Tribulation Force (Left Behind Graphic Novels, Book 2, Vol. 3)

Rating:
Summary: Faith-enhancing visualization of Holy Scripture's warnings.
Review: Tribulation Force is a novel based on the months following the "Rapture of the Church." A sequal to Left Behind, it can be read independently or as a follow-up. For believers, it is inspirational and offers some a plausible scenario of end-time events as the anti-christ makes his presence known on planet earth. It is a riveting novel which is difficult to put down. It is also a potential "convincer" to those tho would probably not consider consulting the Bible itself in a vacuum. It would tend to send me, however, scurrying to God's Word to see exactly what it has to say, and how I could avoid being left behind to face a terrifying world without the Body of Christ.

Rating:
Summary: Blahh!
Review: After reading the first book Left Behind, I was so geared up for the second book of the 12 book series. Man, I was so disappointed. I actually found myself hoping one of the main characters would be eliminated to stop the madness of boring "does he like me?" "does she like me?" This theme was throughout the whole book. The end of the book was good and it let you know that it wasn't all for nothing because the next book which is Nicolae has to be better.

Rating:
Summary: BOOK TWO: TRIBULATION FORCE
Review: This successful follow-up to the runaway bestseller "Left Behind" continues the story of a group of new Christians trying to keep the faith in a virtually de-Christianized world following the miraculous Rapture. As Nicolae Carpathia continues his rise to power behind a facade of peace and reconciliation, will even America dare to oppose him? And will the Tribulation Force be able to stay under the Antichrist's radar even as Rayford Steele and Buck Williams find themselves drawn deeper and deeper into his malevolent web? Exciting and extraordinarily well thought out, "Tribulation Force" is both fun and thoughtful and inspiring as well. Some criticize the authors for injecting a heavy dose of romance into the story with this book, but in fact the burgeoning love between Chloe Steele and Buck is handled particularly well and it's not as if Christians are universally called to celibacy. God is the father of love and saw fit to put the first couple together, after all. Yes, Christians need love too! Theologically the authors stay in tune with modern Evangelicals, but in my opinion even Christians from other churches can still derive a lot of pleasure and satisfaction from this moving saga. A great book on its own terms and a compelling lead-in to the next entry in the series, "Nicolae," which promises to be even more exciting. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Better than people give it credit for
Review: A lot of the reviews I have read of these books tend to put it down by comparing it to other end of the world books. And while I will admit that these are not as smart or engaging as some of the the better books that cover the same topic like Fire of Heaven or We All Fall Down, I still really enjoyed them. A friend introduced me to the first book and I cut through all 12 books over the past two months. In a way, it's not really fair to compare them to some of the other books because they are trying to do different things. Left Behind seems to me to try to simply tell a great story about the end of the world. It's light, but what's wrong with that? I really felt like I NEEDED to know what was going to happen next when I finished a book and the very next day would order the next one. I call that a success. A book like We All Fall Down is obviously much more intense and thoughtful, the characters seem much more like real people, and it gives you more to think about, but why does that make Left Behind bad? Can't The Ten Commandments and The Passion both be good movies?

Rating:
Summary: A LOOK AT THE NOVELS OF REVELATION
Review: I am a very big fan of novels that deal with the Biblical Apocalypse and, with so many different types, thought it would be worthwhile to give an overview of the ones I have read.

Left Behind, by Tim Lehay- The series that started it all. These novels are, in truth, somewhat boring, but it covers the bases with a depth that none of the others do, probably owing to the fact that there are so many of them. They lack character development and deep theology, but are a fun, if shallow read

The Christ clone Trilogy by James Beauseigneur- Well written novels that focus on the scientific and political. Tom Clancy meets Left behind is not too far off the mark. I greatly enjoyed these books although I felt a little let down by the ending. Overall, a good political take on the End.

We All Fall Down by Brian Caldwell- Certainly the most controversial of these novels. The focus here is the individual and why someone would ever in their right mind reject salvation. Very brutal, although probably more realistic, in its depiction of the End. This is certainly not a book for the timid, but for the rest, I found it the most intelligent, well written, and, oddly enough, spiritual of the bunch. It's hard to walk away from this book with feeling to need to take a fresh look at one's own relationship to Christ.

Blood of Heaven, by Bill Myers- These are intelligent, character focused novels. I found the theology again to be a little weak, but really enjoyed following the distictive characters.

The Last Gentile Trilogy by Cary Bybee- Better written than Left Behind, but lacking the scope of that work. Like conquest of Paradise or Christ clone, it it based in science, but perhaps too much. Not enough religion for my taste.


Rating:
Summary: Lacks depth or insight
Review: It's become pretty standard to attack these novels, but having read them with an open mind, it's hard not to feel that there's a lot of truth behind those attacks. There's nothing wrong per-se with the books, the problem is more that there just isn't very much right about them. Essentially, it all seems to boil down to a glorafied "We told you so!" And honestly, I'm looking for more from a religiously themed book. When there's writers like C.S. Lewis and 'The Weight of Glory' or Brian Caldwell and 'We All Fall Down', both of whoem bring insight and depth to their ponderings of Christianity, it makes it pretty hard to recomend wasting your time with these novels.

Rating:
Summary: More of the same
Review: As I write this, the FDA has just dropped its previously strict packaging regulations in order to give pharmaceutical companies (like the one George Bush the First had a huge stake in) the opportunity to plant radio frequency identification (RFID) chips into packages of medicine. Last year the FDA authorized their use in human beings. Why, I wonder, haven't Tim LaHaye, Hal Lindsey, and the other right wing fear mongers who terrify people with stories of the imminent "end times" told their readers to do something PRACTICAL to stop the real-life, non-fiction, happening-as-you-read-this implementation of a system which would allow the denial of access to medicine and medical services to people based upon whether or not they have the "correct" microchip implanted in their bodies? Do the chips have to have "666" stamped on them before these guys start telling people that George Bush the Second has implemented more Antichrist-like policies than any fictional Romanian? By "something practical" I mean counseling their readers to maybe ... oh ... maybe ... NOT VOTE FOR THE POLITICAL PARTY WHICH IS DOING THIS? Until they do THAT, I'll continue to regard LaHaye, Lindsey, and others like them as fear-mongering hucksters making millions from rubes who are so busy reading this FICTION that they don't pause a moment to look at the real world around them. (As for the villain in this book: Oooh! A monster from Transylvania! How original....)

Rating:
Summary: Have no fear, the tribulation force is here!!!
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".

Rating:
Summary: A step down from the first Left Behind book
Review: This story is the continuation of Rayford Steele and Buck Williams from the first book. This one was a huge disappointment from the first one. There was way too much lovey dovey stuff in it between Buck and Chloe. I though I was going to be sick at times. Is this a book about how not to get a date in high school or is it about the end of the world. I was disappointed but I hear book #3 makes up for this mistake.

Rating:
Summary: My Review for " The Tribulation Force"
Review: Second book of the series. Again, it follows the lines of a B-rated thriller when you strip out the religious overtones, however, this book continues on an excellent path of character growth. The main characters on all sides of the issues are fleshed out deeper - some of the seemingly major characters from the first book begin to fade into the background slightly, while others step forward into the spotlight. Very well written, even if the type-face is huge. This book is a consistent page-turner and will have you looking at the clock late at night - forcing you to realize that you need to put it down and sleep - eventually.