When a Novel Explodes Into a Frightening Reality

Image Credit: 1tamara2

Have you ever read a novel, only to discover how frightening it would be should it come to fruition in real life? After reading the novel Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, it scared the living heebie-jeebies out of me. People are suddenly disappearing around the globe leaving their families and friends terror-stricken. Vehicles are left abandoned or careening out of control and crashing.

It told of what is eerily and diabolically possible, and many of these disturbing parts seem to be playing out in real-time scenarios today. The scary part is that some people are complicit in the reality of it all, and none are the wiser regardless of how grown or educated they are.

But beyond the more disturbing apocalyptic events in this book is the character Nicolae Carpathia, a manipulative, power-hungry, charismatic, and arrogant man. The last chapter of this book shows just how much he gets away with murder and his supporters assist in this deadly sin. He told his audience he was going to kill Mr. Stonagal who was a part of his team. He said to these bystanders, “You will understand cognitively that I am in charge, that I fear no man, and that no one can oppose me.” When he shot Mr. Stonagal, the bullet also killed another man, Todd-Cothran. He went on to say, “When Mr. Stonagal is dead, I will tell you what you remember.” Then he placed the gun in the dead man’s hand.

As absurd as his words sound, Carpathia painted an elaborate story about the man he killed. He told his audience to remember that Mr. Stonagal grabbed the gun from the security guard, shot Todd-Cothran, and then committed suicide. Incredibly, everyone present, except one man (Buck), repeated, supported, and believed Carpathia’s strategy for such a preposterous lie. Buck was so grateful to feel the presence of God amid this evil and mayhem as he avoided falling into that trap of a snakepit, especially when everyone else was under Carpathia’s mind control.

Too often we see and watch people use such tactics of manipulation for their personal gain, knowing that some people will fall for anything and agree to what they are told to believe. The more a lie or a made-up story is told, the more it is ingested and the greater it is believed. We gotta wake up!

So many people have weaponized the word “woke” (alertness, a broader awareness, and active attention to important societal facts and issues; the past and past participle of “wake”) that they would prefer to reside in unawareness, denial, and sleepiness. They don’t like what or who they don’t understand, yet they gravitate to extreme or toxic things that they still don’t understand but choose to believe anyway. If you never read this book, trust me it’s one for the books!