L.B.: Jerry’s book tour

Last updated on: June 24, 2012 at 1:49 pm By Fred Clark

Jerry B. Jenkins, co-author with Tim LaHaye of the Left Behind series, is promoting his new book, Soon, which was written without having to split the profits with the valued assistance and spiritual guidance of LaHaye. Soon isn't set during a dispensationalist's "tribulation" period, but Jenkins is still sticking closely to his lucrative winning formula. Debra Pickett describes it in The Chicago Sun-Times: Soon is set 35 years after the end of World War III, and religion has, indeed, been... Read more

Yes, but the schools are open

Last updated on: June 24, 2012 at 1:49 pm By Fred Clark

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Let's try to remember, first of all, that the schools in Iraq have been reopened. Don't forget about the schools — that's what this war has always been about, the centers of mass instruction. And the Good News is that the schools are open. Mission Accomplished, schools-wise. And but so, keeping said schools always at the forefront of our minds, how else is the war going? Not well. Or at least so says: 1. David Rieff in The New York... Read more

L.B.: The Naked Truth

Last updated on: December 17, 2014 at 7:15 pm By Fred Clark

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Left Behind, pp. 21-25 Here we read with greater detail — although less detail than we might like — of how LaHaye and Jenkins envision the bodily rapture of believers, but not of their clothes. Thus: Harold’s clothes were in a neat pile on his seat, his glasses and hearing aid on top. The pant legs still hung over the edge and led to his shoes and socks. L&J seem to envision a great gathering in the clouds of all... Read more

L.B.: Not creepy enough

Last updated on: October 17, 2014 at 5:53 pm By Fred Clark

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Left Behind, chapter 1 The remarkable thing about LaHaye and Jenkins’ description of the rapture in this first chapter is how very creepy it isn’t. The events they’re attempting to describe are so audacious, so potentially unsettling, that this chapter should make your flesh crawl and the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. But it doesn’t. And that’s not just because L&J are bad writers. Left Behind, despite its religious trappings, is part of a larger... Read more

Schwarzenegger investigates himself

Last updated on: November 7, 2003 at 1:45 pm By Fred Clark

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That's the headline the paper I work at ran yesterday above this AP wire story: Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger will hire a private investigator to look into allegations that he groped women, but he may keep the results from the state attorney general, a spokesman said Thursday. Schwarzenegger's reluctance to turn over the results of the investigation stem from remarks Attorney General Bill Lockyer made earlier Thursday. The Democrat said he advised Schwarzenegger that the misconduct allegations "are not going to... Read more

Beating the Bush

Last updated on: November 6, 2003 at 5:12 pm By Fred Clark

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I'm not sure why someone thought I'd be receptive to the following invitation, but it arrived today in my mailbox. Anybody else get this? A message from [email protected]: As a noted conservative blogger, we'd like to invite you to the virtual Blogs for Bush community, a low-traffic, invitation only e-mail list for bloggers who support reelecting President George W. Bush — plus a group blog you're welcome to join coming soon at http://www.blogsforbush.com/. Our mission at Blogs for Bush is... Read more

St. Archie of Riverdale

Last updated on: June 24, 2012 at 1:48 pm By Fred Clark

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I have to thank Amy Sullivan of political aims for the link in the previous post to the Hal Lindsey comic. She reviews Alan Wolfe's The Transformation of American Religion in The Washington Monthly. In the course of that review, she describes the old Spire Comics versions of Archie comics: In the days before VeggieTales, we read Christian versions of Archie comic books, in which Betty, Veronica and the whole gang traveled the world proselytizing. Mainly what I remember from... Read more

L.B.: There’s a New World Coming

Last updated on: June 24, 2012 at 1:43 pm By Fred Clark

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Before Left Behind, before LaHaye and Jenkins, there was Hal Lindsey. Lindsey wrote some of the best-selling books of the 1970s — titles like There's a New World Coming, The Late Great Planet Earth and The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon. That last title, understandably, has been out of print for about 13 years. Lindsey didn't write novels — although I don't think his books qualify as "nonfiction" either. But he had as much influence and popularity in his day as... Read more

In their distress

Last updated on: June 24, 2012 at 1:47 pm By Fred Clark

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"Religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress …" James 1:27 Itea Goldstein wrote with some good questions about this earlier post in which I wrote: "Religious congregations are well-situated to make a difference in the lives of women struggling to cope with domestic violence." Here's Itea: I'm curious about this statement … What's the reasoning for it? I've always had the impression that: A) Religious groups try to... Read more

Whippersnappers

Last updated on: June 24, 2012 at 1:46 pm By Fred Clark

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CNN has high hopes that its forum tonight, co-sponsored by Rock the Vote, will attract the younger viewers that seem to elude the network: Courting an audience that doesn't heavily watch the network, CNN is teaming with the Rock the Vote organization to sponsor a Democratic presidential debate with questions asked by young voters. … CNN, like many individual news programs, tends to have an older audience. Pulling in younger viewers will make the network more attractive to advertisers. But... Read more

Who was the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel?