Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days

Written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

Narrated by Full Cast

Just like any other day. Riding the bus, listening to a ballgame, flying across the Atlantic… Normal... Then, in a fraction of a second, this day becomes like no other day in history.

Take your imagination on a journey. What would it be like if hundreds of thousands just disappeared off the face of the earth? The bus driver, the center fielder, the flight crew…

Fans of the popular Left Behind series won’t want to miss these exciting audio dramas. This audio movie focuses on the story and plot in the book Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Professional actors, custom music, and cinematic sound design combine to bring listeners a dynamic adventure for the imagination.

This is the first book in the Left Behind series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: EarFLIX
• Release date: Jan 20, 1999
• ISBN: 9781952845000

Tim LaHaye

Tim LaHaye es un autor bestseller en la lista del New York Times con más de setenta libros de no ficción, muchos de ellos acerca de profecías y el fin de los tiempos, y es el coautor de la serie Left Behind con ventas record. Se considera que LaHayes es uno de las autoridades más reconocidas de América acerca de las profecías bíblicas del fin de los tiempos. Visite www.TimLaHaye.com

Reviews for Left Behind

[sueincyprus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fictional account of the people left behind on Earth after the rapture. Fast-moving, almost believable, with interesting characters albeit a little flat. Theology and preaching cleverly interwoven with the plot. Quite thought-provoking.

[Kevin McDonell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is great audiobook and really well done!
I highly recommend it.

[caseyadamsstark · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I have to admit that the cliffhanger ending of the book was a welcome twist. It helps explain why everyone so easily dismisses who the obvious villain is, whether you’re familiar with interpretations of the book of Revelations or not.That having been said, I cannot dismiss all the things that made this book a real chore for me to read. Buck Williams is such a cliche, but I sort of like him. He’s the most proactive character of the piece. But every character is such a cardboard cutout superficial person that I failed to sympathize much. Rayford Steele, the pilot who finds God, is an arrogant ass. The woman he’s thinking about—who he’s never touched, although he wants to (as told to us in the very first paragraph of the book), is vapid and superficial too.And let’s not talk about how this book utilizes women in light of the Bechdel test. I know, I keep bringing up that test lately in my reviews, but I can’t avoid it here. It’s that bad. I had hope for Steele’s daughter, but the book ultimately failed her too.The book is preachy—look, it can’t not be, given the subject matter. I get that. But it got repetitive fast. It’s an easy read. I blew through this book, not because of the heart pounding action but because the overly repetitive parts were skim-worthy.I did not like this book. Sorry.

[ojchase · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'd been meaning to read this for a couple decades. I have mixed feelings on the theology - it might be right, it might be wrong, and I'm not going to be surprised either way in real life. But if you take the pre-trib rapture premise as reality, this felt like a reasonable scenario. I can't really critique on plot, pacing, character development, etc; I am not a literary crtiic. But I do strongly suspect that it wouldn't really hold up on those levels. It's more pop fiction.But I what I do have a problem with is the missing character of Jesus. This is Christian fiction. It is supposed to all come back to Jesus. Not a general sense of spirituality. Not morality. Not even opposition to an antichrist. Nothing but the real and living person of Jesus. And He does not appear in this book in any meaningful capacity. Now let me clarify: I'm not expecting a character walking around named Jesus. He's presumably off-page sitting at the right hand of the Father. Showing up here would not make sense. But He should be present anyway. The Christian characters should know Him, love Him, be able to explain why they love Him, and be seeking His will. They don't. (With the notable exception of Rayford Steele's strong desire to share his zombification, uh, I mean Christian faith (in what exactly?), with his family and friends.)This was most pronounced in the video that led Rayford to his conversion. A now-gone pastor had left a video explaining what was happening and encouraging people left behind to convert. It's a partial climax to the book, and is meant to explain all his questions, and, more than that, lead to a true conversion - that is for Rayford to decide to follow Jesus. In my copy, this takes eight pages. The religion of Christianity is clearly portrayed as recently vindicated to be right as there's a lot of talk about the connections between (the pastor's/authors' interpretation of) prophecy and the recent vanishings. There is occasional reference to "trust in Christ", talk of "God" trying to get the world's attention, or of accepting / receiving Chirst as your Savior, but none of these terms are defined or explained. These references are also very diffuse, only a couple paragraph's worth spread out over eight pages. In particular, Jesus' death on the cross and its connection to your need for Jesus is almost entirely missing. But the dangers of the coming antichrist are discussed at length. He actually gets more attention; how ironic. Rayford somehow knew the right magic words to put in the prayer anyway.Basically, you could replace the Christianity in this book with your favorite race of aliens and a few True Believers in them, and you'd get the same book. In the words of the pastor from the video tape above, "perhaps you simply didn't take the time to examine the claims of [Jesus] for yourself". You should. This book won't help with it. Put it down and go find Jesus. May I suggest starting with the gospel of John.

