is coauthor of another fiction series, Babylon Rising. Each of the four titles in this series have debuted in the top 10 on the New York Times Best Sellers List. These are suspense thrillers with thought-provoking messages.
TEST YOUR PROPHECY IQ
What is God’s purpose for the Tribulation?
Will it begin immediately after the Rapture?
See answers at the end of this section.
THE TRUTH BEHIND THE FICTION
THE PROPHECY BEHIND THE SCENES
Two significant pieces of prophecy that play into the Left Behind series are the role of Russia (“Rosh” in the Bible) as an enemy of Israel and the future importance of Babylon. Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins commented on these in chapters 8 and 11 of their nonfiction work Are We Living in the End Times?
Russia Attacks Israel
The Hebrew prophet Ezekiel was given a detailed prophecy twenty-five hundred years ago foretelling that Russia would become a dominant player on the world scene in the last days (Ezekiel 38–39, NKJV). He even predicted that her allies would march with her against the mountains of Israel to remove the Jews from the face of the earth.
Ezekiel predicted that God would supernaturally destroy the attacking armies of Russia in order to show his omnipotent power to the world and to demonstrate that he has unfinished plans for the nation of Israel.
God’s judgment on the invading hordes described by Ezekiel will be sure and swift. While Israel’s friends apparently see the attack coming, all they do is send a delegation to ask about Russia’s intentions (Ezekiel 38:13). They offer no help, no aid to Israel—and then God steps in.
The Lord Almighty sends an earthquake and a mighty shaking so great that “mountains shall be thrown down” (Ezekiel 38:20). He rains on Gog great hailstones and fire and brimstone, along with flooding rain and pestilence. And when it’s all over, none of the enemies of God are left standing.
So great will be the carnage that the people of Israel will spend seven months finding and burying the dead troops. The implements of war left behind by the obliterated armies will also be gathered up, not to be reused but to be burned. So many weapons will be recovered that to burn them all will take seven years.
This seven-year period prophesied for the burning of Russian weapons is the reason why the Left Behind series places Russia’s attack on Israel some three and a half years before the beginning of the Tribulation. Scripture teaches that in the second half of the seven-year Tribulation, Israel once more will be forced out of her homeland; therefore, the Russian invasion must take place at least three and a half years before that time.
The Importance of Bablyon
Babylon is mentioned 280 times in the Bible—more than any city except Jerusalem. It is easily the most important pagan city that ever existed, for there is hardly any city in the world that it has not in some way influenced—whether religiously, governmentally, or commercially. Her influence spread not only west to Rome, where it shaped all the developing nation states and most cities during the next two and a half millennia, but also to the east and south. Most of the governments that followed it adopted many of its policies—a form of organized living independent of God.
Babylon is where Satan located his headquarters and began his centuries-old battle against God for the conquest of the souls of men. It was there that the seeds were planted for all the major religions of the world. There, government had its earliest beginnings, eventually producing Nebuchadnezzar, considered by some to have been the most autocratic dictator in history. According to both Daniel the prophet and secular history, all world governments from that time on have been inferior to Babylon.
Since the demise of Rome fifteen hundred years ago, no other world government has arisen—just as the prophet foretold (Daniel 2, 7). Not that many haven’t tried! But they all failed, for God revealed that there would be only four world governments. Then at the “time of the end,” the world would unite once more under ten kings who would loan their authority to one man—a Nebuchadnezzar type, if you will—who would do as he pleased, even “changing the times and seasons” . . . for a very short time.
As sure as there is a God in heaven who keeps his word, Babylon will live again as “the seat of Satan.” You can be sure that any city mentioned seven times in two chapters, as is Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18, will be a literal city. And since it
is seen there as an enormously influential city—perhaps even the capital of government, commerce, and religion—it must yet be rebuilt.
Babylon will again become Satan’s headquarters for a short time, serving as the governmental and commercial capital of the world during the first half of the Tribulation. Then, after the kings of the earth destroy religious Babylon near the middle of the Tribulation, Satan will move his religious headquarters from Rome to Babylon, setting the stage for the second three-and-a-half-year period, called the Great Tribulation.
Even now, in our lifetime, Babylon is being prepared for its final appearance on the stage of human history. The ancient prophecies about Babylon are unfolding before us—just like so many other prophecies of the end times.
IN THE MEANTIME . . . since the Left Behind series was first published.
The Role of Russia
When the early books of the Left Behind series were published in the last half of the 1990s, many readers would have assumed the role of Russia was truly fiction. The Soviet Union had collapsed in 1991. Russia itself, the core of the vast Soviet federation, seemed suddenly powerless. It was even possible to imagine a democratic Russia as part of the growing European Union.
Despite the sudden weakness of Russia, it actually set the stage for its prophetic role. Not only did it quickly move back toward totalitarianism, but it began forming new alliances with Israel’s enemies. Prophecy expert Mark Hitchcock pointed this out numerous times in the Left Behind Prophecy Newsletter (2003–2009), particularly after Vladimir Putin became president. In the January 19, 2005, issue he wrote:
It’s interesting that in the past few months there have been warning signs that Russia is regressing into a post-1991 dictatorship similar to the old Soviet Empire that threatened the world. President Vladimir Putin, a former Colonel in the Russian KGB, took office near the end of 1999. More than 50% of the key government positions are held by former KGB officials.
As we track the bear in the Bible, we discover that her trail ultimately leads to the nation of Israel (Ezekiel 38), where she will be supernaturally destroyed by God. What we see happening there today is setting the stage for this appointment with destiny.
The Rebuilding of Babylon
Even as the early Left Behind books were being written, Saddam Hussein had started to rebuild parts of Babylon, which lies in the center of Iraq. He even inscribed bricks with his name, just as Nebuchadnezzar had done. His greatest efforts, however, were put into a number of opulent palaces surrounding the ancient city. On April 9, 2003, just days after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Mark Hitchcock wrote:
Saddam Hussein has begun some efforts to rebuild the city, but his removal makes the future rebuilding of this city much more feasible. When his regime is removed, the UN, led by the US and Europe will be doing a great deal of nation building in Iraq and will work hard to create a democratic nation. What better place for Antichrist to put an eastern capital than in the only democratic Arab nation. Not to mention the fact that Babylon is surrounded by about 60% of the world’s proven oil reserves (Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iran). With Saddam’s removal the Iraqi oil can begin to flow at full capacity, and Iraq will become a very wealthy nation.
Joel Rosenberg was also tracking developments on his blog. In July 2009 he wrote:
[A story in a British art publication] indicated that Babylon would be open for tourists on June 1st. Another recent story out of Taiwan noted that a Taiwanese tour agency is starting to take people to Iraq to tour—among other things—the city of Babylon as it is being rebuilt.
As Iraq becomes increasingly stable and secure, direct foreign investment is going to flood in, and Iraq will become the wealthiest country on the planet.
Skeptics take note: the Bible is coming true, one prophecy at a time.
TEST YOUR PROPEHCY IQ—ANSWERS
The Tribulation is the key transitional period between the power of Satan on earth and Christ’s millennial rule. Dr. LaHaye suggests that “one of the major causes of His divine wrath [through the Tribulation judgments] is the corrupt one-world religion that will arise at that time.”1 As to its timing, the seven-year Tribulation will not necessarily start immediately after the rapture. As pointed out above, Dr. LaHaye used a three-and-a-half-year gap to provide time for Israel to deal with the cleanup from the failed Russian attack and to allow circumstances to unfold that will lead to the forced peace treaty with Israel. More on the nature of the Tribulation itself at the end of the next book, Tribulation Force.
1Are We Living in the End Times, p. 169