Apocalypse Now

Who would have imagined that when Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole lashed out at Hollywood during the 1996 campaign, it would bear fruit four years later? In fact, the Bush presidency may usher in a golden age for evangelicals in the entertainment industry -- giving them their biggest opening in many years.

By the end of 2000, Cloud Ten Pictures had sold more than 2.8 million copies of the video version of Left Behind -- The Movie, the most for an independent studio release last year. The movie's $17 million dollar budget set a record for a Christian production. It's based on the first book, which to date has sold close to eight million copies, from the wildly popular Left Behind series -- heading Amazon.com's best seller list for a month. If you haven't heard about this movie, don't worry, you will. In early February Left Behind -- The Movie could be playing in a theater near you.

The man behind the Left Behind book series is no stranger to fundamentalist Christians and to those following the Christian Right over the past twenty-five years. With the Rev. Jerry Falwell he co-founded the Moral Majority. He's a graduate of the ultra-conservative Bob Jones University. In 1987, he was forced to resign as national co-chairman of Representative Jack Kemp's presidential campaign. He was the paid chairman of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's now defunct Coalition for Religious Freedom. His latest novel in the Left Behind series was on The New York Times best seller list for more than three months. He's the Rev. Tim LaHaye and he's having the time of his life!

LaHaye, and his co-author Jerry B. Jenkins, created the extraordinarily popular fundamentalist "Left Behind" series. The latest installment, the seventh book in the series, The Indwelling: The Beast Takes Possession. According to The New York Times, with more than 1.9 million copies in advance orders this work accomplished "an unparalleled achievement for an evangelical novel" -- a brief, yet historic appearance in the number one spot on both the Amazon.com and The New York Times' best-selling fiction lists. Thus far, the "Left Behind" series has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. (The Indwelling only dropped down the best-seller lists when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) was released in early July).

According to USA Today, the Rev. LaHaye, a retired Southern Baptist minister, has "written about 40 nonfiction books on subjects ranging from religion to relationships and family." However, the Rev. LaHaye doesn't actually write the novels -- he's the "engineer" and Jenkins the "mechanic." The Rev. LaHaye provides the vision and plot while Jenkins does the writing. (Jenkins has been on the best-seller lists several times before, having written biographies for sports heroes, including former Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Orel Hershiser and Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, and assisting Rev. Billy Graham with his best-selling memoir, Just As I Am.) When the Rev. LaHaye and Jenkins appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" a while back, I was struck by the benign and almost playful persona the Rev. LaHaye had refined -- perfect for a best selling author on tour.

However, behind this new kinder, gentler image is a seasoned veteran of the "culture wars." Born in 1928, the 73 year-old Rev. LaHaye has a long history of involvement in Religious Right organizations and activities. In 1989, the Unification Church-owned Washington Times newspaper described him as "one of the lightning-rod clergy of the Religious Right." Rev. LaHaye earned a doctorate from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, was president of Family Life Seminars, co-founder of the Moral Majority, founder of the American Coalition for Traditional Values, and an organizer of the Council on National Policy (CNP) -- a highly secretive, ultra-conservative organization comprised of almost every major right-wing leader and personality in the country. (In October 1999, then Texas Governor George W. Bush addressed the CNP; the transcript of his remarks remains unreleased).