Antichrist. The very word send shivers through us. And Nicolae Carpathia certainly does not disappoint as Antichrist. Nicolae is the third book in Left Behind series written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, and is preceded by book one, Left Behind, and book two, Tribulation Force.

Nicolae Carpathia becomes the focus as he continues to consolidate his power, unifying political states ("Global Community"), media ("Global Community Network," "Global Weekly"), and religions ("Enigma Babylon One World Faith") under a Nicolae-appointed supreme pontiff. Nicolae himself is grand potentate of the global community.

Our heroes, pilot Rayford Steele and journalist Buck Williams, along with the rest of the Tribulation Force, continue their struggle to survive and protect their families in the midst of global war and destruction. They have come to recognize Nicolae Carpathia to be the Antichrist prophesied in the Bible, and to them it comes as no great revelation that this man, who presented himself as a charming and benevolent leader, has been unmasked as a ruthless and cruel tyrant, manipulating people and events to serve his own ends. And his ends are undoubtedly evil.

It becomes apparent that the chaos and turmoil created by Nicolae are the fulfillment of John's prophesy of the seven seals as recorded in the book of Revelation. And it becomes also apparent they are now facing the sixth seal, a great earthquake which is sometimes called "the wrath of the lamb." This upheaval of the earth, with its accompanying death and destruction, is familiar apocalyptic imagery: a blood-red moon, a sun turned black, and the stars falling from the sky. And the Tribulation Force discovers that these incredible descriptions turn out to be not so very far from the truth.

Great book, great action

This is where the Left Behind Series starts to get good! The Antichrist has started World War 3 and the Tribulation Force struggles for life. Buck Williams goes to Israel to rescue Rabbi Ben-Judah, while Rayford Steele is forced to work for Nicolae Carpathia and gets to hear all his dirty little secrets. Just a couple things made me uncomfortable. The eschatology wasn't so great, and it was a little too "macho." The men go out on all their adventures while the women just get in trouble and have to be rescued. I liked Left Behind The Kids better, because the girls are just as smart and important as the guy characters, and they're not all ditzy-blonde like Hattie Durham. But to get to the bottom line, this is a great story, and it's awesome to have a gospel series that gets the respect of the mainstream market.

Great Reading

About a year or two ago, my wife and mother in law and others in my family began reading the books in this series. I didn't notice them til this last August. Then I read Left Behind. I took me about a week. Immediately I was hooked. Since they'd already read Tribulation Force and were working on Nicholea, I was able to read the second book right away. This took 4 days to read. By the time I was ready to read Nicholea some one else was reading it. I had to wait about a month before they finished and got the book back. This book took 3 days. It's now hard for me to read anything else. Nothing else seems so real and alive. Now I get my first real taste of a wait, EIGHT MONTHS!!!! That's okay, take your time. It apparently works. God Bless you two for this Book.

Non-Stop, Edge of your seat thriller

The third installment of the Left Behind series starts at the begining of the tribulation. After the start of World War III, the Tribulation Force struggles for survival as Nicolae Carpathia (The Antichrist) unleases his war machine against those who oppose the newly formed Global Community (formally the UN). Adding a particularly good twist to the story. two of the core members of the Tribulation Force are now employed buy the Antichrist creating a high amount of tension that serves to be very infomative for the reader. The members of the trib force in this third installment are now without a leader due to their previous leader dying under mysterious conditions. The book escalates and proves to be a page turner that you will find difficlut to put down. Action and suspense are ever present, as the reader is taken to locales such as Iraq were the throne of the antichrist is, Chicago, and a harrowing escape/rescue from Isreal which is perhaps some of the best suspenseful writing of our time.