I did, though mostly secondhand (I had a couple of classmates who were into them). My main exposure to them was via an evangelical’s huge multi-year writeup dissecting exactly why they were awful.

These things sold tens of millions and informed a huge number of Christians’ religious views. Some highlights include:

  • The very first words of the very first book are “Rayford Steele’s mind was on a woman he had never touched. With his fully loaded 747 on autopilot…”
  • Russia and Ethiopia fire their entire nuclear arsenals at Israel. This is because the authors see it as fulfillment of the Bible verse discussing “Gog and Magog.” Divine intervention destroys every single missile and aircraft with no Israeli casualties. Somehow, this does not cause any of the characters to question their own religious beliefs.
  • The Rapture happens. Billions of people vanish overnight. Somehow, this exact fulfillment of the Rapture prophecy is treated as something between “Huh. I wonder if the Christians were right” and “That’s just a kooky Christian theory, it was actually caused by the electromagnetism from nuclear weapons.”
  • Less than a week after The Rapture, the world gets back to normal despite something like a third of the Earth’s population having just disappeared. There is no sign of long-term trauma or logistical strain.
  • The Antichrist is a Romanian who takes over the world by ascending to the position of UN Secretary General. His evil plan includes dismantling the world’s militaries and using the money saved on weapons to pay for the development of the Global South.
  • Female characters have two possible personalities: perfect tradwife and sinful harlot.
  • One of the later books includes a graphic, gory description of Jesus simultaneously exploding tens of thousands of people.
  • GalaxyBrain [they/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    12 days ago

    You’re wrong about A unless maybe your referring to specifically how The Rapture happens in Left Behind. And even then that would vary a lot depending on which denomination. Jesus is quoted in the Bible saying the world wouldn’t last more than a generation and pretty much every Christian ever has had to try to make him not a false prophet by having some belief of a nearby apocalypse. The protestant reformation led to many people interpreting the Bible themselves and creating a shitload of sects that exist to this day and many, including the puritans totally thought the apocalypse was just around the corner. It’s a baked in part of the religion if you bother reading the Bible with some historical context. Most of protestant Christianity was really into the idea a couple hundred years prior to the 1800s and don’t even get me started on the 30 years war. Christians always believe the end time is upon the. Cause it’s an essential aspect of the religion

    • Belly_Beanis [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      12 days ago

      Christians always believe the end time is upon the. Cause it’s an essential aspect of the religion

      I knew a guy once who was extremely well-versed in scripture. Like "knew the original Koine Greek translations to Latin " levels of knowledge. He was also totally convinced the apocalypse would happen in his lifetime, then he died between the Mayan calendar 2012 stuff and Trump’s 2015 presidential campaign.

      I would have said “I told you you’re full of shit,” but he can’t hear me anymore.

    • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      12 days ago

      I’m specifically talking about the “all Christians just up and vanish like that” aspect that the rapture refers to. Afaik, it’s not really supported by the scripture, except going back and retrofitting various verses to support the idea.

      • Crucible [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        12 days ago

        Yeah, that’s the ‘bodily rapture’ and came from 1800’s US, there was a misinformation push among end times preachers like Jack Van Impe in the 90’s against clear evidence that it was from the US revival meetings in recent history. Before that Christians mostly believed the same as Muslims: when the end times arrive everyone’s physical bodies are restored- whether they live on earth or in heaven, if they’re judged then or in 1000 years, etc. etc. were the more common and schismatic questions

      • GalaxyBrain [they/them]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        12 days ago

        That aspect is weird and for sure recent-ish. I could see where someone may get there in retrospect but only in retrospect. I would have never predicted it had I been around to do so. No one who picked up Twilight for the first time could have predicted 50 Shades of Grey either, but you work your way back and it makes sense.