Christianity in Pop Culture, Part 5 – “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”: Left Behind and American Politics

Even if you haven’t read any of the bestselling novels or watched any of the films based on them, you probably know what the phrase “left behind” refers to. Those who were older children or teens in the 1970s may know the phrase better from Donald W. Thompson’s Rapture films A Thief in the Night and its three sequels, from which I took the title for this piece.† And you may still be deeply affected by their portrayal of the Rapture and the Tribulation, the period in which God tortures nonbelievers for their wickedness before the Second Coming of Jesus. 
Timothy LaHaye, the Evangelical pastor and right-wing political leader who created and cowrote the Left Behind novel series, admitted that he was inspired by Thompson’s films when he conceived of his post-Rapture, peri-Tribulation, pre-Second Coming world.ª He has also revealed that he came up with the idea for the series by watching a married pilot flirt with a flight attendant and thinking “What would befall the sinful pilot if the Rapture happened now?” Those of you who have seen the Nicolas Cage reboot of the Left Behind film released in 2014 would recognize this, as that film only dramatized the airplane scene from the novel’s first 3-4 chapters and consigned the entire rest of the book’s events to the ill-fated sequel.º
I’ve previously written about the Rapture and premillennial dispensationalism, but I haven’t yet written about the Left Behind series’ outsized influence over American right-wing politics, so I’ll do that today. It is alarming how often LaHaye and Jenkins’ blunt-force “Biblical literalist” interpretations of end-times prophecies from the Book of Revelation end up driving American foreign policy under Republican presidents. 
But first, let me summarize the plot of the Left Behind novel series. The novels primarily follow protagonists Rayford Steele, a middle-aged airline pilot who is left behind when his wife and young son are Raptured, and Cameron “Buck” Williams, a globetrotting journalist who is also left behind when the Rapture occurs while he is a passenger on Rayford’s plane. Buck, Rayford, and Rayford’s college-aged daughter Chloe seek out Pastor Bruce Barnes, who explains to them why they’ve been left behind and what will happen next according to Biblical prophecy. The four characters dub themselves the “Tribulation Force” and set out to defeat the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia, the president of Romania who rises to the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations at the end of the first novel. Carpathia then uses his power to create a single world government, currency, and religion to dominate the remaining human population. Only the Trib Force, which regularly admits new members such as Tsion Ben-Judah, a prominent Jewish rabbinical scholar who converts to Christianity, and Floyd Charles, a medical doctor, understands the threat that Carpathia poses. Around the midpoint of the series, Carpathia is assassinated and is resurrected by Satan himself, who “indwells” his body and takes over the government. At the end of the series, the seven years of Tribulation end in the Glorious Appearing, where Jesus comes to earth, defeats Satan and the other nonbelievers, and institutes the Millennial Kingdom. The series ends with all the characters who died in the previous 11 books being reunited at the dawn of the Millennium and the heavenly host rewarding those martyrs for their service during the Tribulation. And they all lived happily ever after—literally. 
In “Marketing the beast: Left Behind and the apocalypse industry,” scholar Torin Monahan writes: 
“A related dissonance in the evangelical worldview occurs in the presentation of wars and human suffering. Rather than advocate for world peace, the sentiment of the apocalypse industry is that wars, especially those in the Middle East, are necessary preconditions for the Second Coming and should therefore be tolerated or supported.… This position manifests in the novels with clear expressions of anti-Semitism and frustration with Jews for not converting to Christianity, which is perceived as a necessary event for the return of Christ.… Beyond the novels, this particular exegesis may reinforce the staunch pro-Israel stance of many influential, ‘Christian Right’ evangelicals in the US.”
Co-author Tim LaHaye literally invented the “Christian Right” when he teamed up with Jerry Falwell to found the Moral Majority in 1979. LaHaye was instrumental in securing the Republican presidential nomination for George W. Bush in 2000. Bush the Second, as you might recall, pursued “peace in the Middle East” by killing Saddam Hussein, destabilizing Iraq, and plunging the United States into two decades of war. Bush’s communications team described it this way: 
“President Bush identified lack of freedom as the principal cause of threats coming from the Middle East. The War on Terror is an ideological struggle. To advance security and moral interests, America is working to advance freedom and democracy as the great alternative to repression and terror. The President is pressing nations across the region – including our friends – to respect fundamental freedoms such as freedom of speech, worship, association, and assembly.”
In the Left Behind series, an Israeli scientist invents a substance that allows plants to grow in desert soil, (improbably) making Israel the main exporter of edible produce in the entire world, which makes it one of the richest nations on earth. The series begins with Russia and Ethiopia making a surprise military attack on Israel. God destroys the Russian and Ethiopian fighter planes and bombs so not a single Israeli citizen is wounded or killed. Fred Clark of Slacktivist, in his extensive dissection of the first two books in the series, writes: 
“Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins… have their own idea of what is necessary to end the perpetual conflict in the region. The problem, they say, is that Israel simply is not yet wealthy enough. Increase Israel's GDP, they argue, and peace will bloom like a magically fertile desert. … How this remarkable tranquility actually came about — how decades and generations of violence, hatred and mutual mistrust were swept away — L&J don't say. … In the real world, or in an even semi-realistic fictional world, any hint of progress toward peace in the Middle East is the stuff of Nobel prizes and banner headlines. The path toward peace is marked with the graves of brave men — Sadat, Rabin — assassinated for their willingness to pursue anything other than continuing conflict. Yet L&J… simply present a miracle formula which in turn brings about a formulaic miracle: agricultural bounty = wealth = peace and an end to all animosity.”
In Tribulation Force, the second novel, Carpathia signs a seven-year peace treaty with Israel which necessitates the complete disarmament of every nation on earth. All countries turn their weapons over to the UN in exchange for Israel’s proprietary agricultural formula. This peace treaty—which also involves the mosque at the Dome of the Rock being moved to another location at Carpathia’s request so the Jews can rebuild the Temple—kicks off the period of Tribulation that will ultimately result in Jesus’ triumphant return.
This, more than anything else, explains why American foreign policy under Republican presidents is so wildly pro-Israel. The Christian Right believes that Israel’s conquest of neighboring territory will produce the “peace in the Middle East” needed to initiate the Second Coming of Christ. This is a drastic misapplication of the “seventy weeks” described in Daniel 9:24-27 that seems to trace directly to the Left Behind books. Clark comments on this as well:
“The authors of Daniel look ahead, just as they look back, predicting the future rise and fall of more empires, more conquerors to come. They weren't wrong about that. But what makes the book of Daniel apocalyptic is that the authors don't see this cycle of conquest as enduring forever. Some day, they say, it will end and everything will be made right and just and there will be lasting peace. That is the revelation that apocalyptic literature is always revealing. The prophecy enthusiasts aren't wrong to view this idea as predictive — foretelling a future yet to come. But they miss that it's not only predictive. It's also prescriptive — we're not being told to sit around twiddling our thumbs waiting for that peace and justice to fall out of the sky. Nor is apocalyptic literature like the latter half of Daniel intended to produce an obsessive compiling of check lists and countdowns. Daniel, like Revelation, was written to be read, not to be deciphered or strip-mined for nuggets of prophecy that can be extracted from their surrounding context.”
In conclusion, Tim LaHaye has had an outsized influence on American foreign policy since the Reagan administration. Not content to merely run a conservative think tank, he enlisted Jerry B. Jenkins to help him write and publish the Left Behind books, which spread his misguided ideas about Biblical prophecy and the end times to millions of people. His version of the apocalypse and what is needed to bring the Second Coming of Christ is still driving American foreign policy a decade after LaHaye’s death.

