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{{work}}
{{quote|''For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. [[Back
A series of religious novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins about the [[wikipedia:Premillennialism|Premillennial]] [[wikipedia:Dispensationalism|Dispensationalist]] version of [[Caught Up in the Rapture|the Rapture]]. Despite criticism for hewing closely to a specific sect's interpretation of [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] (or perhaps because of said hewing), it has gained a strong following among many religious people.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Potentate Carpathia, meet Chaim Rosenzweig's [[Sharpened to a Single Atom|uber-sharp blade]]. Unfortunately, Carpathia gets better... and things [[It Got Worse|get a hell of a lot worse from there]].
* [[Acquired Poison Immunity]]: Subverted big time with Floyd Charles. He contracts the poison used to kill Hattie's baby from Hattie herself and later dies from it.
* [[A Chat with Satan]]: In ''Glorious Appearing'', Satan has to remind Nicolae Carpathia who is the boss when the Antichrist gets a bit big for his britches.
{{quote|'''Satan:''' You dare suggest you have anything to offer me besides your pathetic frame?! You are drunk with a power whose source is far beyond your own! You are merely a vessel, a tool, a jar of clay for my purposes, and yet you parade yourself as if you had a shred of value!}}
** Also any scene where the heroes have to talk with Nicolae
* [[Adaptation Dye Job]]: Blond-haired Chloe Steele and Nicolae Carpathia in the books get darker hair in the films.
* [[Adaptation Expansion]]: The young adult series expands on events from the adult series as well as telling some of them from a different perspective. For instance, in the first book, Buck Williams calls Lionel Washington's mother and finds out about her disappearance, while the young adult series shows us the same call fromLionel's perspective.
* [[After the End]]: ...well, after the first end. The second end is still a while away. And not really an ending.
* [[A God Am I]]: Nicolae Carpathia fancies himself this after Satan takes control.
* [[Air Force One]]: Plays a big role in the story, centering around the hiring of Rayford Steele as the primary pilot, and the president giving it to Nicolae Carpathia so he can fly around in it as the leader of the [[One World Government|Global Community]]. Several elements of its purpose and function<ref> (such as the fact that its pilots will always be Air Force personnel rather than civilian hires, the fact that if a President is not aboard it will never use the callsign "Air Force One", or the President confiding in Buck about how upset he is by ceding it to Carpathia when in fact the President always has at least two identical planes which can serve as Air Force One in case one of them is unavailable)</ref> are [[Did Not Do the Research|handily overlooked]] for [[Dan Browned|the sake of the story]].
* [[All Love Is Unrequited]] Floyd Charles and Hattie Durham. Also David Hassid and Hannah Palemoon.
* [[Alphabet News Network]]: Global News Network in the movies, Global Community Cable News Network in the books.
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* [[An Asskicking Christmas]]: Tsion Ben-Judah gets to witness [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+12&version=NIV Revelation chapter 12] being played out in full detail in the heavens in ''The Indwelling''.
* [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle]]: At the end of the first novel, Buck confirms to Bruce, Rayford and Chloe that Nicolae Carpathia is in fact the Antichrist foretold.
* [[Animal Motifs]]: On top of the various religious ones mined from [[The Bible]], Carpathia has two planes, the first called the Condor, the later the Phoenix. The first refers to a type of vulture that is usually black in color, emblematic of Nicolae's true goal of feeding off the world's attention,and the second plane is considered a rebirth of the Condor, foreshadowing how Nicolae himself would later come [[Back from the Dead]].
* [[And There Was Much Rejoicing]]: The Dramatic Audio presentation of ''Glorious Appearing'' has the sound of a crowd cheering wildly as Michael locks Satan away in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. However, Satan does get out in time for the [[Final Battle]].
** Prior to that, in the middle of the Tribulation, there were 3 1/2 days of rejoicing when the two witnesses were killed by Nicolae at the start of the Global Gala, which abruptly ended when they were resurrected and taken to heaven in a cloud, according to [[The Bible|The Word of God]].
* [[An Offer You Can't Refuse]]: In the prequel novel ''The Rising'', Marilena Carpathia wishes to become a mother. Enter Viviana Ivansova (Viv Ivins), who makes the following proposal to her: join our group and swear loyalty to [[Satan|her lord]], and she will have the baby she so desperately desire. [[The Antichrist|Marilena should have read the fine print about what her son will become in the future.]]
** Ironically, Carpathia had the fine print spelled out to him by Lucifer when it came time to decide whether to follow Lucifer's lead forever. He still jumped at it and didn't regret it until he lost and was forced to [[Kneel Before Zod|acknowledge Jesus as Lord.]]
* [[Anticlimax]]: The Other Light battle versus Jesus Christ in ''Kingdom Come''. It took less time in that book to be over than the Battle of Armageddon in ''Glorious Appearing''. Chaim Rosenzweig even [[
** In a moment of bleak comedy, it's even noted that anyone who rejects God after 100 years is destined to die during the thousand year reign of Christ, meaning nine generations will have [[Failure Is the Only Option|lost by default]], but The Other Light thinks they'll still come out on top in the end anyway.
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: Except for one person, {{spoiler|Rayford Steele}}, all of the people we get to know end up dying in various painful and/or messy ways.
** The protagonists of the young adult series are better off, only one of the original four dies off during the Tribulation.
* [[A Plague on Both Your Houses]]: According to T.M. Delanty, upon finding out that his brother Samuel was killed while escorting Hattie Durham, Bo Hansen got wasted in a bar, pulled out a gun, cursed Nicolae, God and the world, [[Driven to Suicide|and killed himself.]]
* [[Apocalypse How]]: a level 1 (global [[Depopulation Bomb]]) followed by a level X-4 (the annihilation of the entire ''physical'' universe or 'World', as opposed to the 'Kingdom of Heaven').
* [[Arab-Israeli Conflict]]: Ended bloodlessly in the prologue. Israel, thanks to a chemical Super Miracle-Gro has bought the good will of its neighbors to the extent where they apparently have no problem with it absorbing Syria and a large chunk of Iraq.
* [[Artistic License Religion]]: You have to be in a ''very'' specific branch of Christianity to agree with the author's interpretation of [[The Bible]].
** Combined with [[Artistic License Linguistics]], in ''The Rising'', the authors have a curious etymology for Lucifer's name, from Latin lux, or lucis (light) and ferrum (iron) -- in other words, Iron (or Iron-hard) Light. They may have the language and "light" part right, but, in fact, most Christian scholars can tell you that Lucifer actually came from lucem ferre -- Light-Bearer. [[wikipedia:Lucifer|See here]].
* [[Archangel Gabriel]] / [[Archangel Michael]]: Be it giving [[An Asskicking Christmas|Tsion Ben-Judah a front-row seat of the War In Heaven between Satan and God]], or strong-arming the Antichrist and his False Prophet, the two archangels are ready to do their Lord's bidding.
* [[Arc Number]]: Carpathia sure has a thing for 216. {{spoiler|Because it's a parody of John 3:16}}
* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]:
** After Chloe is captured by the GC, among the things the GCNN report is that she was expelled from her university for making threats against the faculty, aborted two fetuses (with another daughter dying under unknown circumstances), and naming her son Jesus Savior Williams.
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* [[Author Avatar]]: Two of them, one for each author, although it's worth mentioning that it's more severe with Buck, since Buck is Jenkins' avatar, and Jenkins is the one who does the actual writing.
* [[Author Filibuster]]
* [[Author's Saving Throw]]: The young adult series, when read alongside the adult series, fills in a lot of details glossed over in the adult books. The YA series also remedies the [[Zeerust Canon]] issues as much as possible and ups the competence of the GC from their seeming nigh idiocy in the adult series, allowing them to be seen as much more competent antagonists. Unfortunately, they had to stick with certain bad writing,such as the physically impossible gunshot Nicolae uses to kill people in the first book because the YA series had to follow canon and couldn't deviate from certain parts of the adult books later on.
* [[Author Tract]]
* [[Awesome Moment of Crowning]]: {{spoiler|Jesus rewarding the Tribulation Martyrs with a martyrs' crown.}}
* [[Back
** Carpathia resurrecting Fortunato, Eli and Moishe being resurrected by God, and Carpathia resurrecting himself (actually being indwelt by Satan).
* [[Badass Beard]]: {{spoiler|Take a wild guess.}}
* [[Badass Bookworm]]: By the end of the series, Abdullah Smith is quite the bookworm indeed. Ken Ritz is also one.
* [[Badass Family]]: The Steeles as the Tribulation goes on, and by extension, Cameron Williams.
* [[Badass Grandpa]]: Rayford gradually grows into this role following Kenny's birth.
* [[Badass Israeli]]: Tsion ben-Judah, David Hassid and Chaim Rosenzweig.
