'Left Behind' Author Hopes New Thriller 'Babylon Rising' Will Do More Than Entertain
by Allie Martin
November 7, 2003
(AgapePress) - A Christian version of "Indiana Jones with a prophetic message" -- that's how noted author Dr. Tim LaHaye describes his new novel, a pre-rapture thriller co-authored with Greg Dinallo.While the best-selling Left Behind series began with the apocalyptic rapture of Christ's Church, LaHaye's Babylon Rising (Bantam, 2003) is the first of a new fiction series set in the present day. The novel lays the foundation for the series and introduces the character of Michael Murphy, a field archeologist who hunts down and authenticates ancient artifacts from biblical times.
LaHaye hopes the series will attract not only Christians, but non-believers who are searching for truth. He wants this first book to give Christians yet another evangelism tool, like Left Behind, that they can offer to unsaved friends who enjoy fiction.
"It's incredible how many atheists or unsaved persons have come to faith in Christ because they like fiction, and they read Left Behind," LaHaye says, adding, "I'm praying that happens with this book."
According to the best-selling author and biblical scholar, the inspiration for the new book comes from the second through the fourth chapters of the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament. He says what he is hoping to do is to present the prophecies relating to the end times and the nations involved in the events leading up to return of Christ for his Church. In so doing, LaHaye says he wants to "make it clear that Christ is the central figure of all biblical prophecy."
The author says he hopes Babylon Rising and the subsequent books in the new fiction series will accomplish these goals "in a very faithful way, and one that the Holy Spirit will use in the lives of others."