May 14, 2026


† And if you were a particularly unlucky evangelical teen in the late 1970s or early 1980s, you may have instead been forced to watch If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do, Rev. Estus Pirkle’s Communist apocalypse grindhouse film which memorably includes a sequence in which a ten-year-old boy is beheaded when he won’t renounce his Christian faith. I’m guessing this film was more commonly shown in the Southern United States—where it was filmed—than here. 

ª Hopefully no main characters get guillotined in the LB novels. I’m only familiar with the plots of books 1-5 and the first few chapters of 6 due to a podcast that’s been covering them, though. 
º Fun fact: this movie performed so poorly at the box office (grossing only $14 million against its estimated $16 million budget, a total loss of 13 percent) that the producers attempted to crowdfund the second installment. The $3.5 million that Cage was paid to appear in the first film (Cage was in bankruptcy at the time and thus was required to accept any role he was offered in order to pay his creditors) was equivalent to the entire budget of the 2023 sequel, Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist, which had Kevin Sorbo playing Cage’s role (in fact, every single actor was replaced due to cost). The sequel’s worldwide gross of $3.65 million (a profit of only 4 percent, although it did make a profit, at least) made it unwise to proceed further with the series. 
∆ As you’ll recall, “weapons of mass destruction” turned out not to actually exist. They were just a fig leaf, so to speak, to justify invasion and military action.

Christianity in Pop Culture, Part 4 — God Made You Special: The Rise and Fall of VeggieTales

by Amanda Straw

If you were a churchgoing child of the late ‘90s or were caring for one, you’re probably familiar with VeggieTales. Between the ridiculously catchy “Silly Songs with Larry” and the Bible stories acted out with heart and humor by tomatoes, cucumbers, asparagus spears, and gourds, VeggieTales was the wholesome children’s show that both kids and adults could enjoy.

VeggieTales actually rose to popularity through college students who discovered the videos while working in Christian bookstores and then showed the videos to their friends, who took them home and shared them with younger siblings, church youth groups, and babysitting clients. In fact, the person who introduced the show to me was a fellow college student at Etown in 2004. It was a fun way to decompress on weekends because the episodes were genuinely funny and the songs were catchy enough to get stuck in your head for the rest of the week.

However, the story of VeggieTales behind the scenes was one of good intentions gone awry, unrewarded self-sacrifice, and God forsaking his faithful servant, co-creator Phil Vischer. Vischer’s memoir, Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables tells the entire story of VeggieTales from its beginning in 1990 to its apex in 1998 and then its nadir in 2003. Vischer also told his story in a speech at Wheaton College titled “The Failure of Dreams: Good Works and God's Love.”
Vischer created the characters on primitive computer animation software and voiced several of them, including Bob the Tomato and Archibald Asparagus. He recruited fellow St. Paul Bible College classmate Mike Nawrocki, who got expelled from the college at the same time Vischer did, to his fledgling production company, and Nawrocki was credited as the other co-creator as well as the voice of Larry the Cucumber. 
Vischer’s original idea for characters were talking candy bars, but his wife pointed out that “moms are going to be mad if you make their kids fall in love with candy bars” (p. 63). So Vischer was prompted to think of a cucumber, which he immediately animated. But the cucumber needed a foil:
“He needed a buddy. Since he was tall and thin, I figured he needed a buddy who was short and round. Like Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello. … And now, looking for a short, round veggie to compliment my tall, skinny guy, the first thought that popped into my head was a tomato. … it was clear to me that this tomato fella would need to play the straight man….” (p. 70)
The theological grounding for the series was provided by Vischer’s mother, who had a doctorate in Christian education: 
“‘First rule,’ she said, taking a somewhat parental tone, ‘you will not portray Jesus as a vegetable.’ Good point, I thought, not quite grasping that this guideline would eliminate much of the New Testament as source material for VeggieTales. ‘Second rule,’ she continued, ‘try not to imply that vegetables can have redemptive relationships with God. Don’t show vegetables praying unless they’re playing the role of a historical or biblical figure.’ Yikes, I thought. This is going to be tricky. ‘Finally,’ she continued, ‘try to communicate to kids how God made each one of them unique and how much he loves them. That’s your most important message.’” (p. 77)
“I went home and thought it over,” writes Vischer. “No Jesus-as-a-vegetable. We’d have to avoid the Gospels. … Don’t imply vegetables can go to heaven. As I wrote the very first script, I took pains to have Bob say, ‘God loves kids,’ rather than ‘God loves us.’ Focus on the kids, not on the vegetables. And last, but definitely not least, I needed some sort of tagline that would remind kids at the end of each episode how special they are and how much God loves them. Something like, ‘God made you special, and he loves you very much.’ Yeah. Grammatically imperfect, but catchy. That would do the trick” (p. 78).
Once Vischer upgraded his computer animation equipment, hired animators and voice actors, and enlisted his church’s music director to help write, orchestrate, and produce songs, VeggieTales officially launched in December 1993. It took a while to catch on with the show’s intended audience of children, but by 1997, Vischer’s company Big Idea Productions had sold 1.8 million VeggieTales videos (p. 112). Licensed merchandise was selling out at Christian bookstores and an album of VeggieTales songs won a Dove Award for Best Christian Children’s Album. There was even talk about a potential VeggieTales theme park (pp. 127-128). 
However, trouble was ahead for Vischer and the Big Idea team.† To make a three-chapter-long story short, I’ll let Phil sum it up: 
“Without warning our sales stopped growing. … so in April of 2000 I realized everything I had built was in very real danger of collapsing around me. … I had to let people go. … Every round of layoffs broke my heart. … In the middle of all that we released our first feature film. … I thought, ‘Okay, if it does twice [as well at the box office], then I can hire all these people back’ … and God could do that, right, because he can do anything! … But he didn’t. And then the home video came out and … I thought, ‘if it sells twice [as well as forecasted] then I can… keep this dream alive and God could do that, right, ‘cause he can do anything! … But he didn’t. … And then in the middle of that a former distributor took us to court, claiming we’d breached a verbal agreement. … All I could think was, ‘Okay, God… I can still keep this dream alive if you will just… show these jurors the truth in this situation.” And he could have, but he didn’t. The jury gave them everything they were asking for and more. Walking out of court that day, I knew that it was over.”
By the end of 2003, Big Idea’s assets were sold off to pay the $12 million the jury had awarded to distributor Lyrick Entertainment. 
“I could have waited for God to supply his twenty-year goal for Big Idea,” writes Vischer. “I could have overruled my executives at any point. I could have stopped the hiring, decreased the forecasts, redirected the strategies. As controlling shareholder, CEO, and sole board member… I had the final word on everything. So who is ultimately to blame for the collapse of Big Idea? That should be pretty clear by now. I have seen the enemy, and he is me. My strengths built Big Idea, and my weaknesses brought it down” (p. 206).
Ultimately, for Vischer, the entire narrative of Big Idea and VeggieTales’ rise and fall comes down to this: “What kind of God would stand back and watch a dream—a good dream, for ministry and impact—fall apart?” (p. 227)
I started thinking about Abraham. Abraham loves Isaac—after all, not only is Isaac his son, he’s his dream! … And then one day God shows up and says, “What do you love more, your dream or me?” Abraham replies, “Sure, God, that’s easy. You!” “Okay then—put him on the altar. Kill him.” … “But God—he’s my son. He’s my dream! The promise you gave me!” …“Put him on the altar. Kill him.” And what God learned about Abraham that day was that he would let go of everything before he would let go of God. And God said, “Okay, now I can use you.” 

