L.B.: Still unsaved

Left Behind, pp. 426-430

From here on the rest of Left Behind is all building up to the big final scene in which the Antichrist, like Chekhov's gun, finally goes off. The end of Chapter 23 here is part of this build-up, an attempt to create and sustain suspense leading up to Buck's next encounter with Nicolae Carpathia.

Bruce Barnes has just finished providing Buck with a short checklist of things the Antichrist will do during his rise to power: Form one world government based in Babylon, one world currency, one world religion -- pretty much all the things that Nicolae had announced he was instituting earlier that same day.

"Did you see the news today?" Buck asked.

"Not today," Bruce said. "I've been in meetings ..."

This could have been played for laughs (intentional laughs, I mean), or it could have been written as an eerie reveal -- "Everything you just predicted has already happened!" -- but this being Left Behind, we instead get a half-page explanation of the workings of Bruce Barnes' answering machine.

No, really:

Buck told him what had happened at the U.N. Bruce paled. "That's why we've been hearing all those clicking sounds on my answering machine," Bruce said. "I turned the ringer off on the phone, so the only way you can tell when a call comes in is by the clicking on the answering machine. People are calling to let me know. ..."

Sometimes I almost feel sorry for the authors. Here they finally arrive, albeit belatedly, at this Big Reveal, a moment they've been building up to for hundreds of pages. Two major characters finally come to accept the terrifying reality they've both feared for some time but didn't quite dare to believe and then ...

And then the authors just can't help themselves. They immediately steer off into a discussion of the clicking sounds an answering machine makes when the ringer is turned off. Even when they're not actually on the telephone, they wind up talking about the telephone. (I'm starting to wonder if maybe all this telephony has to mean something, that maybe it's some kind of deeper theme the meaning of which, like the recurring bears in John Irving,* simply eludes me.)

This brings us to the "bullets won't stop him" portion of the monster movie. Here Bruce plays the role of the Spooky Old Man in the village who knows all the legends about the local monster, its strengths, weaknesses and super powers.

"The Antichrist is a deceiver. And he has the power to control men's minds. He can make people see lies as truth."

Buck told Bruce of his invitation to the pre-press conference meeting.

"You must not go," Bruce said.

"I can't not go," Buck said. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime."

"I'm sorry," Bruce said. "I have no authority over you, but let me plead with you, warn you, about what happens next. ..."

I can't help but wonder if Bruce were talking to a member of his congregation, would he begin by saying, "I do have authority over you?" I don't think I've ever heard someone use the word "authority" in this context. Usually when taking this line of argument, a person will say something like "I can't tell you what to do," or "I can't make up your mind for you." I can't imagine someone instead saying what Bruce says here unless that person were a military officer or an overbearing CEO or someone else who is accustomed to exercising authority over others.

For some reason, when someone says, "I can't tell you what to do," it never strikes me this way. It never seems as though they're suggesting, "I can tell some people what to do, but you don't happen to be one of those people." Yet that is what Bruce's phrasing seems to imply. It seems as though he's saying, "As a senior pastor, I have authority over my congregation, but since you're not yet part of that congregation, I can't yet give you orders." It's the sort of comment that would make me extremely reluctant to join this man's church.

Bruce is convinced that the Antichrist is Up To Something, yet, despite all his prophecy study, he isn't sure exactly what.

"He undoubtedly has ulterior motives for wanting you there."

"I'm no good to him."

"You would be if he controlled you."

"But he doesn't."

"If he is the evil one the Bible speaks of, there is little he does not have the power to do."

If I'm following this correctly -- and at this point I'm fairly sure I'm not -- it seems that in the LB-verse we humans have free will when it comes to our dealings with God, but not when it comes to our dealings with Satan.

"I warn you not to go there without protection."

(I'll refrain here, but I'll be disappointed if this isn't pounced on in the comment section.)

"I warn you not to go there without protection."

"A bodyguard?"

"At least. But if Carpathia is the Antichrist, do you want to face him without God?"

... "I don't think I'm going to get hypnotized or anything."

"Mr. Williams, you have to do what you have to do, but I'm pleading with you. If you go into that meeting without God in your life, you will be in mortal and spiritual danger."

