When I say what I am about to say (or, write what I am about to write), I am hopeful that you will grasp just how much enthusiasm I place before you.
Just how awestruck with what I am about to share, I am.
Because, good golly, I didn't want it to end!
Over a decade ago, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins wrote the series, Left Behind. The original series consisted of 12 books.
When these book, and the Kirk Cameron movies, first came out, my interest in them was practically nonexistent. I simply was not in a position where I had any desire to read them.
Fast forward 10+ years.
Someone had a yard sale in her front yard and I was driving home with my boys. I'll just stop for a moment and check it out, I thought.
There was nothing really to grab my attention, until there was: The first book in the series, appropriately named, Left Behind. Glancing at it, I suddenly had an interest, but I didn't have small bills or loose change, so I chalked it up as a loss and left without it.
Not long after, while shopping at the Salvation Army, I came across it once again and couldn't get my hands on it quick enough! Turns out, what I thought was a one-and-done deal with the novel was indeed a 12 volume series! (Let me interject here and mention how entirely thankful I am to have a friend who works at the Sal-Val and who helped me collect almost every single book! #sograteful)
I began the start of 2016 finishing up some late 2015 reading and decided to start with the series, as it was part of my 2016 reading list. Over the course of the next three months (concluding yesterday), I averaged 1book/week and found myself in tears over the conclusion of the series.
Yes, it was so well written!
And, yes! I wanted more!
And, yes! I felt as though I had grown to actually know these characters!
And then God intervened.
Feeling unfulfilled, I went onto the Left Behind website and did some looking around. If anything came additionally, I wanted to know about it! Turns out, three additional novels had been written as prequels and one, final, book to the original collection!!
So what do I do when I need a book on the cheap and ready? I turn to Amazon and Ed McKay's. On Amazon, you can get just about anything for .01cent. #Ikidyounot. But, before pressing the shopping cart icon, I decided I would give ole' faithful, Ed McKay's a ring. (They were not open at that hour last night, so I called this morning.)
Now, and don't miss this -THIS IS WHERE GOD SMILES ON ME- when I called and asked if any of the additional four books might be in their store right now, here was the response I received:
...can I get the name of the authors? I gave them. Huh...I don't see anything on file.... Wait a moment! I think we actually got some of the series in YESTERDAY(!!!!!!!!!!). ...Yes, we did, which ones were you looking for? I tell him the titles. Yep, we got the Rising and we've got the Reign.
What!!!!!
So, not only can I continue my series (I am absolutely claiming ownership- I LOVED THIS SERIES!!), but if I had gotten through yesterday, I MAY HAVE MISSED THEM!!!
#Godlovesme #it'strue #Iknow
So then...I thought I might wet your tongues and appetites and share with you a few reasons I loved this series. These are coming to you in two, fairly long, quotes from Armageddon, book #11, and Glorious Appearing, book #12, as well as one, most incredible, audio clip from Dr. Shadrach Meshach Lockridge.
(So as not to trip you up, I will not include the names of main characters. You'll have to read these to know.
The first blip is on the front lines of death, refusing to deny Christ. The second, Jesus condemning Satan to the abyss.)
Armageddon: ___reached for the microphone, but Jock held it tight. "Ah, ah, ah!" he said. "No speaking privileges for you unless you're ready to take the mark of loyalty to the throne of the leader of the Global Community."
But ___ continues to reach, and now both their hands were on the mike. "Are we witnessing a historic moment here, folks?" Jock said. "You understand, ___, that taking this microphone also means taking the mark of Carpathia?"
___ took the microphone, and Jock turned to the crowd with both arms extended, then led them in a huge ovation.
"Sir, you told me if it were up to you, I would get to say a few words. Is it up to you?"
Jock reached for the mike. "That is not the arrangement! You may speak only if you surrender to the mark."
Caleb appeared behind ___ again and merely raised a finger and gestured no to Jock. Jock froze in place and toppled backward, his arm outstretched, still reaching. In spite of themselves, the crowd laughed while Jock reddened and perspired, rigid.
___ turned to the people and spoke softly. "A famous martyr once said he regretted he had but one life to give. That is how I feel today. On the cross, dying for the sins of the world, my own Savior, Jesus the Christ, prayed, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.'
"My personal preference? My choice? I wish I could stay with my family, my loved ones, my friends, until the glorious appearing of Jesus, who is coming yet again. But if this is my lot, I accept it. I want to express my undying love to ___ and to ___. And eternal thanks to ___ who led me to Christ.
"A famous missionary statesman, eventually martyred, once wrote, 'He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.' He was talking about his life on earth verses eternal life with God. In my flesh I do not look forward to a death the likes of which you have already witnessed thirty-five times here today. But to tell you the truth, in my spirit, I cannot wait. For to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And as Jesus himself said to his Father at his own death, 'Into Your hands I commit my spirit.'
"And now, 'according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, as now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain....For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.'
"And to my compatriots in the cause of God around the world, I say, 'Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
"'Therefor God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
"'Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us...and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.'
"__ and ___, know that I love you and that I'll be waiting just inside the Eastern Gate."
