Glorious Appearing: The End of Days

It’s a best seller that New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof recently suggested secularists should read to become more conversant with beliefs held by many American Christians. However, once “action-hero” Jesus descends from the clouds and starts killing unbelievers with recitations of long Bible passages, the “Left Behind” series’ last book is pretty boring. Villain Nicolae Carpathia descends into a Boris Badenov cartoon-caricature, and we know how it ends. Though basing a novel on the book of Revelation does limit the plot choices available, good fiction is all in how you get there. Witness James BeauSigneur’s much better Christ Clone Trilogy, which has some unexpected twists. Otherwise, read Revelation from the King James Bible; it’s much scarier, and it’s better literature to boot.