It’s hard not to notice the recent publishing phenomenon based on the Bible's Book of Revelation. Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins are the authors of the Left Behind series, the last instalment of which is to be released at the end of the month. Advance copy sales of The Glorious Appearing have skyrocketed toward the 2 million book mark.

The first book, Left Behind, introduces an airline pilot who is busy fantasizing in mid-flight about committing adultery with one of his stewardesses when suddenly some of the passengers disappear. Confusion reigns as the remaining people examine the piles of clothing their Christian fellows left behind. Rayford Steele, the pilot, is one of the first to figure out what's happened, his wife was recently born-again, and he realises that if the believers have been taken to Heaven, that the time of tribulations is upon the Earth. He teams up with a reporter and unbelieving pastor to form The Tribulation Force. Their mission is to stop the Antichrist, a Romanian politician, who plans to use the United Nations to disarm the world, establish a single currency and establish his own Global Village.

The next 11 books in the series track the trials and tribulations of The Force, God’s judgment of earth and the running of the world by a dictator that leads to Armageddon. The final instalment, The Glorious Appearing, is the return to earth of Jesus.

A worthwhile commentary on the series is summed up on www.brothersjudd.com:

True believers can read them for their predictive value. Those who are more tepid in their adherence to prophecy can read them as speculative but plausible. The ambivalent can appreciate a rollicking adventure story – one not unlike the old TV series V, or that current favorite, The X-Files. Total unbelievers can have fun just mocking these beliefs as they go along for the wild ride.