Left Behind (2000), Left Behind II: Tribulation Force (2002), Left Behind: World at War (2005), and Christian Movie Storylines

Religion has shaped civilization more than almost anything. Wars have been fought over religious beliefs. People were radicalized through religion. Others found love through religion. It can be as good a thing as bad. It can give people something to believe in, for better or worse. The variety of religions throughout the world only make the idea of belief more varied. One person believes in one religion while the next person believes in another.

When it comes to North America, a few religions stand out more than others. The most common religions, thanks to colonialism, are the Christ-based religions. Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormonism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses are only a few branches of Christianity that have a big impact in North America. Christians attend church. They preach to people about the word of the lord. They also make movies. They make lots of movies that become popular within religious circles.

One of the most common types of religious films is the depiction of biblical tales. People like to take stories from the Bible and present their dramatic interpretation to audiences. There have been numerous retellings of the lives of Jesus Christ, Moses, and Noah. Veggietales did their own version of Jonah and the Whale when they made Jonah: A Veggietales Movie. These stories are like the franchise intellectual property that the big studios love. They’re recognizable and come with a built-in audience.

The other common story thread in religious films is the victimization of Christians. The people aren’t the only victims in these movies. The story will revolve around the entire religion being attacked for some reason or another. In many cases, the religious characters begin preaching and try to bring other people into their religion. The stories become more about Christianity being the only true religion than allowing people to have their own beliefs. They act the victim while treating non-believers like lesser people.

The number one example of this kind of victimization is God’s Not Dead, a movie that made Christianity the victim of erasure by the higher education system. In a philosophy class, a professor wanted to remove God from the philosophy discussion. He asked all his students to take out a blank piece of paper, write “God is dead” on it, and pass it to the front of the room. One student refused to do so because it infringed upon his right to believe, and it began a month-long series of student-led lectures about religion and belief.

On the surface, that might seem like an interesting story. One student fighting for the right to believe while a school tried to keep religion out of the classroom. The problem was that it wasn’t quite about the freedom to believe. The movie was more about believing in Christianity as the one true religion. That was solidified through a side-plot about a woman whose family was strictly Muslim. She believed in Christianity and was forced out of her home because of it. Not only that, but the movie made anyone who didn’t believe Christianity into a jerk. Atheists belittled the religious, an atheist son refused to see his ailing religious mother, that same atheist broke up with his girlfriend when she was diagnosed with cancer… The atheists were jerks.

All of this was to make the Christians the victims. Even though, through recorded time, the Christians have led the charge on human rights atrocities, they played the victim in God’s Not Dead. They were the initiators of the Crusades. They came to North America and forced the Indigenous people to convert or die. They killed people who had different beliefs. Yet they made a movie where they were victimized because they were told that a class wouldn’t involve God in the curriculum.

God’s Not Dead 2 took a slightly different approach, which made the movie better. It wasn’t quite as heavy handed about the Christian believers not being allowed to believe, though that was still a major part of the film. A high school teacher was asked about her beliefs by a student, answered the question, and moved on with her class. She soon found out that she wasn’t allowed to discuss religion at all in the classroom and a lengthy court case ensued over the separation of Church and State.

The story of God’s Not Dead 2 was a little more complex than the film that came before. There were still characters who said that God was dead, but that wasn’t the conflict of the film. The conflict was a little more nuanced. The main character was not being told that she couldn’t believe in God. She was being disciplined because one of the rules of her schoolboard was that she could not teach religion to impressionable students in a high school classroom. When a student asked about her religious beliefs and she responded, another student reported her. A snitch who didn’t get any stitches. That was the conflict’s inciting incident.

Christian victimization was still a thing in God’s Not Dead 2, even if the handling of challenged beliefs was more nuanced. The prosecutor in the court case said that his mission was to prove that God was dead. He didn’t care about the classroom thing. He cared about taking down a religious woman. So, that was there. But there was also depth to some atheists in the sequel that wasn’t there in the original film. The defense lawyer for the teacher was an atheist open to the idea of belief, even if he didn’t believe. He fought for her right to openly believe. Not every atheist in a God’s Not Dead movie was a monster.

