Soul Harvest: The World Takes Sides

Meh...I suppose they're slowly getting better. Definitely more action in this one...things are starting to get scarier concerning Carpathia's plans so lots of twists and turns. I do think they've drug out things like Amanda's loyalty, Hattie's many issues, Rayford's clashes with Fortunato. Chloe's feminist freakouts are super annoying and, just from what I've observed in my own experience, I don't think the maturity distance between her and Buck, coupled with their distinct personalities, is actually indicative of real life...but whatever. I don't think a girl like Chloe would appeal to a real-life Buck...and I honestly don't think a real life Buck would stay single this long if he was attracted to Chloe's dime-a-dozen type. Anyway...

Set mainly in Mount Prospect, Illinois, and New Babylon, Iraq, where the headquarters for the Global Community was located.
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I have now made it halfway through this series, and wow, oh wow! My favorite so far! Soul Harvest (#4) is fast-paced and action-packed. Although, a couple of scenes were a little over the top, that's okay. Afterall, this is just a fictional novel. It moves quickly, back and forth between scenes. The action is here if you can make it through the first three in the series, which really wasn’t all that bad, they just contained some slow spots and amateurish dialogue. This book has renewed my enthusiasm to continue. Now, hopefully, the next book will enhance on the Trumpet Angels and the devastation that show more occurred with the meteor showers of hail, fire and blood rain, and the mountain size asteroid that hit the ocean and caused so much destruction with tidal waves all around the world. These tidal waves travelled 50 miles inland and disrupted nearly everything outside those boundaries. But, this volume just barely mentioned it at the end of the book, and I mean...BARELY. Fingers crossed! I’m on to the next book...Apollyon #5.
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*spoiler below here*
The scene opens just after the great earthquakes occurs at the opening of the 2nd 21-months of the 7-year Tribulation. There are 84 months in all. The author paints a clear picture of just how devastating this will be on the entire earth. It's riveting, it fast-paced, the pages keep turning. It goes back and forth between Buck searching for Chloe in the safe house to Rayford trying to locate his wife, Amanda, who it is rumored, was an insurgent and actually on the side of Nicolae Carpathia, who is on to them and already scheming to have them all killed.

The believers in Christ are warned and given a little time to prepare for the next acts, more severe destruction to follow the great earthquake, which will occur only after the believers have received a seal on their foreheads. [Revelations 7 does talk about a seal that appears on the foreheads of believers during the Tribulation.] In Soul Harvest, the seal was a 3D ashen image of a cross that only other believers could see in each other, but they could not see it on their own foreheads. This would be the ONLY way believers would know if others were true believers in Christ or not. Otherwise, you couldn't trust anyone. During the Tribulation, as people were becoming saved, the mark would appear.

In the novel, the people didn't hear these trumpet angels sounding off. This must have taken place in the heavens. An angel from heaven filled a censer with fire from the alter of God and threw it down to earth. The 7 angels with trumpets prepared. Thirty minutes of silence filled the heavens for the devastations about to come. Once started, these events seemed to occur pretty quickly one after the other, with just days in-between.

The first angel sounded off. Hail and fire were thrown down to earth, and it also rained blood. One third of the trees and ALL green grass on earth burned.

The second angel sounded off. A great mountain, burning, was thrown into the sea, turning 1/3 of the water to blood and killing off 1/3 of the sea creatures, and sinking 1/3 of the ships. This object headed towards earth and was expected to enter the atmosphere. It was as big as the entire Appalachian Mountain range. It hit and landed in the Atlantic Ocean, creating tidal waves moving 50 miles inward on every shore. The asteroid created hurricane force winds for the full hour it took to hit the ocean. People were evacuated as quickly as possible. Sailors were plucked off seafaring vessels. But, they couldn’t save them all.

The third angel sounded off. A great star, burning like a torch, fell from heaven. The star in Revelations is called "Wormwood". Nicolae Carpathia vowed to dissolve it before it entered earth's atmosphere, and he launched a nuclear missile as the world watched or listened in on radio. But, Wormwood the flaming meteor split into a billion pieces just before entering the atmosphere and scattered throughout the earth, falling into 1/3 of rivers and springs, poisoning the water and killing all who drink from it. Only Israel would be protected from the earthquake and the hail and fire meteor showers because the 144,000 chosen Jews, 12,000 from each tribe, gathering in Israel would be awarded full protection for a certain amount of time during the Tribulation years as they preached and brought millions to Christ.

The fourth angel must sound off in the next book. It’s not mentioned here. show less

A lot of tea is spilled in this book so the characters have a rude awakening. Emotions afterward were a little too superficial. I don't think that part of their development was realistic. Once again anything around scripture was wonderfully passionate.

It was great to see how believers might be sealed. The joy was genuine. When someone comes to Christ I think that they are a real person being saved.

I felt like I was there when the Trumpet judgments were happening. They were a little vague on the water being poisoned. We now have the examples of Newark, NJ, and of course, Flint, MI, that Dr. LaHaye and Mr. Jenkins didn't have in 1998.

The only problem I do have with Richard Ferrone's wonderful narration his portrayal of Nicolae show more Carpathia. He is young and he is voiced as someone in his forties.

I look forward to listening to the next book, Apollyon. show less

I enjoyed the story as fiction. I laughed, cried, fumed, and shouted--all positive things--but I want to temper that strongly by saying that I wouldn't suggest it as theological or eschatological material, as some have. I'm not really concerned with the order and how's of end-time events and believe we waste too much time trying to figure it out. As Jesus said: "No one knows the times or the seasons, but my heavenly Father." Do worry about it. Live and hope. You don't need to have it all marked out on a calendar.If someone were to ask me what fictional literature I would suggest, this series wouldn't occur to me at all, and I wouldn't suggest it if it did. But, seeing as I have read it (except the last one and the prequels), I felt like show more I ought to review it. For story, I would give it three stars, maybe four. But my reservations pull that rating down to two. show less

Writing: 4.5; Theme: 5.0; Content: 5.0; Language: 5.0; Overall: 4.5

After the wrath of the Lamb, which includes a catastrophic, world-wide earthquake that shakes the entire globe, Rayford Steele and Buck Williams search for loved ones and close friends in entirely different parts of the world. The prophesied 144,000 Jewish witnesses also begin to unite all over the world in order to bring many Jews into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Highly recommend.

***February 16, 2025***

This is the fourth book in the Left Behind Series. It continues just after wrath of the Lamb--a global earthquake in the 21st month of the Tribulation. Our two main characters, Buck and Rayford, are once again the ones the story is built around. But this time you want to keep up with both stories as they work to see who is left alive. We watch them both try and find their spouse's. We also see that the world population is starting to realize they need to take sides...choosing to align with Christ or the Anti-Christ.... At the end of this book we see the beginning of the Trumpet Judgments.

This is the best written of the four book yet. There is actually a couple of twist in this book, which is nice. And once again the story does flow. show more That and the large print, I was able to read this book in a single afternoon. For the first time, I will go directly to the next book in the series and follow the story line. show less

The Soul Harvest continues to follow members of the Tribulation Force as they prepare for the End of Days. With a tighter focus on just a few of the members this entry is less sprawling than previous entries, delivering a story with less redundancy and repetition. That said, not much really happens for the first three quarters of the book, fortunately the final quarter contains some great action scenes, whlist remaining true to the characters involved. Although Soul Harvest is tepid in terms of shock and awe there is enough to keep readers interested and up for the next instalment.