* [[Badass Preacher]]: Tsion Ben-Judah in ''Armageddon'' when he decides to help defend Jerusalem and preach to the Jews about Jesus Christ during the Battle of Armageddon
** Eli and Moishe also qualify.
* [[Bad Boss]]: The climax of the first book centers around {{spoiler|Nicolae shooting two of his subordinates for the sole purpose of demonstrating his "power." He then brainwashes everyone in the room into forgetting what they just saw.}}
** [[Fridge Logic]]: Then why would he do it in the first place?
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*** {{spoiler|It's possible he did it in order to "smoke out" anyone in the room who was immune to his power (i.e., Christians). According to the first book's mythology, anyone converted to Christianity would see "the truth" behind Carpathia's magical mystical hypnotic suggestions, and would probably still be freaking out while the "true Carpathia believers" sat calmly like nothing had happened.}}
* [[Because Destiny Says So]]: Why did Russia ([[My Friends and Zoidberg|and Ethiopia]]) attack Israel? Because it was written that they would. Why would they world agree to suddenly follow one religion after so much bloody strife? It's written that they would. Not even a [[Hand Wave]] that [[The Antichrist]] is using mind control powers to make it happen. These people do these things solely because it's been foretold.
* [[Being Evil Sucks]]: You're pretty much boned if [[
** And even that's not an immediate concern, the people who took the [[Mark of the Beast]] eventually realize they swore loyalty to a despotic lunatic who demands constant worship or death.
* [[Big Applesauce]]: Since the Antichrist's plan so heavily involves the UN, New York is a major setting, which is made all the more jarring given the [[You Fail Geography Forever|glaring errors]] written about it. In the first book, Buck (who is described as being "in great shape"), has to walk a bit through Manhattan. The journey is described like the Bataan Death March, when in reality it's less than two miles.
** He walks until he's ready to collapse from exhaustion and then he finds an abandoned bike and considers it a sign from God. In ''less than two miles''.
* [[Big Bad]]: Nicolae Carpathia, throughout much of the book series.
* [[Big Bulky Bomb]]: Carpathia tries to use two [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLU-82 Big Blue 82s] as well as a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM-52_Lance Lance] missile to kill all the believers at Petra in the tenth book, and fails to accomplish squat, as God provides total immunity to any of the fire and explosive damage from either.
* [[Big Good]]: God and Jesus, naturally. Jesus turns up in person at the end of the twelfth book.
* [[Big No]]: In the Dramatic Audio of ''Glorious Appearing'', Leon Fortunato utters this (half-screaming, half-crying, actually) as he is hauled to the pit which will send him and Carpathia to the Lake of Fire.
** Carpathia attempts some [[Face Death with Dignity]], but as he falls into the pit he starts screaming too.
* [[Bilingual Dialogue]]: While Buck is at the Wailing Wall for the first time with Tsion watching Eli and Moishe preach, Buck and Tsion hear them in their respective languages. Buck later confirms this with Tsion after asking around the crowd. One man says that they are speaking Spanish, while another says they are speaking German, and a third person hears them in Dutch.
** Played straight with Jesus Himself, as the believers hear him speak to them in their own languages; Rayford, in English, Chaim in Hebrew, Chang Wong in Mandarin Chinese, Abdullah in Arabic with Mac jokingly saying that Jesus "worked a bit of West Texan...the language of Heaven."
* [[Black and White Morality]]: As an example, the character list in the third book lists characters as being either part of the "The Believers", "The Enemies", or "The Undecided". [[Take a Third Option|Taking a Third Option]] in morality is not something that happens here.
* [[Black Dude Dies First]]: In the third Left Behind movie, Bruce Barnes bites the big one. Fitzhugh is the last to go.
** In the novels, T.M. Delanty is the first black dude to die.
* [[Black Market]]: Inverted with the International Commodity Co-Op, which caters to underground Christians, helping them survive the final years of the Tribulation.
** Ironically, the completely legal market is such a joke by the final books even they have to engage in this trope since official lines of market goods are so decimated.
* [[Bland-Name Product]]: The movies have Buck Williams working for [[Cable News Network|Global News Network (GNN)]].
* [[Bonding Over Missing Parents]]: The lead characters of ''Left Behind: The Kids'' bond together when their parents were either raptured or killed.
* [[Brainwashed]]: The Antichrist's preferred method of gaining allies and resources.
* [[Bottomless Pit]]: At the end of ''Glorious Appearing'', Satan [[Sealed Evil in a Can|gets chained up and tossed into one]]. [[Thousand Year Reign|He will remain there for the duration of the Millennial Kingdom.]]
* [[Briar Patching]]: Rayford pulls this off with the Potentate at the end of ''Nicolae''. Carpathia knows that Rayford is a believer and wishes to be at the meeting of the 144,000 at Teddy Kolleck Stadium. But Rayford convinces him that showing up would be to his advantage.
{{quote|'''Rayford:''' The enemy has been known to imitate miracles. Imagine the audience in Israel if you were to do something like that. Here are people of faith coming together for inspiration. If you are God, if you could be the Messiah, wouldn't they be thrilled to meet you?
'''Carpathia:''' If you are suggesting that it only makes sense that the Global Community Potentate bestow upon those guests a regal welcome second to none, you may have a point...Captain Steele, schedule that flight. }}
* [[Broken Bird]]: Prior to becoming the head nurse at Brigham Young Hospital, Leah Rose had quite the checkered past. From a broken household to a teenage drug addict who slept around, aborted a pregnancy [[Bungled Suicide|and nearly killed herself several times]] before she finally cleaned herself up, got her GED and after getting married, her husband put her through nursing school and the pair adopted two boys. After their children were taken in the Rapture, she and her husband tried to kill themselves. Her husband succeeded. She didn't. In the end, she became a believer.
** Abdullah Ababaneh (Smith) gets the honorable mention. He starts off as a Muslim, but when his wife Yasmine and their two children, Bahira and Zaki become Christians, they leave him following one argument too many. This drives Abdullah into a state of depression, where he loses himself in booze and women,
* [[Broken Pedestal]]: Nicolae Carpathia increasingly becomes this to those who once believed him to be a noble character, showing more and more [[Evil All Along|what an evil sot he really is]]. Even Jesus calls him out on it, saying that all his God-given abilities could have been used for good, but he chose to use them all for serving Satan.
* [[Bros Before Hoes|Brothers Before Lovers]]: Rayford invokes this against ''his own daughter,'' when he sides with her boyfriend Buck in an argument.
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* [[Chaste Hero]]: Raymie Steele in ''Kingdom Come''. His being a "glorified" renders him permanently unable to seek any sort of sexual relationship. In fact, any child that was [[Caught Up in the Rapture]] will end up coming back as a [[Chaste Hero]].
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: The Rapture Tape Pastor Billings made '''three years''' before the Rapture. It would be instrumental in bringing about Rayford and Chloe's salvation.
** In the prequel novel ''The Regime'', it's Chaim Rosenzweig's synthetic fertilizer (The Eden Project). Later, in ''Tribulation Force'', [[Deal with the Devil|it is used to secure a seven-year peace treaty with Israel.]]
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: Ken Ritz. Most people don't know that [[Badass Bookworm|he graduated Saluatorian in his high school class, or studied at the London School of Economics,]] or the ideas he had would eventually become the International Commodity Co-Op, or the fact that [[Secretly Wealthy|he stashed at least 80 percent of his earnings at Palwaukee Airport, thus making him a virtual millionaire.]] Rayford's reaction to this little revelation is priceless.
{{quote|'''Rayford:''' Did I mention the annual dues for being a member of the Tribulation Force?}}
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** [[The Captain]]: Rayford Steele
** [[Number Two]]: Cameron "Buck" Williams
** [[The Chick|The CEO:]] Chloe Steele
** [[The Mentor]]: Bruce Barnes, later Tsion Ben-Judah
** [[Team Mom]]: Loretta
** [[The Medic]]: Floyd Charles, Hannah Palemoon and Leah Rose
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* [[Conspiracy Theorist]]: Buck Williams' informant Dirk Burton is played as one in both the novels and the movies.
* [[Corrupt Church]]: Arguably Enigma Babylon One World Faith, which consists of the Roman Catholic Church combined with other sects of Christianity that would not hold to fundamentalist doctrine as well as other religions.
** It gets replaced with something even worse later that doesn't even bother to hide how corrupt it is.
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Joshua Todd-Cothran and Jonathan Stonagal...until Nicolae executes the both of them. Prior to becoming the President of Romania, Carpathia himself personified this trope, as anyone who stood in his way were killed or bribed into submission.
* [[Cozy Catastrophe]]: Crashed airlines, mass disappearances, and political upheaval ''everywhere'', but the trash is still getting collected, [[The Trains Run On Time|airline flights are uninterrupted]], and it's safe to walk the streets at night.
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* [[Crapsack World]]: Descends into this, but later gets turned around.
** It degenerates back into this during the Millennial Kingdom with the rise of The Other Light.
* [[Creator Provincialism]]: Plenty. If the authors describe anyone who isn't a PMD Christian, expect a [[War On Straw|Strawman]], a [[Fox News Liberal]], this, or a combination thereof.