There was still the problem of propping Christianity up as the only true way to believe, however. The woman who got cancer in the first film was miraculously healed in the sequel because she opened herself up to God. She found religion and, in finding religion, she was healed of all her ailments. It was an unrealistic portrayal of the health system, which made it seem like thoughts and prayers were the only thing needed to cure a serious disease. Sure, they could help because they lift a person’s spirits. But there still needs to be some medical care to get rid of cancer. It won’t just go away. God’s Not Dead 2 still had some problems.

God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness changed up the formula. At first, it felt like it was going to be more of the same. The college where Pastor Dave had his church wanted to get rid of the church. An angry student vandalized the church which, in turn, caused the church to be destroyed in an explosion. It started out seeming like it was going to be about Christians being the victims when people should be following their religion anywhere and everywhere.

However, it became a movie about compassion and understanding. Pastor Dave learned from his brother that if one church were to be on school grounds, it would only be fair that churches of every denomination be on school grounds. He learned that if other denominations couldn’t have churches on school grounds, neither should his. Finally, he learned that even if his church was relocated, the congregation would follow. Pastor Dave learned to respect other people of different faiths and now knew that everyone deserved the same kind of love and respect, regardless of what higher power they believed in. God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness was about leaving that persecution complex behind.

A different take on the persecution complex came in Last Ounce of Courage. One man took a stand against the anti-Christmas movement. He believed that the world was erasing God from Christmas and, in turn, erasing God from the world. He was going to make a stand against the oppression and show people that Christmas and Christ go hand-in-hand. Crosses went back up on buildings. Nativity scenes were placed on lawns. Silent Night got its original lyrics back. Christ was coming back to Christmas in small town America.

The problem with Last Ounce of Courage’s victim stance was that they made seemingly insane arguments to prove their points. Take the Silent Night bit, for example. Apparently, the lyrics had to be changed to remove “holy night,” as if people were intentionally trying to remove any reference to religion from the song. I have never heard anyone not sing the standard lyrics to Silent Night. The other crazy argument was that schools wouldn’t allow people to have Bibles at all. Maybe I just don’t know American schools, but that sounds a little bit overboard. I get that they might not let you bring it into class and preach it. God’s Not Dead 2 made a similar argument in a more nuanced way. But to outright ban the Bible from school? It’s a book. If kids want to read, let them. Why would that be banned from school property?

Anyway, the last bunch of movies I want to write about inspired this whole discussion. They are three of the biggest religious films, if only because they were based on one of the most popular religious novel series of all time. Left Behind: The Movie, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, and Left Behind: World at War were all about Christians being persecuted for their beliefs. They were the victims of something evil that tried to crush any form of Christianity. They were victims of the anti-Christ.

Left Behind: The Movie depicted the rapture and the events that immediately followed as people came to terms with their loved ones disappearing. The people left behind were old enough to believe in God but chose not to. Buck Williams (Kirk Cameron) was a reporter working on a piece about Chaim Rosenzweig (Colin Fox) and his work in Israel. They met Nicolae Carpathia (Gordon Currie), the future leader of the United Nations and the anti-Christ, as he was rising through the ranks of the United Nations.

The victimization of Christians wasn’t too apparent in the first Left Behind. There were elements of it, with Nicolae being revealed as the anti-Christ, but it was tame on that front for the most part. The Christians were the people raptured. They were gone. Left Behind was about the good people who were left behind who would turn to God and be able to fight the anti-Christ who would soon be wreaking havoc upon Earth. It was about finding faith, rather than other people trying to take that faith away.

That meant there would be a clear correlation between being Christian and being on the right side of the war. Only people who had faith in God could see through the illusions that Nicolae was putting up. Buck Williams was in a United Nations meeting where Nicolae killed two people. Nicolae then planted an image in people’s heads that one of the men had killed the other then himself, removing any of the blood from Nicolae’s hands. The only person that the new memory didn’t stick with was Buck because Buck had found his Christian faith. The anti-Christ’s magic couldn’t penetrate the power of faith. The sequels would elaborate on how Christian faith would save the world.

