CindyJean's Full Review: Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins - The Mark: An Exp...
Introduction
I am one of the few fans of Christian fiction that waited until the year 2001 to pick up any of the ‘Left Behind’ series books, and I am so sorry I waited so long. The first book, “Left Behind,” was published in 1995.
When I finally picked up “Left Behind” a few months ago, it was only because my church’s library was out of Frank Peretti novels and I wanted some ‘intensive’ reading to counteract the ‘fluff’ that I read so much of. Once I picked up “Left Behind” I was addicted and have been tearing through the series ferociously ever since.
On my last trip to the church library I realized that there were only two books of the series left on the shelf, “The Indwelling: The Beast Takes Possession” and “The Mark: The Beast Rules the World.” Our church has the most recent book of the series, “Desecration,” but I am (unfortunately) on a waiting list to get to it.
With only two ‘Left Behind’ books left on the shelf I decided to go ahead and get them both, knowing that I could easily read them both during the week. The wait between books is quite a misery for me because I’m not that patient, so this close to the end I decided to circumvent the wait.
Note: These books represent only these two authors interpretation of the book of Revelations from the Holy Bible and shouldn’t be construed as Biblical fact or that this interpretation is accepted and believed by all Christians.
Note: This review is being written with the assumption that the reader is familiar with the prior books of the series, as this is book number eight thereof. Few readers will be searching out a review of the eighth book of a series if they haven’t read at least some of the prior seven.
Nuts & Bolts
Authors
Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins are the two men that team up to co-author “The Mark: The Beast Rules the World.” They have co-authored each book of the ‘Left Behind’ series.
Publisher
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. of Wheaton, Illinois is the publishing firm blessed with the publishing rights to “The Mark” and the rest of this wildly popular, multi-million copy selling series.
Miscellaneous
“The Mark” bears a copyright date of 2000 and contains 380 pages in the hardback edition.
While “The Mark: The Beast Rules the World” is on the longer side, it is a very fast read because it is almost impossible to put down.
Characters/Story
Rayford Steele
Rayford is back to being the ‘old’ Rayford after all the personal/emotional issues he’s dealt with in the last few books, and he’s once again in the saddle taking serious his role as leader of the Tribulation Force.
Rayford still questions himself as a leader, and it takes the ‘challenge’ of a new safe house resident to get him to take decisive action.
Rayford’s big adventure in “The Mark” is posing as a Global Community (GC) Peacekeeper and attempting to rescue Hattie from captivity in Colorado. While on this mission he runs into a familiar looking man, and he worries that his cover is blown. It turns out that Rayford has discovered someone from the past who has since become a believer and is now a GC insider.
Cameron “Buck” Williams
In “The Mark” Buck spends a lot of his time on missions as opposed to staying in the safe house with his wife and son.
One of Buck’s first missions is to rescue Zeke, Jr. from his underground shelter. Zeke, Sr. has been taken and charged as a black market fuel distributor, though nothing is known of his status as a believer. Buck’s got to get Zeke to safety and not get himself caught in the GC trap. With some quick thinking and a Humvee, Buck is able to complete the mission and stay in one piece—and get his ‘cargo.’
Buck’s second mission has mixed results. He goes to Greece, the home of a very large underground group of believers, to witness (and thus report in his cyberzine, The Truth) the execution of those who will not take the mark of loyalty to Antichrist, referred to by Christians as the mark of the beast. While at the Greek facility posed as a GC Peacekeeper, he is able to ‘free’ one young Greek believer, but he knows that there is no way he can spare the others the fate they must face.
Chloe (Steele) Williams
Chloe’s role has been somewhat minor since the first few books of the ‘Left Behind’ series, but she becomes more prominent in “The Mark” because the international co-op of believers, of which she is ‘CEO’ is becoming more active.
The mark of the beast is the ‘do or die’ moment of the Tribulation, from which there is no turning back. You are either with God or with the Antichrist. If you don’t take the mark, which believers cannot, you are not able to buy or sell anything legally—thus the underground co-op of believers.
David Hassid
David has long been one of the most valuable members in the Tribulation Force, both due to his computer genius and his status as a trusted, high-level GC official.
David struggles through personal grief as he discovers that lightening during the resurrection of the Antichrist kills the love of his life, a fellow GC insider.
Through injuries he, himself, sustains while searching for her (dehydration which leads to blackout which leads to head/facial injuries) he is saved from having to refuse to worship the risen Nicolae. The previous factors all come together when David becomes nauseous as he and his fellow high-level officials are in a private meeting with Nicolae and everyone else is worshipping him and kneeling. When it’s David’s turn in line he gets what I think would be every tribulation saint’s dream, he throws up all of Nicolae Carpathia, the Antichrist.
David orchestrates the ‘deaths’ of himself and three other GC insiders (Mac, Abdullah Smith, and a new character—Hannah Palemoon) to avoid having to take the mark.
Hattie Durham
Hattie is always in a mess, and usually she can count on the Tribulation Force to bail her out. For security reasons, they tell Hattie that they are not coming to rescue her in Colorado when, in fact, they are.
Despondent over the fact that the Tribulation Force isn’t coming to her aid this time and feeling she cannot face another term in Buffer (GC detention center in Brussels, Belgium), she attempts suicide. Rescued by her knight in shining armor (Rayford) and a new face (Albie), Hattie is faced with a choice.
Hattie can take the mark of the beast and forever be lost to God, or she can turn to the one she knows can and will forgive her.
Others
There are many, many other characters in this book, but I simply cannot tell you about each of them—there’s just not room for that here.
The characters I have outlaid are the most prominent and active characters, though certainly not the only ones who are important. The combination of lesser characters is what makes this book (and the series, for that matter) so great.
My Thoughts
“The Mark” was not my favorite of the ‘Left Behind’ books, but it certainly wasn’t my least favorite either. I guess I was a bit let down because the book I read just prior (which was only a few days ago) was the best of the series thus far.
This book seemed to be a bit predictable to me. I could see major plot points coming a mile away, though I won’t divulge those things here so as not to ruin it for you.
I did enjoy the character development in this book, and they way the relationships between the major characters shifted and adjusted as more people came to live in the safe house with the stateside Tribulation Force.
My favorite scene in the entire book involved Buck and Albie’s visit to the Greek prison. They were to deliver a message to Miklos’s wife, who had been taken captive as a political prisoner by the GC. The bravery of the Greek women (and later men) was inspiring, though their death was not avoided.
Recommendation
As with all the books of the ‘Left Behind’ series, I recommend “The Mark: The Beast Rules the World” highly. I would, however, highly suggest you read the prior seven novels first to get a fuller understanding of events and characters.
The Left Behind series has topped best-seller lists across the country, been the subject of special features in national media, and captured the atten...More at Christianbook.com
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