* [[Crisis of Faith]]: Irene Steele experiences this before switching to New Hope Baptist Church.
* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: When Jesus comes into the scene and slaughters Global Community troops en masse just by speaking [[The Bible|the Word of God]], it's a total [[Game Breaker]]. He's also unstoppable, as evidenced in the Dramatic Audio presentation of ''Glorious Appearing'' where the Antichrist armies launch rockets at Him with no success.
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* [[Dan Browned]]: The authors go to great lengths to assert that these books are accurate predictions of things that ''will'' happen once the rapture hits according to a strict interpretation of [[The Bible]]. However, the books also demonstrate not just several [[Critical Research Failure|Critical Research Failures]] in many areas, but also a lot of implausible reactions on the part of people in the setting that undermines the [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]]. To quote The Slacktivist:
{{quote|"Here's where a semi-competent hack like [[Dan Brown]], author of ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'', would be preferable to wholly incompetent hacks like Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins."}}
** It's worth noting the later books of the young adult series attempt to remedy some of the mistakes of the earlier adult books, but they can't fix all of them, as they are integral to the plot.
* [[The Danza]]: Kirk '''Cameron''' playing '''Cameron''' "Buck" Williams.
* [[Dawson Casting]]: In the first Left Behind film (which came out in 2000), Chelsea Noble was in her mid-thirties, playing 27-year-old Hattie Durham. Janaya Stephens was 27-years-old at the time, playing 20-year-old Chloe Steele. Gordon Currie was also in his mid-thirties at the time, playing 33-year-old Nicolae Carpathia. Played almost straight with Brad Johnson, who was 41-years-old playing 42-year-old Rayford Steele. Dead-on with Kirk Cameron, who was 30 at the time playing Buck Williams, also 30 years of age.
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* [[Devil in Plain Sight]]: Literally.
* [[The Devil Is a Loser]]: Carpathia pre-indwelling manages to be calm, collected, and careful in his quest to bring the world under Satan's palm. ''Post''-indwelling, with Satan actually present, he rapidly spirals down into maniacal spite and general loopiness.
** It's revealed in the prequel novels he wasn't really all THAT calm and collected, he just managed to appear that way because Lucifer, of all beings, counseled him to act this way, which just adds extra irony to post-indwelling Carpathia.
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: When Carpathia takes the title of "His Excellency", he is taken to task for usurping a religious title. Although some clergy, including Catholic bishops, do use this title, it is actually more of a secular title, used commonly by heads of state and government, some state governors, and ambassadors.
** A minor character in the 1st book is a London police officer called "Captain Howard Sullivan." There is no rank called Captain in the UK police.
** Honestly, 90% of every book including the Biblical discussions. There's a critical research failure nearly every few pages, from how feminists behave (the writers seem to think their primary objection is to cooking and cleaning the house and portray this as a silly, meaningless objection. Let that sink in awhile) to Buck's trip to his office (which apparently requires a zig-zagging train ride which crosses the Hudson River and takes three hours to pass through Manhattan).
* [[Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?]] - Happens in the sixth book when a believer tells the False Prophet off to his face, and he not long after lampshades this trope. It later turns in a delayed [[Do Not Taunt Cthulhu]] when
**
* [[Disc One Final Boss]], although more of a fake Dragon in Peter
* [[Disney Death]]: Honestly, who among the heroes will stay dead, given that Jesus will resurrect them? The Other Light can only assume that's what Satan is going to do if they [[Kill the God|succeed in defeating God and Jesus]] [[Final Battle|at the end of the Millennium.]]
** Unfortunately averted with some minor nonbeliever characters who help the heroes in this story. They only get resurrected to face the final judgment.
* [[Dirty Coward]]: Despite all of his showboating, Leon Fortunato shows his true colors when Jesus arrives on the scene. He tries to [[Heel Faith Turn|plead his case to Jesus.]] It does not work.
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Russia attacked Israel because it was hogging the new agricultural super growth formula they'd developed, and they try to get it by launching a massive nuclear strike at Israel. Why not just have a spy steal it (which is what most nations do in [[Real Life]] when they want to take an innovation another side has developed.
* [[Damsel in Distress]]: With as many times Hattie has been captured by the GC, she could give Princess Peach a run for her money.
* [[Do Not Taunt Cthulhu]]: Or rather, Do Not Piss Carpathia Off.
* [[Doomed Hometown|Doomed City:]] So long, New Babylon.
** Also [[Doomed Hometown]], as members of The Place flee Chicago before it gets nuked.
* [[Double Standard]]: A combination of the author's strong support for 'Traditional gender roles' and [[Values Dissonance]] with a lot of people means you can expect quite a bit of this. But there are a few cases that are bad even by those standards. Buck and Bruce have several conversations about Hattie and Steve, both of whom work for the Antichrist. Hattie is declared not worth the risk of trying to save her from the Antichrist, since going was 'her choice' and she's possibly banging him already, the filthy slut! Steve is considered a trusted friend despite that he, unlike Hattie, admitted he knows his boss is involved in the murder of another journalist ''and'' went suspiciously silent when Buck mentioned his boss might have something to do with the Biblical
* [[The Dragon]]: Leon Fortunato
** Viv Ivins also has a minor role.
** Jonathan Stonagal and Joshua Todd-Cothran start out as this at first, [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|until Carpathia executes the both of them.]]
** Ironically, this is one of Satan's many aliases.
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: From the Rapture to the end of the Tribulation...most of them were unbelievers or those who backed the Global Community, particularly more so when [[
** Following the destruction of New Babylon, those who lost their fortunes commit suicide in droves.
** Steve Plank's assistant commits suicide when Plank decides to become a martyr.
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* [[Earthshattering Kaboom]]: What takes place at the end of ''Kingdom Come'' when the old earth passes away.
* [[Easily Forgiven]]: In ''Kingdom Come'', Kenny's friends, family, and girlfriend, who ''know'' that he plans to secretly infiltrate The Other Light, believe, on specious evidence, including the word of a known traitor and liar, that he had really left the faith. They all turn against him. When the matter is resolved, everything immediately returns to ''status quo ante'', complete with Kenny picking up where he left off with his girlfriend.
** [[Easily Forgiven|I Forgive You:]] Carpathia (post-indwelling) publicly forgives his assassin. [[Loophole Abuse|Since Chaim Rosenzweig has been officially declared dead (his body was not found when his staff was gunned down), that allows any GC to kill him without penalty from Carpathia.]]
* [[Easy Evangelism]]: Played straight with the Tribulation Force, but subverted with just about everyone else. Rayford's decidedly haughty attempt at evangelism to his copilot in book 2 is a prime example of the latter. One third of the population of the Earth disappears, specifically including ''all'' children without exception, and the possibility that divine intervention might have been involved is just [[Flat Earth Atheist|completely out of the question]].
** Also played straight with the [[Path of Inspiration|Enigma Babylon One World Faith]], a global religion engineered by the [[Anti Christ]]. Essentially, anyone who is does not hold to the "true" Christian faith gets rolled into one big spiritual group, and does so willingly. [[Bellisario's Maxim|Nevermind that]] there are a variety of traditional, theological, and dogmatic differences between these groups which would be irreconcilable with regard to joining together into one diverse-but-united faith under a central authority.
** Also played straight with the believers in the Millennial Kingdom, to the point where one would have to be a complete idiot to not see that (1) [[Elephant in the Living Room|God and Jesus Christ are pretty much real]] and (2) [[Death's Hourglass|any "natural" who remains an unbeliever by the time they reach 100 years of age will instantly die and go to Hell]]. It's the Other Light faction that has to work hard to convince people of their beliefs.
* [[Easy Logistics]]: A literary example. [[The Antichrist]]'s plan involves forming a [[One World Government]], redistributing governing districts from nation-states to several arbitrary regional divisions, mashing all global religions into [[One True Faith]], turning all public and private media worldwide into a single [[Propaganda Machine]], disarming the nations of the world by retiring ninety percent of their armed forces and the destruction of ninety percent of their equipment, turning the remaining ten percent over to the command of the new Global Community, relocating the [[United Nations]] from [[Big Applesauce|New York]] to a newly established and rapidly developed city in the Iraqi desert, and rebuilding the temple in [[Jerusalem]]. This plan is begun,
** This is a mistake the prequels and even the first movie tried to fix by implying the ability to pull this off was being prepared in case anyone ever got a chance to get the world to agree to it.
* [[Egopolis]]: United Carpathian States and a minor example, Carpathia Standard Time.
** Not to say that God and Jesus are not entirely guilty of this trope. Valley of Jehoshaphat, Ozase.
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* [[The End of the World as We Know It]]: Which the characters don't want to prevent, but pray will come soon, given the [[Crapsack World]] they're currently in.