Left Behind II: Tribulation Force saw Buck Williams team up with Pastor Bruce Barnes (Lawrence Gilyard Jr.), and father and daughter Rayford Steele (Brad Johnson) and Chloe Steele (Janaya Stephens), three people who were also left behind in the first film. The new team, the tribulation force, would work together to stop Nicolae Carpathia from creating a one-religion, one-economy world. Rayford would use his piloting skills, while Buck would use his connections in the news world. They were going to reveal a bunch of Nicolae’s secrets to try and stop the world from following him.

The main conflict of Left Behind II: Tribulation Force was a combination of Christian victimization and the Christian faith being the good faith. The Christian victimization involved Nicolae trying to create a one-religion world. Nicolae wanted to be declared the Messiah by Rabbi Ben-Judah (Lubomir Mykytiuk). This would, in turn, erase the idea of Jesus being the Messiah. Christianity would be over. The remaining Christians would be erased by the anti-Christ. It was the ultimate way of Christians being oppressed by someone else. They were being oppressed by one of the most evil entities in their scripture, and it was working. Somewhat.

Christianity was still the most powerful thing in the world. Belief in God could conquer any form of evil. Buck renewed Rabbi Ben-Judah’s faith by taking him to see the Witnesses. They showed off their power with some cool fire breathing. When Rabbi Ben-Judah spoke his speech on international television, he believed the power of God once again and declared Jesus the true Messiah, ruining Nicolae’s plans once again. The world was saved by Christianity. Until it wasn’t.

By the time Left Behind: World at War came around, Nicolae had won a few battles. The world had been turned into a sort of warzone. The tribulation force joined up with President Gerald Fitzhugh (Louis Gossett Jr.) to stop Nicolae’s newest plan, poisoning Bibles that would then be stolen by the Christian uprising. The believers in God would be infected with a nasty disease that they wouldn’t know the cure for.

There were some clear instances of Christians being the victims of harassment and erasure throughout Left Behind: World at War. Nicolae was literally doing things that would kill Christians. The poisoned Bibles killed Bruce (Arnold Pinnock), a member of the Tribulation Force since the conclusion of the first film. The guards at the Bible warehouse killed Chris (David Macniven), Rayford’s old co-worker, who had joined the Tribulation Force in the second film. A bunch of masked raiders killed Vice President John Mallory (Charles Martin Smith) in a motorcade with President Fitzhugh. People were dying because of their Christian beliefs. Lives were being lost. It was as far as things could go without Christianity being lost and forgotten.

Christianity was still the good religion, though. As much as Nicolae had made some major strategic advancements in his war against the tribulation force, Christianity would still find a way to counter his anti-Christ ways. The disease had run rampant through many of the underground congregations. It led to Bruce’s death. On his deathbed, he performed one final communion. Chloe broke bread. She drank wine. She was healed through the power of Christ. It was the wine. Sadly, Bruce didn’t drink any and passed on. But they had a cure. Holy wine would save the day and kill the virus. Christianity saved the day, once again!

The Left Behind movies began with only small hints at the victimization that would become a huge part of the series. Things gradually got more about how Nicolae wanted to wipe out Christianity. But the series got there, and it got there in a bigger way than any of the other movies I mentioned. The other movies were about rebelling against a system that said people weren’t allowed to share their beliefs. The Left Behind movies got to a point where people were being killed over their beliefs. It was a big step up in terms of how serious things got.

Christian filmmakers have a habit of making people of their faith the victims in movies. Whether it’s a justified stance or not, it’s something that repeatedly happens throughout faith-based films. Christians get persecuted in one way or another due to their faith. Their belief in God is looked down upon by others to the point where they can’t discuss it, can’t celebrate it, or will die because of it. They fight to keep their faith. They never waver, as much as other people want them to. That is the basis of many faith films.

Christian films have become a major market of the movie business. They have a built-in audience of church-going folk who want nothing more than to see the Christians come out on top. They want to believe they are victims as much as they believe in God. They want to spread word that Christianity is good. Most of all, they want to see their people represented in a way where they look heroic, rather than the villains they have so frequently been throughout history.

