Glorious Appearing: The End of Days (Left Behind #12)
by Jerry B. Jenkins, Tim LaHaye
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jerry B. Jenkins, Tim LaHayeEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-03
ISBN: 0842332359
Number of pages: 335
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Book Reviews of Glorious Appearing: The End of Days (Left Behind #12)
Book Review: BOOK TWELVE: GLORIOUS APPEARING
Summary: 5 Stars
At last, the long-awaited final chapter in the blockbuster Left Behind saga. The Antichrist's gargantuan army marshalls to squash the rebel holdouts in Petra and Jerusalem beneath a sky broiling with supernatural portents, while believers the world over turn their heads to the heavens in anticipation of their Lord and Savior's prophesied return. It is indeed the end of the world as we know it, and no one who survives will ever be the same again.
GLORIOUS APPEARING is a worthy finale to one of the most astonishing publishing phenomenon's of the past ten years. Despite opening with a gut-wrenching shock carried over from the last book, there are not as many cliffhangers as in some previous books from the series, as much of what transpires has been scripted centuries ago and the few surviving members of the Tribulation Force are consequently reduced to bystander status. Even so, the very subject matter is engrossing, and the authors carry it off well. This time around the excitement comes less from the suspense of WHAT will happen as it does HOW things will happen, and the story rarely disappoints. The prose is fluid and reads quickly, and the familiar cast of characters is handled with the authors' usual aplomb. The protagonists are people we as readers have come to know and love in a certain sense, and it's highly rewarding to see how things fall into place around them on a global scale. The villains are their usual despicable selves: Nicolae Carpathia, cruller and more barbaric than ever, hopelessly arrogant, and consumed by an evil even he probably doesn't fully compreheand; Leon Fortunato, Carpathia's cowardly but blindly loyal false prophet; and countless nameless but coldhearted soldiers in their diabolical cause. Everyone has finally reached the end of a long and winding road, and each one's destiny WILL be fulfilled.
As most anyone reading this review will already be aware, Jesus Christ is the dominant character of this book. Though an inevitability given the subject matter of the whole storyline, the Lord's personal appearance does pose a few problems for any writer. How to portray the Son of God in an extra-Biblical story without flirting with blasphemy? The authors' solution is twofold: they rarely show Jesus doing anything not more or less directly alluded to in Revelation itself, and when Christ speaks He generally does so by quoting Holy Scripture. Not every reader is satisfied with this strategy, but in this reviewer's opinion it was the best way to go. It is certainly less risky than putting words in the Lord's mouth, and this approach allows the authors to keep from stepping wholly out of Christ's character. Doubtless the authors fail to capture the Lord's true glory, but after all we now see but through a glass darkly, and I do think they pull off a reasonable mortal effort.
Which leads to some of the criticisms that have been levelled against GLORIOUS APPEARING, most of which I frankly do not understand. Some charge that Christ is portrayed in a bloodthirsty manner, but at no point is the Jesus of GLORIOUS APPEARING anything other than loving and merciful. Christ does bring with Him divine retirbution, but that is only just, and more than that he brings peace and life to a dying world. The idea that Christ will one day come as the ultimate judge of one and all and destroy the power of the Antichrist is entirely Biblical, and I for one do not see how any positive end would have been served by portraying an unscriptural Second Coming in which the Savior simply tells everyone to go on about their business as usual. Would anyone really want that?
There are some legitimate theological questions, of course, not merely with GLORIOUS APPEARING but with the Left Behind series as a whole. Not all orthodox Christians agree in their interpretations of end-time prophecy, not even all Evangelicals. Indeed, many Christian denominations have a very different view of the Rapture and the Millennium than that ascribed to by many Evangelicals, and the majority of Christians worldwide probably see Revelation in a much less literal light than do the authors of this series or many of their readers. For the record, the terms "Evangelical" and "fundamentalist" are NOT synonymous, though the Left Behind authors seem to think they should be. Occasionally the authors make some rather tenuous and even insulting assumptions about the nature of legitimate Christian worship, such that some readers who otherwise agree with the authors may find themselves unnecessarily belittled. Moreover, it is unclear just how the rebuilt and later underground churches that are "left behind" are actually organized. Many of the denominational differences that plague the modern Church seem to have disappeared in the new body of believers that arises in the wake of the Rapture, and that is almost certainly a good thing, but other than an obvious and undeniably necessary emphasis on end-times prophecy little can be definitively said about the doctrine preached to these new believers. It does appear staunchly Evangelical, without a trace of liturgy or historical creed, and in the whole twelve books I don't immediately recall any believer ever being baptized. There is certainly no recorded observance of the Lord's Supper, particularly strange since Christ Himself clearly instructs believers to do so, which even a newly organized band of followers who derived their doctrine solely from Scripture (as this reviewer certainly believes every church should) ought to have eventually discovered. There's a lot to admire in the way the story's characters pray, worship, and study the Word, but the authors do present a pretty narrow view of Christian worship, one which many readers may not appreciate in every instance, particularly some of the insinuations of what constitutes a "dead" church. Fortunately such swipes are rare. Of course, you can never please everyone anyway, so perhaps the authors were sensible not to try. Their message is, at least, consistent and generally positive.
