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Tribulation Force

5:29 pm PHT

I’ve almost finished reading the second book of the Left Behind series, Tribulation Force. And it’s as fascinating as the first book. Nothing much actually happens in the sequel; the heart of the plot basically feels like one big prologue to the succeeding books. Only towards the end of the novel did the major event, the signing of a treaty between the Antichrist (through the Global Community, formerly the United Nations) and Israel, occur. This treaty formally started the seven-year period of Tribulation.

The most interesting thing I’ve read is actually an answer to the question I’ve been wondering in the first book. If you’ll remember, I noted that there are only two references to Catholicism in the first book. I’ve been wondering what the authors’ take is on Catholicism, and I said that it was implied that the pope was one of the millions who were raptured. This is interesting because most adherents to the the theology of the novels do not share the belief system of the Catholics.

What the first book lacked with regards to Catholicism was balanced with the very pointed references to the Church in the second book. [Warning: spoilers ahead!] Apparently, Pope John XXIV, the pope who was raptured, has a very short but controversial five-month reign. He put forward Lutherist views that alienated him from the great orthodoxy of the Catholics. In addition, the book noted that majority of the billion Catholics were left behind during the rapture.

In a controversial note, we are introduced to Archbishop Peter Matthews of the Diocese of Cincinnati. His personal take on the disappearances was that God winnowed the bad people (pope included), leaving only the good people behind. When asked why all the children and babies also disappeared, his half-hearted answer was that God also took away all the innocent souls. Matthews also mentioned that only two of his relatives disappeared, and these were the ones who left the Catholic Church, presumably to become born-again Christians. This confirmed his idea that only the true Catholics were part of the saved.

To further add fuel to the fire, the major religions of the world impossibly managed to come up with a one-world religion, endorsed by the Antichrist, and aptly called the Global Community Faith. The headquarters of this new religion is in—guess what?—the Vatican. And the head of the new church is the newly-elected pope: Pontiff Maximus Peter Matthews. How’s that for being condescending to Catholics?

Nevertheless, the book is still a recommended read even if the Catholic Church again becomes the punching bag of fiction (remember Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons?). It’s the first time I’ve read novels from the Christian fiction genre and it’s not a bore. I think I’d enjoy the rest of the series.

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