"Tribulation Force": A Review

by Travis L. Quertermous

INTRODUCTION

This is the second installment of our series of reviews of the enormously popular "Left Behind" series of religious novels. The authors are two widely-read evangelical writers, Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye. Though marketed as fiction, these books are really nothing more than a thinly-disguised attempt to teach the heresy called dispensational premillennialism. In this they are being greatly sucessful, as the series has sold more than 18,000,000 copies. Book one in this series was entitled Left Behind and focused on the Rapture. Please refer back to the first installment mentioned above for more background information on the "Left Behind" series and the need for these book reviews.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

Book two in the "Left Behind" series is entitled Tribulation Force. The focus of this book is the so-called Tribulation period. According to dispensationalism, the Tribulation is a seven-year period of intense, world-wide suffering under the universal domination of the evil Antichrist following the Rapture of the church. The last three-and-a-half years of this period is called the Great Tribulation because of the particularly brutal persecution of the saints by Antichrist and God's corresponding punishment of the world because of these crimes. The Great Tribulation will end with the Battle of Armageddon and the return of Jesus Christ to the earth to establish His millennial kingdom. All of this is allegedly spelled out in chapters 5-19 of the Book of Revelation. The novel takes its name from the Tribulation Force, a little group of four "Christian" freedom fighters who are resisting the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia. These four heroes are Captain Rayford Steele, a pilot, and his daughter, Chloe, reporter Cameron "Buck" Williams, and "Pastor" Bruce Barnes. All of these were unbelievers and were thus left behind when the Lord raptured the church to heaven. Afterward, they were "saved" by faith alone when they said "the sinner's prayer." Tribulation Force follows their exploits as Carpathia solidifies his grip on world-power. Ironically, the world views Carpathia as a benevolent savior. Through a series of strange "coincidences" (explained as the providence of God), Rayford and Buck actually go to work for Carpathia (who is ignorant of their membership in the Tribulation Force). This enables them to keep a close eye on the Antichrist and spy on his plans. Buck and Chloe get married. Rayford also gets remarried to a "Christian" woman named Amanda White.

The second novel also focuses on the preaching of two Jewish prophets, Eli and Moishe, at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. These two are supposed to be the fulfillment of Revelation 11:3-6. They convert thousands of Jews to Christ (the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 7:1-8 and 14:1-5). Included in this number is Rabbi Tsion Ben-Judah, a world renowned Orthodox Jewish scholar. Tsion announces to the world his conversion to Christ and becomes a Jewish "Billy Graham" as he preaches all over the world. These three, of course, draw the ire of Carpathia, but God protects them and all who attack them are killed supernaturally. But the Tribulation Force experiences their first casualty when Bruce Barnes is killed as the Antichrist's forces attack Chicago. World War III and the Tribulation begin as the novel closes.

A RESPONSE

There are countless Biblical errors in this second novel as is the case with the entire "Left Behind" series. These include salvation by faith alone and "the sinner's prayer," post-Biblical revelation from God, the direct operation of the Holy Spirit, denominationalism, and the repeated insistence that only dispensational premillennialists are true Christians. But the focus of Tribulation Force is the Tribulation and we will limit our review to this false doctrine. This erroneous belief is grounded in erroneous interpretations of Daniel 9:27 and the Book of Revelation. Daniel 9:27 refers to the death of Christ and the beginning of His new covenant three-and-a-half years into His public ministry. Because they murdered their Messiah, God "determined" to destroy Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

Needless to say, the Bible nowhere speaks of a seven-year or three-and-a-half year period of world-wide terror called the Great Tribulation. The word "tribulation" occurs 21 times in Scripture and always refers to the persecution of God's children or God's punishment of sin. The expression "great tribulation" is found three times in God's word. In Matthew 24:21, the Lord predicted "great tribulation" in connection with the A.D. 70 destruction of Jerusalem. In Revelation 2:22, the Lord promised "great tribulation" to false teachers in the Pergamos Church of Christ. And Revelation 7:14 speaks of the heavenly reward of martyred saints who lost their lives for the cause of Christ during "the great tribulation." But it is pure speculation on the part of dispensationalists to assume that "the great tribulation" of Revelation 7:14 is a three-and-a-half year period of world-wide persecution initiated by the Antichrist! The text itself says nothing about any of that! The Holy Spirit does not use either of these terms like dispensationalists do!

Part of the problem of premillennialism is its insistence on literalizing the figurative language of Bible prophecy, particularly in Daniel and Revelation. In fact, several times it is stated by Jenkins and LaHaye that those who do not "literally" interpret these books are not true Christians and do not take the Bible seriously. In one of Bruce Barnes's sermons, they have him say, "If you have ever been exposed to such imagery and language before, you probably considered it only symbolic, as I did. Is there anyone here who still considers the prophetic teaching of Scripture mere symbolism?" (pp. 64-65). Later they write, "But those who had relegated this kind of teaching to the literalists, the fundamentalists, the close-minded evangelicals, had been left behind. All of a sudden it was all right to take Scripture at its word!" (pg. 67). Later, Buck interviews Catholic archbishop Peter Mathews who is plainly not a dispensationalist. In a later book, Mathews is revealed to be the great harlot of Revelation 17 and a pawn of the Antichrist as Carpathia appoints him the next pope and later the head of the false new one-world religion. Jenkins's and LaHaye's implication is clear: if you are not a dispensational premillennialist, you are a false teacher!

But not even they will stay with this absurdly wooden "literal" approach to the Bible. For instance, they portray Eli and Moeshe exactly as Revelation 11:3-6 describes God's two witnesses, even to the point of them destroying a would-be assassin by breathing fire on him. But they never portray Carpathia as a literal beast with seven literal heads or ten literal horns wearing ten literal crowns as Revelation 13:1 describes the first beast. But according to dispensationalism, this is a prophecy of the Antichrist. Even Jenkins and LaHaye recognize that this is a figurative description. If they would take this same common-sense approach to the rest of Bible prophecy and accept the New Testament's spiritual interpretation of Old Testament prophecies, they would be on much surer Scriptural ground. Of course, they wouldn't be dispensationalists then and there would be no "Left Behind" series of novels! One can take Bible prophecy literally (i.e., understand it in its plain sense) and still interpret its figurative language figuratively! The truth is that Revelation was written to encourage first-century Christians who were being viciously persecuted by Rome. Most of its prophecies were fulfilled in connection with that ancient conflict which the church won (cf. Rev. 1:1-3). Premillennialism ignores this, of course.

CONCLUSION

Brethren and friends, remember that the "Left Behind" series is just what is pretends to be, namely, fiction. They have no real basis in the Scriptures. If they are read at all, they should be enjoyed strictly as novels just as one would read any other fictional book. The third book in the "Left Behind" series is called Nicolae: The Rise of Antichrist. Look for our review of it in a future issue of POWER.