___ bent and laid the microphone on Jock's unmoving chest and without escort found ___ way to the base of the middle guillotine. As ___ knelt and laid ___ head under the blade, Caleb's glow blinded the eyes of the world. ___ heard only the pull of the cord and the drop of the sharpened edge of death that led to life eternal. (pages 258-260)
Glorious Appearing: ...Gabriel concluded: "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand."
The crowd began to cheer.
"He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years."
Hands raised, they were screaming now.
"And he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished."
___ sensed apprehension on the part of the people, because anyone who was not up to speed on what was next had begun to figure it out. And when the mighty warrior archangel Michael suddenly reappeared with a gargantuan lion- easily three times larger than any natural king of beasts- the crowd let out a collective gasp and shriek and embraced each other in fear.
But Gabriel quieted them with this assurance: "You are of God, little children. Fear not, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."
The roar of the prodigious carnivore hurt ___ ears and echoed off the surrounding buildings. The lion swiped at Michael and snarled, stamping and turning on its ridiculously muscled haunches. Be he held it firm. As the lion set itself for another attempt to break free and devour its captor, Michael tightened his grip and twisted the tree-trunk neck further.
Suddenly the lion transformed itself into a titanic, hissing serpent, coiling itself around the angel's arms and legs and squeezing, its tongue darting between shows of its elongated fangs. Michael quickly wrestled it to the ground and tightly clamped its mouth shut. Whereupon the creature transformed itself yet again.
Now it grew and bulged and covered itself with slimy scales, sprouted four think legs with horny toes, a lashing tale, a long neck, broad head and face, pointed ears, horns, and a fire-breathing mouth full of canines. This was the greatest test for Michael, who seemed to produce from air a heavy linked chain with which he was able to hog-tie the monster.
It rolled on its back, snorting flames, hissing and drooling, struggling against the restraints. Its tail swept again and again at the angel, its great head shaking back and forth. Michael finally succeeded in lassoing the neck with the remains of the chain and with a powerful yank pulled the head toward the torso, rendering the dragon virtually immobile.
It lay there, snorting and writhing, and anyone watching knew what it would do if it could somehow free itself. Finally it appeared to relax, but that only proceeded its final incarnation. The dragon gave way to what appeared to be one more angel, brighter than the archangels and the three angels of mercy, including Christopher, the angel with the everlasting gospel. Yet its light paled in significance next to that of Christ, whose glory lit the whole world.
Now the being stood docile, the chain having slid into a tall coil on the ground. It looked menacingly at Michael, who did not retreat. Gabriel spoke with a loud voice, "Lucifer, dragon, serpent, devil, Satan, you will now face the One you have opposed form time immemorial."
"Oh, no!" the being rasped. "The last time you contended with me, Michael, it was over the body of Moses, and you dared not even bring against me a reviling accusation, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!' I do not answer to you!"
"No," Jesus said quietly, though ___ heard Him distinctly. And with the authority of the ages He said, "But you do answer to Me. Kneel at My feet."
"I will do no such thing!"
"Kneel."
And he did, shoulders hunched in rebellion and anger.
"I have fought against you from shortly after your creation," Jesus said.
"My creation! I was no more created than You! And who are You to have anything against me?!"
"You shall be silent."
The angel of light appeared to ___ to try to stand, but he could not. He also appeared to try to speak, straining, shaking his head.
Jesus continued: "For all your lies about having evolved, you are a created being."
The creature violently shook its head.
"Only God has the power to create, and you were Our creation. You were in Eden, the garden of God, before it was a paradise for Adam and Eve. You were there as an exalted servant when Eden was a beautiful rock garden.
"You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.
"Your were the anointed cherub who covers; God established you; you were on Him holy mountain; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.
"But you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefor We cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and We destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; we cast you to the ground, laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.
"You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore God brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and He turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you.
"All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more forever."
The kneeling angel of fading light seemed to writhe in pain, eager to retaliate.
"Jesus said, "You have opposed My Father and Me from before the creation of man. A third of the angels in heaven and most of the population on earth followed your model of rebellion and pride. This will earn for them and for you separation from Almighty God in the everlasting fire prepared for you and your angels.
"You deceived Eve into sinning. During the next millennia you attempted to populate the bloodline of Adam, putting it into Cain's heart to murder Abel and thus eliminating Adam's first two sons. You encouraged cohabitation of fallen angels with human women to produce Nephilim, fallen ones. Because of you, within sixteen hundred years, only eight humans were found faithful and worthy of preserving from the Flood.
"It was you who attempted to establish a universal idolatrous religion in Babel, then the largest city in the world, to keep mankind form worshiping the one true God.
"It was you who tried to destroy the Hebrew race, filling Pharaoh's mind with the idea to kill the male babies at the time of Moses's birth.
"I lay at your feet all the suffering of mankind. The earth was created as a utopia, and yet you brought into it sin, which resulted in poverty, disease, more than fifteen thousand wars, and the senseless killing of millions. You and your sin of pride spawned the rebellion of man against God, hatred, murder, and the damning of billions of souls from the time of Adam.
"You tried to attack Me upon My earthy birth by filling Herod's mind with the idea of killing all the male babies in Bethlehem. You tempted Me in the wilderness and tried to destroy My church through persecution and also teaching. You brought the storm to the Sea of Galilee while I slept. It was you who entered Judas Iscariot, you who filled the heart of Ananias with deceit. It was you, as the god of this evil world, who blinded the minds of those who did not believe.
"You were at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. It was you who prevented My servants from ministering, you who sowed discord in the churches, you who attacked the weak, the suffering, the lonely."
By now Satan had toppled onto his side, gasping and snorting, struggling to get back to his feet, to fight back, to speak.
"It is contrary to the will of God not only that humans sin, but also for them to reject Me. It is the will of My Father who is in heaven that not one of these little ones should perish but that all should come to repentance.
"During the last seven years," Jesus said, "you have deceived millions with false teachers, false messiahs, a false prophet, and an antichrist. You gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And all the world marveled and followed him.
"They worshiped you who gave authority to the Beast; and they worshiped the Beast, saying, 'Who is like the Beast? Who is able to make war with him?' And you gave him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.
"He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. You granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And you gave him authority over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
"All who dwelt on earth worshiped him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He performed great signs, so that he even made fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.
"And you deceived those who dwell on the earth by those signs.
"You have had a hatred for Me, a hatred for My people. You made war with those who kept the commandments of God. When anyone heard the word of the kingdom and did not understand it, you came and snatched away what was sown in his heart.
"You were the reason My servant had to remind My people that they did not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of that age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. You were why they had to be instructed to take up the whole armor of God, that they would be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
"I pledged ages ago that I would build My church, and that the gates of Hades would not prevail against it. Your time has come. I have sent out my angels and they have gathered out of My kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and I will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
"Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."
Michael grabbed Satan and pulled him back up to his knees, where he continued to thrash as if he were about to burst.
"It is you who have brought this upon yourself," Jesus said. "For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'
"Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?'"
...It was time, ___ realized. Jesus had finished His charges, and nothing was left but to carry out the sentence. Satan rocked on his knees, forcing gasping breaths through clenched teeth.
Gabriel leaned over the angel of light and shouted, "Acknowledge Jesus as Lord!"
Satan had been struck dumb, and as much as it appeared he was trying to speak, no words came out. But it was clear he had no interest in acceding to the order. He vigorously shook his head and clenched his fists before Jesus.
Jesus looked briefly to His left, and ___ guessed thirty yards in that direction, farther from the angels and from the crowd, a great gaping hole appeared in the ground. Black smoke belched from deep within the nearly blotted out sky. Again, no shadows were produced, because the light of day no longer came form the sun, but rather from the Lord Himself.
He nodded to Michael, who scooped up the long, heavy chain and draped it over his sinewy forearm. As he approached the condemned, Satan sprang to his feet and began to fight. Again he morphed, first into the dragon, and then the snake, and finally the lion. The conflict covered the distance between the remnant and Jesus and the other angels. Even time Michael and Satan tumbled near the crowd, people backed into each other.
___ had no misgivings about the outcome of the tussle. Jesus seemed to look on with abject sadness and no concern. Gabriel, who had always served as a herald and not a warrior, looked every bit as capable as Michael and could have stepped in at any time. The three angels of mercy, including the preacher of the everlasting gospel, were close by as well.
Finally, in his form as the lion, Satan was strangely without a roar. Jesus had silenced him, and the curse carried over regardless of his disguise. Michael finally worked the chain about him and drew it tight, forcing the animal into a bound mass.
As he lifted the captive toward the smoking abyss, Satan altered himself yet again, back to the angel of light. With that he slipped out of the chain and made one last feeble attempt to escape. Michael swung the chain and let it slide through his hands until the extended portion was at least twenty feet long. This he flung at the devil, catching him at the midsection and causing the chain to wrap itself around him.
Michael rushed him, tackled him to the ground, completed the chain-wrapping operation, and jumped to his feet, carrying the bound devil. Just before he reached the smoldering, smoke-belching chasm, Michael left his feet and flew -Satan under his arm- about ten feet into the air and then headfirst down into the abyss.
This Jesus did not watch, though the other angelic beings did. The crowd roared and cheered and applauded, but they quieted quickly when Jesus stood and gestured with a hand.
"And now," He said, "to My Father God, the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to Him who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever. Beloved, sin reigned in death, but even so grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life. Even the demons recognized Me as the Holy One of God. I stand before you this day as the King is Israel, He who comes in the name of the Lord."
He glazed above, and from beyond the clouds came a chorus from those ___ could only assume were gathering around the throne of God. They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."
Still the smoke poured form the bottomless pit, and ___ wandered if others, like ___, had begun to worry about Michael. But presently he reemerged with a key in his hand. Satan and the chain were no longer to be seen.
Michael rejoined the others behind Jesus, who turned and mounted His horse. He slowly led the white stallion away.... (pages 316-323, 326-329)
This last portion, which is played for the remnant prior to Jesus' glorious appearing, also in book #12, is...well...it speaks for itself.
So, do I recommend this series?
YES.
100%, I DO.
yours,
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