Nicolae: The Rise of Antichrist (Left Behind, Book 3)

This is easily the best of the first 3 books in this series. It is hard to put down once you start. Much more action and adventures in this one. Unfortunately for me, I know how this one turns out. I read Book #4 Soul Harvest first, by mistake, and now, I have had to back track. If you do the same thing, do not fret. Books 1, 2, and 3 are just as exciting even with what I already knew. I can't wait to finish the rest of the series. Good vs. Evil and no matter what, those who believe in the Bible teachings, know the Good guys win. It doesn't get any better than that!!!!

. . .concerns me for a number of reasons.
Reason One) The writing is really poor. For someone like myself, who grew up reading the Classics -- and who was always challenged to "reach" and to "strech myself" with regard to my
reading, the quality of the writing (or lack thereof) was a significant "turn-off".
Reason Two) The character development is virtually non-existent. While great writers (Charles Dickens comes to mind) frequently used "flat characters" as a literary device, the authors of this
series seem ONLY to use "flat characters". The "Left Behind" characters seem to be "all good" or "all evil" and make the "jump" from evil (or unsaved) to good with a minimum of struggle. I don't see this as realistic. As the series progresses, the only truly interesting character -- and the only character who seems to be developing a personality is Nicolae! (And I don't think that it is the intent of the authors to promote sympathy for the bad guy!)
Reason Three) The theology presented is presented as "the" correct interpretation of Revelation, embraced by all "true believers". This is nonsense. The theology of Revelation propounded in this series is a 19th century invention, accepted by only a very small minority of Protestant Christians.
It does not represent what most Christians (regardless of denominational affiliation) have believed
about Last Things for the entire history of Christianity.
Reason Four) I find the underlying anti-Catholicism derogatory and offensive. If the authors have theological disagreements with Catholicism, I freely respect that. However, Catholicism is not accurately portrayed here -- rather, it is caricatured. Again, the identity of the "false prophet" is clear; the concept that the "false prophet" will be Pope is also clear -- and that Rome (and specifically the Vatican) will be the headquarters for the new "World Religion" is also clear. As a student of history and theology, I find this offensive in the extreme.
I note that Amazon.com has, in the past, posted disclaimers
with regard to certain openly anti-Semitic material available. I wish that similar disclaimers were
posted with regard to antagonistically anti-Catholic materials as well.

. . .concerns me for a number of reasons.
Reason One) The writing is really poor. For someone like myself, who grew up reading the Classics -- and who was always challenged to "reach" and to "strech myself" with regard to my
reading, the quality of the writing (or lack thereof) was a significant "turn-off".
Reason Two) The character development is virtually non-existent. While great writers (Charles Dickens comes to mind) frequently used "flat characters" as a literary device, the authors of this
series seem ONLY to use "flat characters". The "Left Behind" characters seem to be "all good" or "all evil" and make the "jump" from evil (or unsaved) to good with a minimum of struggle. I don't see this as realistic. As the series progresses, the only truly interesting character -- and the only character who seems to be developing a personality is Nicolae! (And I don't think that it is the intent of the authors to promote sympathy for the bad guy!)
Reason Three) The theology presented is presented as "the" correct interpretation of Revelation, embraced by all "true believers". This is nonsense. The theology of Revelation propounded in this series is a 19th century invention, accepted by only a very small minority of Protestant Christians.
It does not represent what most Christians (regardless of denominational affiliation) have believed
about Last Things for the entire history of Christianity.
Reason Four) I find the underlying anti-Catholicism derogatory and offensive. If the authors have theological disagreements with Catholicism, I freely respect that. However, Catholicism is not accurately portrayed here -- rather, it is caricatured. Again, the identity of the "false prophet" is clear; the concept that the "false prophet" will be Pope is also clear -- and that Rome (and specifically the Vatican) will be the headquarters for the new "World Religion" is also clear. As a student of history and theology, I find this offensive in the extreme.
I note that Amazon.com has, in the past, posted disclaimers
with regard to certain openly anti-Semitic material available. I wish that similar disclaimers were
posted with regard to antagonistically anti-Catholic materials as well.

I just can't take it anymore. The "Left Behind" series has cranked out three miserable novels, and that's three miserable novels too many.
Let's start with what I liked about the books. First off, the premise of the series (the world's coming to an end. What do you do?) is fairly interesting. The fulfillment of the various prophecies is fun to watch, and you want to see how each comes to being in the modern world.
However, for all of its positive points, the series is far too flawed for me to recommend. The interesting premise is hindered by shoddy writing, poor pacing, bland dialogue, one dimensional characters, and all too frequent recaps of the past events in the series.
Furthermore, the writer display a prejudice towards Catholicism, Judaism, and the U.N. Being Catholic, I'm particularly insulted by the anti-Catholic statements spread through the series. The evil, power-mad pope in the series is possibly the most offensive, but the fact that Jenkins and LaHaye display their total ignorance about our "strict orthodoxy" is also vexing. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly describes salvation as coming from God alone, but this never stops the writers from making assaults on our faith. I'm also disturbed by the way the writers show the militia movement as heroic freedom fighters when such people are often, fascist, racist, and violent.

