he apocalyptic story seems to be an increasingly popular genre. June Strong’s Project Sunlight came out in 1980 and is still in print after 20 years, proclaiming “more than 500,000 copies sold” on its latest cover. Ken Wade’s The Orion Conspiracy appeared in 1994, and The Midnight Hour, the second book of a two-part series by Céleste perrino Walker and Eric D. Stoffle, is just out. In the larger world of Christian publishing, the enormously popular Left Behind series, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, is on its eighth book. Presumably only the Second Coming itself will put a stop to this high tide of apocalyptic narrative.

Ellen White warned us that the final events will be rapid ones. Author Glen Robinson has taken this to heart as he divides his 300-page narrative into nearly 150 rapidly paced vignettes. The story follows the final months of earth’s history through the lives of five “faithful” characters: Dan Lewis (an academy biology teacher), Jake (a Navy surgeon and Dan’s brother-in-law), Jenny (Jake’s expectant wife), Mitch (Dan’s rebellious just-turning-18 son), and Kris (Dan’s computer savvy 14-year-old daughter). Meg, Dan’s upwardly mobile wife, is the most prominent “unfaithful” character.

Things start out normally as our characters prepare for Thanksgiving dinner and watch football. But in these apocalyptic novels a disaster is always around the corner. In this case it’s greedy Enercorp’s desire to speed along with a nuclear blast to uncover additional geothermal energy in the Antarctic. They blast without adequate safety planning and send tidal waves and fallout across the South Pacific. A series of volcanic eruptions throughout the Pacific Rim further destabilizes life as we know it, leading to government takeover of the Adventist school and health systems, and finally the death order for faithful Sabbathkeepers. We see these events in a succession of two- or three-page vignettes that shift from Dan to Jake to Mitch to Kris, and so on, like channel surfing.

I like how this book refracts the big picture through the main characters, so we see what things might be like at ground level, for ordinary believers like us. The book is not so caught up with movers and shakers and the international perspective as are, for instance, The Orion Conspiracy and the Left Behind series.

Thus you look over Dan’s shoulder as his academy gets taken over by the government and he has to agree to teach evolution or resign; you watch Jake work on casualties from an earthquake in Hawaii; you follow Mitch around Santa Cruz as he tries to build a life after leaving home; and you’re right there with Kris as she leads Bible studies over the Internet. The author introduces a bit of technology, but mostly focuses on the challenges in the characters’ daily lives, the decisions they have to make, their witness. I think the book is pretty well written, interesting, and at times inspiring, especially as it follows Dan, the central and most well-developed character, a realistic struggling Christian.

The adult female characters annoyed me. Jenny, the good wife, is mainly concerned with her traveling husband and her baby-in-the-making. She has no career and no apparent interests outside her family. For much of the story she lives with her parents, which reinforces her childlike status. She makes some modest moves of independence, but the overall impression I have is of a stock character.

Meg, the bad wife, is career minded, moving up in a communications firm, working out at a health club. Her principles are flexible. She starts off making compromises about the Sabbath, has an affair with her boss, and ends up . . . pretty far into the enemy’s camp. Qualities that have no moral or immoral stamp seem to be guilty by association.

It seems subtly implied that a woman is more likely to be Christlike if she is completely family oriented, more likely to go to the devil if she has a career and a life outside the home. Kris, the perky teenage girl in the story, provides a partial counter to these traditional views of gender, but can’t entirely make up the ground lost with Jenny and Meg.

The best thing about the book, I think, is that it allows us to imaginatively live through a reasonably credible end-time scenario. We see on a day-to-day basis what choices we might face and what might result from our choices. We are reminded of the importance of Bible study, reawakened to our responsibility to know and communicate the truth as best we can.

Are we living in earth’s last days? God knows, and each of us probably has our guesses. In the meantime we have the formidable challenge of being effective citizens of two worlds, helping our neighbors day to day, ready to flee to the mountains or rake another year’s leaves, as the Lord leads.

