Left Behind: Raptured Believers and Enraptured Readers

With the release of the 12th and final book of the Left Behind series (though a prequel and sequel are scheduled), the phenomenon has once again shocked media elites. The nearly two million print-run sold out before the book even went on sale prompting news coverage. Newsweek put the writing duo of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins on its cover. The series is almost ten years old, however, and Christianity Today and its sister publications have been following it for some time.

Having written more than 70 books each, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins have been regularly producing bestsellers with the Left Behind series. The series products have sold more than 60 million copies. The Indwelling, The Mark, Desecration, The Remnant and Armageddon all debuted at number one on the best-seller lists of The New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and The Wall Street Journal. Desecration was also the top-selling hardcover novel in 2001. The latest book, Glorious Appearing, along with every other book of the series have hit the bestseller lists.

Our original review of Left Behind:
The Bible Study at the End of the World
Recent novels by evangelical leaders say more about popular American Christianity than about the end times
posted Sept. 1, 1997

Newsweek catches up to Left Behind
What more can be said about the Left Behind series? Not much, though this week's Newsweek cover story tries to go for one less-played angle
Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted May 20, 2004

Weblog: Time's Up?
Have You Heard About the Left Behind Book Series? Time Apparently Hadn't
Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted May 20, 2004

No Longer Left Behind
An insider's look at how Christian books are agented, acquired, packaged, branded, and sold in today's marketplace.
By Steve Rabey | posted April 12, 2002

Bible Prophecy Sales Boom
Whether scholarship or fiction, prophetic books are top sellers after September 11.
By Mark A. Kellner | posted Oct. 28, 2001

Left Behind Has Been Very, Very Good to Tyndale
Success leaves publisher wondering how to best steward the company's increase.
By Corrie Cutrer | posted Oct. 17, 2000

Weblog: Readers Apparently Enraptured with Latest Left Behind, Now #1
The Indwelling hits number one on New York Times bestseller list
Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted June 9, 2000

Christian Fiction Gets Real
New novels offer gritty plots and nuanced characters—but can they find a market?
By Susan Wise Bauer | posted May 11, 2000

Amassed Media: Why The New Republic likes Millennialism
Millennialism in The New Republic
Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted November 3, 1999

Apocalyptic Sales Out of This World
With its fast-paced plots and high-velocity sales, the Left Behind fiction series has popularized pretribulational premillennialism much as Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness interested readers in spiritual warfare in the 1980s
By Steve Rabey | posted March 1, 1999

Few Flashes of Creativity Enliven Left Behind 2
Tribulation Force will satisfy those who feel the movies are meant to explicitly preach the gospel.
By Douglas LeBlanc | posted Nov. 14, 2002

Author LaHaye Sues Left Behind Film Producers
Producers didn't make the blockbuster they promised, he says.
By Michael R. Smith | posted March 28, 2001

At the Box Office, Left Behind Gets … Well, You Know
Moviegoers not enraptured by Left Behind: The Movie
Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted February 5, 2001

Horror Stories for Christians
Believers dream again of a breakthrough film. Left Behind is not it.
By Douglas LeBlanc | posted Dec. 6, 2000

Cameras Rolling
Bestseller Left Behind's big-screen debut set for 2001.
By Denyse O'Leary in Toronto | posted July 14, 2000

Christian Filmmakers Jump on End-times Bandwagon
Bestseller Left Behind is slated for the big screen
posted Oct. 25, 1999

The Dick Staub Interview: Jerry Jenkins's Solo Apocalypse
His new novel, Soon, imagines a world where religion, blamed for war, is banned.
posted Sept. 16, 2003

Surviving Soul Survivor
A business guide to Tim LaHaye's other series.
By Jeremy Lott | posted Oct. 30, 2002

Jenkins Gets Left Behind
Tim LaHaye signs Bantam Dell book deal for $45 million.
By Ted Olsen | posted April 11, 2002

Christian History Corner: How Will It All End?
Left Behind is neither the first nor the last word on "last things."
By Steven Gertz | posted April 02, 2004

'The End Is Not Yet'
The president of Dallas Theological Seminary says there will be an increase in wars and rumors of wars before the end times, but date setting should not be a priority for evangelicals.
An interview with Mark Bailey | posted March 27, 2003

The Iraq War Has Little Effect on the Rapture Index
The founder of an online end times "speedometer" says that other current events are more connected to biblical prophecy.
An interview with Todd Strandberg | posted March 27, 2003

Weblog: Newspapers Miss the Real End-Times Story
Evangelicals believe this is the end, say papers. Oh really?
Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted Mar 25, 2003

Christian History Corner: Zion Haste
Does the passion of a few nineteenth-century Chicagoans still influence American policy in the Middle East?
By Elesha Coffman | posted Feb. 1, 2002

Opinion Roundup: Was September 11 the Beginning of the End?
Observers say geography and gravity of attacks have led to little prophecy speculation
By Todd Hertz | posted Sept. 19, 2001

The Rapture: What Would Jesus Do?
An end-times pilgrim counts the cost of discipleship.
By Glenn Paauw | posted Feb. 6, 2001

The Revelation Will Be Televised
"Apocalypse!," tonight's episode of PBS's Frontline, gets better after its biblical criticism
By Elesha Coffman | posted November 22, 1999

Is Revelation Prophecy or History?
Some events described in Revelation occurred contemporaneously with the prophecies themselves
By David S. Dockery | posted October 25, 1999

What Hal Lindsey Taught Me About the Second Coming
At UCLA, amid war protests and police helicopters, teachings on an imminent end made a lot of sense.
By Chris Hall | posted October 25, 1999

Apocalypse Now
Worried about the future? Revelation says more about church life today than about how the world will end.
By J. Nelson Kraybill | posted October 25, 1999

Stop the Dating Game
Don't do what Jesus said can't be done.
By Vernard Eller | posted October 25, 1999

The Millennial Book Awards
A review of end-times books with only a wee, little bit of Y2K hype thrown in
By Mark Galli | posted October 25, 1999

How Evangelicals Became Israel's Best Friend
The amazing story of Christian efforts to create and sustain the modern nation of Israel
By Timothy Weber | posted Oct. 5, 1998

Obsessed with the End Times
Are evangelicals embarrassed or enraptured by dispensational theology?
By Michael G. Maudlin | posted October 5, 1998

Reflections: End Times Edition
Classic and contemporary quotations
posted October 25, 1999

Before Left Behind
It's not easy to say something new about the end of the world.
by Crawford Gribben, Books & Culture | posted July/August 2003

Left Behind: Stronger Than Fiction
Nearly 3,000 people have written to say they accepted Christ after reading the Left Behind series
Today's Christian | November/December 2002

Take Five: Jerry Jenkins
An interview with the Left Behind coauthor—and our magazine's first editor
Today's Christian Woman | November/December 2000

The End
What Christians have believed about the Second Coming for 2,000 years
Christian History | Winter 1999

The Revelation of LaHaye and Jenkins
Why 7.4 million fans watch and wait for the next Left Behind
Today's Christian | November/December 1999

				Try 3 Issues of Christianity Today RISK-FREE! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issues are yours to keep, regardless. Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

Subscribe to the FREE CT Newsletters Get CT headlines direct to your mailbox! CTDirect (daily) CTWeekly