There are three ways to look at the Left Behind books (all of which I've read out of sincere interest in comprehending Fundamentalism):

1. They are science-fantasy, with a little soft-core sex and violence. It fits the genre. As such, it's a very poor job of writing. The characters are neither believable nor individuated enough to sympathize with. The action has no pace, no suspense. There's not a trace of humor. In short, no serious publisher would take a second look at at. Try Harry Potter instead; it's more plausible, and a lot more amusing. OR
2. They are an endless diatribe that rants against "others" in order to incite hatred. They reek of bigotry and racism. If they portray fundamentalist attitudes fairly, then fundamentalists are the sort of people who gloat over the distress of others--not the sort of people who love their neighbors, who see the beam in their own eyes before the speck in someone else's eye, or who forgive anyone 7X70 times! OR
3. The whole shebang is a coded secret message from some diabolic enemy of freedom, with instructions for subverting the democratic process and establishing a sectarian tyranny. I can't break the code; can you? Perhaps you should read every third word from the back of each chapter in order to find the meaning in this droning nonsense.

All in all, I think my third interpretation is the most promising.

Have you noted, by the way, the shameless manner in which the author promotes his sales in his "editorial" reviews? Christian readers, you are being plundered in the name of sanctimony!

The average reader probably knows only two things about Romania -it's the country of a fictional archfiend (Dracula) and the historical archfiend who inspired him (Vlad Trepes). You would that instead of picking further on this now improvrished country which is a threat to nobody Lahaye and LaHaye would have written about an antichrist with a background that gave his a mediocum of irony.
Myself, I would have used a seemingly straightforward Texan who grew up in a political family surrounded by the power and influence of the energy industry, who had the enthusiastic backing of the wealthiest part of our country, the support of the all-powerful U.S. military, plus had millions of highly religious followers ready to snarl in defense of the man when the slightest criticism was applied...now *that* would be a believable Antichrist!

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

When I read the New Testament, I find a God of love and compassion. In these books I find a message of hate and fear. Why are so many eager to condemn those around them who don't believe exactly as you do? The history of early Christianity isn't one of a uniform understanding of Christ's message. If even those right after Christ couldn't get is right, why, on earth, do you believe that you understand the exact message of God? I would suggest we all work on bringing ourselves closer to God's love and spend less time imagining the punishment of those who don't conform to our idea of how God wants us to live

This book is trash. It insults the reader's intelligence, as do all the books in this series. LaHaye and Jenkins need to go back to teaching Sunday School classes and stay out of the literary field.

Great Potentate Nicolae Carpathia is consolidating his power with a one-world economy, plus the ownership of the world media and an ecumenical church, led by a hand-picked pontiff. Rayford Steele and Buck Williams, along with the rest of the Tribulation Force, continue their struggle to survive and protect their families in the midst of global war and destruction. Nicolae is shown to be a cruel tyrant, rather than the kind and gentle leader that most people take him for. The Tribulation Force realizes that Nicolae is the antichrist predicted in the Bible. And yet, both Rayford and Buck are still working for the man. In the meantime, the Tribulation Force try to figure out what evil will be next generated by this man or his minions. And in the midst of all this, the Wrath of the Lamb occurs, throwing everyone into chaos as they try to find each other in the tragedy
Keep reading! These books are easy to read and very entertaining - if a little thought-provoking and/or scary at times.

It's interesting that this volume of the Left Behind series--Nicolae: The Rise of Antichrist--actually doesn't have Nicolae Carpathia in it very much. He certainly doesn't do much "rising" here. In fact, he was featured much more in both of the previous novels, and his entire rise to power is found in those books, too. Actually, he's almost non-existent in this book, and talked about more than shown.

I say it's "interesting," but really it's depressing. It's just another proof for my hypothesis that LaHaye and Jenkins don't really care about the story they're writing. Oh, they care about making money, and possibly about converting people to their... interesting take on Christianity... but otherwise? About plot? About character? About suspense? About drama? No. They don't care about that.

But then, if you're here at the third book having read the first two, you already knew that. So, instead of continuing to lament the obvious lack of skill on display here, I figured I'd take up the challenge that the authors had seemed to set for themselves. Let's discuss the character of Nicolae for a moment.

For a villain to be great, we usually need to be able to relate to that villain on some level. They must have some sympathetic quality. So: the Phantom of the Opera felt outcast, and was in love; Javert was a man of order and law, dedicated to doing his duty; even Darth Vader had a man behind the machine. Since Nicolae is the Antichrist, however, he has no goodness in him. The authors strive to make him an incarnation of pure evil. The problem being that this makes Nicolae a fairly uninteresting character. Nicolae will never change, never grow, never surprise us. He'll simply continue twirl his moustache.

