Left Behind series

I finally finished reading the last book that I have of the first five books, and am going to read the next to last book in the series as soon as I can. But for now, I do not think I will continue with the series after I read this last book unless it would be the one which follows it.

I have to admit that the last book which is called Apollyon did not appeal to me at all. I have come to know the characters in this series and I am learning that they will be all killed off before too very long. In the final series only one of the original is still alive, and I am not really interested in learning new characters that much, especially since it is getting into the terrible times according to the strict and literal interpretation of the scriptures that these two authors are trying to use as the basis for their storyline.

These men use individual characters to argue the point that a god should not have to coerce people into accepting his offer of salvation through dire threats. As the authors do interpret the book of Revelations literally, after all it was only a dream, they seem to believe that locusts will actually devour sinners who have not accepted salvation.

This part of the story strained the imagination for me a bit too much, and while I cannot imagine what a true antiChrist would be in this time of end times, I do believe that the effort to create a man who is so utterly devoid of goodness is a bit beyond anyone's grasp. We all thought that Hitler had been the personification of evil beyond belief, but I think that a drunk going down a one way street and running headlong into a car is as evil as Hitler who deliberately practiced evil work against the Jews.

To me, evil is backward and ignorant and stupid...there are just so many varieties of evil that to try to create a single entity with all the characteristics is borderline ridiculous.

So while I stayed with the story for a while as these men know how to write cliff hanger type storylines, I finally tired of the increasingly difficult effort to keep up with the seven seals and the angels and their prophesies.

I do not really recommend these books for anyone after a certain point. It reminds me too much of when I would hear my grandmother want to have all sinners punished for their sins, and I honestly am on the side of knowing that some parts of their books are true: it is only through God's grace that anyone is saved, and not by works, but by surrendering to God's love of you, but I also know that threats and promises of punishment for those who do not do this will not ever win any soul to God. Fear is not the right motivation for loving God and His will in the world.

So for that reason, I will read the one book I have left, and probably may make a final comment about it. But I do not want to learn new characters while old favorites die out, at this stage of the game. Learning that Chloe, Rayford's daughter, and Buck's wife, gets guillotined in Illinois really bothered me to know.

I think I will just accept that she is gone and not like it, but see what happens next from this starting point...sorry if that is a spoiler but that what I learned in the prologue of the last book. I liked her too much to have that happen to her.

Agh, it is only a story. I suspect that the earth will spin many centuries to come before Christ finally returns to claim his own...