Regarding the End Times, there are three schools of Christian thought. There is amillennialism (the numbers used in the Book of Revelation are completely symbolic, so there won't be a Rapture, a Tribulation with an Antichrist, or a thousand-year reign by Jesus on this earth). There is postmillennialism (the thousand-year reign is a time of peace brought about by the spreading of the Gospel, after which Jesus comes for all believers, which will be most of humanity). And there is premillennialism (Jesus takes all the believers up in the air to heaven and lets the Antichrist have his way with the rest of humanity). Only one of these theories inspired sixteen novels written by Dr. Tim LaHaye—now deceased at the age of ninety—and Jerry Jenkins. Given that the series was called Left Behind, you can guess which theory Dr. LaHaye supported.

I never finished the first book in the series and I couldn't sit through either movie version. The best unbiased praise I could find called the series "not great literature" and the New York Times referred to them as "grisly." The lack of literary value did not prevent more than 62 million of them being sold. Dr. LaHaye (doctoral degrees from Western Theological Seminary and Liberty University) also wrote sixty nonfiction works on family life, Bible prophecy, the will of God, and secular humanism, and, with his wife, a Christian sex manual (in toto, 76 million books published in 32 languages).

Dr. LaHaye pastored the Scott Memorial Baptist Church for twenty-five years. He also founded two accredited Christian high schools, a school system of ten Christian schools, and San Diego Christian College, and helped found the Institute for Creation Research. He and his wife were married for sixty-nine years.

--WCGreen