Left Behind series

Left Behind series, series of 16 thriller novels written by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye about Evangelical Christians living through an end-times apocalypse inspired by the Book of Revelation. The best-selling books were published by Tyndale House from 1995 to 2007 and generated spinoffs, audio dramatizations, graphic novels, a children’s series, and computer games. There have also been several film adaptations, including a three-film series starring Kirk Cameron (2000, 2004, 2005) and Left Behind (2014), starring Nicholas Cage. See also apocalyptic literature.

The Left Behind novels follow the adventures of the Tribulation Force, a team of Americans who convert to Christianity after the Rapture and come together to resist the global takeover of the Antichrist. In particular, the series focuses on the exploits of journalist Buck Williams and commercial airline pilot Ray Steele, each of whom finds himself in an especially advantageous position to sabotage and spy on the Antichrist’s operations. Other key characters include Chloe Steele, Ray’s daughter; Harriet (Hattie) Durham, Ray’s senior flight attendant; Bruce Barnes, a pastor who had not been sincere in his faith before the Rapture; and Nicolae Carpathia, the Antichrist. Each book generally features the protagonists dealing with the repercussions of the prophecies and events from the Book of Revelation coming true, such as a worldwide plague of locusts and a global earthquake. With literal and sometimes terrifying interpretations of the allegories and visions described in Revelation, the series features the four horsemen of the Apocalypse and the opening of the seven seals, the Battle of Armageddon, the Second Coming of Christ, and the Last Judgment. The final volume, Kingdom Come (2007), details the last battle between God and Satan, the destruction of Earth, and the creation of a new Earth, on which God will reign forever with God’s Christian faithful.

Theologically, the Left Behind series explicitly endorses a type of covenant theology known as dispensationalism, which asserts that God makes different pacts with God’s people at different times (e.g., a covenant with the Hebrew people that begins at the time of Moses and ends with the resurrection of Jesus). Supernatural events in the story are modeled on a premillennial interpretation of the Book of Revelation—that is, the idea that Jesus will not return to usher in a millennium of peace until after all of the great catastrophes mentioned in Revelation literally happen. Only a small minority of Protestant pastors and scholars, almost all of them based in the United States, hold these eschatological views.

Tim LaHaye, a leader of the Christian right in American politics and one of the founding members of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, said that he first came up with the idea for the Left Behind series aboard a plane, where he noticed a married pilot flirting with a flight attendant. LaHaye wondered what would happen to the pilot if the Rapture occurred at that moment. In 1992 LaHaye pitched his idea for a story about such a pilot to writer Jerry B. Jenkins, who was primarily known at the time for cowriting Christian autobiographies. Jenkins agreed to write the series with LaHaye, who would “cowrite” it by providing notes on all of the theological aspects.

The result of their collaboration was a literary and cultural phenomenon. The first book, released on December 31, 1995, became a bestseller, as did each volume that followed. The series crossed over from the conservative Christian demographic into the mainstream, and seven of the novels reached the top of the sales charts, The Remnant debuting at number one on The New York Times Best-Seller List for fiction. By 2017 the series had sold more than 65 million copies, making it one of the most popular Christian fiction series of all time.

Why Left Behind struck such a chord with the American public—particularly in the South and the Midwest—has been much discussed. Some Christian commentators naturally attributed the success of the series to God’s will. A more mundane explanation, proffered by some academics, is that the public’s preoccupation with the year 2000 greatly increased interest in apocalyptic literature; Left Behind therefore benefited from publication at exactly the right time. The idea that a low-level panic in the U.S. may have bolstered sales is supported by the fact that the September 11 attacks resulted in a run on the 2001 installment, Desecration; the novel was the top-selling book in the world that year.