John's Story: The Last Eyewitness (The Jesus Chronicles, Book 1) [Hardcover]

Tim LaHaye (Author), Jerry B. Jenkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 2006

Together again with the only books they are coauthoring since the bestselling Left Behind series.

Before there was the tribulation, before the rapture, before there was a legacy that could be left behind, there was Jesus. John's Story tell His glorious, dramatic story. John's Story: The Last Eyewitness is told by the one whom Jesus called beloved. John, a once-broken man, was forever changed the moment he met the mysterious stranger from Nazareth, his heart opened by the One whom he discovered to be the Son of God.

At ninety years old, John is the last of the original twelve apostles still alive, the only one who was not martyred. Committed to spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ, he is called by God to write a gospel in order to set the record straight-as others were teaching that Jesus wasn't the Son of God. Recalling his time with Jesus, John brings to life the miracles and messages of the Man who would change the course of history.

The first in a series, John's Story: The Last Eyewitness is a remarkable and thrilling account of the life of the Man who came to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament and to save all of mankind. To bring deeper understanding to the story, each of the four books nclude the text of the corresponding gospel as an appendix.

John's Story illuminates the times of Jesus, His life, and His messages like never before. Using cutting-edge historical and academic research, as well as biblically based themes, they are first and foremost page-turning novels that could come only from the pens of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With their wildly popular Left Behind thrillers, LaHaye and Jenkins took the Christian fiction genre to new heights of mainstream success, but also sparked renewed debate among evangelicals concerning End Times theology. Now, they reunite to undertake the Jesus Chronicles, a four-book series of historical novels profiling the lives of the Gospel writers: John, Mark, Matthew, and Luke. This first installment recounts the personal and spiritual journey of the only one of the original apostles who died from old age rather than martyrdom. Robinson Dean brings an appropriately deep and sober tone to his duties as narrator, especially in his portrayal of the elderly John's exhaustive efforts to leave a written record of both his first-person experiences and prophetic visions. The authors steep their storytelling in a conservative interpretation of scripture that may not appeal evenly across the broader spectrums of Christian theology, but they provide some engaging human drama. The audiobook also includes Dean's reading of the complete texts of all five New Testament books for which John is credited (John's Gospel, his three Epistles and Revelation).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Tim LaHaye is a noted author, minister, and nationally recognized speaker on Bible prophecy. He is the founder and president of Tim LaHaye Ministries, and the cofounder of the Pre-Trib Research Center, established for the purpose of exposing ministers to Bible prophecy. He holds a doctor of ministry from Western Theological Seminary and a doctor of literature from Liberty University. A pastor for thirty-nine years, LaHaye has written more than fifty nonfiction books and co-authored the Left Behind, the most successful Christian fiction venture in publishing history, with Jerry Jenkins. You can visit his website at TimLaHaye.com and LeftBehind.com.

Jerry B. Jenkins, the former vice president for publishing and current writer-at-large for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, is the author of more than 150 books, including the Left Behind series with Tim LaHaye. He also assisted Dr. Billy Graham with his memoir Just As I Am. Dr. Jenkins's writing has appeared in Time, Reader's Digest, Parade, Guideposts, and dozens of other Christian periodicals. Dr. Jenkins owns Jenkins Entertainment, a filmmaking company based in Los Angeles, as well as the Christian Writers Guild, which aims to train tomorrow's professional Christian writers and has nearly two thousand members worldwide. He is also a sought-after marriage and family speaker. You can visit his website at JerryJenkins.com and LeftBehind.com.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1ST edition (November 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399153896
• ISBN-13: 978-0399153891
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #517,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Literature & Fiction > Biblical Fiction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring, Poorly Written Book, January 11, 2007

By 

M. Coley - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: John's Story: The Last Eyewitness (The Jesus Chronicles, Book 1) (Hardcover)

I'm a huge fan of LaHaye and Jenkins, and I love almost all of their other books. I'm a big fan of Historical Christian Fiction. But this book is just plain awful.

The character development is non-existent. I just finished the book last night, and there are only four characters that I can even remember (John, Ignatius, Polycarp, and Cerinthus). I didn't feel like I knew any more about those characters when I finished.

The plot is dull and unimaginative. It's basically just wrapping a boring, pointless story around the Gospel of John and The Revelation of John. Just reading those two books from the Bible would have been far more rewarding.

If you want to see how Biblical Fiction can be done well, read any of Ellen Gunderson Traylor's early works. They're page-turners that expand upon the truth found in the Bible, illustrate the personalities of people from the Bible, and highlight the nuggets that are so easy to miss in the Bible. The only thing that kept me turning pages in "John's Story" was the hope that it would improve. It never did.

51 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Just Read the Bible, December 1, 2006

By 

D. Jones (Overseas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: John's Story: The Last Eyewitness (The Jesus Chronicles, Book 1) (Hardcover)

I agree whole heartedly with the first reviewer. At first I was excited to see LaHaye and Jenkins together again. I had read the entire Left Behind Series and I am eagerly awaiting the final book Kingdom Come. I was disappointed in some of LaHaye's other works like the Babylon Series but was wiling to give him another chance in this new series since he partnered back up with Jenkins. But I have to say that this new book which from what I gather is the first in a series of 4 books of each of the Gospels was very disappointing. Like the first reviewer I was hoping to get some sort of insight into John himself, maybe a bit of Christian history.....not so. This book was the Bible verbatim! After the first chapter it's been all down hill since. I'm only half way through and I'm finding it a struggle to finish the rest. It's a far cry from the Left Behind books which I could finish in a day or two. I will most likely finish the book but will not bother purchasing any more in this series.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Same old story again, January 24, 2007

By 

Deborah "Books, Movies and Chinese Food" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: John's Story: The Last Eyewitness (The Jesus Chronicles, Book 1) (Hardcover)

John, the disciple Jesus loved most, is the only disciple left. All the others have been killed for their beliefs. Currently in prison awaiting his sentence, John wants to get his story about his life with the Messiah out to the rest of the world. When an attempt to boil him in a pot of oil fails, John is sentenced to exile onPatmos. Before he goes, he dictates his story to Polycarp in hopes that others will listen to it and believe.

When I first heard the premise of this novel, I was excited. I thought it was going to be the New Testament through John's eyes during that time period. I thought the story would be first person narrative from John's point of view from when he grew up, to meeting Jesus, throughout Jesus' ministry, after Jesus died, etc. Unfortunately this book was not at all what I expected. I didn't feel this book to be on the level as the Left Behind series. To me the story was just verbatim the Bible with a little background story for continuity thrown in. I did find the Gnostic believer and his arguments with John very interesting with that belief brought to contemporary popularity these days. I wish they had included more of that discussion. I also did find John's attempted death in the oil fascinating. However the rest of the book was not exciting or even uncovering anything new. Also the author's felt the need to include all of John's works from the Bible in the book. So really, the 300 page book is only half a novel. This wouldn't be such a problem if the story wasn't EXACTLY what was in the Bible. It almost feels like the authors were afraid to create a character for John, different that how he is always portrayed. You don't know anything about his personal life at all. Seeing as how John was the disciple Jesus loved the most, I expected more from this book. I only hope that for the other books, they change the format and include more original story and less repetition.