Facing the Future (Left Behind: The Kids #4)

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Summary: In the shadow of Antichrist
Review: "Facing the Future," by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, is volume #4 in their "Left Behind: The Kids" series of short novels aimed at young adults. This book, like the previous ones in the series, represents an attempt to turn the apocalyptic beliefs of Christian fundamentalists into fiction. Unfortunately, the result reads like a too obvious evangelical tract.

The book focuses on four kids and their pastor who are living during the "Tribulation," a period after all fundamentalist Christians have been mysteriously taken off the earth. As this volume in the series unfolds, suspicion grows that United Nations leader Nicolae Carpathia is in fact the Antichrist: the prophesied evil one.

Much of this book is unbearably corny, and it even reads at times like a parody of religious fiction. One of the more ridiculous scenes involves a character using a flip chart to explain the biblical Book of Revelations to his followers. The book has a creepy, intolerant tone to it; various non-Christian philosophical paths, for example, are trivialized.

"Facing the Future" is a failure as a work of literary art. And in my case, it also failed as an evangelical tract. But I think the book may have some merit as a window into a Christian fundamentalist worldview.

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Summary: Awesome...of course!
Review: Every parent should get this book...the entire series...for their kids. While this series is considered fiction.....there are Biblical facts. Don't risk where your children will spend eternity....buy this series today.

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Summary: Series for adults now rewritten for teens
Review: I have always enjoyed the adult series of Left Behind books. The kids books are just as good. The kids interact with the characters from the adult series, experience the same events, etc. However, since the main characters are teens, these books can appeal to younger readers. So far, the stories haven't had the ups and downs that the adult series has had. The adult series has books that are a lot more boring than others. The kids series seems to be good in every book. These are not for really young kids, but would be appropriate for young teens. I enjoy them and I am an adult.

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Summary: Facing The Future
Review: The book I read is in the Left Behind series.It's by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.I read number four in the series. The protaganists are Judd,Vicki,Ryan,and Lionel. The book is Facing The Future. One night at 12:00 people disapeared from where they were all over the world there was mayhem.The best part was when the four kids became friends and then became the young tribulation force.

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Summary: The good book
Review: The protagonist was the kids.They wanted to find the Antisct. They wanted to find the Antisct ccauce he was going to destroy the earth.My favorite part is when they find out who the Aniscts is.

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Summary: they just keep getting better and better!
Review: These books are great for ANYONE who is a Left Behind fan, and/or a Christian.

If you read them as adults they are a tad, just a tad slow in places but they tie in very nicely into the books for adults but have a "stand alone" merit in their own right!

I'm so very happy to have these books at the ready for my nieces and nephews to read!

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Summary: Preparing for Battle
Review: This fourth installment in the Left Behind-The Kids series is, in my opinion, the best in the series so far. In this fourth book, the four teens who are living in a post-Rapture world learn details of the coming holocaust of horrible judgments that will strike the planet, as prophecied in Scripture. They also discover who the Antichrist is at the very end of the book. Also at the end, the four teens realize their purpose in living as Christians in a post-Rapture world. They realize they must get the Truth of the Bible's salvation message to the world to as many people as possible before the end comes,when they learn that the world would come to its end in seven years.

Facing the Future picks up where book 3 left off. Judd and Vicki go to Chicago to witnes the arrest of a mass murderer, by whom they had almost been killed. After the arrest, Judd shares his Faith to a group of police officers. All the officers except one laugh it off. The young Homicide cop Archibald Edwards is interested. Later on in the book, good news and bad news come about. The kids witness to the wife of a police officer about the Gospel message and she become a Christian. Archibald Edwards, the cop who is somewhat interested in the Gospel message, is suddenly killed by the murderer LeRoy Banks when he attempts but fails a jailbreak attempt. This book seems to be trying to make a point, which is this: if you've heard the Gospel message, do not wait; do not put off coming to Christ because you may not have tomorrow to live. Do not risk your life and, more importantly, your afterlife by thinking you have all the time in the world, because you do not!

