Editing Left Behind (section)

==Books==

===Main series===
''Left Behind'' tells an apocalyptic story about the ending of [[Earth]] (set in the contemporary era) over a period of seven years. The true believers in [[Jesus Christ]] have been [[rapture]]d (taken instantly to [[heaven]]), leaving [[non-believers]] behind on Earth, now a shattered and chaotic world.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gross |first=Michael Joseph |date=January 2000 |title=The Trials of the Tribulation |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/00jan/001gross.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250125154228/https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/00jan/001gross.htm |archive-date=January 25, 2025 |access-date=August 6, 2023 |website=[[The Atlantic]]}}</ref> As people scramble for answers, an obscure [[Romanians|Romanian]] politician named [[Nicolae Carpathia|Nicolae Jetty Carpathia]] rises to become [[United Nations Secretary-General|secretary-general]] of the [[United Nations]], promising to restore peace and stability to all nations. What most of the world does not realize is that Carpathia is actually the Antichrist foretold in the Bible. Coming to grips with the truth and becoming [[born-again]] [[Christians]], airline pilot [[Rayford Steele]], his daughter [[Chloe Steele|Chloe]], their pastor [[Bruce Barnes (Left Behind)|Bruce Barnes]], and young journalist [[Cameron "Buck" Williams]] begin their quest as the Tribulation Force to help save the lost and prepare for the coming [[Tribulation]], in which God will rain down judgment on the world for seven years.

According to [[James S. Bielo|James Bielo]], it is based on a [[dispensationalism|dispensationalist]] interpretation of prophecies in the Biblical books of [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]], [[Book of Daniel|Daniel]], [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] and [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bielo |first=James S. |author-link=James S. Bielo |title=Emerging Evangelicals: Faith, Modernity, and the Desire for Authenticity |publisher=[[NYU Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0814789551 |pages=141}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Published order !! Chronological order !! Title (with subtitle) !! Published date
|-
| 1 || 4 || ''[[Left Behind (novel)|Left Behind]]: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days'' || 1995
|-
| 2 || 5 || ''[[Tribulation Force]]: The Continuing Drama of Those Left Behind'' || 1996
|-
| 3 || 6 || ''[[Nicolae (novel)|Nicolae]]: The Rise of Antichrist'' || 1997
|-
| 4 || 7 || ''[[Soul Harvest]]: The World Takes Sides'' || 1998
|-
| 5 || 8 || ''[[Apollyon (novel)|Apollyon]]: The Destroyer Is Unleashed'' || 1999
|-
| 6 || 9 || ''[[Assassins (LaHaye novel)|Assassins]]: Assignment: Jerusalem, Target: Antichrist'' || 1999
|-
| 7 || 10 || ''[[The Indwelling]]: The Beast Takes Possession'' || 2000
|-
| 8 || 11 || ''[[The Mark (novel)|The Mark]]: The Beast Rules the World'' || 2000
|-
| 9 || 12 || ''[[Desecration (novel)|Desecration]]: Antichrist Takes the Throne'' || 2001
|-
| 10 || 13 || ''[[The Remnant (LaHaye novel)|The Remnant]]: On the Brink of Armageddon'' || 2002
|-
| 11 || 14 || ''[[Armageddon (novel)|Armageddon]]: The Cosmic Battle of the Ages'' || 2003
|-
| 12 || 15 || ''[[Glorious Appearing]]: The End of Days'' || 2004
|-
| 13 || 1 || ''[[The Rising (LaHaye novel)|The Rising]]: Antichrist is Born: Before They Were Left Behind'' || 2005<ref>{{cite book|oclc=57124481|title=The Rising: Antichrist Is Born|url=https://archive.org/details/risingantichrist00laha|url-access=registration|publisher=Tyndale House Publishers|isbn=978-0-8423-6193-4|year=2005}}</ref>
|-
| 14 || 2 || ''[[The Regime (novel)|The Regime]]: Evil Advances: Before They Were Left Behind #2'' || 2005<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/regimeeviladvanc00laha|title=(All Libraries)|access-date=October 4, 2014|isbn=9781414305769|last1=Lahaye|first1=Tim F.|last2=Jenkins|first2=Jerry B.|year=2005|publisher=Tyndale House Publishers |url-access=registration}}</ref>
|-
| 15 || 3 || ''[[The Rapture (novel)|The Rapture]]: In the Twinkling of an Eye: Countdown to Earth's Last Days #3'' || 2006
|-
| 16 || 16 || ''[[Kingdom Come (LaHaye novel)|Kingdom Come]]: The Final Victory'' || 2007
|}

====Characters====
{{main|List of Left Behind characters|l1=List of ''Left Behind'' characters}}

====Influences on the authors====
LaHaye and Jenkins cite the influence of [[Russell Doughten]], an Iowa-based filmmaker who directed the [[A Thief in the Night (film series)|''Thief in the Night'' series]], a series of four low-budget but popular feature-length films in the 1970s and 1980s about the [[Rapture]] and [[Second Coming]], starting with 1972's ''[[A Thief in the Night (film)|A Thief in the Night]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=Dean A. |date=March 7, 2012 |title=The Original 'Left Behind' |url=https://christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/marchweb-only/originalleftbehind.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806182100/https://christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/marchweb-only/originalleftbehind.html |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |access-date=August 6, 2023 |website=[[Christianity Today]]}}</ref> Indeed, the title ''Left Behind'' echoes the refrain of ''Thief''{{'s}} [[Christian rock|early Christian rock]] theme song by [[Larry Norman]], "I Wish We'd All Been Ready," in which he sings, "There's no time to change your mind, the Son has come and you've been left behind."

The success of [[Frank Peretti]]'s pioneering Christian [[spiritual warfare]] thrillers in the 1980s and 1990s was a significant influence on the authors as well.<ref name="Connolly">{{Cite journal |last=Connolly |first=Andrew |date=2020 |title=Masculinity, Political Action, and Spiritual Warfare in the Fictional Ministry of Frank E. Peretti |url=https://www.academia.edu/42605016 |url-status=live |journal=Christianity & Literature |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=60 |doi=10.1353/chy.2020.0003 |issn=2056-5666 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505115505/https://www.academia.edu/42605016/Masculinity_Political_Action_and_Spiritual_Warfare_in_the_Fictional_Ministry_of_Frank_E_Peretti?auto=download |archive-date=2022-05-05 |access-date=2022-05-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Silliman |first=Daniel |title=Religion and the Marketplace in the United States |date=2015 |publisher=[[Oxford Academic]] |editor-last=Stievermann |editor-first=Jan |edition=Online |location=New York |chapter=Publishers and Profit Motives: The Economic History of left behind |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199361793.003.0008 |editor-last2=Goff |editor-first2=Philip |editor-last3=Junker |editor-first3=Detlef}}</ref>