"The Indwelling": A Review

by Travis L. Quertermous

INTRODUCTION

This is the seventh installment in our review of the "Left Behind" series of religious novels. The authors are Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, two prolific evangelical authors. The purpose of this series of books is to popularize the heresy known as dispensational premillennialism. In this they have been hugely successful as this series has sold more than 18,000,000 books. Every novel has been a number one bestseller. The threat the "Left Behind" books, tapes, movies, and merchandise represents to the truth cannot go unanswered. Thus, this series of reviews is necessitated.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

Book seven in the "Left Behind" series is called The Indwelling. As far as plot goes, there is not much to report until the last few pages of the book. The Tribulation has reached its mid-point (3 ½ years), but this novel only covers about three days. Much of it is taken up with preparing for the funeral for the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia, who was assassinated in Jerusalem at the end of the last book. The world mourns their fallen leader whom they have been duped into believing was the greatest benefactor in history. The Tribulation Force, however, knows better. They also "know" that the Bible predicts Antichrist's resurrection at which time he will be possessed by Satan (hence the novel's title).

Carpathia's assassin is revealed to be Dr. Chaim Rosenzweig, a Jewish botanist. His fantastic discovery of a formula to make deserts bloom was used by Carpathia to assume world power. At first a Carpathia loyalist, Rosenzweig eventually learns the truth about him through the Trib Force. In his rage, he plotted Carpathia's assassination and successfully carried it out. In revenge, Antichrist's right-hand man, Leon Fortunato, orders his entire household staff (all believers) murdered. Rosenzweig escapes Israel with the help of Trib Force members Buck Williams and "T" Delanty although T dies in the attempt. Chaim, however, becomes a "believer" as a result. Carpathia's minions discover the Trib Force's headquarters and they are forced to relocate. Fortunato, however, frames the leader of the Trib Force, Rayford Steele, as the murderer.

At the funeral, Fortunato is revealed to be the false prophet of Revelation 13:11-17. He unveils a huge statue of Carpathia and demands that all worship his image on the pain of death. Through some means, he makes the image speak, breath fire, and control the weather. Some who try to flee are killed by the image. At that dramatic moment, Carpathia rises from his casket. He blasphemously claims to be divine and encourages the world to worship him. As the novel closes, Antichrist promises the saints, "If the last three and a half years are your idea of tribulation, wait until you endure the Great Tribulation."

A RESPONSE

The Indwelling develops a number of elements in the dispensational theory. Briefly, let us respond as follows. We will number our responses for clarity.

(1)It must be remembered that Revelation is an apocalyptic drama

describing the church's conflict with the pagan Roman Empire.

The first beast of Revelation 13 represents the Roman emperors,

not the mythical Antichrist of premillennialism. In Revelation

13:3, this beast receives a deadly wound which is then healed;

in some way this relates to the Roman Caesars and is not a

prophecy of Antichrist's assassination and resurrection. Many

commentators believe that John is making use of a Roman myth

concerning Nero Caesar. Under this evil emperor in the 60's

A.D., Christians in the city of Rome were severely persecuted

and the apostles Paul and Peter were martyred. After Nero's

suicide, it was widely believed by the superstitious Romans he

would rise from the dead and return to attack Rome. Since the

emperor at the time of Revelation's writing, Domitian, acted

like Nero in persecuting the church, John used the myth of

Nero's resurrection to describe Domitian. Thus, the beast

(Nero Caesar) receives a deadly wound, but is raised

(figuratively) in the form of Domitian to continue his war

against the church.

(2)The alleged actual resurrection of the Antichrist has some

serious implications and is too much for even some

dispensationalists to take. To ascribe to the devil the power

to actually perform miracles, including raising the dead,

undermines the uniqueness of the Bible. God authenticated His

word with miracles (Mk. 16:20; Heb. 2:2-4; 2 Cor. 12:12). If

Satan can perform true miracles, how can one tell the truth

from error? Also, the resurrection is the greatest proof of

Jesus' claim to be the Son of God. If the devil also has the

power to raise the dead, this central doctrine of Christianity

is forever compromised (cf. Rom. 1:3; 1 Cor. 15:1-19; Acts

17:30-31). The Bible refers to the signs of Satan and his

minions as "lying wonders" and "unrighteous deceptions" (2

Thess. 2:9-10). Besides, a closer look at Revelation 13:3

shows it does not say that the beast was actually killed;

rather, it says, "I saw one of his heads as if it had been

mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed" (emp. added).

This tenet of dispensationalism is blasphemous!

(3)The second beast of Revelation 13:11-17 is also called the

false prophet by John (Rev. 16:13; 19:20). He is a religious

figure who is a subordinate of the first beast and causes men

to worship him through deceptive signs. The false prophet

represents the Roman emperor cult which was responsible for

enforcing the worship of the emperor. Most Roman emperors were

content to wait until after their deaths to be proclaimed a

god, but Domitian arrogantly demanded that his subjects worship

him while he lived. Shrines had been erected in cities across

the empire for this purpose. Faithful brethren refused to

worship Caesar and in his rage, Domitian tried to exterminate

the church. Premillennialism's version of the second beast is

pure fantasy.

(4)The situational ethics promoted by the authors continues in The Indwelling. Although Rayford repents of the pride which led

him to try to murder Carpathia in the last novel, he never

repents of the attempted homicide. In fact, the "pastor" of

the Trib Force, Rabbi Tsion Ben-Judah justifies Rayford's crime

by saying, "Off the top of my head, I believe we are at war.

In the heat of battle, killing the enemy has never been

considered murder" (p. 90). That same "logic" has been used to

rationalize atrocities like the Crusades, the Inquisition, and

the Catholic/Protestant war in northern Ireland!

(5)There is a gross perversion of Joel 2:28-32 in the novel.

Tsion has a vision of Michael the archangel wherein he

witnesses a confrontation between God and Satan in heaven.

Later, the angel Gabriel appears to him in another dream to

show him Michael casting the devil out of heaven as is recorded

in Revelation 12:1-12. Tsion interprets these events as a

fulfillment of Joel's promise that in the last days the Spirit

would be poured out and old men would dream dreams. A

persistent problem with the premillennialist is he just ignores

the New Testament's interpretation of Old Testament prophecies.

Peter plainly declared that Joel's prophecy was fulfilled on

Pentecost and that the last days began then (Acts 2:14-21; cf.

Heb. 1:2; 2 Tim. 3:1-5).

CONCLUSION

The Indwelling represents a real picture of what many sincere religious folks believe is awaiting the world in the near future. Sadly, dispensationalism represents a very real threat to their salvation. Let us resolve to study these matters more closely that we might help them understand the Bible better. Book eight in the "Left Behind" series is entitled The Mark. Look for our review of it in a future issue of POWER.