The Edge of Eternity
Elaine Egbert, Review and Herald Publishing Association, Hagerstown, Maryland, 1999, 278 pages, $12.99, paper. Reviewed by Ronald S. Combs, Th.D., El Paso, Texas. A Sabbathkeeper, he is a Messianic Jew and familiar with Adventist beliefs.

rom the time Christ ascended, imaginative religious writers have tried to give a fresh understanding of how He will return. Many early Christians expected Christ to return “before that generation passed away.” When the appearance did not occur, creative storytellers began to spin information explaining the delay.

At the entrance of the second millennium Elaine Egbert joins the company of others who have tackled the mysterious end-time predictions. Her work of fiction is light and easy to read. It’s the kind of book you pick up on Sabbath eve and read it through. The style is modern newsy. Unlike some of the old-time storytellers, this one doesn’t scare you. There are the typical problems of war and death, but she handles them in a low-key manner.

Her lead characters are believable and give a solid performance as they act out the scenario of the end of the world. There is no heresy here—she stays with the party line. She does a credible job developing the plot, but some scenes are too predictable.

This is not high theology, nor is it meant to be. Choosing a type-cast for Jews and Catholics in one scene, the author has her reluctant heroine pondering her allegiance to God before “Papa.” It’s not earthshaking, but the situations seem plausible. The Sabbath is one of her prominent themes, and though some would say it’s not biblical, it is not unbiblical as far as end-time prophecy goes. But Sabbath observers account for less than one third of one percent of the American population (as of 1999), and non-Adventist Sabbathkeepers (like the reviewer) wonder how they could be a threat.

When the cloud appears, it is less dramatic than John in Revelation, but targeted to the right audience this book can provide some insights into a difficult topic.

This is a good gift for the mid-to-older teen at home or in college or any young adult. It can inspire the reader to pick up the Bible and read “all the stuff for yourself,” as the author says. Grab a fresh apple, turn on the CD to soothing Christian music, and curl up around this book for a comfortable, entertaining read.

Left Behind or Sincerely Taken
Louis Torres, Remnant Publications, 2000, 127 pages, US$11.99. Reviewed by Stephen Chavez, assistant editor, Adventist Review.

he “secret” rapture, the tribulation, the antichrist, and prophecies about Israel are entering the mainstream, thanks to prophecy-based novels such as the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, and Hollywood films such as End of Days, starring the Arnold (Schwarzenegger).

I’ve yet to be convinced that readers/viewers of this type of material think of it as any more than a simple diversion. But evangelicals in North America are pouring huge amounts of money into a film version of LaHaye and Jenkins’ book; and doubtless they want viewers to be indoctrinated as well as entertained.

According to Seventh-day Adventist author Louis Torres, Adventists, as well as other Christians, are being caught up in the confusing interpretations of prophecies about the last days. Torres’ response to this confusion is his own book, in which he explains what the Bible really teaches about the end of days, as opposed to what’s being portrayed in the popular media.

Torres’ book is not likely to make much of a dent in changing popular misconceptions, however. For one thing, it’s a small book, published by a small independent publisher. It’s not likely to see broad distribution.

For another thing, the target audience for the book is very narrow: Its primary focus is Christians who have an interest in biblical prophecy. While most Christians are familiar with the grand themes of prophecy (specifically, the Second Coming), many of them are only mildly interested in deciphering prophecy’s finer points, symbols, and time tables.

Torres, an experienced evangelist, has done a fine job explaining some of the issues at stake in understanding prophecy correctly. Although his primary focus is the prophecies of Daniel, Jesus, Peter, and Paul that speak directly to the confusion of the last days, in this small book he also discusses (albeit briefly) the seventh-day Sabbath, a person’s condition at death, salvation by faith, and discipleship.

Casual readers who are not familiar with biblical quotations and images will probably not find this book very helpful. But dedicated Christians who have a desire to know more about prophecy will surely benefit from reading it.

The Orion Conspiracy
Ken Wade, Pacific Press, Nampa, Idaho, 1994, 512 pages, US$10.99, paper. Reviewed by Ella Rydzewski, editorial assistant, Adventist Review.

en Wade is probably the first Adventist writer to connect the end-times with modern technology and politics. Being set in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area makes it particularly real to me with its familiar restaurants and places. This fast-paced mystery (without being violent) grabbed my attention. I read it from start to finish in a couple days. It’s the kind of story you get immersed in, and in my opinion it’s still the best of our end-time scenarios.