Ah. Only God can protect you from the Antichrist's mind-control mojo. Here then, neatly laid out, are The Rules for the big final scene unfolding over the next two chapters. Buck will be going to meet the Antichrist who is sure to turn him into the devil's pawn by using his mind-control powers. Unless, that is, Buck instead invokes the counter-spell of divine providence.

I say "counter-spell" because here again LaHaye & Jenkins' notion of spiritual warfare is difficult to distinguish from sorcery. The Antichrist can cast a spell that we are powerless to resist. That would mean we're all doomed except that we can invoke the magic words spell, which God is powerless to resist, and thereby compel God to cast his counter-spell against the Antichrist.

It's kind of like a cosmic game of rock-paper-scissors. Antichrist beats human beats God beats Antichrist.

This is strange theology, to say the least, but if one agrees to go along for the ride without trying to reconcile any of this with conventional or biblical Christianity then these Rules work well enough as a premise for the coming showdown with Nicolae.

In order to maintain the suspense surrounding that showdown, the reader has to be kept in doubt about the state of Buck's soul. This requires something of a departure from the standard tropes of didactic evangelical fiction. This scene cannot end with Buck's conversion, since that would spoil the is-he-or-isn't-he? drama of his encounter with Carpathia.

It's interesting that the authors thought it necessary to up the ante here. They've insisted all along that salvation -- saying "the prayer" and invoking "the transaction" -- is the most important thing in the world. Up until now I'd have thought that, for them, "Without God in your life, you will be in mortal and spiritual danger" could have stood alone as a statement for anyone. Yet here that statement is qualified, "If you go into that meeting without God in your life ..."

This is an odd inversion of the old evangelist's cliche. At some point you've probably heard an evangelist ask some variation of this question: "If you were to stand before God and He were to ask you why He should let you into His heaven, what would you say?" Here, instead, Bruce is in effect asking Buck, "If you were to stand before Satan and he were to ask you why he shouldn't take you to Hell ..."

"If you go into that meeting without God in your life, you will be in mortal and spiritual danger."

He told Buck about his conversation with the Steeles and how they had collectively come up with the idea of a Tribulation Force. "It's a band of serious-minded people who will boldly oppose the Antichrist."

There's no ellipsis there, nothing omitted between those two paragraphs.

So let's recap, according to Bruce: 1. The Antichrist can control the minds of anyone who isn't born again; 2. Buck isn't born again; 3. Buck is about to meet with the Antichrist.

Given all that, Bruce decides the best course of action is to tell Buck all about his super-secret anti-Antichrist guerrilla squad and to provide him a list of the founding members. Genius.

I suspect the idea here has to do with what Bruce and the authors regard as a more compelling sales pitch. A personal relationship with a loving God just doesn't seem as exciting as the idea of being recruited into an army, into God's commando squad.

The Tribulation Force stirred something deep within Buck. It took him back to his earliest days as a writer, when he believed he had the power to change the world. He would stay up all hours of the night, plotting with his colleagues how they would have the courage and the audacity to stand up to oppression, to big government, to bigotry. He had lost that fire and verve over the years ...

If you've ever seen the disturbing documentary Jesus Camp, then you have an idea of how effective this kind of recruiting-proselytization can be. That sort of stirring, heart-pounding call to be a part of some greater cause is what the authors seem to be shooting for here. Note though that Jenkins' clumsy prose again accidentally reveals more than it intends. Staying up late, "plotting ... how they would have the courage and the audacity" is the end point here. Such late-night plotting offers all the thrills and none of the discomfort that comes from actually doing anything that might require courage or audacity.**

But while Bruce has no qualms about telling a reporter all about his top-secret resistance squad and its top-secret plans to undermine the new OWG, he draws the line at letting Buck sit in on their meeting:

"I'm afraid not," Bruce said. "I think you'd find it interesting and I personally believe it would help convince you, but it is limited to our leadership team. Truth is, I'll be going over with them tomorrow what you and I are talking about tonight, so it would be a rerun for you anyway."

So Buck can't come to the meeting because they'll be discussing things that only the leadership team can discuss and which he's already heard anyway. Huh?

Bruce offers a lukewarm invitation to their Sunday church service:

"You're very welcome, but I must say, it's going to be the same theme I use every Sunday. You've heard it from Ray Steele and you've heard it from me. If hearing it one more time would help, then come on out. ..."

