Doomsday

The second half of Glorious Appearing documents the fulfillment of prophesy – “history written in advance” (237).

Members of the Trib Force continuously exclaim over Carpathia’s eternal capacity to reject the prophesy, even as it starts to be fulfilled in front of his eyes. “Carpathia had to have read the Bible. He had to know all this was prophesied. He even had to know the predicted outcome. Yet he brazenly came to the very post he was supposed to, and…he still had the gall to believe he would prevail” (269).

From this and similar statements, it seems as if everything is predestined – who will win, who will lose, who will live, and who will die. When Ming asks Eleazar about people who choose not to come to Israel, he just laughs and replies, “Did you see anyone at the judgment today who appeared to have a choice?” (368).

But at other times throughout Glorious Appearing, the authors emphasize that it is possible to have a choice. By choosing to believe in Jesus, a person will be spared the plagues and ultimately the lake of fire. Conversely, those who choose to believe in the Antichrist get the punishment they deserve. “The Unity Army soldiers were slain simply by the Lord’s words…they had long since made their decision. They had pledged their loyalty to the god of this world, had willingly taken the mark of Antichrist and bowed the knee to him. For them there was no recourse” (239).

It seems to me LaHaye and Jenkins are trying to have it both ways. Do we have free will to choose between good and evil? Or is everything predestined, and are our actions today just fulfilling ancient prophesies?

The questions are more than merely theological. As McAlister notes, “the series offers its readers a way to see the aggressive actions of the United States (and those of terrorists or other actors in the region) as part of a divine plan…beyond any human agency to effect – or to judge.” (McAlister 194). Obviously, it can be a slippery slope from predestination to abdication of responsibility.