* [[Escort Mission]]: In ''Desecration'', George Sebastian is assigned to Greece to get Georgiana Stavros and Marcel Papadopoulos out of there. {{spoiler|The mission goes FUBAR when Georgiana turns out to be a GC decoy, who kills Marcel, Lukas Miklos, and Kronos, while capturing Sebastian.}}
* [[Et Tu, Brute?]]: In the Dramatic Audio, we hear Pope Peter the Second get stabbed to death by the 10 subpotentates.
* [[Eureka Moment]]: Played straight with both Rayford Steele and Buck Williams, who recognize the signs which leads to the Wrath of the Lamb Earthquake...which leads into an [[Oh Crap]] moment.
** Rayford gets a second one when he notices what he originally thought was a smudge on Mac's forehead is in fact an image of a three-dimensional cross - the Seal of God, which identifies one believer from another, despite the fact that one cannot see it on their own forehead.
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** After Chloe gets captured in ''Armageddon'', she reminds her father about the trip to Red Rocks in Colorado. Rayford is stumped, [[Hint Dropping|but it's Mac who realizes the hidden meaning behind Chloe's words.]] She is telling them that the San Diego safehouse is compromised and that the believers there should relocate to Petra.
* [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]]: Nicolae turns this trope on its head when he and Viv orchestrate the murder of Nicolae's mother...before he was ten.
* [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones]]: Carpathia's relationship with Viv Ivins. She did basically raise him after he orchestrated his mother's death. But Viv did piss Carpathia off [[Do Not Taunt Cthulhu|by sitting on his throne in
** In the Dramatic Audio of ''Glorious Appearing'', though, Viv Ivins [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies|gets killed by a hailstone]], and [[Dull Surprise|Nicolae just casually shrugs off her death.]]
{{quote|'''Fortunato:''' (after Viv gets splattered by said hailstone) Excellency...I am so sorry.
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* [[Famous-Named Foreigner]]: Jenkins has said in his book, "Writing for the Soul", that one of his tried-and-true ways to create a foreign character's name is to take the given name of some historically important native and append the name of a notable geographical area as a family name. One little problem: Romania doesn't use family names terribly much. Instead, you usually see patronymics. Guess what "Carpathia" ''isn't?''
* [[Fantastic Racism]]: Mostly among the "naturals" against the "glorifieds" in the Millennial Kingdom, particularly among those who belong to the Other Light faction. Not that they can directly act upon those beliefs through violent means due to [[Unfortunate Implications]]. However, one of them did [[Attempted Rape|foolishly try to rape a female "glorified" and got killed by God in the attempt]].
* [[Fatal Family Photo]]: Subverted, as it is not a fatal photo. In ''Kingdom Come'', Rayford requests a picture of the original Tribulation Force at an end-of-the-Millennium party. He is the only member out of the core group who is a natural, while Bruce, Cameron and Chloe are glorifieds. Even Rayford is as shocked as to how old he is.
* [[Fidelity Test]]: Inverted with Rayford, as Irene does not test his faithfulness. He was more than willing to cheat on Hattie while away in London. [[Caught Up in the Rapture|God, however, decided to wreck those plans.]]
* [[The Film of the Book]]: A mixed bag. While not exactly great cinema -- its reception was overwhelmingly negative, while the books were successful -- it deals with some of the novel's plot inconsistencies, as well as unrealistic character behavior. It also, out of the sheer fact of being a movie, avoids one of the pitfalls of the series' writing: the stupendous lack of descriptions ''anywhere''.
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* [[God in Human Form]]: Jesus, only here He returns in his [[True Self|true form]]. Nicolae Carpathia only claims to be this in the second half of the Tribulation, but is really indwelt by Satan.
* [[God Is Evil]]: Pretty much the view of the Other Light faction in regards to His 100 years of age limit for unbelievers, which is why they're working hard to win converts with [[Death's Hourglass|each generation of unbelievers that passes away at 100]] so they could potentially [[Final Battle|overthrow Him at the end of the Millennium]] when [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Satan is released]]. [[Curb Stomp Battle|Guess how that turned out!]]
* [[Good Guns, Bad Guns]]: the game Eternal Forces depict the Tribulation Forces being armed with M16/M4s, while the GC peacekeepers are armed with AKs.
* [[Gorn]]: Several deaths have a hefty amount of detail, and this goes into [[Up to Eleven]] territory when {{spoiler|Jesus shows up and his very words cause entire armies to explode in rivers of gore.}}
* [[Government Conspiracy]]
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** For the short time they were married, Rayford and Amanda were very happy.
** Subverted big time with Sorin and Marilena Carpathia, as their marriage was one of convenience. Marilena wanted kids. Sorin didn't, which made her easy pickings for [[The Dark Chick|Viviana Ivansova - the future Viv Ivins.]]
* [[Has Two Daddies]] / [[Has Two Mommies]]: Nicolae Carpathia had two biological fathers who were both gay, and was raised mostly by his mother and Viv Ivins until Nicolae and Viv had the mother disposed of. Later on in his life, [[Bury Your Gays|Nicolae had his two fathers disposed of as well.]] And in the Dramatic Audio presentation of ''Glorious Appearing'', [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies|Viv Ivins gets killed by a giant hailstone.]]
* [[
** Averted in one instance where a believer had the mark forced upon him while he was drugged, but still had the seal of God.
** Possibly played straight with Nicolae's mother Marilena in ''The Rising'', as she dies of poisoning and asks God to forgive her of what she's done.
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* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Aplenty.
** But see above.
* [[Heel Faith Turn]]: Leon Fortunato attempts this to Jesus after both he and Carpathia are captured in an act of self-preservation. Unfortunately for the False Prophet, [[
* [[He Knows Too Much]]: At the climax of the first book, Nicolae executes his two co-conspirators right in front of a UN meeting, with Buck present. He then brainwashes everyone to imagine that it was a murder-suicide by one of them, and that Buck was never there. This should send up alarms in the heads of normal men, as the last reporter to cross Nicolae only took the ferry halfway to Staten Island. But when Buck is called before Nicolae to explain himself, [[Too Dumb to Live|he acts like a petulant child]] ([[Plot Armor|and gets away with it]]).
* [[Hell]]: Where the undecided and the condemned (i.e., those who decided to follow Satan and the Antichrist) end up.
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* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Tsion Ben-Judah, Chaim Rosenzweig, Buck Williams and Rayford Steele each experience this during the Tribulation. Subverted with Bo Hansen, [[A Plague on Both Your Houses|as his case was lethal.]]
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Aplenty, but it's somewhat negated when the victims know they won't be gone for long. The most admirable characters are those willing to hold out during prolonged suffering.
* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: In the movies, [[Melrose Place|Dominic O'Malley]], his daughter [[Flashpoint|Sophie Lane]], [[Growing Pains|Mike Seaver and Kate MacDonald]], and [[Walker, Texas Ranger|Jimmy Trivette]] / [[Life with Derek|Paul Greebie]] find themselves left behind. [[Puppet Master|Rick Meyers]] is the Antichrist seeking to conquer the world and [[An Officer and a Gentleman|Gunny Sergeant Foley]] is an unwitting pawn in his scheme. [[Nero Wolfe|Fritz Brenner]] designed the Eden Formula and [[K19: The Widowmaker|Dr. Gavril]] proclaimed that Jesus, not Carpathia was the Messiah.
* [[Hide Your Children]]: Every child under 12 or so ''vanishes'' in The Rapture. In a better-written book, even if nothing else happened, the trauma from this alone would probably cause the collapse of every government on Earth.
** This also extends to ''children in the womb.'' The description of a mother's stomach suddenly flattening is quite creepy.
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** In the ''Left Behind'' movie, Chaim Rosenzweig's super fertilizer is known as The Eden project.
* [[I Choose to Stay]]: Ming Toy undergoes a dangerous mission to rescue her and Chang's parents in her native China. She finds her mother, but sadly Mr. Wong died as a martyr. Mrs. Wong decides to remain behind while in China. She does get some reassurance from an angel, saying that her mother will survive the Tribulation.
* [[If You Die, I Call Your Stuff]]: In ''Apollyon'', Bo Hansen and Ernie attempt to steal Ken Ritz's wealth he had stashed at Palwaukee Airport following Ritz's death. Their attempt at robbery was thwarted [[The Scourge of God|by the arrival of the horde of demonic locusts]]. [[Give Me a Sign|Only Rayford and T.M. Delanty were spared because they were believers.]]
** After executing both Todd-Cothran and Stonagal, Nicolae is the sole inheritor of both their estates. When the children of both men dispute the claim, Nicolae simply pays them off under the condition that they do not contest the will.
* [[I Have Many Names]]: Both Jesus and Satan have plenty of those.
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** In the same book, Mac's chopper is rigged with grenades. Mac's faith pretty much saved both him and his chopper when the grenades go boom.
** Jesus Christ Himself is also immune to whatever the Unity Army throws at Him and the army of saints...'''especially''' missiles.