Beyond that, even if we construct a fairly unsympathetic villain, they usually are shown to truly believe in their own cause. Satan, in Paradise Lost, was passionate about his refusal to be subserviant. In real life, we may despise Hitler (and rightly), but we cannot doubt his desire to see the country he loved grow prosperous and strong (though his actions ultimately shattered it almost beyond repair). Villains usually do not believe themselves to be villainous. They often see themselves as heroic.

What does Nicolae believe in? Of what cause or campaign does he see himself the hero? We're provided no real insight into his motivation, nor do we know what he truly wants to accomplish.

There are also some questions about Nicolae that won't leave the reader, but upon which the authors don't seem to care to posit an answer. For instance: does Nicolae know that he's the Antichrist? Does he understand his own role in the end times? It's hard to believe that he does know what's going on, because then he'd also know exactly what would happen (for instance, that he'd be unable to kill the Witnesses at the Wailing Wall till a prescribed day; and also, that he's ultimately going to lose)... but, on the other hand, he's obviously aware of his powers of hypnosis, etc., as he consciously uses them. Where does Nicolae believe these powers of his come from?

I'm not saying that Nicolae has to be, at heart, a "good guy." But I believe that this tale would improve immeasurably if Nicolae were more understandable--if we could relate to him in some way, as is usually the case with the better villains in literary history.

On the subject of Nicolae's powers, it has to be asked: what's the point? The whole mystique, and appeal, of the "Antichrist" archetype is that he's supposed to be a silver-tongued orator. Someone that everyone loves, and believes in. The "wolf in sheep's clothing." Yet, instead of having people convinced by Carpathia in the normal course of affairs, the authors give Carpathia magic powers to sway others to his will. Essentially, mind control. Mind control is boring and lame and removes the actual drama of these conflicts which *should be* that good people are deciding to follow Carpathia of their own free wills.

Also, Nicolae uses a cadre of thugs to enforce his will, and "bump people off" on occasion. Why would the mind-controlling Son of Satan need to resort to such thuggery? It's all just kind of silly.

The Antichrist should be a fascinating and ferocious villain. Nicolae Carpathia seems like an insipid bureaucrat. It's hard to understand why people would follow him (especially the incredible plans he's gotten away with in this series), or even elect him Postmaster General, let alone "Potentate." It's also hard to understand why the heroes of our series haven't yet used their close contact with Carpathia to try to take him out. Sure, pilot Steele doesn't think that Carpathia is slated to die yet, but wouldn't crashing their plane into a mountain be an interesting test of that hypothesis? It isn't even worth the old "college try"?

Ah well, the same-old issues continue to plague this series. There can be no drama when everything is planned out ahead of time (because: no suspense). For instance "The witnesses themselves continually referred to the folly of trying to harm them 'before the due time.' Bruce Barnes had explained...that, indeed, in due time God would allow the witnesses to become vulnerable, and they would be attacked. That incident was still more than a year and a half away...." Color me excited.

Another issue is the fact that the characters are so flat as to make other flat characters seem like Hamlet. As a for instance, take Amanda. If I were to write up all that I knew about Amanda, most of what I'd write down would be: "Her name is Amanda." She almost doesn't exist. All of LaHaye/Jenkins' heroes feel like the same person talking out of different names; I guess because they're all "believers," there's really not a lot of room for different motivations, etc., and none of them can be allowed to do anything morally questionable.

Also, it must be reiterated that the authors are clueless on what they're about. They make several references to the times in these novels being the worstest of the worstest... but... there's really not much to make it seem like this is so. Carpathia's world has some bombs going off, true, but otherwise doesn't seem that much worse for wear. While the media may be controlled, people seem to be able to work and live with a relative level of freedom and comfort. Contrast the world presented in these books with Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany or China during the Cultural Revolution, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Or, as a literary contrast, put this world up against Orwell's 1984 or Rand's Anthem. No contest--compared with these other places, Carpathia's world is pretty cushy.

All this said, I owe it to you (and the book, I suppose), to admit that this is probably the best of the series thus far. Buck's trip 'cross Israel/the Sinai was fairly compelling, and Ben-Judah's my favorite character. Of course, the "best of the series" is worth two stars, because the series is vastly flawed and in many ways. (And can we *please* stop the in-novel anti-abortion preaching? Or, if it must be there, can't it at least be intelligent, or fit within the story, or entertaining, or even compelling, or convincing, or *anything* other than an out-of-place story killer? And can someone explain why the heroes are certain that the child of the *Antichrist* wouldn't turn out to be Evil, like his dad?)

Two stars, and, oh man, there are nine books to go...

If you haven't started this series, please don't. Read the Bible instead; better book in every possible way.