It is the end of the world. The apocalyptic prophecies are coming true and God’s anger is being released upon the world. After floods, earthquakes, disease, economic and political instability, God is coming to claim his own and cast the rest in the fiery pits. Only one man has the power to stop it. Pushed into a role he didn’t ask for, given unbelievable powers, and facing enemies on all sides, can he overcome the vampire priests, monsters, zombies, angels and aliens, and finally Jesus himself, and save humanity from divine destruction? Is humanity even worth fighting for at all?

The Bible, Part II will be a religiously themed young adult paranormal romance, urban fantasy and apocalyptic thriller series. “The Bible Part II” refers to the concept behind the book: if the final chapter prophesied in Revelations were coming true, how would humanity respond? Would we cower and beg for mercy, or would we revolt and defend our freedom? The series has tentatively been renamed “Parousia”, which is a Greek word for arrival or official visit that was used by the early church to mean Jesus’ 2nd coming.

The titles have yet to be firmly decided, but I’m thinking One Earth / As It Is / In Heaven.

 This project is indefinitely on hold – I’ve written around 50,000 words but probably won’t finish it until my next two non-fiction books are out.

Background

The Bible, when seen collectively as a lengthy story describing God’s covenant and relationship with his chosen people, has a beginning, middle and an end. It talks about what has come, and describes in detail (the book of Revelations) what events will bring about the end of the world.

If we start from the premise that the Bible is historically valid (or at least written in historical narrative as literature), and then read the prophecies in it literally, we can write an enthralling story of the end of times. The basic plot would go like this: God gave humanity a big warning, and set a deadline. Now, time is up, and He begins raining down his fury in the form of plagues, wars, and meteor showers. He poisons the fresh water, sets all the plants on fire, and blackens out the sun and moon. It seems that just killing everyone isn’t enough, He wants to make the process as slow and painful as he can (before sending the vast majority of mankind into Hell for eternal torture). Now, for the Christians who have been saved, and will spend eternity in heaven, this all great news. In Psalms, petitioners ask ‘how must we wait until You punish our enemies’ and the thought is embellished in Revelations – only now they also look forward to watching the perpetual torment of the fallen. Although an inhumane ideology that glorifies the suffering of others, many modern Christians believe that the end of times will in fact mean an eternity of torture for non-Christians. Some are even happy about it – Christianity lost the ability to smite its enemies centuries ago (a power it made much use of), and has since been waiting for God to come and do it for them.

In all of prophetic literature, there is only one figure who comes to bring peace: the AntiChrist. The Bible says he will be intelligent, speak several languages, and actually bring the middle east together in harmony. He is good, kind, and everyone thinks he is a prophet. Like Judas, however, he is God’s puppet, playing a role that has already been written for him, and like Judas, he will be punished for all eternity. Interestingly, it is this figure that leads humanity in a final war against God! This idea is very important; it was originally written by a small, persecuted sect who saw the outside civilizations, with their ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ as dangerous. Can you imagine a God who would wage war on all humanity? Whose side would you want to be on?

As a literary character, we find ourselves in great reverence of this figure. As a Hero, the AntiChrist has many winning features.

1) He’s intelligent. Why is being smart always a crime? He speaks several languages and has political allies.

2) He can perform miracles. The Bible goes through a subtle transition on its views of supernatural acts. Earlier texts say, All Powers Come from God. In fact powers are the symptom of the spiritually aware and are promised to anyone who has enough faith. Jesus said this. Later, when Jesus is gone, disciples began to see the powers of those they’d fallen out with and say, “Their powers come from the devil.” And later, when the community no longer had any spiritual powers, they began to see every supernatural act, including healing with herbs, medicinal knowledge, or weather forecasts, as demonic. (A very good question might be: why did the ‘right community’ have NO powers while the ‘wrong’ communities still had so many?)

3) He stands up against tyranny in order to save the world. The AntiChrist, like the snake in the garden, is not someone who will lie and deceive. He has a role to play and he plays it honestly. God has come to destroy the world, and sends thousands of angels with flaming swords to cut down the remainder of humans who have survived His earthquakes, plagues and meteors. Instead of cowering in a corner, the AntiChrist leads the armies of mankind to challenge the enemy in a valiant battle: one last fight in the name of freedom.

4) He is God’s victim and yet he stands to his fate. Let’s say you were the Antichrist. Unless you’ve been living with your head in the sand, you probably have a pretty good idea of what’s waiting for you. If all the other signs of the times are coming true, the horses, the angels, Jesus coming back, etc, then you know the story ends with Jesus casting you into a lake of burning sulfur. Ouch. Most of us, me included, would probably run away and hide, or beg mercy, or try to convert or something. What kind of bravery would it take for you to stick to your ideals, and fight Jesus one on one when the odds were on his side?