* [[Incessant Music Madness]]: "Hail Carpathia" becomes musical torture for Chloe Williams when she is held in custody by the Global Community in the book ''Armageddon''. She counters this somewhat by singing [["The Villain Sucks" Song|"Fail Carpathia"]].
* [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness]]: Jesus Christ, the angels, those with glorified bodies.
* [[Informed Ability]]: ''All'' of Buck's characteristics. He is billed as an amazing reporter but all of the examples of his writing are clumsy analogies. He is (we're told) an investigative reporter, who neither investigates nor reports anything; he's supposed to be worldly wise (before his conversion), but he's a 30-year-old virgin; he's your actual globetrotting journalist, "among the top 3% of air travelers in the world", but washes his underwear in the sink because he doesn't realize hotels provide laundry service; he's a sophisticated world traveler -- who happens to be headquartered in New York, the international-cuisine capital of the planet -- but can't order in a restaurant in Tel Aviv because he cannot begin to imagine what an Israeli restaurant might have available.
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* [[Instant Cultured]]/[[Instant Expert]]: Once the protagonists, and for that matter the horde of unnamed new worshipers at their church, convert they seem to become instantly knowledgeable about the authors' beliefs regarding the Bible and how Christians should act. While this is justified in the case of Rev. Bruce and perhaps Rayford (who both have at least tangental prior exposure to such religious communities,) it's rather odd to see Buck out-debating a [[Strawman Political|bishop]] using Bible-quotes, not to mention him and Chloe 'dating'. These two people were supposed to be a globe-trotting jetset reporter and a secular Stanford student a week ago, yet they treat handholding as a deeply intimate act that should not be rushed.
* [[Intrepid Reporter]]: Subverted, but only by accident (see [[Informed Ability]]).
* [[Istanbul (Not Constantinople)]]: In ''Glorious Appearing'', the Valley of Jehoshaphat (also called the Valley Where Jehovah Judges), formerly known as the Mount of Olives.
** Also in ''Kingdom Come'', the country of Osaze (meaning 'Loved by God') is the new name for Egypt.
*** The reformed world under the Global Comunity (formerly known as the United Nations):
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* [[Kneel Before Zod|Kneel Before Satan]]: In the prequel novels, Satan takes Nicolae to the desert, where he remains for 40 days and 40 nights without food and water. Unlike Jesus, who resisted the temptations (i.e., turning stones into bread, throwing himself from the highest building and bowing down to Lucifer), Carpathia falls to all three temptations.
* [[La Résistance]]: First the Tribulation Force, then the Other Light in the last book. The Other Light rebels against God because they [[God Is Evil|see Him as evil]] for not letting "naturals" to [[Death's Hourglass|live past 100 years of age]] as unbelievers.
* [[Large Ham]]: Everyone has their moments in the Dramatic Audio, but Nicolae Carpathia (post-indwelling) takes the cake when he executes Walter Moon for failing to get Tsion Ben-Judah off the air in Desecration.
{{quote|'''Carpathia:''' '''(BLAM)''' Hold out your other hand, Walter. '''(BLAM)''' Ah, the foot. '''(BLAM)''' The other foot. '''(BLAM)''' The knee. '''(BLAM)''' Is Ben-Judah still on the screen? Oh, why, yes he is. '''(BLAM)''' Still there! '''(BLAM)''' Oh look Walter, he's still there! '''(BLAM)''' Walter...you have many times stated your devotion to me. I can only assume that the appearance of Ben-Judah on our network must certainly be causing you as much discomfort as it is to me. Therefore, I want to do you a favor. '''(BLAM)'''}}
** Honorable mention goes to once again, Carpathia (pre-indwelling) as he [[Back
{{quote|'''Carpathia:''' Leonardo Fortunato...you have served me well. And you will continue to serve and give testimony to the power of Nicolae Carpathia. Leonardo Fortunato, you have served me well, and you will continue to serve me. Leonardo Fortunato, you will sleep NO LONGER! You will...arise! LEONARDO...LEONARDO, COME FORTH! LEONARDO...COME FORTH! LEONARDO...I COMMAND YOU...COME FORTH!}}
* [[Large Ham Title]]: His Excellency, Global Community Supreme Potentate Nicolae Carpathia. What a mouthful.
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*** In the Dramatic Audio of ''Apollyon'', when Fortunato demanded to be addressed by his proper title, [[Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?|Chaim responds by calling Fortunato "Supreme Nincompoop."]]
** Pontifex Maximus Peter Matthews, aka Peter the Second. Counts as a [[Meaningful Name]], as no Catholic Pope has not taken the name Peter, as according to Catholic belief that Peter was the first pope of the church.
** Both Jesus and Satan [[I Have Many Names|have some pretty interesting titles.]]
*** Jesus: Some of which include Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Root of David, Faithful and True, I AM, Wonderful, Counselor, Bright Morning Star
*** Satan: He has less titles than Jesus. His titles are Lucifer, The Devil, God Of This World/Age, Prince Of The Power Of The Air, The Serpent Of Old, The Dragon.
* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]:
** An early example occurs in the first book, when Rayford refuses to ride on a bus the airline sent to pick up the pilots from the plane to the terminal, because he couldn't accept such a favor while his passengers have to walk maybe a mile at most. Rayford's co-pilot does accept and very slightly mocks Rayford for refusing. He dies so soon afterwards, Rayford has barely had the time to accept, without question or hesitation, two other privileges the airline gives to pilots: Avoiding the line for the pay-phones, when everyone wants to call their families to see if they didn't vanish, and a helicopter ride home to avoid the total gridlock on the roads that the book describes to such detail.
* [[Last Villain Stand]]: [[The Antichrist|Carpathia]], [[The Dragon|Fortunato]], and The Unity Army does this in Jerusalem...until [[Archangel Michael|Michael]] catches up to them. Cue [[Oh Crap]] from the two bad guys.
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* [[Light Is Not Good]]: Lucifer, when he takes on his pure form after departing from Nicolae Carpathia. The Other Light faction also see God in the same...uh, [[Incredibly Lame Pun|light]] as the Christians see Lucifer, hence the name of their group.
* [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]]
* [[Living Statue]]: Carpathia's massive image, which is heated by onionskin paper.
* [[Locked Out of the Loop]]: Arguably the second reason, besides the [[Flat Earth Atheist]] infestation, why [[Easy Evangelism]] is averted. The main protagonists have a detailed step-by-step prophecy of what will happen in the next seven years, but whenever they can be bothered to try to convert someone, they tend to use the same speeches as evangelists do now. They don't say the next 4 things their divine prophecy predicts, and then come back after those things have happened.
** And then there is Hattie. Buck wanted to impress her, so he offered to introduce her to Nicolae. When she actually seems more impressed by Nicolae, Buck explicitly loses interest in her. After learning Nicolae is the [[Anti Christ]], Buck tries to persuade Hattie not to go on a date with him... by telling her he thinks she's [[My Girl Is Not a Slut|"not that kind of girl"]]. You'd think that telling her Nicolae is the devil (or at least into murder and corruption) might be more persuasive.
* [[Loophole Abuse]]: Taking the Mark of the Beast is supposed to be a free will decision, meaning you take it and knowingly forfeit the right to change your mind later. One believer gets doped up and forced to take it against his will, allowing him to serve as a mole for the good guys later while bearing both the Seal of God and the Beast's Mark, since despite being catatonic, God made it to where his body was still doing things like making the sign of the cross to show he was a believer, which the villains wrote off as delirious hand gestures from a guy strung out on sedatives.
* [[Satan Is Good|Lucifer Is Good]]: The viewpoint of the Other Light faction in ''Kingdom Come'', claiming in their manifesto that God unfairly treated one of His angels and befouled his name and reputation by casting him out of His presence.
* [[Madonna-Whore Complex]]: The view of females in the series.
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* [[The Mole]]: Carpathia had conducted a smear campaign against Amanda White-Steele, showing her that she was in fact on the GC's payroll. Hattie, however, tells Rayford that his late wife was not a mole and that she truly loved him.
* [[The Moral Substitute]]: To other [[Airport Fantasy]] books.
* [[Motive Rant]]: Carpathia confesses to Leon and the 10 subpotentates that he '''is''' the Antichrist in ''Armageddon''.
{{quote|'''Carpathia:''' Am I Antichrist? Well, if he is Christ, then yes! Yes! I am against the Christ who was falsely crowned by the pretend creator. I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will be like the Most High! ([[A God Am I|...for I AM THE MOST HIGH!]])}}
* [[Murder by Cremation]]: Suhail Akbar sends the two pilots who bombed Petra (which had failed due to God protecting the city and the people) to be incinerated '''alive'''. He does sedate them before barbecuing both men.
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** Kenny Bruce Williams goes through this in ''Kingdom Come'' when he was secretly infiltrating the Other Light faction to see what they were planning to do, with an Other Light plant working at the Children of the Tribulation daycare center planting false evidence about Kenny to frame him as a traitor.
* [[The Nudifier]]: Hinted at in the first book when people are removed from their clothes during the Rapture.
* [[Nuke'Em]]: So long, London and D.C. Bye-bye, Chicago.
* [[Obi-Wan Moment]]: Any believer who decides to become a martyr. Overlaps with [[Face Death with Dignity]].
* [[Oddly Small Organization]]: The Tribulation Force itself, and also the "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110907090701/http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2010/07/tf-gang-of-four.html Gang of Four]" conspiring to set up the One-World Government.
* [[Offscreen Moment of Awesome]]: Steele's first landing at O'Hare during the Rapture is built up immensely, but actually occurs between chapters.
* [[Off with His Head]]: Done through guillotines ([[Insistent Terminology|referred to as "loyalty enforcement facilitators"]]) on the general populace to enforce the law of taking the "[[Mark of the Beast|mark of loyalty]]" during the Tribulation.
* [[Oh Crap]]: Plenty from both sides. The [[Eureka Moment]] regarding Buck and Rayford in regards to the Wrath of the Lamb Earthquake is one major example.
** Rayford's reaction in which The Rapture hits, and the realization that [[I Warned You|Irene was right.]]
** Leah Rose's reaction in regards to the 200 million demonic horsemen which slays the unbelievers.
** Buck's reaction when he sees Hattie confront both Carpathia and Fortunato in ''Desecration''.
** In the Dramatic Audio of ''Glorious Appearing'', the reactions of Fortunato and Carpathia when the Archangel Michael corners them.
** In the first ''Left Behind'' movie, the look on Buck and Chaim's faces when Russia sneak attacks Israel.
** In the third Left Behind film, the look on Carpathia's face when he sees an incoming missile heading for his tower. Fitzhugh dies, but Carpathia survives.
** ''Assassins'' has Leon Fortunato recognizing that he was set up by Sub-Potentate Rehoboth.
** The mother of all Oh Craps comes from Lucifer himself in ''Kingdom Come''. [[Curb Stomp Battle|After Jesus decimates The Other Light on the final day of the Millennial Kingdom]], Lucifer "looked about him and slowly lowered his sword. He appeared to had something to say and even drew breath to say it, but fell silent." Even he knows that he is oh so very screwed.
* [[Older Than They Look]]: Once the Millennium starts in ''Kingdom Come'', all the naturals who enter this time period (either believers or children of believers) experience decreased aging similar to the first several generations of mankind in the book of Genesis, with the children becoming young adults by the time they reach 100. However, [[Death's Hourglass|naturals who remain unbelievers by the time they reach 100 will instantly die and go to Hell]]. It's not explained how those who were already adults, including those who were already at advanced age, experience this decreased aging at the same rate as the children who enter the Millennium. By the end of the Millennium, however, the longest-living naturals (who at that point are all believers) end up really showing their age.
* [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist]]: Dr. Chaim Rosenzweig. Specifically in the movie where he helps strategize against the oncoming Russians. He's a botanist for crying out loud!
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** Doesn't happen in the movie. Carpathia shoots twice, with the idea being that it was a murder-suicide.
*** Jesus using [[The Bible|the Word of God]] to slay the Global Community army en masse certainly qualifies as this.
* [[One True Faith]]: There's the pantheistic mishmash of all world religions called Enigma Babylon One World Faith as the official one-world religion, but there's also Christianity (as defined by the books' authors and the Tribulation Force characters), Judaism, and Islam (which in the book series ends up being a minority religion), which all become illegal to practice even when Enigma Babylon is replaced by the Luciferian-type state religion of Carpathianism around the midway point of the Tribulation. In the Millennial Kingdom, Christianity becomes the official one-world religion, though dissidents are permitted to practice the beliefs of the Other Light despite the fact that (1) it's totally in error when it comes to believing Satan is going to defeat God and Jesus by the end of the Millennium and (2) those who remain unbelievers in God and Jesus Christ by the time they reach 100 will instantly die and go to Hell.
* [[Only a Flesh Wound]]: Tsion, Buck and Rayford are grievously injured in the Battle of Armageddon. Rayford survives. Tsion and Buck are not as lucky.
* [[Only I Can Kill Him]]: More like Only I Am Can Kill Him, as nobody can defeat Satan and the Antichrist except for Jesus Christ, as [[The Bible|The Word of God]] dictates.
** Both Rayford and Hattie obsess over killing Carpathia for reasons of their own. Chaim succeeds in doing the deed, but Satan has other plans.
* [[Only Known by Their Nickname]]: Albie, the black arms dealer who later becomes a believer.
* [[The Other Darrin]]: In the first two movies, Bruce Barnes was played by Clarence Gilyard, Jr., before being replaced by Arnold Pinnock.
** Due to scheduling conflicts, Gilyard was unable to reprise his role as Bruce in the third movie. That and since Gilyard is a Roman Catholic, his priest was slightly peeved about him taking the role, given the series' stance on premillennial rapturist theology, and was very happy when Gilyard did not reprise the role.
* [[Our Zombies Are Different]]: Carpathia's indwelling by Lucifer brought him back as a form of this. In the last book, it's revealed without Lucifer keeping his body alive, it would otherwise be as decrepit as if Nicolae had been dead for as long as Lucifer was making use of it.
* [[Overprotective Dad]]: Subverted. Rayford sides with Buck when his daughter is in tears because it [[Not What It Looks Like|looked like Buck was two-timing]]. Rayford's silent cheering when Buck raises his voice against Chloe, who's practically in tears, helps you realize there are worse things than a straight [[Overprotective Dad]].
* [[Padding]]: Bear in mind the entire second book can be summed up as "nothing is happening because [[The Bible]] says there's a year of nothing happening". The ''entire second book''.
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*** More like The Pirates That Won't Do Anything Unless The Lord Directs Them To. Not that it has stopped some from trying to do their own thing, like Rayford's assassination attempt.
*** Also justified in the fact that [[You Can't Fight Fate|they can't fight fate]]: what's going to happen in the Tribulation according to [[The Bible|The Word Of God]] [[Because Destiny Says So|is going to happen regardless of what anybody does]]; all they can pretty much do is help new people become believers and to help existing believers stay alive until Jesus comes or their time comes.
*** Somewhat fixed in the young adult series, where they are certainly more proactive in trying to save believers from the GC and get the undecided to choose Christ, but otherwise they follow the lead of the adult books.
* [[Place of Protection]]: The city of Petra during the latter half of the Tribulation, due to God's protection from Global Community forces.
* [[Playing Sick]]: Chaim Rosenzweig pulls this off beautifully. He fakes having a stroke, and gets around in a wheelchair, all in order to assassinate Nicolae.
* [[Point of No Return]]: Take the [[Mark of the Beast|mark of loyalty and worship The Beast's image]], [[
** Getting saved during the Millennium [[Death's Hourglass|prior to your 100th birthday]] also guarantees that you'll live to the end of the Millennium.
* [[Plot-Relevant Age-Up|Plot Relevant Age Leveling]]: In the third prequel, when the elect are raptured, their glorified bodies are all the same age, 33, no matter where on the -0.75 through +969 spectrum they were in their Earthly lives. This comes from Augustine's claim that one's glorified body will be just like one's 33-year-old body was or would have been, barring anything crippling and/or hideous. It derives from Jesus being 33 when ''he'' was crucified.
* [[Poke the Poodle]]: While Nicolae Carpathia in the [[Left Behind]] books does eventually commit evil such as ordering London nuked and demanding the executions of those who refuse to worship him as god, he gets only passing mention to such atrocities and instead focus on his [[Poke the Poodle]] moments such as him dating the hero's former love interest and [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?|treating her with respect]]. As Fred Clark on his slacktivist page states:
{{quote|So far, though, it's hard to take him seriously. He's bumblingly through the first stages of his master plan, getting himself hopelessly bogged down in details that seem less evil than simply arbitrary and weird. For example, Nicolae plans to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. That might be considered evil if he were doing it just to desecrate the Islamic holy site currently sitting there in an effort to start a deadly war, but instead he's carefully negotiated an amicable (if ridiculously implausible) solution to this age-old conflict. [snip] Or consider Nicolae's grand scheme of relocating the United Nations headquarters to an as-yet-unbuilt city in the Iraqi desert. That's capricious and foolish, but not so much evil as just terribly wasteful and inconvenient.}}
* [[Pre-Mortem One-Liner]]: In the Dramatic Audio, George Sebastian delivers one to Elena right before the coup de grâce. Double points for George as he delivered it [[Good News, Bad News]] style.
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* [[Propaganda Machine]]: The Global Community-controlled media and press, leading to the creation of Buck Williams' [[Voice of the Resistance]] publication ''The Truth''.
* [[Protagonist-Centered Morality]]: In the Left Behind universe, "good" is defined as "consistent with God's will" (or, to put the same thing another way, God's will is by definition always good).
