Editing Tim LaHaye (section)

===''Left Behind''===
{{main|Left Behind (series)}}
LaHaye is best known for the ''Left Behind'' series of [[apocalypse|apocalyptic]] fiction that depicts the [[Earth]] after the [[dispensationalism|pretribulation]] [[rapture]] which premillennial dispensationalists believe the Bible states, multiple times, will occur. The books were LaHaye's idea, though [[Jerry B. Jenkins]], a former sportswriter with numerous other works of fiction to his name, wrote the books from LaHaye's notes.<ref name="mcalister">{{cite news |author=McAlister |first=Melani |date=September 4, 2003 |title=An Empire of Their Own |url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030922/mcalister |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227103517/http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030922/mcalister |archive-date=December 27, 2007 |access-date=December 19, 2007 |work=[[The Nation]]}}</ref>

The series, which started in 1995 with the first novel, includes 12 titles in the adult series, as well as juvenile novels, audio books, devotionals, and graphic novels. The books have been very popular, with total sales surpassing 65 million copies as of July 2016.<ref name="NYTMC">{{cite news|last1=McFadden|first1=Robert|title=Tim LaHaye Dies at 90: Fundamentalist Leader's Grisly Novels Sold Millions|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/books/tim-lahaye-a-christian-fundamentalist-leader-dies-at-90.html?_r=0|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=July 27, 2016|date=July 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729205015/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/books/tim-lahaye-a-christian-fundamentalist-leader-dies-at-90.html?_r=0|archive-date=July 29, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Seven titles in the adult series have reached No. 1 on the bestseller lists for ''[[The New York Times]], [[USA Today]]'', and ''[[Publishers Weekly]]''.<ref>{{cite web |author=Jenkins |first=Jerry B. |last2=LaHaye |first2=Tim |title=Left Behind |url=http://www.leftbehind.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830114316/http://www.leftbehind.com/ |archive-date=August 30, 2009 |access-date=July 29, 2016 |website=Left Behind}}</ref>{{Secondary source needed|date=May 2025}} [[Jerry Falwell]] said about the first book in the series: "In terms of its impact on Christianity, it's probably greater than that of any other book in modern times, outside the Bible."<ref name="alleman">{{cite news |author=Alleman |first=Thomas Michael |date=February 7, 2005 |title=The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America: Tim and Beverly LeHaye |url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101050207/photoessay/15.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050203012258/http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101050207/photoessay/15.html |archive-date=February 3, 2005 |access-date=September 8, 2007 |work=[[Time magazine|TIME]]}}</ref> The best-selling series has been compared to the equally popular works of [[Tom Clancy]] and [[Stephen King]]: "the plotting is brisk and the characterizations [[Manichaeism|Manichean]]. People disappear and things blow up."<ref name="goldberg"/>

LaHaye indicates that the idea for the series came to him one day circa 1994, while he was sitting on an airplane and observed a married pilot flirting with a flight attendant. He wondered what would befall the pilot if the Rapture happened at that moment.<ref name="dreyfuss"/> The first book in the series opens with a similar scene. He sold the movie rights for the ''Left Behind'' series and later stated he regretted that decision, because the films turned out to be "church-basement videos", rather than "a big-budget blockbuster" that he had hoped for.<ref name="HagertyWSJ"/>