[rockhead515-580421 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The dialog is a little amateurish but that will probably evolve as the series goes forward.
The story is very interesting and I'm looking forward to the rest of them.

[foof2you · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The first book in the Left Behind series describing what happens when the rapture happens and those left behind come to grips what has happened. This a fictionalized view of what the authors believed would happen if this event occurred in modern time. It is taken from various books in the Bible.

[firsttemple · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Truely enjoyed this work. LaHay and Jenkins wrote a captivating story about how they think it might be like during the rapture.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Man, this thing took FOREVER! I don't know how many books there are in the series, but I know that I won't be reading them all (and judging from how much space they take up on the shelf at the library, there is a TON). The whole premise of this series is what would happen if the rapture occurred and you were one of the millions (probably billions) left behind. Rayford Steele is piloting an aircraft when a stewardess he'd been lusting after rushes into the cockpit tells him that they're suddenly missing over 100 people. At first he thinks it's a joke but he soon realizes that all their clothes have been left behind as well. One of the passengers on the plane is an award winning, international journalist named Buck. He sets about recording everything because he knows this is the biggest story of his career, hell of his lifetime! Buck, the stewardess, the pilot, and his daughter start finding their paths crossing as they try to figure out what on earth has happened to all their loved ones and how they are going to survive what comes next. Not as bad as I thought it would be, but not great either.

[neverstopreading-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

 From a theological perspective, this book is awful. As you can expect, it accepts as its starting point the notion of a pre-tribulational rapture (a teaching that goes only back as far as the late 17th or 18th century), in which God tries to get non-believers to believe by taking away the people who could help them understand what he's been trying to tell them.If you ignore this nonsense, the story itself is mildly entertaining. It's better than playing stupid games that won't let you win unless you pay, at least.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Ironically, I am writing this review on June 6, 2006 (06/06/06) which some people claim will be the day of the apocalypse. If I believed the message of this book I would think only practising Christians would be called to heaven and the rest of us will be left to suffer on earth. Although I was raised in the Christian church, I was never confirmed and I do not attend church regularly. I would say I believe in a supreme being but I don't think one has to attend church or belong to an organized religion to be a good person. I certainly don't think that all those other people in the world who are religious but not Christian are doomed. Christianity has been responsible for a lot of death and destruction such as the Crusades and the struggles in Northern Ireland between the Protestants and the Catholics. So I don't think it can claim a moral high ground as this book leads the reader to believe. Having said all that, it is probably not surprising that I gave this book such a low rating. However, that is not the only problem I had with it. I thought the book was repetitious for those parts of it that dealt with seeking salvation. On the other hand, there really was very little attention paid to the fall-out of having millions of people disappear. I find it hard to believe that within days of such a cataclysmic event, air travel and international meetings would continue as usual. I was also irritated by the lack of discussion of events outside of the great U. S. of A.

[kemilyh1988 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Just no. NOPE

[brandyluther-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

very exciting and page turning adventure into a historical and biblical dream made real.

[danaburkey · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I read these books in high school and liked them well enough, but there were just too many characters to track and follow. Also, lot of a exposition to get through and speeches given often from the religious leaders.... The movie does look promising though! We shall see...

[wesleylowe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Left Behind series are kind of a guilty pleasure for me. The books are great fun when you turn off your brain and just enjoy. This is one of the few series of books that our whole family enjoys

[jenladuca · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read this series over 10 years ago, absolutely loved it!!! I can still remember all the main characters and the plot lines for each book, that tells you how much these books have stuck with me over the years and I've never read anything in the same genre type that was even close to being as good.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read about 2/3 of this on a flight between Charlotte and Bradley. My personal setting made this far more enjoyable (though it was very enjoyable, anyway). It's a tad on the preachy-side, but not nearly as much so as you would expect given the content. It's a bit predictable, but then again, it isn't exactly high-literature. This is just good, fun light reading.

[vincentdarlage · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I started this series because my wife wanted me to read them, and since I like sharing things in common with her, I read them. Wasn't as bad as I feared, but the authors have a lot of annoying habits to create filler, such as constantly having the characters relate again and again their personal stories. Many of the characters are goody-goodies who are basically undistinguishable from each other. The Biblical research throughout is fairly shoddy, which surprised me. He took many things out of context and neglected to answer any of the objections people genuinely have about Christianity (for example, the books insist Jesus fulfills all of the Messianic prophecies, when he does not, such as being named "Immanuel," which is the prophecied name).

[allygggggg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think Buck is the sexiest man alive.

[wareagle78 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First of an as-yet uncompleted series of novels playing out the Bible's Book of Revelations. This first is gripping. I picked it off a library shelf long before I had heard of the series and was riveted. The back cover blurb was short and to the point:In one cataclysmic moment, millions around the globe disappear.Vehicles, suddenly unmanned, careen out of control. People are terror sticken as loved ones vanish before their eyes.In the midst of global chaos, airline captain Rayford Steele must search for his family, for answers, for truth. As devastating as the disappearances have been, the darkest days may lie ahead.

[librarycin · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

2.5 stars. Rayford Steele is an airline pilot, flying a commercial flight; Buck Williams is a journalist and a passenger on the same plane. Mid-flight - all of a sudden - people disappear into thin air, leaving their clothes behind. They discover that millions of people have disappeared in the same manner at the same time, all around the world. Rayford turns to God and his wife's church for comfort and answers; Buck the journalist is just trying to find out what happened.

I like the idea behind the story, and parts were exciting, but the book just got too preachy for me. There was some political stuff in the book that I just didn't find all that interesting either, so those two things combined really brought down my rating and enjoyment of the book. It ends on a cliffhanger, which may have left me wanting to read the next book, except I just can't handle the preachiness of it all, so I won't be continuing.

[kewpie83 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I just can't get passed the way this book was written. It seemed like the writing of a grade schooler to me... The story-line is interesting, but the writing brings it down!

[lcoale1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I actually read this book for my College Success Skills class, and there were some things I didn't like. The characters seem to change quicker than what would be natural, which I didn't like. However, the concept of the book was very deep, especially because I was annotating for dystopia the entire time. It definitely made me think, and I already have two people lined up to read this book after I turn my paper in.

[fmweiler · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is great series, fascinating to say the least. The writing is a bit weak at times. They also take the book of revelation to the extreme but it does really make you think especially if you are a christian.

[sr510 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to settle on a star rating for this book; anything from 2 to 5 seems defensible.Is it great writing? No, it is not. It ranges from adequate to plodding, with its flaws being perhaps most visible when it tries to portray somebody as being particularly eloquent.But the ideas are the important thing here. This is meant as a dramatization of the Rapture and its immediate aftermath, showing what it might look like were it to happen today. While I don't happen to share any of the authors' premises, it does a good job of setting out how such a scenario might broadly play out, even if it's less successful with the details. (We could spend hours nitpicking the details.) And its earnestness serves it surprisingly well, making it easier to overlook -- or at least forgive -- the literary flaws. It's fairly engaging, especially if you accept the premises. I can see why the series has been wildly successful.

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I didn't expect to like this really. Not given what I'd heard of its Christian Fundamentalist plot and themes. However, I know this is enormously popular, a huge bestseller, and I do sometimes like to read such books, to better understand their appeal. And if they're really bad... Well, I found the Twilight Saga rather fun as a trainwreck and read the whole thing. This novel struck me as too stupid to bother with within a dozen pages though. This novel, part of a series, has as its basis the doctrine held by some Christian sects about "the Rapture." The idea is that in the Last Days of Earth when Jesus returns those who are "saved" will be pulled out and spared the Tribulations. So in this novel such people are suddenly whisked away and those left have to deal with the aftermath.I admit it, I soon did feel I wouldn't get through this, that it was too much like having pamphlet-wielding missionaries crowding me in a stuck elevator. But that aspect isn't what stopped me reading. Or the subpar writing evident from the first. No, a passage on Page 8 is what got to me. We're supposed to believe that a man invents "a synthetic fertilizer that caused the desert sands of Israel to bloom... making Israel the richest nation on Earth" with "zero unemployment" and they are then able to buy peace from their enemies. This is so breathtakingly spectacularly stupid on an a scientific, agricultural, economic and political level, in comparison the Rapture is easy to believe in, and right there I lost interest in anything the authors wanted to put before me.

[lorireed_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Imagine that suddenly millions of seemingly random people vanish into thin air. Cars are left without drivers, airplanes without pilots, parents without children. Those left behind are people that must not only deal with the wreckage, but they must also try to come to terms with the actual disappearances of friends and loved ones. What happened? Was it aliens, a new form of nuclear technology, the end of the world, or a prophecy of The Bible that is being fulfilled? In this first book of the Left Behind series, LaHaye and Jenkins draw readers into a captivating story of the human condition.

[jessicastatzer · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I only read this book because it was chosen for my book club. I tried to approach it with an open mind but my reluctancy was confirmed. The book was unexciting, unfulfilling, and born from "Christian" paranoia. Do not take on this book unless you are willing to read the entire series. The author took 25 chapters to accomplish what could have been done in 5. The ending was no ending at all, it only sets up the next book in this very long series. In short I can't believe I wasted my time and brain cells on this book and would be more than a little embarassed to admit to reading it.

[hamiltonpam · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read the entire series, enjoyed the story. I wanted to learn more about the theology the book was based on.

[mesalamb · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book is crap. I tried to read the series so I could know for myself whether it had any merit. I could not stand to waste any more time reading past the first book. There is nothing good to say about it. It is so sad that this series became so popular.

[darrol_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Bad and inadequate Bible interpretation along with a touch of soft porn and more than a touch of paranoia.