Right Behind: A Parody of Last Days Goofiness

by N.D. Wilson

Book Overview

LaHaye and Jenkins' best-selling apocalyptic fiction novel, 'Left Behind, ' is already so ridiculous that it's hard to make a parody of it. Yet the conservative Christian author, Nathan Wilson,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1885767870
• ISBN13: 9781885767875
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: Canon Press
• Length: 105 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

I laughed, I cried; it moved me, Bob!

It's gotta be something in the Wilson genes. It's funny, it's light-hearted and most of all, it's entertaining. It should make the reader think, but it's too funny to take any of the content serious. It's a brief "Hitchhiker's Guide to Popular End Times." Douglas Adams would be proud of the grammatical and societal play. I read it in about two hours and it was worth every second. I had a great time with with Wilson's obvious joy in writing and playing with words. Debate all you like about spiritual license to mock or jest or poke fun or whatever you like, just enjoy the title above. Have an antihistamine or bottle of Jolt Cola and enjoy. This book is not the end of Christianity. If you're worried about someone attacking your end-times convictions, buy a new bumper sticker and pray. You'll be OK.

Great Book!

Great book! Both Right Behind and The Mantra of Jabez are great reading. These books are comic relief for the goofiness of contemporary evangelicalism.P.S. To Nathan Wilson, my sympathies go out to you concerning Mr. Sock. If he is still alive, may he soon be found. Perhaps if you chant the words of Jabez he'll miraculously re-appear just as he vanished (or maybe he was raptured or something, I dunno).

7 years too late

This book was priceless. True, its a whole 7 years too late in coming (sounds ominous, doesn't it? Isn't something supposed to happen seven years after the rapture spoken about in Left Behind? I guess this series hasn't been released in real time)... but hey, it needed to be written.I'll share some of my favorite passages:Page 19: "We left Buford surprised in the big tube part of the airplane. We join him again now. He walked out of the cockpit in time to suddenly see a woman walking toward him, but more importantly, towards the lav, which is what people in the know call the airline restrooms. She had the kind of look that attracts TV Baptists. Her hair was big, bleached, and beautiful. Her face was tastefully painted, and her outfit was a very classy evening dress. Buford smiled. For a split second he thought neither of Haddie nor his wife. His mind and eyes walked toward him in slow motion. Suddenly she was gone. Her dress was empty and it slid down onto the floor under a pile of blonde wig. Buford stopped. He was surprised. The people on either side of the aisle were surprised, at least those who were still there. Some of them had dissapeared as well."Page 30 and 31: "...there are only two options when writing apocalyptic literature," Buff said. "The first is as follows: When writing dialogue, at the end or in the middle of every line the author must insert the phrase 'he said', 'she said', or someone's name followed by the word 'said.' Of course, real authors of fiction prefer the word 'said' to all the many creative options that an amateur will come up with. But they will lace it through their dialogue, not distracting from what is being said by saying 'said,' but using it so the reader can keep track of the speaker. Only the good apolalyptic writer, or an eigth grader writing for an assignment, will give you the 'said' phrase following every speech. But there is also the other option. The second option is to leave the speaker completely unnamed. This is useful because he is it hip and keeps the reader interested, because he is always trying to discern the speaker. It goes something like this:'Why?''What?''Where have you been?''Nowhere in particular. How is the Rapture treating you?''Well, the traffic is rough.''Is your mother still a masseuse?''Sure, you need a rubdown?''Are you ready for a physical relationship?''No.'"In this way the reader is forced to go back and count lines in order to discover the speaker."The humor extends to more serious points, which subtly point out the gross errors in dispensational eschatology and theology. Page 43 points out their neo-gnostic leanings: "She got on her knees and crawled to a window. It wouldn't open. In a last reaction against the evils of the material world, she kicked the glass and crawled out into the sky."Thankfully the author doesn't only parody the two dimensional characters and amateurish dialogues. He also points out the errors of dispensational theology and makes it fun to read about. F

When the rapture comes, I'm wearing a helmet ...

... yup, as an individual who actually sat through a year of Sunday morning Bible study of dispensational escatology taught by none other than Tim LaHaye, I have to say this book is a kipper. Oh wait, that's that jabez mantra stuff, I mean it's a keeper.Right Behind takes advantage of the hackneyed poor attempt of Clancy-esque writing in the original book in both style and substance. It only fails in that Right Behind does a better job at keeping my attention with a fast pace ... and though a parody ... with better technical detail than it's "Left" counterpart.All the while it takes aim at the weird post-modern thinking that has infected the church through almost 200 years of anti-intellectualism ... with all the insane plot twists of the Hitchhiker's guide.In fact my wife, who also took the LaHaye class with me, is upstairs Right Behind my book marks, laughing out loud.

I laughed my evangelical Christian keister off!!

I never read any of the "Left Behind" series, but I know the theology and mindset all too well. This brilliant parody dismantles premillenial dispensationalism, the shallowness of the evangelical subculture, and the shoddy quality of the great majority of Christian fiction all in one hilarious fell swoop. The Antichrist, a former preacher from Tulsa (!), engineers a phony Rapture that leaves Christians stuck on ceilings, leaving behind their appendixes and any clothing that is not 100% cotton. The showdown between one of the "heroes" and the Antichrist in a Christian bookstore, where the Antichrist is pelted with Precious Moments figurines and is attacked with the help of a Thomas Kinkade painting is a real side-splitter. This book is definitely not recommended for Christians who have no sense of humor. Ah, what the heck, they should read it, too. Might be good for them to get a little offended now and then. After all, Jesus offended the religious of his time, although He did it in a much less satirical fashion.