Glorious Appearing: The End of Days (Left Behind #12) (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: glorious appearing, entire remnant, Unity Army, Old City, Temple Mount (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jesus returns at last in this 12th novel in the phenomenally popular Left Behind series, vanquishing his foes and ushering in a new millennium of peace and righteousness. Ray Steele is the only member of the original Tribulation Force alive to see it, however, since Buck Williams endures a bloody death in the opening pages. The novel’s pacing suffers greatly from its own foregone conclusion. Antichrist Nicolae Carpathia, once a fearsome and suave foe, is reduced to shrill hysteria in this installment, and seems more of a cartoon character than a credible instrument of Satan. And the final wars (there are four of them in quick succession) add no drama to the plot, since believers are by that point impervious to harm; neither the bullets from the Unity army or the supernatural lightning raining down from the sky can touch the Christian holdouts. It must have been difficult to imagine the words that Jesus would speak on such an occasion, but the authors’ cautious solution-to draw almost solely on the statements spoken by or about Jesus in the New Testament-feels wooden. However, the book is not devoid of humor, and fans of the series will enjoy the gentle, affectionate camaraderie that exists among the excited members of the ragtag brigade of believers. For readers who have stuck with this soap opera through thick and thin, there is a real emotional payoff in seeing the characters’ reunions with their loved ones who died during the Tribulation.
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Review

"The Left Behind series . . . is among the best-selling fiction books of our times--right up there with Tom Clancy and Stephen King." --Time

"Christian thriller. Prophecy-based fiction. Juiced-up morality tale. Call it what you like, the Left Behind series . . . now has a label its creators could never have predicted: blockbuster success." --Entertainment Weekly

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.; 1st ptg edition (March 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0842332359
• ISBN-13: 978-0842332354
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (293 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #101,692 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #36 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Authors, A-Z > ( J ) > Lahaye, Tim & Jenkins, Jerry B.
  #40 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Authors, A-Z > ( J ) > Jenkins, Jerry
  #52 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Authors, A-Z > ( L ) > Lahaye, Tim

• This is item 12 in The Left Behind Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, July 28, 2004

By	David Benjamin (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Just as a preface, I found the previous books in the Left Behind series flawed but engaging enough to warrant reading. For a lengthy and relatively faithful rendition of how Revelation might play out in our world, I thought the books were suitable--though I would love to see this story retold more realistically and not in a preaching-to-the-choir sort of way.

All that said, Glorious Appearing was a large disappointment for a variety of reasons, most of which are problems in the writing rather than the content of the source material. The first major problem is that there is zero dramatic tension once Jesus shows up. You know the good guys won't get touched and you know all the bad guys will get what's coming to them. You also know exactly what's going to happen, because all the characters have been studying the Scriptures and talking about the prophecies which will be fulfilled. I know that the fulfillment of prophecy is very important for eschatological writing, but novels need dramatic tension to keep the reader's interest. I think it would have been much more interesting to have the focal point characters NOT always in the know, and have them struggle through these experiences without knowing all the answers before hand.

The second major problem is how Jesus and the angels speak: almost entirely in passages lifted straight from the Bible. I'd imagine Lahaye and Jenkins wanted to err on the side of caution here, not wanting to ascribe to Jesus anything that he might not say. That was a mistake for two reasons. From a dramatic standpoint, it made Jesus and the angels dull, their dialogue stale and tedious because we've heard it before (and in this very book series, too). From a theological standpoint, it's troubling because it feels like it's limiting Jesus. A better solution would be to have Jesus speak original, modern dialogue that fits with who he is (as presented in the Bible) and is tied closer to the context of the book.

The third problem is that individual perspective is all but obliterated. Very often there will be a six-page section during which the focal character's name is mentioned once... and then somehow he or she is able to witness things such as mountains splitting in two and entire cities raised hundreds of feet. This book is written like a summary rather than a personal experience. If I wanted the broad picture from a distant point of view I would read Revelation or one of the hundreds of commentaries written on that book. When I'm reading a book--particularly one labeled as FICTION--I want to know and feel what the characters are going through. To this extent, I would rather the characters and myself know less about what's going to happen, so I can experience a much richer and less predictable drama.

There are other problems with this book but those are the primary ones. If you've read most of the previous books in the Left Behind series, then you should definitely read through this one just to complete the story. If you haven't read any of the series or you've only read a book or two, you might want to reconsider before you invest your time in 12 books with a disappointing payoff.

The books are based on worthwhile material (Revelation--which I'd recommend over these books any day) and the authors seem to have good intentions (though I question why they had to stretch this out over so many books if not for money-making reasons), but the execution really falls short in the end. Hopefully the financial success of this series will pave the way for another, better fictional rendering of Revelation.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Different Things to Many Different People, May 9, 2004

By	Old Set (Wadley, AL) - See all my reviews

First, I won't use my review to editorialize, as many others have done. Second, it's difficult to relay to an anonymous person how they will enjoy this book. If you are a fundamentalist Christian who believes in a literal Rapture, you'll either love it for it's religious plot or hate it because you find something wrong with the authors' interpretation of biblical prophecy. If your something else, you'll probably find the violence and self-righteousness of the book sickening. The author's repeatedly belittle the beliefs of others in the most hateful way. For example, Satan claims that he evolved and wasn't created, and then is promptly tossed into Hell. This the author's spiteful revenge on modern science's concept of evolution, which calls into question the fundamentalist's belief in a literal interpretation of the world's creation in Genesis. A far as style goes, the books are not in any way great literature. Many times the plot is simple minded and the prose is inferior to most popular fiction novels. For such a controversial book and series, this is the best information I know to give.

33 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Tragic Abuse of Scripture, April 6, 2004

By	Dan R. Dick "doroteos" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am bewildered by the fact that this series is so popular -- selling over 40 million copies to date -- given the fact that it is so bad. I attempted to read Left Behind when it was first released and gave up after 40 pages or so because it was so poorly written. I figured it was a fad that would quickly pass. I made the decision to read Glorious Appearing from beginning to end and try to get past the poor prose to see what is so deeply appealing about this series. Having finished the book, I think I know why it appeals, and frankly it makes me very sad.
Jenkins and LeHaye offer a stark, harsh, simplistic interpretation of "the end of days" that sends the same message as every "Die Hard/Lethal Weapon" style movie -- good guys will not only win, but they will brutalize, annihilate, and utterly destroy their enemies. This is the way the world works for narrow-minded, petty, angry people who have no sense of control in their lives -- one day we will be able to hurt and kill people we don't like. This is the grand hope of the "good Christians" at Jesus' glorious appearing.
Jenkins and LeHaye have usurped the stunning allegory of Revelation and turned it into trashy pulp fiction. The plot is plodding and laborious -- drawing images from scripture and reducing them to a monochromatic collage of vengeance imagery. The characters are non-existent -- mere caricatures, with supposedly diverse racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. The reality is that names could be swapped off between characters throughout the story and no one would notice. The characters have no personality, to speak of, though Jenkins and LeHaye do manage to offend with their grossly racist attempts at dialogue.
Jesus himself is not glorious savior but a scripture-spouting automaton who wantonly metes out "justice" (defined by an expression of brief remorse as he causes bodies to explode and disintegrate) and seems to have very few original thoughts except to explain why he must destroy everyone who doesn't subscribe to this self-righteous version of Christianity.
Those saved are conceited, arrogant, self-absorbed, narcissists who kill arbitrarily with no remorse, and who are essentially unmoved by the violent, sadistic death of millions (who, in their worldview, deserve everything happening to them). There is no real sense of community -- the Pauline images of the body of Christ, and the gospel message from Jesus known as the Sermon on the Mount are painfully absent from this story -- each believer at the return of Christ encounter him as individuals, where he calls them by name, causing them to care about no one but themselves and Jesus.
All the "good guys" are noble, however -- nothing like the cartoonish buffoons who represent evil. The Antichrist is Colonel Clink and the Beast is Sergeant Schultz, while the merry band of Christians are more or less Hogan's Heroes. This book reads like an eighth grader's theme. Christians receive super powers, which is kind of cool, but appears to be a gloss on the Biblical story. But then, hey, why bother with scriptural integrity when you have a fun story to tell, right?
Commentaries in hand and a good translation of Revelation and the Old Testament prophets (make no mistake -- this is not Christian gospel, but good old fashioned Old Testament wrath of God, judgment of the nations, turn or burn theology) I checked a large number of the "scriptural references" uttered from the mouth of Jesus. LeHaye and Jenkins obviously feel that the Bible needed some good editing and improvement, because they take broad liberties pulling passages out of their historical and theological context, then "tweaking" them to make them fit their story better. Conveniently, there are no references to the scripture Jesus quotes, so you really have to work to check its veracity.
I obviously did not like this book -- even found it offensive -- but would close taking the argument to the LeHaye/Jenkins playing field, simply offering a proof-text scripture from Revelation 22:18-19, "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person's share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book."