Worth noting here that this is, I believe, the only time in the entire book that anyone other than his dead wife calls Captain Steele "Ray."

Buck stood and stretched. He had kept Bruce long past midnight, and he apologized.

"No need," Bruce said. "This is what I do."

"Do you know where I can get a Bible?"

"I've got one you can have," Bruce said.

So Buck departs, still unsaved and thus still uncloaked in godly protection from Nicolae's evil powers. Will he be saved in time? The suspense is killing me. (No, wait, that's the writing. I knew something was killing me.)

The chapter closes with a final two-paragraph vignette inside the exclusive leadership team meeting.

Bruce told the story of Buck Williams, without using his name or mentioning his connection with Rayford and Chloe. Chloe cried silently as the group prayed for his safety and for his soul.

The point of view for this scene is a bit confusing. Thus far the pattern has been for every scene to be from either Buck's or Rayford's perspective. Yet Buck isn't present for this scene, so it can't be from his POV. And the narrator mentions that Chloe is crying, so it can't be from Rayford's POV either since, as a rule, he never notices when his daughter is crying.

Chloe is crying because she knows Bruce is talking about her boyfriend. But I also like to think she's crying because she's smarter than Bruce and she realizes that Pastor Moron has put all their lives in jeopardy by telling her unsaved boyfriend all their secrets before he goes to hang out with Mr. Mind Control. ("The minds behind every military, diplomatic and covert operation in the galaxy, and you put them in a room with a psychic.")

- - - - - - - - - - - -

* Seriously, what's with the bears already? I finished A Prayer for Owen Meany and I thought, "That was beautiful and, for once, no bears." But then I started wondering what the absence of bears might mean ...

** This is why I find the manipulation of children in Jesus Camp horrifying, but I'm not terribly worried about their "revolution" succeeding. As with most of the theocratic strands of American Christianity, I'm more concerned with what the leaders of such groups are doing to their own followers than I am about what they might actually do to the rest of us. This is true of those leaders as well -- they're far more concerned with manipulating their followers than with changing the rest of the world. That doesn't mean, of course, that we can afford to be completely unconcerned with their external agenda and its effects on their external victims, but in opposing that agenda we have always to keep in mind that such groups internal victims are no less real, and no less victims. That's why, for example, I've tried here to focus my criticism on LaHaye & Jenkins as the peddlers of this dangerous nonsense and to avoid, for the most part, mocking their millions of followers.

Comments

[yeltar]

First??????

[yeltar]

Wheeeee!!!! First time first EVAH. And I have tried--just lucked out this time. So... now to actually read the post! :D

[pointatinfinity]

"If you go into that meeting without God in your life, you will be in mortal and spiritual danger."

I'm confused - Mortal danger? Is this foreshadowing that every non-RTC else at that meeting is going to die at the hands of Nicky Karakorum? (Which we will find out about through an answering-machine tape transcript...) Or is it just that being in the same room with the Antichrist automatically makes you throw a Save Versus Death or die, and Buck's dice has just been unusually loaded at recent meetings?

You're very welcome, but I must say, it's going to be the same theme I use every Sunday. You've heard it from Ray Steele and you've heard it from me. If hearing it one more time would help, then come on out.

Does anyone ever actually teach these people that when your message isn't understood, the idea is to rephrase it, not to repeat it?

[Eric B.]

**Here, instead, Bruce is in effect asking Buck, "If you were to stand before Satan and he were to ask you why he shouldn't take you to Hell ..."**

Maybe the best summary of the bad theology in these book.

And I'll refrain from the "bring protection" jokes.

[rob]

"I warn you not to go there without protection."

My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

First??????

Yes, congratulations. You are first to have absolutely nothing useful or interesting to say.

(And it looks like I was second.)

[Falconer]

"If you go into that meeting without God in your life, you will be in mortal and spiritual danger."

Buck hesitated, and Bruce's heart lifted a fraction of an inch. Had he got through?

"I understand," the young reporter said. "Artoo! Fire up the converters! Hand me my cordless phone!" With renewed vigor, Buck sprang into the driver's seat of his car and put it in gear.