On a purely literary level the Left Behind books are not beyond reproach. The prose style is fast, lively, and usually fun, but it's rarely masterful. The dialogue is highly readable but not necessarily always realistic, and the series sometimes seems built upon a neverending skeleton of airborne escapes, one after the other and often too similar for credibility's sake. Even so, I don't think Jerry Jenkins is anywhere nearly as bad a writer as some want to make him out to be. There are many worse prose stylists out there, and at least Jenkins usually keeps his story moving in an entertaining direction. Still, these are not the best books you'll ever read, nor even the best religious fiction. C.S. Lewis generally wrote much shorter but denser works of far greater literary authority, and he wasn't the only one. These are not classics, but rather good popular fiction with a very uplifting message.
Another criticism that is impossible to answer is that of the authors' motivation. No doubt the whole Left Behind series has generated an enormous income for both Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye. That fact hardly invalidates the whole enterprise. It is no sin to make money, as long as it's done honestly. Given the inherent subject matter, of course, it would be harder to excuse naked commercialism in this instance than it otherwise is. Right now the most I can say about this issue is that nobody has proven either Jenkins or LaHaye to be a hack and therefore I see no point in assuming that's what they are. If it is evident the authors have been highly sensitive to commercial appeal in putting their landmark series together, it is also true somebody had to study an awful lot of Scripture to make it all work, and the final product is one that has certainly been an enormous evangelical tool that has given untold inspiration to Christians and even non-Christians all over the world. Until somebody can prove the authors had an ulterior motive, it seems rather pointless to argue about it.
In fact GLORIOUS APPEARING is probably not the last word in this series. Readers are hearing there will be both a prequel and a sequel, so who knows when the story will really end? Millions of readers, however, will always be glad to read just one more chapter in this amazing epic.
Which begs another question: why do so many who evidently neither like these books or even believe in their underlying Christian theology seem to read them for the sole purpose of putting down those who do get something positive out of them? Why purposely read something you know you're going to hate, and then blame others for it?
Ultimately, there is much more good than bad to be said about GLORIOUS APPEARING and the rest of the Left Behind series. Even though many Christians disagree on the details of what will someday be the End of Days, all Christian churches preach the return of Jesus Christ and the eternal life of believers. The Left Behind story is one interpretation of end-times theology, and if the specifics are not something all Christians can agree on then surely the basic elements of God's undying love for us all and the redemption brought to us by His only begotten Son are things we as believers can stand united upon. Certainly, Left Behind and its numerous sequels are NOT Scripture, and however convincing they may sometimes feel the stories they tell are at best educated guesses. Regardless, the whole is a tale of divine love such as the realm of fiction has only rarely been a party to, and one that Christians and non-Christians alike have derived inestimable inspiration from. It's not perfect, but the epic of Left Behind is one I would invite anyone--Protestant, Catholic, Jew, or atheist--to sample for their own edification and reading pleasure. You just might be surprised what you find there.
Summary of Glorious Appearing: The End of Days (Left Behind #12)
Thousands of years of human history stained by strife, death, and sin come to an end when the King of Glory returns to earth. The satisfying conclusion of the seven years of Tribulation covered by the Left Behind series portrays the return of Jesus Christ to earth in both glory and judgment.At the height of the battle between the forces of evil gathered at Armageddon and the remaining Christian believers at Petra and Jerusalem, nothing seems to be able to stop the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia. But God has another plan.
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