In his post for ** you do not have permission to see this link **, it was based on  what’s come to be called premillennial dispensationalism.  I won’t go into the details but it essentially combines two strains of thought long present in Christianity.  The idea of a kingdom established on earth by Jesus at his second coming, and the idea that history can be interpreted as a series of distinct ages, each with it’s own character.  In its most popular modern form (which does not predate the late 19th century) it possesses an associated End Times Mythology, a series of expected events supposedly predicted in the NT, that presage the end of things.

What’s really wild for me is how this End Times Mythology has seeped into the popular consciousness, mainly through books and movies.  Many people who never went to the churches that taught this stuff have heard of the Rapture, the Tribulation period, and the Anti-Christ!  The Left Behind series of novels (and the associated movies) have been massive bestsellers.

I have not read or seen everything but I have read and seen enough to realize how much utter drivel it is.  I think the reason is that most of it is produced by fundamentalists for fundamentalists with an apologetic intent.  I thought the Left Behind novels were so poorly written that their success fills me with a kind of despair. 

Does it have to be this way?  I don’t think the basic approach is invalid but sermons are rarely art.  Can there be a well done End Times novel?

I offer for your consideration, ** you do not have permission to see this link **.  The book presupposes the End Times Mythology but it’s told from the point of view of of one of have-nots, the cursed, the damned.  The book is about what it would really be like to live in the world described by End Times believers.  The book is dark and frequently profane.  But it is a human book.  No angelic choirs and pious screeds.  I know nothing about Caldwell’s religious beliefs but I intuit that he is some kind of believer but obviously not a fundamentalist. Anyway I can testify that at least one good book has come out of all this.  If you’re interested at all check it out.