I think the Left Behind Novels were a CIA/pentagon psyop

[bighughdiehl]

Does anyone think that these books may have been oh so conveeenient to softening an already not-too-smart portion of the public to perpetual war in the middle east(armageddon) and loss of civil liberties(mark of the beast, etc.)? Cuz, hey, after all, it's just prophecy being fulfilled-Praize jeezus! Doesn't LaHaye have ties to the Junta? Did "the whackos"(as they are called in that one abramoff memo) vote for Bush even in 2000 before 9/11 because he seemed to have the right mentality to fulfilling armageddon before they get whooshed away to another fucking dimension? The pentagon or CIA probably knew what was coming back in the mid 90s since the debate about peak oil had begun already. Note the CIA has not black-bagged the junta after the Plame outing. They may have been simply considered the men for the job of ending the american republic in order to keep us in the Hummers(oil) and American Idol(propping up the economy through military spending) which we cherish more than freedom and democracy itself. I can't find it right now, but Edmund D Cohen, ex-fundy author of Mind of the Bible Believer, wrote a review of the Left Behind series in 2000. He ended by asking what "mischief" these books taking a hold on our collective unconscious might unleash. I have been wondering about this for a really. long. time. This shit was planned.

[rhiannon55]

1. I used to be a skeptic about government conspiracies

but no more. Since the coup of 2000, I have come to realize that those people will do ANYTHING to get and retain power. Nowadays NOTHING is too crazy to believe....

[bighughdiehl]

6. Exactly, rhiannon

These people will stop at nothing. And, as someone else just mentioned, church and state have always been joined at the hip, and have gotten more sophisticated recently. Implanting things through semi-conscious or sub-conscious suggestion is what it's all about now.

[L. Coyote]

12. There are no gov't conspiracies. People conspire.

Never forget that there is no government action per se, just people acting as they do, be that as functionaries of government or as individuals.

[blm]

13. Further - Tim LaHaye was subsidized by RevMoon for years - Poppy Bush and Moon go back

over 40 years through their intel links and beyond.

Left Behind wasn't a CIA deal, though. It WAS a Bush-Moon POLITICAL PSYOPS deal.

BFEE.

[conscious evolution]

20. LeHaye is also linked to republicans

in some other way.
I dont remember thw who,what,and whens but I distinctly remember reading about his connections here on DU way back in my lurker days.

Definitely a psyops by the repukes.

[blm]

22. I think BFEE just USES Republican party - and the ops are CIA loyal more to BushInc than

to the agency and the country. That is why I don't see it as a CIA operation, but a clique within the CIA that Bush1 groomed to be loyal to him.

[conscious evolution]

24. That I can definitely believe.

Another thing I remember reading here way back when:The CIA is Wall Street and Wall Street is the CIA.
While I'm sure that most of the rank and file CIA people are loyal Americans working to protect our country there is definitely a group that works to protect their masters interests.

If any one here doubts the CIA and other goverment agencies are not always working for all of our interests should read up on Octafishes research here on DU.

Speaking of Octafish,has anyone heard from him lately?

[no_hypocrisy]

2. In certain demographics, the "Left Behind" books are the equivalent

of Harry Potter to kids. The books entice people who otherwise just don't read. I mean read anything, like newspapers, books, magazines. They won't even read their Bibles, but they'll be experts on the Left Behind series as though it were nonfiction (which, in their minds, it is).

[kanrok]

7. I read practically all of them

The initial book was a pretty good, quick, entertaining read. After that, the quality of the writing went way down. LaHaye tapped into a gold-mine, though. There is a huge market for that kind of fiction.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. The quality of writing goes *down* after the first?

:wow: See the blog linked in post #8 for a ruthless criticism of the writing quality of the first book (as well as the theological quality). Without putting myself through the pain of reading the damn things, it seems difficult to imagine the writing could get worse while still counting as 'English'.

[kanrok]

15. I read quite a bit

but I don't consider myself to be an expert on what constitutes quality literature. Certainly not enough to write a ruthless criticism. But, as I said, I enjoyed reading the first book in the series. As far as I could tell it was written in english. It was a quick and enjoyable read, even if it required one to suspend disbelief. All I know is that they sold a ton of books. So, somebody liked it other than me, of course. I do find it curious, though, that you have such rigid opinions about a book (or books) that you never read. Oh, well...to each his own, I guess...

[earth mom]

16. The difference is that you think of the books as fiction...

while others think the books are the truth.

