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Left Behind may lead the way for Christian movies to cross into the mainstream. But, critics ask, what message does its dispensationalist end-times prophecy convey to Middle America?"Overall this kind of teaching has certainly stifled social conscience among evangelicals," says Tim Weber, professor of church history at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. "If Jesus may come at any moment, then long-term social reform or renewal are beside the point. It has a bad effect there."Paul Boyer, a historian and author of When Time Shall Be No More, a book on the prophecy movement, accuses the series of appealing to a "paranoid and isolationist, anti-government strand" in American life.So far, these issues have attracted little controversy for the books or the film. Cloud Ten Pictures is banking on the hope that many readers, and moviegoers, will reach beyond the tangles of end-times interpretation, as actor Gilyard does: "There's a heaven and there's a hell, and you'd better figure out which place you want to go to."

Previous Christianity Today articles on the Left Behind phenomenon include:Christian Fiction Gets Real | New novels offer gritty plots and nuanced characters—but can they find a market? (May 11, 2000)Christian Filmmakers Jump on End-times Bandwagon | Bestseller Left Behind is slated for the big screen (Oct. 25, 1999)Apocalyptic Sales Out of This World (Mar. 1, 1999)The Bible Study at the End of the World | Recent novels by evangelical leaders say more about popular American Christianity than about the end times (Sept. 1, 1997)Christianity Today's sister publications have been covering the trend as well. Christian Reader profiled the publishing craze, and Christianity Online interviewed author Jerry Jenkins about his Web surfing habits.The official site of the Left Behind series is available in nine different languages.In this week's CCM Update, Left Behind coauthor Jerry Jenkins expresses his displeasure with the way the movie is being released, refusing comment on whether he's pleased with the way the movie is representing the book.Canada's National Post newspaper visited the set in Toronto.For more updates and rumors about the movie, visit the film's official site, Coming Attractions, HollywoodJesus.com, and UpcomingMovies.com.The Lalonde brothers, Peter and Paul, discuss why they make apocalyptic movie after apocalyptic movie in an interview on their promotional site.Profiles of Left Behind authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins share the authors' blend of theology and adventurous storytelling.Michael Maudlin, Online Executive Editor for Christianity Today International, reviewed the series for Beliefnet and discussed the books with religion professor Randall Balmer on Slate.When the latest book in the series, The Indwelling entered The New York Times bestseller list at number one, the paper called it "an unparalleled achievement for an evangelical novel," noting that, at the time at the time the series had "sold some 17 million copies in the United States, about three million less than the Harry Potter series." (For an overseas perspective, see the U.K.'s Guardian and Times stories.)

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July 10 2000, Vol. 44, No. 8