Armageddon (Left Behind #11)

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Summary: In Response to "Grinding to a Standstill" in Cleveland
Review: Jerry Jenkins has done a phenomenal job once again! As a friend of Jenkins, I feel compelled to respond to the reader who complained about the amount of scripture included in "Armageddon". A major reason best-selling author Jenkins and prophecy expert LaHaye teamed up to write this series was to reach non-belivers. These books present the message of the Gospel in a clear manner in hopes that people would become Believers and be spared from the wrath of God, which will take place one day, and will most likely be worse than described in this book. This series has been an eye-opener to both Christians and non-Christians and has changed many lives. I am sad to hear that you do not take the message to heart. "Armageddon" is one of the most exciting of the series. Though I will agree, Chloe was pretty stupid and I don't like what they have done to her character in this book. Other than that, 5 stars for the incredible action!

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Summary: Worst Book of the Series Thus Far...Only One More To Go
Review: The absolute worst of the series. The book starts with some good action and some slight character development - a big change from the disappointment that Book Ten was. However, halfway through the book, it changes from a decent book into nothing more than an extremely preachy bible tract. The character development goes right out the window, the plot development resembles something closer to a ride at Disneyland than a rolling, churning adventure at the End Times. Absolutely disappointing work from these two authors.


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Summary: Trapped by Success
Review: The authors had an excellent idea, to write a novel about the Apocalypse, with true believers taken away into heaven and the rest 'Left Behind.' The characters were interesting, the action terse, and the story believeable if you accept the premise. This book was highly successful with a limited audience, primarily 'born again' Christians. The success, of course, inspired sequels, which have now stretched to 11 volumes.
Lacking good ideas for these sequels, the authors have proceeded to fictionalize the Revelation of St. John, the last book of the Protestant bible. This book is full of plagues and catastrophic events which befall earth in the period before the millenium, when the risen savior is to return to earth to claim his kingdom forever. Revelation has always struck me as wildly fantastic, and one wonders if the good saint may have been using some biblical mushrooms or other drugs.
Sadly, in most of the series the writing is quite flat. In this book, the narrative fails to convey the drama and emotion to be expected as the band of heroes faces war with the Anti-Christ and the end of our world. In addition, the story is loaded with extended quotations from the bible. This is a lazy way to put together a book, similar to the strategy many of us used in writing papers for undergraduate courses when we didn't have much to say.
Perhaps the authors expected the millenium to occur on December 1, 2000, and are now tap-dancing waiting for the actual event. Whether this is true or not, this entry is at best, disappointing.
The translators who developed the King James version of the bible all those centuries ago had a much better command of the language, and they kept the length to a small fraction of the wordiness of LaHaye and Jenkins.

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Summary: BOOK ELEVEN: ARMAGEDDON
Review: The end of the world draws nigh, and believers and non-believers alike are making their ultimate preparations. Nicolae Carpathia rallies his armies for what will be the final battle, and the Tribulation Force mobilizes for one last mission as Petra and Jerusalem brace for impact. The eleventh entry in the Left Behind saga based on Revelation, ARMAGEDDON takes more than a few unexpected turns, ratcheting the excitement to new highs. Many readers may be shocked by some of the plot twists in this novel, but the underlying postitive message of the Gospel itself trumps even the grimmest disaster. The authors rely somewhat less in ARMAGEDDON on a number of devices that have been overdone in previous entries, and the result is a more fresh, lively, and believable narrative than some of what has gone before. Fans of the series who have made it this far shouldn't be disappointed in this entry (though they may be in for a surprise or two), but critics will probably not find anything to change their minds, either. Why the latter insists on reading something they so clearly despise I cannot fathom, but the rest of us are happy to have them along for the ride! Despite the action-laden script, the story remains largely character-driven. We've seen Rayford Steele, Buck Williams, Tsion Ben-Judah, Chloe, George, Chang, Albie and all the rest go through a lot to reach this point, but the biggest thrills are yet to come and it's hard not to cheer for each of them to make it through to the end. ARMAGEDDON is yet another fast, easy read in this amazing end-times saga, and this time all eyes are on the heavens and the promised return of Jesus Christ. The Glorious Appearing is at hand...

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Summary: Also read CONQUEST OF PARADISE
Review: The LEFT BEHIND SERIES is one of the best series of Christian books I've ever read, and certainly, it's one of the best end times fiction series, although IN HIS IMAGE and THE CHRIST CLONE TRILOGY by James BeauSeigneur are also good. So far, the series has zoomed since book one, when the rapture occurred and those "left behind" were forced to grapple with the implications of missing friends and family members. I love this series, and I can't wait for the conclusion. Left Behind fans should also read CONQUEST OF PARADISE. It does in one book what Left Behind has taken many to do, and the book presents ideas for the possible rise to power of the antichrist that I've never heard before. If you even like the LEFT BEHIND SERIES just a little bit, then you'll love CONQUEST OF PARADISE! I'm looking forward to reading ARMAGEDDON. It should be one of the most exciting books in the series.

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Summary: This One Speeds Up the Pace!
Review: This 11th book in the series moved much faster than the previous ones. I really enjoyed the fast-paced events in this book and I anxiously await the next book, which I am starting to read tonight.

Since the first few books in the series, the story has not been fast-moving, gripping, or eyes-glued-to-the-page action, which I can't put down. It took me a week to read the first book, 3 days to read the 2nd, a week to read the 3rd, and each one after that was between 1-2 weeks for me. This book, #11, took about 4 days. I could not put it down.

There are some pivotal events in this first few chapters of this book and some martyrdom scenes that moved me. I enjoyed the story, even after losing some major characters.

My favorite thing in the world is to see prophecy fullfilled, which is why I have enjoyed these books so much. Yes, they are fiction, but to see the words of Revelation put into modern, hypothetical circumstances, really gets my blood pumping. I have greatly enjoyed this series and I thank the authors for their hard work!

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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".