"Apollyon": A Review

by Travis L. Quertermous

INTRODUCTION

This is the fifth installment in our series of reviews of the bestselling novels called the "Left Behind" series. The authors of these books are Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye. These fictional books are designed to popularize the heresy called dispensational premillennialism. In this they have been very successful as more than 18,000,000 copies of the series have been sold. Please refer to our earlier reviews for more background information on these novels, their authors, and the purpose for these books.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

Book five in the "Left Behind" series is entitled Apollyon. More will be said in a moment about this odd word. The world is still in the throws of the seven-year Tribulation under the dominance of the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia. A band of "Christian" freedom-fighters called the Tribulation Force are still resisting his evil schemes even though the world views Carpathia as a benevolent ruler. His second-in-command, Leon Fortunato, even begins to preach that Carpathia is a god by claiming that he raised him from the dead. God is pouring out His wrath on a rebellious world in the form of the seven trumpet judgments mentioned in Revelation 8-9. The first three fell in book four. Judgments four and five occur in Apollyon. When the fourth trumpet sounds, a third of the sun, moon, and stars are darkened for a time resulting in a third less daylight and a third less darkness (cf. Rev. 8:12-13). The fifth trumpet unleashes a horde of demonic locusts under the leadership of a monster named Abaddon in Hebrew or Apollyon in Greek (cf. Rev. 9:1-12). Hence the name of the novel. (The names mean "destruction" and "destroyer," respectively.) Oddly, the title character never makes an appearance in the book. These creatures attack the unbelievers for 10 months and cause them such agony they want to die but are not allowed to by God. Meanwhile, two members of the Trib Force who worked undercover in Carpathia's administration, Rayford Steele and Cameron "Buck" Williams, are exposed and become international fugitives. But unknown to the Antichrist, the Trib Force has more "moles" in his government. There is a dramatic public encounter between the Antichrist and the leader of the Trib Force, Rabbi Tsion Ben-Judah, which results in Carpathia's public humiliation. As a result, he tries to have them murdered, but they escape back to their safe-house near Chicago. However, another Trib Force member dies in the escape attempt, pilot Ken Ritz, as he is shot dead by the Antichrist's soldiers. The head of Enigma Babylon One World Faith, Peter the Second, decrees that "Christianity" (i.e. dispensationalism) is now illegal. But under increasing persecution, the faith only grows. Apollyon closes on a happy note as Buck's wife (and Rayford's daughter) Chloe gives birth to a healthy son.

A RESPONSE

The fatal error of the premillennialist is that he ignores some basic principles of Bible interpretation. One of these is to recognize what kind of literature one is studying. Revelation is apocalyptic literature written is graphic symbols and visions. It is a cardinal error to literalize such figures of speech, but premillennialists make this mistake over and over. The "Left Behind" books well-illustrate the nonsense that results from the Bible when you do this.

Dispensationalism also ignores the historical context of Revelation. By this we mean the historical situation that gave rise to the writing of the book. This can often be inferred from what is said in the book itself or from Acts, but sometimes it is important to look at secular history for this important information. This is important to an understanding of many of the books of the Bible and it is crucial with Revelation. A reading of the first three chapters of the book make it plain that the Lord's church was being severly persecuted and that it was going to get worse before it got better. It is generally agreed that Revelation was written around 96 A.D. and history reveals that the evil Roman emperor Domitian was attempting to destroy the church of Christ. Faithful brethren were refusing to worship him as a god like he was demanding and this caused the wicked emperor to unleash the worst persecution the church had yet faced. Understanding this historical context makes Revelation a much more understandable book. It is a letter of comfort and reassurance to persecuted saints to remain faithful, that the Lord was going to destroy all their enemies (principally Rome and its blasphemous emperor cult), and that they were going to reign eternally with Christ in heaven.

With an understanding of these two basic principles of Bible interpretation, we are now able to make a reasonable interpretation of the seven trumpet judgments in Revelation 8-9, rather than make a mockery of them as the "Left Behind" authors do. The seven seal judgments, seven trumpet judgments, and seven vial judgments all reveal God increasing historical judgments on heathen Rome. Non-premillennial interpreters do not always agree on the fulfillment of these prophecies other than to recognize they were fulfilled in the ancient past. Let us focus our attention on the fourth and fifth trumpet judgments since that is the focus of Apollyon.

In Revelation 8:12-13, the fourth trumpet of God's wrath is sounded. A third of the sun, moon, and stars are darkened as a result. The darkening of the sun, moon, and stars is a frequent symbol in apocalyptic passages. It always indicates God's judgment on a nation. Using such figurative language, Isaiah predicted the downfall of Babylon (Isa. 13:10), Ezekiel foresaw the collapse of Egypt (Ezek. 32:7), Amos prophesied the end of Israel (Amos 8:9), and the Lord foretold the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt. 24:29; Mk. 13:24-25; Lk. 21:25-26). John uses the same apocalyptic language to predict God's judgment on Rome.

What of the demonic plague of locusts unleashed by the fifth trumpet in Revelation 9:1-12? Who is Apollyon? Again, it is clear from the description of these monsters that actual animals are not being described. John describes them as being a bizarre hybrid of locusts, scorpions, horses, men and lions. They also wear crowns. They attack only unbelievers. What is the significance of all this? Again, locusts were often used by God in the Bible to punish sinners. The demonic locusts of the fifth trumpet are very reminiscent of the eighth plague on Egypt (Ex. 10) and a similar horde of locusts God sent to punish rebellious Judah (Joel 1). The purpose of these "locusts" is the same, only the nation being punished is Rome. It is clear that John is not describing actual insects, but evil men whom God will use to bring about Rome's downfall. They appear as men, but their grotesque features show how evil and corrupt they are. That they wear crowns suggests that they are rulers. But who exactly do they represent? It may not be possible to say for sure, but one explanation that I believe is reasonable is that these monstrous locusts represent the decadence of the Caesars. The Greek name of the leader of these creatures, Apollyon, may hint of this as well. Many commentators have noted the similarity of this name to the Greek god Apollo and Domitian claimed to be the incarnation of Apollo. Thus, Apollyon may be the evil Roman emperor himself and the locusts a representation of the rest of the empire's corrupt governors, rulers, and officials. This was a major factor in Rome's eventual decline and fall. John is showing in the fifth trumpet that God is using Rome's own corrupt rulers to destroy the evil empire in a brilliant stroke of poetic justice.

One should note too that all of the trumpet judgments were partial or limited in nature. A third of the sun, moon, and stars are affected, but not all. Apollyon's locust horde afflicts sinners for only five months, but no one dies. In these partial, limited judgments, God is giving the Romans time to repent, but they refuse to do so (Rev. 9:20-21). Thus, there is nothing for the Lord to do but to pour out His anger in full force against them. This is depicted in the seven bowls of the wrath of God in Revelation 16.

CONCLUSION

As I have said before, the one service these books may render is to show just how absurd premillennialism truly is. I laughed several times reading Apollyon because the novel shows just how ridiculous it becomes to literalize the symbolic prophecies of Revelation as the authors and all dispensationalists do. Book six of the "Left Behind" series is called Assassins; look for our review of it in a future issue of POWER.