When the kids learn from Biblical prophesy that within the next seven years, the end of the world would come about through war, famine, pestilences, plagues, earthquakes, and cosmic disturbances, they realize their purpose for living as Christians in a world plunged into mass chaos. They also discover who the Antichrist is when a man who has encountered the Antichrist shares his nightmarish story . . .

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Summary: Christian Propaganda
Review: This series of novels is inspired by "The Revelation to John", the last book in the New Testament, the third section of the Bible, the Christian holy book. "The Revelation to John" (which is often misnamed "The Book of Revelations") tells the Christian myth of what will happen at the end of the world. Basically, the authors took this story, which is barely 20 pages long, and turned it into a series of 12 novels plus a spin-off series that deals with kids. The Christian view is that only the people that believe that Jesus lived 2,000 years ago and died for their sins will be saved and receive an eternal reward in Heaven. What makes this worse is that individual merit based on good or evil deeds is not taken into consideration, because Christians believe that human beings cannot be put right with God except through Jesus. Christians believe that they are saved through faith alone; no amount of good works can win God's approval. So, all of the people that don't believe in Jesus will receive an eternal punishment in Hell, regardless of how many good deeds they do and how caring they are to other people. Meanwhile, the Christians will be saved no matter how evil they behave, because they've got Jesus on their side. "The Revelation to John" tells of an event known as the Rapture: all of the Christians are taken up to Heaven, and everyone else is left behind on Earth. After an event known as the Tribulation and world rule by someone known as the Anti-Christ, Jesus finally returns to Earth and defeats his enemies. Then the old Heaven and the old Earth go away, and a new Heaven and a new Earth are established - with God as King, of course. This took 20 pages in the Bible. Imagine reading the same story stretched over thousands of pages. As a non-Christian, I'm alarmed at what I consider to be an evil religion perpetuated by zealous idiots. Christians base their beliefs on documents that are close to 2,000 years old but don't quite date back to the time period that the events within allegedly occured. There is no physical evidence of the existence of Jesus. There are no non-Christian records of Jesus (not even in Roman execution records). There are no records by astrologists of the time period that describe such an event as that which supposedly occured during Jesus' crucifixion. I belief that the reason that Christianity has endured and grown as much as it has is because it's the only religion in the world that threatens the non-believer with an eternal punishment. Christianity is, at its core, a religion that rewards the "yes" people and punishes the nonconformists. The Bible itself orders Christians to spread the religion throughout the world. Christians feels that it's their duty to convert all non-Christians to Christianity. They pity non-Christians and "pray for their souls". They place themselves into a group of the elite - the saved. They start missions to convert the "heathen" non-Christians and "bring them over to Jesus". The Roman Catholic Church even has a division, called Propaganda, that specifically tries to establish churches in non-Christian nations. An example of a Christian mission is this book series. The authors are trying to bring readers to Jesus through these novels, which have, sadly, become best-sellers. I think that Christians should abort their missions and just leave people of other religions in peace. I'm so glad that there are billions of non-Christians in the world. It would be horrible if the Christians converted everyone. The world needs a balance of beliefs. Otherwise, it would lose its diversity. If you want to read a good book of a battle between good and evil, then read "The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition" by Stephen King. It tells a similar story, only better and in only 1,000 pages. The premise is that a superflu kills millions of people (we don't see what's going on in the whole world, just the United States), and those that are left band into two opposing camps of good and evil. The thing that makes King's book a lot better than this series is that no explanation is ever given for why these people are immune to the superflu. All types of people are left behind, both Christians and non-Christians. The authors of the "Left Behind" series make it seem like the world would fall into chaos if all of the Christians disappear, which is ludicrous. King wisely avoids this in his book. Buy it and enjoy it. Skip the "Left Behind" series. If you want to know what happens, take an hour to read "The Revelation to John".