As this truth sunk in, I found myself facing… a God who, it appeared, wanted me to let go of my dreams. But why?… Because anything I am unwilling to let go of is an idol, and I am in sin. … The more I thought about my intense drive to build Big Idea and change the world, the more I realized I had let my “good work” become an idol that defined me. Rather than finding my identity in my relationship with God, I was finding it in my drive to do “good work.” (pp. 236-237)
“As the remains of my company were being packed up and carted away,” writes Vischer, “I realized my total preoccupation with my own dreams and ideas had rendered me virtually useless to the people around me. Useless. I was failing to demonstrate God’s love. I was failing to walk with God. ‘Oh God, forgive me,’ I said, falling to my knees. … And then I decided it was time I learned how to wait on God” (p. 244).
Finally, Vischer feels he learned the ultimate lesson: “God doesn’t love me because of what I can do for him. He just loves me—even when I’ve done nothing at all” (p. 247).
After all, God made us all special, and he loves us very much. 






† Something unrelated and super interesting I discovered from the part of the book covering Big Idea’s & VeggieTales’ downfall was that Wishbone, the TV show where a Jack Russell terrier acted out classic literature—which was beloved among elder Millennials like myself—was a financial disaster for its production company that ultimately led its CEO to sell the company. It didn’t achieve the massive success of its predecessor, Barney the Dinosaur. However, I feel like that was an unreasonable standard to hold Wishbone to since it was made for a completely different purpose and audience. Wishbone was fantastic and we desperately need something like that for kids today. 

What Does the Meatloaf Kitchen Do?

The youth group will volunteer at New York City’s Meatloaf Kitchen in June as part of a larger mission trip focused on the diversity of New York City: 
“13 students and leaders will be headed there to look for places they ‘see God.’  June 5-7, they will be headed to visit the UN UMC Church Center and learn of its beginning and ways it reaches out to people of all faiths. They will see the UN Headquarters and learn about peace and justice. Trinity Lutheran Parish in the Lower East Side allows us 'floor space' for the evenings.

