John's Story: The Last Eyewitness - eBook

Tim LaHaye is a noted author, minister, and nationally recognized speaker on Bible prophecy. He is the founder and president of Tim LaHaye Ministries, and the cofounder of the Pre-Trib Research Center, established for the purpose of exposing ministers to Bible prophecy. He holds a doctor of ministry from Western Theological Seminary and a doctor of literature from Liberty University. A pastor for thirty-nine years, LaHaye has written more than fifty nonfiction books and co-authored the Left Behind, the most successful Christian fiction venture in publishing history, with Jerry Jenkins.

Jerry B. Jenkins, chairman of the board of trustees for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, is the author of more than 175 books. Dr. Jenkins's writing has appeared in Time, Reader's Digest, Parade, Guideposts, and dozens of Christian periodicals, and he is a contributing editor to Writer's Digest magazine. He owns Jenkins Entertainment, a filmmaking company, as well as the Christian Writers Guild.

John’s Story by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye offers a unique perspective on the life of Jesus. After the crucifixion of Christ, the followers who knew Him personally were persecuted for their beliefs, often killed by the Roman Empire for holding to the truth they had found. Jenkins and LaHaye take a step back from their dramatic interpretation of the events of the Book of Revelation and follow the text back to its source, the last living apostle, John.

Beginning with John's imprisonment by Caesar Domitian, the book travels through a series of flashbacks leading to the present. The narrative explores the circumstances surrounding John's authorship of the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation.

While the story does an excellent job breathing life into the men of the New Testament, the true strength of this book is its recreation of the settings. John's Story breathes life into ancient Rome and allows the reader to explore the time as though it were taking place around him, with vivid descriptions of the people and places, sights and sounds of the Roman Empire.

Although John's Story is a well-crafted novel, and a very ambitious project for the authors, some faults prevent it from sitting on par with Jenkins and LaHaye's other works. The characters come off as flat, with few faults and vices – and while this is understandable given the author's dedication to accuracy to the source material, this lack of depth makes the early Church Fathers occasionally seem like Super Saints whom the reader cannot easily relate to. Additionally, the story at times drifts into paragraphs of description about a given place or thing, which could be a sleep-hazard for readers with heavy eyelids.

The bottom line is that John's Story is a well-written, thoughtful book that you might have trouble finishing. Older audiences or fans of Jenkins and LaHaye will find something to love, but the average reader will probably not find much here. -- Jason Warne, Christian Book Previews.com