The historical ramifications of religion are still affecting people today. Whether it be the sacrifices to Gods of ancient civilizations, or the colonization of more recent religions, there are still effects on modern society. Christianity can be good for some people. It can give them something to believe in, a form of purpose that they may have needed to keep their lives from unravelling. For that, it’s good. But to say there aren’t negative effects would be to lie. Faith-based movies frequently gloss over that negativity in a way that feels stunningly false. If you’re going to depict the good, you should also depict the bad. It’s only fair. It’s just. And isn’t being just what Christians should be?

Now for some notes:

• In this post, I mentioned Jonah: A Veggietales Movie (week 49), God’s Not Dead (week 230), God’s Not Dead 2 (week 230), God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness (week 319), and Last Ounce of Courage (week 369).
• Left Behind: World at War was directed by Craig R. Baxley. He also directed Stone Cold (week 423) and Sniper 2 (week 430).
• Louis Gossett Jr. made his seventh Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance in Left Behind: World at War. He was previously featured in Iron Eagle (week 90), Iron Eagle II (week 90), Aces: Iron Eagle III (week 90), Iron Eagle IV (week 90), Delgo (week 148), and Jaws 3-D (week 240).
• Kirk Cameron was one of the stars of the three Left Behind movies. He was also in Saving Christmas (week 212).
• Gordon Currie was in Friday the 13^th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (week 294) prior to playing Nicolae in the Left Behind movies.
• Janaya Stephens played Chloe Steele in the Left Behind movies. She was also in Death Race (week 9).
• Brad Johnson, David Macniven, and Chelsea Noble were in all three Left Behind movies.
• Phillip Jarrett appeared in Exit Wounds (week 93), The Stupids (week 188), and Left Behind: World at War.
• Left Behind: World at War was the third Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance of Russell Yuen, who was in Battlefield Earth (week 275) and The Adventures of Pluto Nash (week 446).
• Elias Zarou made appearances in Left Behind II: Tribulation Force and Left Behind: World at War. He was also in Police Academy 3: Back in Training (week 400).
• Seven actors were in Left Behind: The Movie and Left Behind II: Tribulation Force. They were Krista Bridges, Bob Carlisle, Christine Donato, Clarence Gilyard Jr., Christie MacFadyen, Mark Bradley Morrow, and Daniel Pilon.
• David Blacker and Peter Loung were in 54 (week 266) before Left Behind: The Movie.
• Philip Akin appeared in The Stupids (week 188) and Left Behind: The Movie.
• David Ferry was also in The Stupids (week 188). He showed up in Left Behind II: Tribulation Force.
• Louis Negin returned from 54 (week 266) to appear in Left Behind II: Tribulation Force.
• Eldridge Hyndman popped up in Exit Wounds (week 93) and Left Behind II: Tribulation Force.
• Police Academy (week 400) actor Roger Dunn was in Left Behind II: Tribulation Force.
• Finishing off Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, Jason Jones made a small appearance. He was also in All About Steve (week 409).
• Arnold Pinnock was the new Bruce in Left Behind: World at War. He was in Exit Wounds (week 93).
• Another actor from 54 (week 266), Laura Catalano, was in Left Behind: World at War.
• Finally, Left Behind: World at War featured Shaun Austin-Olsen from Battlefield Earth (week 275).
• Have you seen the Left Behind trilogy? Not the newer Nicolas Cage one or that teen movie one. The three Kirk Cameron movies. Have you seen them? What did you think? How do you feel about the Christian persecution storyline in so many Christian movies? Share your thoughts with me on Twitter or in the comments.
• I’m always open to suggestions about what I should be checking out. Let me know about movies I should be seeing in the comments or on Twitter.
• Don’t forget to check out Sunday “Bad” Movies on Instagram.
• Next week, I’ll be checking out the pop music of the late 90s. I’ll be taking a trip to the UK as I join the Spice Girls in their world. Yes, I’ll be seeing Spice World. I’ve never seen it before, so this should be interesting. I’ll be back next week with my thoughts about the movie. See you then!