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20110908005803/http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2010/09/tf-reaching-for-the-cookie-sack.html This blog post] gives us an idea of how incidental characters might view the main characters.
* [[Prophecies Are Always Right]]: Interesting variant: The authors believe the prophecy used in these books is also completely true in the real world. Which makes the characters' praises of how everything in this story is happening exactly as predicted by the prophecy (which is the exact thing the authors believe in and used for writing the story) [[Author Appeal|all the more smug]].
** Except for when reality intervenes, and the [[Y 2 K]] bug doesn't cause the Anti-Christ to show up as they predicted.
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* [[Recruit Teenagers with Attitude|Recruit Under-100ers With Attitude]]: The members of The Other Light are all physically teenagers and young adults recruiting others of the same age range.
* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: No pun intended.
* [[Reign of Terror]]: What the world reverts to with the [[Mark of the Beast|mark of loyalty system]].
* [[Religion Is Right]]: Arguably the [[An Aesop|Aesop]] of the series. [[Anvilicious|If you do not accept Christ as your Lord and Savior]], you will be [[Title Drop|left behind]] to suffer the Tribulation on Earth, followed by an eternity of damnation if you die during the Tribulation without accepting Christ then.
** In ''Kingdom Come'', it's accept Jesus Christ and you'll get to live past 100 years of age and straight to the end of the Millennium; deny Him [[Death's Hourglass|when you reach 100, and you'll die and go to Hell]].
* [[Reluctant Ruler]]: Since Fortunato taught him out to feign humility, Carpathia offers token resistance to the role of Secretary-General of the U.N. Only when he accepts does things go downhill.
* [[Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated]]: Steve Plank, thought to have been killed during the Wrath of the Lamb Earthquake, is pretty much alive...yet horribly disfigured, and going by the name Pinkerton Stephens.
** Buck says this in the Dramatic Audio when people see that he is still alive.
* [[Resignations Not Accepted]]: Carpathia exploits Rayford's relationship with Hattie by [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|attempting to have the both of them killed when he meets up with her once again.]] However, Buck had taken Rayford's place when it became clear that Rayford wasn't going to arrive in time and rescues Hattie, killing a GC mook in the process and making a fast getaway with Ken behind the wheel.
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* [[The Scourge of God]]: Seal Judgements, Trumpet Judgements, Bowl Judgements...take your pick.
** The Bowl Judgements affect those who took the mark of loyalty and worshipped the Antichrist's image.
** Most the latter Trumpet Judgments those sealed by God are either partially or completely immune to.
* [[Screw the Money, I Have Rules]]: Feebly attempted by Buck when Nicolae offers him a job in his inner circle, based on Buck's out-of-nowhere concern for journalistic ethics. Of course, Buck denies Nicolae in person, having been flown from Chicago to New York first class, driven to the meeting in a limousine, and having had lunch at an exclusive Manhattan yacht club, all on Nicolae's dime. Subverted when after all the posturing he takes the job anyway.
* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money]]: Nicolae Carpathia, full stop.
* [[Screw the Rules, I Make Them]]: Again, Nicolae Carpathia, post-indwelling.
** Josuha Todd-Cothran gives a real sinister example when he is confronted by Alan Tompkins in the first novel. From the Dramatic Audio:
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* [[Screw Your Ultimatum]]: In ''Armageddon'', Carpathia issues the following to the defenders of Jerusalem: [[You Will Be Spared|by the count of three, if there is silence for fifteen seconds, then that means that the defenders will surrender to the GC.]] The defenders' response: [[Firing in the Air a Lot|shooting their guns into the air, Tsion and Buck included.]]
* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: Satan during the Millennial Reign. Some people who are part of the Other Light subsect The Only Light believe that Satan purposely sealed himself away so that he will be powerful enough to overthrow God (whom the Only Light members believe don't exist despite visible evidence to the contrary) and those that will follow Him. As keeping with what the book of Revelation says, Satan does get released to lead the Other Light army at the end of the Millennium, only for his entire army to be [[Curb Stomp Battle|smoked to ashes by God in seconds]], and for Satan to be cast into the Lake of Fire.
* [[Second Coming]]: It's all about Jesus' return.
* [[Shining City]]: The New Jerusalem at the end of Kingdom Come.
* [[Show, Don't Tell]]: Just look at [http://www.patheos.com/community/slacktivist/2007/01/19/lb-boutros-boutros-carpathia-2/ this excerpt], for instance. We are ''told'' that Nicolae Carpathia "spoke earnestly, with passion, with a frequent smile, and with occasional, appropriate humor", not shown this. We are ''told'' that it is a "touching scene", rather than shown why. We are ''told'' that Carpathia has a "grasp of history" and "photographic memory of dates and places". We are ''told'' that he spoke "with electricity and power". It should be noted that two-thirds of Carpathia's speech is simply ''reading out the names of every country in the United Nations'', before then proceeding to name all the UN agencies and random facts about them. Instead of actually writing a speech that was genuinely captivating and inspiring, the authors simply resorted to [[Take Our Word for It]].
* [[Significant Anagram]]: Chaim Rosenzweig as his alter ego Micah, which really is an anagram of Chaim.
* [[Some Call Me... Tim]]: Buck's real name is Cameron Williams, of which he goes by in ''Kingdom Come'', and Mac McCullum first name is Montgomery. Also, Gustaf Zuckermandel Sr. and Jr. go by Big Zeke and Zeke respectively. Annie Christopher's real name is Angela and Hattie's short for Harriet
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* [[Strawman Political]]: Particularly [[Hollywood Atheist]]; also abortionists.
* [[Super Speed]]: In ''Glorious Appearing'', the Remnant in Petra make a divine-assisted mad dash from Petra to Jerusalem. Hilarious in the Dramatic Audio as both Rayford and Mac joke about Abdullah being passed by pedestrians on foot.
* [[Sweet and Sour Grapes]]: Two of the main protagonists are offered jobs by the Antichrist, jobs that, were they offered by anyone else would seem like dream jobs. The characters are reluctant to take those jobs, rightly seeing them as tests of temptation before them. After some initial reluctance, they take the jobs anyway, as they feel that taking them was "God's will."
** In any other story, the following rationalization would be [[Foreshadowing]] of some kind of [[Face Heel Turn]], even if we didn't already know that the [[Big Bad]] was capable of mind control. In this story, it's considered valid.
{{quote|His job was ferrying Nicolae Carpathia wherever he wanted to go, and for some reason, Rayford felt compelled to sublimate his wishes, his desires, his will, and his logic. God had laid this in his lap for some reason, and as long as he didn’t have to live a lie, at least for now he would do it. }}
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* [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]]: A couple of thermobaric missiles and a 'daisy cutter' is indeed overkill, as said payload is dropped onto Petra on Carpathia's orders. Too bad it doesn't work out the way he had hoped.
* [[Thousand Year Reign]]: What ''Kingdom Come'' is all about.
* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]: The good guys try to take this very seriously, even when they are forced to kill in self defense, and they certainly agonize over even doing that. In partial fairness, they don't want to fall prey to [[He Who Fights Monsters]], which certainly makes them less bloodthirsty than the enemy, but it sometimes beggars belief how far they will go to avoid killing anyone.
* [[Throwing Out the Script]]: In ''Apollyon'', when Chaim Rosenzweig is asked to appear on TV to give his explanation for the sun giving out only one-third of its sunlight due to one of the Trumpet Judgments taking place (though Chaim isn't convinced that it is the hand of God at work), he is given a script by the Global Community that has him parrot the party line's explanation of some scientific cosmic disturbance that even Rosenzweig as a botanist can see through. He chooses to appear on TV but speaks his own mind instead, almost directing people to Dr. Tsion Ben-Judah's website before being pulled off the air. ▼
** It is notably averted a few times, such as when Goerge Sebastian kills one of his captors in Greece in the tenth book, but considering she had already murdered several people he had intended to save prior and killing her was his only means of escape, it would have made no sense to leave her alive, not to mention he saw her as [[Asshole Victim|deserving of death for the murders she had committed]].
▲* [[Throwing Out the Script]]: In ''Apollyon'', when Chaim Rosenzweig is asked to appear on TV to give his explanation for the sun giving out only one-third of its sunlight due to one of the Trumpet Judgments taking place (though Chaim isn't convinced that it is the hand of God at work), he is given a script by the Global Community that has him parrot the party line's explanation of some scientific cosmic disturbance that even Rosenzweig as a botanist can see through. He chooses to appear on TV but speaks his own mind instead, almost directing people to Dr. Tsion Ben-Judah's website before being pulled off the air.
* [[Time Skip]]: A few of them right in ''Kingdom Come''. It starts off at the beginning of the Millennium, then jumps to 93 years later where it stays for most of the story, then it jumps right to the end of the Millennium.
** Several time jumps are evident in the main storyline and prequel novels.
* [[Title Drop]]: Plenty.
* [[Took a Level In Dumbass]]: Both sides, but most notably the villains competence is kept at a far lower level than the protagonists, barring a few exceptions.
** Somewhat averted in the young adult series, where the villains certainly remain less competent most of the time, but in comparison to the adult series they get far more [[Near Villain Victory]] moments.
* [[Totally Radical]]: Some of the lingo used by the characters reveals the eras that the authors grew up in.
{{quote|"Well, sir, I don’t know what to tell you, but it is a pity you’re not getting the services of the new pilot. I know him and he’s tops."}}
* [[Trilogy Creep]]: Was originally planned to be one novel, then was changed to a trilogy, and ultimately ended up being thirteen books, not counting prequels or spin-offs.
* [[Trash the Set]]: The
** He then decides to top that by emptying the sanitation system filled with horse dung into the Cradle of Jesus in ''Glorious Appearing''.
** God Himself destroying the desecrated Temple in ''Kingdom Come''.
* [[Try Not to Die]]: In the Dramatic Audio of Apollyon, after going through the escape plan to get Tsion, Chloe and Buck out of Israel, Rayford asks for some more advice from Mac. Mac's response: "Don't get shot."
* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: No specific year is given, emphasizing the "It could happen any minute" message. The first few books are [[Zeerust|still dated by the lack of cell phones and widespread internet access]], though.
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* [[Veganopia]]: In the Millennium Kingdom, everyone is a vegetarian. It was only at the wedding feast at the beginning of the Millennium that the meat restriction was lifted for that event.
* [[Villain Ball]]: Several minor bad guys seem to do their evil business the old-fashioned way, ignoring the opportunities the Rapture presents. Like the burglar who robs Steele's house instead of one of the many abandoned homes where the families where Raptured, and stealing a child's bike (every child on the planet has vanished, remember?). Or the [[Supreme Council of Vagueness]] who stages a [[Never Suicide|faked suicide]] when killing [[He Knows Too Much|Buck's insider]]. This is within two days tops since more than a billion people worldwide vanished without a trace, which suggest a much better way to cover up the murder.
* [[Villain Override]]: The Indwelling.
* [[Villain Song]]: Nicolae Carpathia's own self-indulgent national anthem "Hail Carpathia", which gets twisted by Buck Williams into [["The Villain Sucks" Song]] "Fail Carpathia".
* [[Villain with Good Publicity]]: Carpathia has the entire world eating out of his hands from Day One.
* [[Voice of the Resistance]]: Dr. Tsion Ben-Judah himself and Buck Williams' online publication ''The Truth'' during the Tribulation; The Other Light's ''If It's True'' manifesto during the Millennial Reign.
* [[Wag the Director]]: As mentioned on the trope page, Kirk Cameron did not grow out of this after ''[[Growing Pains]]''.
* [[Wave Motion Gun]]: The good guys use a non-lethal [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed-energy_weapon#Microwave_weapons Directed Energy Weapon (DEW)] that fires microwaves that heat up a target's skin moisture, which is not deadly but considered extremely painful.
* [[We All Live in America]]: When Chang Wong meets an elder, he is reprimanded for wearing a hat in the elder's presence. He apologizes, saying that he is covering up a disgrace (the Mark of the Beast he was forced to take). However, in China, it is disrespectful ''not'' to be wearing a hat in the presence of an elder or at a formal
** The young adult books try to fix the mistake somewhat by Chang emphasizing he felt showing the forced mark to be a bigger disgrace than removing the hat.
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: We're told that Russia emptied their arsenals at Israel. We're told that the attack failed completely. We're ''not'' told how things went for Russia afterwards, now that they had shown their willingness to use nuclear force and were unable to retaliate to attacks.
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: When it comes to anything Hattie-related, Rayford does some very reckless things. Leah Rose and Albie call him out on that.
* [[Where Are They Now]]: In ''Kingdom Come'', we see the fates of the extended members of the Tribulation Force.
* [[Who Writes This Crap?]]: Chaim's effective reaction to the explanation the GC put out following the fourth Trumpet Judgment, as despite it not being his field, even he realizes it's nonsensical.
* [[Wicked Cultured]]: Attempted (not particularly successfully) with Nicolae Carpathia.
** After being indwelt, he tosses any further attempts out the window.
* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]: Carpathia, hands down.
* [[With Us or Against Us]]: Ultimately, it comes down to two choices - join God or the Global Community.
* [[Words Can Break My Bones]]: Jesus' words when He arrives at the Battle of Armageddon, consisting of proclaiming who He is and reciting Bible verses, [[Curb Stomp Battle|slays all his enemies at once]].
* [[World-Healing Wave]]: A rather slow one, as God and Jesus spend a few months restoring the earth to its former beauty following the end of the Tribulation to make it new for the Millennial Kingdom.
** A smaller scale version happen the sign of the cross appears in the skies preceding Jesus' arrival in Glorious Appearing, instantly healing the wounds, no matter the severity, of any believer, and presumably conferring invulnerability to any believer who didn't have it prior.
* [[World War III]]: Plays a major part in the series, as it is part of prophecy. New York, Washington, D.C., London and parts of Egypt are destroyed in the process.
* [[Worst News Judgment Ever]]: Every child on the planet has just disappeared, along with a great many Christians. The planet is plagued by horrific plane crashes and car accidents as a result. [[The Pope]] himself is gone, and the Catholic church has fallen into disarray. What stories do ''Global Weekly'' consider the most important to cover? A convention of Jews in New York, and a recent recall election in Romania. This stuff wouldn't be front page material on a ''slow'' news day.
** There is apparently a throwaway line that [[Retcon|retcons]] that those events were covered in the previous issue (as if they wouldn't still be news a week later).
** Apparently, the fact that [[Air Force One]] is getting a new pilot is big news.
** [[Fridge Brilliance]] kicks in for at least one of these: one of the candidates in said recall election? ''[[Anti Christ|Nicolae Carpathia]]''. What is he trying to bring about? A [[New World Order]]. Naturally, he would want his name to get out there so everybody knows who he is when he takes over, and he has the supernatural powers to get newspapers to run as frontpage news something that would be normally behind the latest celebrity
* [[Xanatos Roulette]], subverted: [[God]] is in control of everything, and the [[Satan|Antichrist]] thinks ''he'' is.
* [[You All Meet in An Inn|You All Meet At The Party:]] The Global Gala, located in Jerusalem.
* [[You All Meet in An Inn|You All Meet At The Stadium:]] The meeting of the 144,000 witnesses at Teddy Kollek Stadium, organized by Eli and Moishe.
* [[You All Meet in An Inn|You All Meet At The Temple:]] The dedication of the rebuilt Temple in ''Kingdom Come.''
* [[You All Meet in An Inn|You All Meet At The Western Wall:]] Buck and Tsion's meeting with Eli and Moishe. [[Bilingual Dialogue|Buck is hearing them speak in English, whereas Tsion is hearing them in Hebrew.]]
{{quote|'''Eli:''' I am Eli. This is Moishe.
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** One of the most jarring, unrealistic aspects of the series is how not one person in the world ''even tries'' to fight fate. In fact, just the opposite: the protagonists voluntarily go to work for the Antichrist and ''help bring about his goals'' because they believe the Antichrist has to win (in the short term) for their prophesied end to occur.
* [[You Are in Command Now|You Are In Charge Now:]] After Chloe [[Off with His Head|is executed by guillotine]], Lionel Whalum takes over running the Co-Op until the [[Second Coming|Glorious Appearing]].
** At the end of the Millennial Period in ''Kingdom Come'', Jesus returned the Kingdom to His Father and became "subject to Him (God) that subjected all things under His (Jesus) feet."
* [[You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good]]: What Jesus pretty much says to the Antichrist in His [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] to him before he is sentenced to the Lake of Fire: every blessing God gave him was wasted for serving Satan. This was a point of contention by certain readers since Jesus pretty much berated him from [[You Can't Fight Fate|what God destined him to function as]].
** A mistake the prequels tried to fix by showing Carpathia did have a choice to reconsider his way in life, but chose to follow Lucifer anyway.
* [[You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With]]: After Satan indwells Carpathia at the end of The Indwelling, he makes the following promise:
{{quote|'''Carpathia:''' There are those among you, however, who have referred overtly to me personally as the Antichrist and this period of history as the Tribulation. You may take the following as my personal pledge...the word tribulation will not begin to describe what is in store for you. If the last three and a half years are your idea of tribulation, wait until you endure the Great Tribulation.}}
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** Also pretty much applies to anyone in Nicolae's circle of advisers in the Global Community.
** Carpathia tries to pull this on Rayford and Hattie. It does not work.
* [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle]]: Plenty in the series.
** Nicolae threatens to kill Tsion Ben-Judah during the meeting of the 144,000 after his bottle of water turns to blood, but is stopped by the arrival of Eli and Moishe.
** Carpathia kills the Two Witnesses at the midpoint of the Tribulation, but God revived them and returned them to heaven.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Thriller Literature]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Christian Media]]
[[Category:The Great American Read]]
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