"Buck, be mindful of your feelings! They can save you!" Ray tried, one last time, to get through as the car's brake lights cast a red pall over the parking lot. But Buck merely roared out onto the street, heedless of his mentor's last words.

Ray sighed. "That boy is our last hope."

"No," contradicted Bruce. "There is another."

[Eric B.]

**Does anyone ever actually teach these people that when your message isn't understood, the idea is to rephrase it, not to repeat it?**

No, they are just taught to say it louder, and then blame the listener for not getting it.

[rob]

(or fourth. Whatever.)

[pointatinfinity]

**Does anyone ever actually teach these people that when your message isn't understood, the idea is to rephrase it, not to repeat it?**

No, they are just taught to say it louder, and then blame the listener for not getting it.

At what point do they bring out the megaphones?

"Come to Sunday Service with Bruce Barnes! This Sunday's sermon: same as last Sunday's sermon. Only louder!"

[Eric B.]

I wish I could preach the same message every week. It would make my job a lot easier.

[pointatinfinity]

Ray sighed. "That boy is our last hope."

"No," contradicted Bruce. "There is another."

Carpathia is Buck's father?!!! Stop the slashfic presses!

poor yeltar

If Buck has said the magic words, he'd better cast a "conceal alignment," or Nicky Antipasto will smite him with his vorpal sword.

[Nobody_Special]

I warn you not to go there without protection

"You know, you are absolutely right! Lesse, wolfsbane, check, silver bullets, check, vial of holy water, check, say Bruce, can you hand me your Bible, and, is that crucifix made of wood? I might need to drive it through someone's heart."

[Vermic]

The Antichrist can cast a spell that we are powerless to resist. That would mean we're all doomed except that we can invoke the magic words spell, which God is powerless to resist, and thereby compel God to cast his counter-spell against the Antichrist. It's kind of like a cosmic game of rock-paper-scissors.

I'm getting strong Pokemon imagery from all this. Like when you're in trouble, you just throw that ball and yell "Jehovachu! I choose you!" and then he has to come out and save your bacon.

"If you go into that meeting without God in your life, you will be in mortal and spiritual danger."

The "mortal danger" part is so weird, because exactly how is God supposed to be helpful there? Does prayer give you a +10 Armor Class? What Bruce ought to be saying is, "If you deal with that man, you are risking your life; but without God, you are risking your soul as well." Or something like that.

That leads to the question of whether people in the LB-verse are considered morally responsible for things they do while helplessly mind-controlled by Satan. I suppose it doesn't matter, since only the Unsaved can be mind-controlled, and they're going to hell already.

[Vermic]

Bah! Italics.

[BC]

The reason to go to church is to hear the sermon and Barnes is going to preach the same sermon every Sunday, so if you heard it once you don't have to go back? Kind of distorts the meaning of the church, IMHO. Seems like people in LB series don't have much worse for Christians than what the early Christians suffered in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd centuries, when the church was very much a sanctuary for them.

[Eric B.]

Jenkins Lexicon:

mortal danger=I needed a bit more hyperbole.

[Shadow Wolf]

I think Falconer wins the thread...

[pointatinfinity]

Does prayer give you a +10 Armor Class?

Yep. Character shield.

[Nobody_Special]

I warn you not to go there without protection

"Oh, he won't get to that point with me. I'm not that kind of Investigative Reporter! Besides," Buck said coyly, "I'm spoken for." With that he winked at Bruce, and turned to the door.

[Pseudowolf]

I'm so glad to see I'm not the only one getting RPG (or, in my case, World of Warcraft) vibes off of the whole "You need God's protection against Antichrist mojo!" ("It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!")

Also:
"The minds behind every military, diplomatic and covert operation in the galaxy, and you put them in a room with a psychic."

That's one of my favorite lines from Serenity.

[Jesurgislac]

The point of view for this scene is a bit confusing. Thus far the pattern has been for every scene to be from either Buck's or Rayford's perspective. Yet Buck isn't present for this scene, so it can't be from his POV. And the narrator mentions that Chloe is crying, so it can't be from Rayford's POV either since, as a rule, he never notices when his daughter is crying.

Ouch.

I think the POV character must be meta-Chloe.

[Dash]

Shadow Wolf: I think Falconer wins the thread...
And a follow-up from Pointatinfinity for the two-point conversion.

"If he is the evil one the Bible speaks of, there is little he does not have the power to do."
And to show just how serious things have gotten, Bruce Barnes goes into Gandalf-speak.

BC: The reason to go to church is to hear the sermon. . .
Actually, at some point it's supposed to have something to do with worship, no?

[infernalserpent]

"The minds behind every military, diplomatic and covert operation in the galaxy, and you put them in a room with a psychic."

The Operative would make such beautiful, and dare I say righteous, mincemeat of the Trib Force.

Hmm. L&J would be all about making a better world a la Miranda, wouldn't they? Or at least inveighing against their followers to do it for them.

[Ian]

More substantively...

Speaking as someone who's been Jesus Camped, I haven't noticed any long term negative side effects. Having gotten out of that theological mindset, I can look back on it as something that I enjoyed and something which was good for me. Going through a phase of passionate, slightly manic committment to doing good (even in a misguided way) is good for the soul. Some people biked in Critical Mass, I went to Jesus Camp.

The trick is figuring out how people can shift from berserker teenager attempts to do good to considered, openminded, adult do-goodering, and that's where Jesus Camp really fails people. Kids who head home expecting to SET THEIR SCHOOL ON FIRE FOR GOD (spiritually, not arsonistically) tend to end up disillusioned when nothing much actually happens. The activist passion goes away, but the militaristic us vs. them mentality lingers.

For me, the way out was a pull, not a push. I didn't renounce my old-school fundamentalist background, I just slowly drifted in the direction of interesting people and ideas.

I'm still not sure how to meaningfully impact the world in a positive way. I might be a lazy coward.

[Bugmaster]

River Tam for President !

[hapax]

I'm still not sure how to meaningfully impact the world in a positive way.

Silly Ian. What do you think that commenting on an Internet blogpost is for?

Changing the world, one message thread at a time!

[Jos]

The Tribulation Force stirred something deep within Buck. It took him back to his earliest days as a writer, when he believed he had the power to change the world.

The 'Tribulation Force' is just three people (at the moment) and it has existed for a couple of hours at best. They're devoted people, maybe, but they're still about to go up against the guy who will soon have 100% of the world's armies under his control.

And Buck think they're going to make a real difference?

I'm all for idealism, really, but this is going a bit too far.

[Pseudowolf]

River Tam for President !

A candidate who *really* knows what people want!

[Lasairian]

"If you go into that meeting without God in your life, you will be in mortal and spiritual danger."

He told Buck about his conversation with the Steeles and how they had collectively come up with the idea of a Tribulation Force. "It's a band of serious-minded people who will boldly oppose the Antichrist."

Ow! My neck got broken in that jump cut! -- Mike Nelson, MST3K

[Jeremy]

I love Fred's constant Whedon references. See, LaHaye and Jenkins - there's someone who can write about vampires and spaceships and STILL come up with good and interesting quotes.

[Jeremy]

I love Fred's constant Whedon references. See, LaHaye and Jenkins - there's someone who can write about vampires and spaceships and STILL come up with good and interesting quotes.

[Bugmaster]

The 'Tribulation Force' is just three people (at the moment)

"*sigh* There are three of us..."

I want to play god, human, antichrist. Obviously antichrist would have to be the universal "horns" symbol. Still not sure what to use for the other two. Maybe a thumbs up for God in homage to Kevin Smith's buddy Christ.

[aunursa]

"I don't think I'm going to get hypnotized or anything."

Cause normally, I would know if I were going to be surrepticiously hypnotized against my will.

"If you were to stand before God and He were to ask you why He should let you into His heaven, what would you say?"

Let's suppose for the sake of argument that it's the L&J version of God who demands acceptance of Jesus before death, and it's too late 'cause I'm already dead. I would say, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."

Worth noting here that this is, I believe, the only time in the entire book that anyone other than his dead wife calls Captain Steele "Ray."

Well, actually... "Can you imagine, Rafe," she exulted, "Jesus coming back to get us before we die?"

[Spalanzani]

I think a thumbs up should be for humans, since opposable thumbs are one of our distinctive traits. For God, maybe that hand sign Jesus is always shown doing, where he holds up his index and middle finger together (sort of like a peace sign only without the fingers spread apart).

[Ryan]

Ray sighed. "That boy is our last hope."

"No," contradicted Bruce. "There is another."

And then the meeting goes horribly for Buck, and when he gets back, Bruce is all "You must confront Carpathia."

"But I just did confront Carpathia! And I haven't had any more training since then, so..."
"So what? *dies*"

[Danel]

I say "counter-spell" because here again LaHaye & Jenkins' notion of spiritual warfare is difficult to distinguish from sorcery. The Antichrist can cast a spell that we are powerless to resist. That would mean we're all doomed except that we can invoke the magic words spell, which God is powerless to resist, and thereby compel God to cast his counter-spell against the Antichrist.

It's kind of like a cosmic game of rock-paper-scissors. Antichrist beats human beats God beats Antichrist.

This would actually be a fairly interesting premise for a fantasy - humans attempting to play off two primal forces, both monstrous and cruel but bitterly opposed and with different strengths and weaknesses - 'Antichrist', who has immense personal power but is limited by his mortal shell, and 'God', who can be channelled and controlled by human spells but is nonetheless capable of great destruction when left unrestrained - such as when he just killed all of the world's children.

Buck told him what had happened at the U.N. Bruce paled. "That's why we've been hearing all those clicking sounds on my answering machine," Bruce said. "I turned the ringer off on the phone, so the only way you can tell when a call comes in is by the clicking on the answering machine. People are calling to let me know. ..."

He really is the World's Worst Pastor, isn't he? Good to know that the important part of his job is dealing with meetings and stuff, so important that he can safely ignore his parishioners who may be calling him distraught given the recent global catastrophe.

[Bugmaster]

I want to play god, human, antichrist.

That seems kind of unfair... Human always loses.

[Selcaby]

super-secret anti-Antichrist guerrilla squad

LH&J, as Fred has pointed out before, are not so much pro-Christ as anti-Antichrist.

Doesn't that mean Fred's posts are anti-anti-Antichrist? And anyone who doesn't like them is anti-anti-anti-Antichrist?

[Praline]

It took him back to his earliest days as a writer, when he believed he had the power to change the world. He would stay up all hours of the night, plotting with his colleagues how they would have the courage and the audacity to stand up to oppression, to big government, to bigotry.

Oh dear. Any writer who makes a writer the hero is asking for trouble. Honestly, it's a fairly uneventful life. Staying up late talking big is all very well, but writers are a pretty ornamental breed, on the whole. Crusading journalists, perhaps, but we all know about Buck's tell-nothing policy...

What I like, as well, is that they describe planning to resist oppression and bigotry (I pass over the dog-whistle assumptions of 'big government' with the silence they deserve) as 'plotting', as if it were some kind of smoke-filled conspiracy, instead of a high-profile career. You plot when you're up to something, not when you're idealistically planning to mount public challenges. 'Psst! I'm going to print it in this paper, but make sure nobody sees it!'

It seems to me, given the love of authority at play, that it's an aptly-chosen word. If you believe that authority is sacred and delicious, then standing up to it, even if you're in the right, has an uneasy feel to it. There's just a note of discomfort in that word 'plotting' that says a lot about this book. Any kind of opposition to the powers that be, however legitimate, has L&J hearing the rumble of gunpowder barrels.

I think it also explains why they're having to install upper-echelon secret meetings right at the get-go. Without some kind of unchallengeable authority, they'd be all adrift. Create a new 'leadership' to obey, and the sense of comfort comes back: there are still people ready to tell everyone else what's what, and you don't have to be a prophet in the wilderness after all.

[Grumpy]

Heh, Ryan. I get that.

"The Antichrist is a deceiver. And he has the power to control men's minds. He can make people see lies as truth."

...The power to recite the names of countries -- in alphabetical order!

Does this scene implicitly establish that Nicky has indeed been using the mind-whammy? And if so, why hasn't Buck been whammied already?

Another question: apart from the description of the Antichrist, elided in this summary, is there a more comprehensive description of the prophecies? These books are supposedly How To manuals for the unRaptured, so that information would be handy. Are they withholding the details for the sequels, or to boost the sales of LaHaye's "non"-"fiction" books?

