The publishers of "Left Behind" are launching a new series that challenges the end-times theology of the phenomenally popular books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Illinois-based Tyndale House Publishers says the first book in the new series, "The Last Disciple," by "Bible Answer Man" Hank Hanegraaff and award-winning fiction author Sigmund Brouwer, asks the question, "What if the prophecies of Revelation have already been fulfilled?" The opposing interpretation of the Bible is presented in a historical novel centered in first-century Rome and Jerusalem, the publishers say, as "these historical sites begin to experience the turbulence Christ prophesied as the beginning of the 'last days.'" "Tension mounts as a villainous adversary seeks to find the disciple John's letter (the book of Revelation) and destroy it," a promo reads. "As a result, the early Christians must decipher a mysterious code in order to survive." Hanegraaff, president and chairman of the board of the evangelical-based cult watchdog Christian Research Institute International, hosts a daily radio program, "Bible Answer Man," that boasts more than 6 million listeners a week. "This series of novels constitutes one of the most significant projects I have ever been privileged to be involved in," Hanegraaff said in a statement. "Indeed, this initial novel is intended to be the first 'shot' in a debate that I believe will produce a paradigm shift -- a change in the way many in the church look at the end times." He hopes the book will help people "read the book of Revelation, as well as the rest of Scripture, through the eyes of the early believers to whom it was originally written."
