"Nicolae": A Review

by Travis L. Quertermous

INTRODUCTION

This is the third installment in our review of the "Left Behind" series of novels currently so popular among religious people. For more background on this series, its two authors (Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye), and a review of the first two books in this series (Left Behind and Tribulation Force), see the first two installments in this series. Due to space limitations, we will not spend time here reviewing those reviews. However, we will pause here long enough to note that this series of novels is a thinly-disguised attempt to teach the false doctrine known as dispensational premillennialism. In this, they have, unforturnately, been tremendously successful, having sold more than 18,000,000 copies of the series. Jenkins and LaHaye no doubt see these novels as evangelistic tools, but you cannot save lost souls by teaching error and that is exactly what the "Left Behind" series does. How many folks are being duped into believing heresies which will endanger their souls?

The title of the third volume in the "Left Behind" series is Nicolae, taken from the name of the villain, Nicolae Carpathia, the Antichrist. The focus of this novel is reflected in the sub-title: The Rise of the Antichrist. Thus, this review will also focus on the dispensational doctrine of the Antichrist.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

First, however, a summary of the events in Nicolae. At the end of book two, the Tribulation broke out full force with the outbreak of World War III. Killed in this initial attack of the Antichrist is the "pastor" of the Tribulation Force, Bruce Barnes. The Tribulation Force is a small group of "Christian" freedom fighters determined to resist the evil schemes of Nicolae Carpathia's one-world government. Ironically, most of the world views Carpathia as a benevolent, peace-loving savior. In the wake of WWIII, plague and famine devastate many of the survivors. All of this is supposedly a fulfillment of Revelation 6:1-11 which records the thundering forth of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as the Lord breaks the first five seals of the scroll of history (cf. Rev. 5:1-7). However, the Tribulation Force soon has a new "pastor" in Rabbi Tsion-Ben Judah, a converted Orthodox Jew. The rabbi's family is slaughtered by Jewish zealots soon after he makes his new faith public and Tsion is forced into hiding. He is rescued by Tribulation Force member, reporter Cameron "Buck" Williams, and smuggled out of Israel into the United States to safety. Ironically, Buck is still a trusted member of the Carpathia regime. Another Tribulation Force member, Rayford Steele (Buck's father-in-law) has also been hired by Carpathia as his personal pilot. A friend of Rayford's managed to install a secret bug on Carpathia's new airplane so he is able to overhear all of the Antichrist's evil plots and report back to the Tribulation Force.

Nicolae also introduces two allies of the Antichrist. The first one is Pontifex Maximus Peter Mathews, the head of the new religion known as Enigma Babylon One World Faith. Though supposed to be a sub-ordinate of Carpathia's, Mathews views himself as an equal and is portrayed as a bit of a rival to the Antichrist. He had been appointed Pope by Carpathia in book two, but is now promoted to be the head of the new one-world religion which is actually a hodge-podge of religions from all over the globe except Orthodox Judaism and "true" Christianity (i.e., dispensational premillennialism). Mathews is supposed to be the great harlot mentioned in Revelation 17. According to dispensationalism, this chapter predicts the rise of an apostate universal religion allied with the Antichrist. Oddly, John depicts the great harlot as a woman while Jenkins and LaHaye depict "her" as a man! Also introduced is Carpathia's right-hand man, Leon Fortunato, revealed in a later novel as the second beast of Revelation 13:11-18, also known in Revelation as the false prophet. The first beast of Revelation 13 is supposed to be the Antichrist himself, of course.

As Nicolae closes, "the wrath of the Lamb" is poured out on the world in the form of a global earthquake that kills a quarter of the world's population. This is supposedly the fulfillment of Revelation 6:12-17 which records the opening of the sixth seal by Christ. Carpathia, Rayford, and Buck all survive the earthquake, but the fates of Tsion, fellow Tribulation Force members Amanda White (Rayford's wife) and Chloe Williams (Buck's wife and Rayford's daughter), and Leon Fortunado are a mystery.

A RESPONSE

Dispensational premillennialism's doctrine of the Antichrist is completely unscriptural. The word "antichrist" appears four times in the New Testament, all in the writings of John. Read them carefully and see if any of them predict the rise of a world dictator who will all but destroy the earth in the last few years of human history before the second coming of Christ:

"Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there

many antichrists; wherby we know it is the last time" (1 John 2:18).

"Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the

Son" (1 John 2:22).

"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is the

spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come: and even now is it in the world" (1 John

4:3).

"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.

This is a deceiver and an antichrist" (2 John 7).

Now it seems plain that John is opposing a group of first century false teachers who were denying that Jesus was the Christ and had come in the flesh. They are known to history as the Gnostics. He describes such heretics as antichrist because they are against Christ. But nowhere does John say anything about "the Antichrist" as though there were just one--in fact, he taught just the opposite, that there were even then many antichrists. Note also that John used the expression "the last time" in the present tense. In other words, the last time began in the first century, not the end of the twentieth century as premillennialism teaches. We are in the last time because when Jesus returns, whenever that may be, the world will end with the Judgment Day (1 Cor. 15:20-24; 2 Pet. 3:1-13). You would have to have help to miss these crystal clear points and unfortunately, the "Left Behind" series is giving that "help" to millions of misguided souls!

As for the beasts of Revelation 13, it is significant that nowhere does John describe either of them as "the Antichrist." Mind you, this is the same John who used the word "antichrist" four times in First and Second John. Most likely, the first beast is a personification of the wicked Roman emperors who had viciously persecuted the church of Christ when Revelation was written around 96 A.D. The second beast most likely symbolized the Roman emperor cult which required citizens of the empire to worship Caesar as a god. This faithful brethren refused to do, which resulted in the persecution and suffering so vividly described in Revelation 6-19. The great harlot is no doubt a reference to the city of Rome itself (Rev. 17:18), figuratively represented as Babylon, the ancient seat of evil in the Old Testament (Rev. 17:5). God's judgment on pagan Rome is the emphasis of Revelation 17-18, not some purported one-world religion headed by dispensationalism's great harlot in the last days of history.

CONCLUSION

Brethren and friends, let us again emphasize that the "Left Behind" series is fictional and has no real foundation in the Bible at all, dispensational premillennialists to the contrary notwithstanding! Nonetheless, they are extremely popular and are deceiving millions of people. The Lord's church was split over this heresy in the 1930's and we must not allow it raise its ugly head again. If we remain silent, we are courting disaster. The fourth novel in the "Left Behind" series is entitled Soul Harvest--watch for our review of it in a future issue of POWER.