Would the World's Worst Book have been better if, say, Bruce laid out his prophecy of what the Antichrist would do and *then* we learn about Nicky's bizarre plans for the UN?

[Abelardus]

"If you go into that meeting without God in your life, you will be in mortal and spiritual danger."

Falconer, I was thinking of the exact same Empire Strikes Back scene after reading that bit.

[Nix]

They immediately steer off into a discussion of the clicking sounds an answering machine makes when the ringer is turned off.

OH JOHN RINGO NO warning: the link above contains a link to an excellent review of _Ghost_, perhaps the only work on Earth to compete with the _Left Behind_ series for disturbing awfulness --- as opposed to, say, the _Mission Earth_ series, which is simply awful without being disturbing. The review contains several points in which I was boggling at the screen wondering how *anyone* could *write* that. (Fred's Left Behind reviews often have a similar effect on me.) _Ghost_ differs in that it's written by a normally competent writer and a nice guy as a sort of cathartic act: said author put a link to this review in a prominent position on his website... can you *imagine* LaHaye and Jenkins doing that?

[Hibryd]

It took him back to his earliest days as a writer, when he believed he had the power to change the world. He would stay up all hours of the night, plotting with his colleagues how they would have the courage and the audacity to stand up to oppression, to big government, to bigotry.

Just to make sure I have this straight... When Buck is actually confronted by a global murderous conspiracy involving some of the most important people in the world, he goes to Nicky for "protection" rather than expose any of it.

But when Barnes is asking him to join a church group that *may* have to fight against what *could* be the antichrist, THAT gets his soul stirring again? He gets passionate in the theoretical fights instead of the actual ones?

Buck may actually be a fantastically complex character. It's a shame the authors don't seem to realize it.

[Praline]

And if so, why hasn't Buck been whammied already?

That's an extremely good question. Are we supposed to believe that he's been part-whammied? There's nothing in the text to support that. Possibly he was whammied, then un-whammied by listening to the passionateandsincere Rayford, and is at risk of being whammied again. He has his shields of Mary Sueness, which is probably the explanation - well, that and over-hasty writing - but now the question has been asked, I'd really like to know...

I can't help but wonder if Bruce were talking to a member of his congregation, would he begin by saying, "I do have authority over you?"

I suspect it's something a bit subtler, like 'As your pastor, I have to tell you...' Or, if he's got the Rayford bug, he probably just talks right over people in the certain knowledge that, as an authority figure, it's his absolute right. Ray doesn't have to say to Hattie, 'As a man talking to a woman,' after all; it's just implicit in his every awful action.

[Praline]

He gets passionate in the theoretical fights instead of the actual ones?

Yep. Spiritual chickenhawk.

But also, let's not forget, passionateandsincere Rayford hadn't spoken to him yet, and in this book, that's tantamount to loving God without having heard the teachings of Jesus. None come unto the Father, except through him.

[Falconer]

"I think Falconer wins the thread..." -- Shadow Wolf

Aw, gee, thanks, Shadow Wolf. It amused me. I'm glad it amused at least one other person. It was a bit of work, jamming the two narratives together like that, and nine times out of ten it winds up that I'm only amusing myself.

[Spalanzani]

Nix: "OH JOHN RINGO NO warning: the link above contains a link to an excellent review of _Ghost_, perhaps the only work on Earth to compete with the _Left Behind_ series for disturbing awfulness --- as opposed to, say, the _Mission Earth_ series, which is simply awful without being disturbing."

Off topic, but where is that site's wallpaper from? That frog with a sign next to it that says "Kiss me and you'll live forever. You'll be a frog-but you'll live forever" The picture doesn't look familiar, but I swear I've heard that before. Google isn't any help.

[Ursula L]

So let's recap, according to Bruce: 1. The Antichrist can control the minds of anyone who isn't born again; 2. Buck isn't born again; 3. Buck is about to meet with the Antichrist.

Given all that, Bruce decides the best course of action is to tell Buck all about his super-secret anti-Antichrist guerrilla squad and to provide him a list of the founding members. Genius.

You're forgetting: 4. Bucky Boy is a Major Character according to the back of the book, and so must be told absolutely everything, no matter what good sense might dictate.