Saturday is a full day of serving at the ‘Meatloaf Kitchen’ restaurant-style to between 300-500 homeless in NYC. It's a unique experience! Our fundraiser on Sunday at church celebrates the yummy recipe from the kitchen along with other sides and desserts. (Email jennygr@aol.com if still needing tickets.) Saturday night is a visit to the diverse area of Little Italy and China Town. 

Worship on Sunday morning is a Baptist church, which warmly welcomes us! This will make the 25th year for this trip.” — Jenny Greene, interim youth group leader
So what is the Meatloaf Kitchen, and what does it do?
The Meatloaf Kitchen’s official name is University Community Social Services. It was founded in 1982 by two NYU professors, hence the name. Andrej Kodjak and Lorry Wynne “saw a great need” in the homeless population of their neighborhood in Greenwich Village. They started what they thought would be a temporary soup kitchen open to "anyone who needed sustenance.” The Meatloaf Kitchen has served hundreds of thousands of meals to New York City residents over more than 40 years. Just over 2,000 people visited in March 2026. 
“Long ago, we figured out that meatloaf is a nourishing comfort food that makes a much better meal than soup,” the group writes on their official website. “We make ours using an original recipe that we have perfected over the years. Our guests and volunteers love it, and we have over time come to be known as The Meatloaf Kitchen.”
The Meatloaf Kitchen is entirely staffed and overseen by volunteers. Groups from all over New York City and the surrounding area help prepare and serve meals as well as provide social services: 
“Volunteers overseen by a professional social worker assist our guests with information, referrals and language services for their housing, healthcare, employment, legal, immigration, and other needs. We partner with other community-based organizations to provide direct services to our guests, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program registration, and referrals to drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs. We provide computers for use by our guests. Volunteers are on hand to help our guests put together résumés, search for employment, and research available services.”
I’ve worked in two different public libraries located in or near low-income and under-resourced urban and suburban areas and I have had to assist patrons with everything listed above. I wish I could have had the guidance of a professional social worker. All we had was Google and online databases such as POWER Library, EBSCOHost, AtoZdatabases, and MedLine Plus. 
I helped people with resumes and new hire paperwork every week. I’ve helped a high school classmate of mine apply for SNAP. Patrons would ask us to print lists of apartments eligible for Section 8 housing assistance. We often would photocopy and fax documents needed for government benefit applications. I’ve helped people print medical test results and appointment summaries for disability applications. I’ve printed people’s divorce petitions and child custody case documents. I’ve even had people hand me their phone with their bank account logged in to make screenshots of transactions that could be printed for Social Security income documentation. I’ve printed dozens of different tax forms for people and helped them fill out PennDOT forms. I’ve helped people with limited English fill out passport and visa applications for themselves and their family members. I’ve helped ex-convicts living in halfway houses apply for jobs. 

There are way more people who need social services than people professionally trained to provide them. Public libraries are one organization that helps fill in the gaps, and volunteer missions like the Meatloaf Kitchen are another. 
The Message translates verses 5 through 8 of Psalm 113 this way: 
Who can compare with GOD, our God,
so majestically enthroned,
Surveying his magnificent
heavens and earth?
He picks up the poor from out of the dirt,
rescues the forgotten who’ve been thrown out with the trash,
Seats them among the honored guests,
a place of honor among the brightest and best.
One thing that set the Meatloaf Kitchen apart from other soup kitchens in New York City was its restaurant-style dining setup. The Meatloaf Kitchen serves anyone who walks through its doors “with the courtesy one might find at a restaurant.” This echoes verses 7 and 8 of Psalm 113, where God “seats [the poor and forgotten] … [in] a place of honor.” As the Meatloaf Kitchen writes on their website: “Good food nourishes the body, respect nourishes the soul.” 
UCSS also distributes both donated and new clothing to the homeless, including warm coats during the winter. The UCSS organization is entirely managed and staffed by volunteers. All monetary donations go toward providing food, clothing, and social services to those in need. To donate, use this link: https://www.meatloafkitchen.org/donate or mail checks to: 
University Community Social Services
PO Box 230728
Ansonia Station
New York, NY 10023
The youth group and leaders hope to see you at the Meatloaf Luncheon on Sunday, May 3rd from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. 



April 30, 2026

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