While I didn't read the books either, I don't need to read them to know that what's being sold is crazy ass christian dogma and that the people who love those books are the same people who think they are gonna be raptured soon. :crazy:

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. There are extensive quotes in the blog criticism

so I've probably read about 50 pages worth by now. Actually, it's not the English, it's the disregard for how real people behave that seems so bad. It's not just supernatural events that require the suspension of disbelief, it's the reaction to them. As a small example - after every single child in the world has disappeared, as well as many adults, someone breaks into a house still occupied by an adult, to steal a child's bike. What for? Supposedly top journalists ignore the biggest story ever to happen, in favour of a meeting with a Romanian politician with no apparent agenda (but a style of public speaking that would embarrass Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man - who is inexplicably adored for this by everyone). It seems they didn't write the book to be consistent - they just had a checklist of Biblical prophesies that had to be shoe-horned into the plot, however awkwardly, and once that was done, they'd move on to the next one.

The blogger also writes very well, from a liberal Christian point of view, about how depressingly short-sighted the 'theology' of the book is - and how, given one of the writers is a minister, he must have been a really useless one, as far as giving advice about life to his congregation goes.

[TomInTib]

3. I fully agree.

But it is nothing new.

The 'Church' and State have been inter-linked down thru the ages.

'They' are just more sophisticated now.

The goal is to keep the crazies on the edge of their collective seats.

[MayorCandidate08]

4. I think it mite have been...

A christian coalition milk the Innocent kind christians out of millions of dollars. Then when that worked so well they did it 12 more times. Never coming to the end, just enough for you to spend $19.95 one more time.

[conscious evolution]

25. The money milking is just a side benefit.

The real aim is a very subtle phsycological mind-fuck campaign designed to implant and enforce fear into gullible people.A fear that they so happen to have a 'solution' to.

The reason they charge for the books is that it gets people to feel that since they spent their hard earned cash on it they will be more inclined to take it more seriously than if it was offered free in church's or on the web.The writers and publishers and marketers know that it is human nature to value something earned rather something than freely given.

The whole exercise behind these books is just one more example of the BFEE hijacking public or private institutions for their own personal profit.It also shows that they think in the long term when it comes to implementing their plans.

[donsu]

5. kick

nt

[bryant69]

8. Do you have any evidence that isn't vague speculation?

Not that it's strictly necessary around here.

I think the Left Behind books are awful books, sincerely written by sincere fundamentalists. For a good review of them, --> http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/left_behind/index.html

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[LanternWaste]

10. Along with The Stand by Stephen King....

Along with The Stand by Stephen King....

I really don't think that the Left Behind series changed anyone's minds-- maybe they reinforced an idea that was already there in a handful of people, but I have a hard time believing that they had any more impact on our culture than did the Chick tracts or Hal Lindsey's books.

While they might be a fun read for the libertarian-survivalist set, I certainly haven't seen any dramatic (or even subtle) cultural or changes because of them.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. I think chemtrails ate my baby.

I haven't got a baby, but I just consider that to be more evidence.

:shrug:

[blondeatlast]

14. So we don't know who the other parent is? Where have I heard that one before?

:rofl::hi:

[earth mom]

17. Oh hell yeah. nt

[Lars39]

18. I kinda twigged to that when I realized how influential those books were

on my Southern Baptist Missionary family members.
They believe the near future is going to be just like that portrayed in the Left Behind books.

[blm]

26. It was on the Daily Show last night - the guy who stopped Inconvenient Truth

from being shown in Washington schools.

He specifically said the environmental problems are supposed to happen because of Rapture and those Left Behind.

It was completely done with mind control techniques that targeted those susceptible to its religious hooks.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. They also laid the groundwork for mistrust of foreigners

Remember that the antiChrist in those books is the head of the European Union. (I watched a film version of the first book on public access cable one night when I couldn't sleep. If I didn't know that people believe it, I'd rate it as "so bad that it was good.")

No wonder it was so easy to get the freepers to hate all things French.

Most fundies don't know about the Moonie connection, though, and they are horrified to learn it, because they are taught that the Moonies are an evil, Satanic cult.

[shadowknows69]

23. They had movies like these in the 70's-80's

<http://imdb.com/title/tt0070795/>


My baptist church showed us all of them. Scared the shit out of us. Even had cheesy giant locusts with scorpion tales and the beheadings of anyone who didn't take the number of the beast. Good stuff for a 10 year old.