The senior flight attendant pulled him into the galleyway, but there was no passion in her touch. Her fingers felt like talons on his forearm, and her body shuddered in the darkness.
"Hattie--"
She pressed him back against the cooking compartments, her face close to his. Had she not been clearly terrified, he might have enjoyed this and returned her embrace. Her knees buckled as she tried to speak, and her voice came in a whiny squeal.
"People are missing," she managed in a whisper, burying her head in his chest.
He took her shoulders and tried to push her back, but she fought to stay close. "What do you m--?"
She was sobbing now, her body out of control. "A whole bunch of people, just gone!"
"Hattie, this is a big plane. They've wandered to the lavs or--"
She pulled his head down so she could speak directly into his ear. Despite her weeping, she was plainly fighting to make herself understood. "I've been everywhere. I'm telling you, dozens of people are missing."
"Hattie, it's still dark. We'll find--"
"I'm not crazy! See for yourself! All over the plane, people have disappeared."
LaHaye & Jenkins, Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days
One of the most extraordinary publishing successes of the past several decades has been the 16-volume Left Behind series by authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, the final title of which was published in 2007:
The adult version of the series has, to date, sold over 63 million copies, while Left Behind: The Kids Series has sold an additional 11 million+ copies:
LaHaye, an evangelical Christian minister, and Jenkins, former VP of Publishing for Chicago's Moody Bible Institute, published the first title in the series (see the first image above) in 1995. The series has been so successful that it has (to date) spawned three movies and an equal number of video games:
The series also has generated a number of audio recordings, graphic novels, and at least two spin-off series:
Of course, the series has come in for its share of criticism, both secular and religious. The religious criticism is far and away the most interesting, for it reveals much about the often-conflicting end of days scenarios that have been posited over the centuries by various Christian sects. Jimmy Akin, for example (in an article for Catholic Answers), takes both authors to task for their interpretations of a number of eschatological issues in the series:
[the authors' interpretation] is preposterous from several perspectives. The allegorical method of Scripture interpretation predates Augustine. Because it complements rather than supplants the literal interpretation of Scripture, it did not open the door to paganism and did not lead to the "dark ages," which in fact were not dark (certainly not spiritually). People were in fact familiar with Scripture during this time. In fact, it was the most familiar ancient writing, because what had been lost was knowledge of Greco-Roman pagan civilization (e.g., the writings of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers). People certainly had not lost the hope of the Second Coming. Medieval artwork reveals numerous depictions of the event.
Most important for our present concerns is that Augustine did not invent the rejection of pre-millennialism. As we saw, many Christians from the earliest times did not hold this view.
What is now called amillennialism continued to be the dominant view throughout the Middle Ages and was the view of the Protestant Reformers as well. Pre-millennialism periodically reappeared but was generally looked down upon because it was associated with particular fanatical groups who often held heretical ideas, such as the Anabaptists....
Christianity, of course, is not the only source of such beliefs, and those interested in exploring such beliefs across cultures may wish to visit Boston University's Center for Millennial Studies for further information.
Folks who might like to try the Left Behind series are advised that the publishing sequence is not the same as the chronological sequence of the novels....
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