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| Armageddon | |
| Book Series | Left Behind |
| Author | Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins |
| Publisher | Tyndale House Publishing |
| Release Date | 2003 |
| Preceded By | The Remnant |
| Followed By | Glorious Appearing |
Armageddon: Cosmic Battle of the Ages is the eleventh book in the Left Behind series written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins and published in 2003.
Plot Summary
It is the beginning of the final year of the Tribulation, and New Babylon is covered in thick darkness with the fifth Bowl Judgment. Rayford Steele, Abdullah Smith, and Naomi Tiberias travel by jet to New Babylon to rescue Chang Wong, their undercover mole looking for a way out. While there, Rayford discovers a believer named Otto Weser, whose underground cell of believers were hiding out in New Babylon from Global Community forces. Rayford and Otto crash a meeting Nicolae Carpathia holds in his office, telling his officials about the move to Al Hillah and the plan to build up troops in the Jezreel Valley for the final battle to deal with the Jews and believers in both Jerusalem and Petra. Rayford, Abdullah, Naomi, and Chang manage to escape, though Otto stays behind in New Babylon.
Meanwhile, Global Community troops are canvassing the area of the San Diego underground safehouse in which the members of the Tribulation Force are hiding out. Chloe Williams goes out to investigate one of their vehicles, but is soon pursued, captured, and brought into custody where she is interrogated for any knowledge she has concerning the Tribulation Force. With divine help, Chloe refuses to give them any information, even when she gets drugged and transported to an Illinois holding facility where she is injected with truth serum. Upon finding Chloe missing, the Tribulation Force try to find out where she was being taken, but are unable to rescue her before she is publicly executed. A heartbroken Buck Williams watches as he and the rest of the Tribulation Force relocate to Petra, where they mourn not only for Chloe but also for Albie, who was killed by Mainyu Mazda when he tried to pay for his help in bugging the place where Nicolae's cabinet was going to meet.
Half a year later, Ming Toy and Ree Woo marry, and the Global Community cabinet now moves to Baghdad, to a special conference room that the Tribulation Force has secretly bugged in order to find out Carpathia's plans. During the meeting, Carpathia confesses that he is the Antichrist, and then with Leon Fortunato he causes three Carpathia clone bodies come to life by three froglike spirits that come out of their mouths. Their purpose is to gather up all the armies of the world to the Jezreel Valley for the final battle. It is at this point that Tsion Ben-Judah decides to turn over the leadership at Petra to Chaim Rosenzweig in order to train himself as a soldier to defend Jerusalem from the Global Community forces.
At the final week of the Tribulation, God causes the Euphrates River to dry up, allowing the armies from the east to pass over and gather at the Jezreel Valley, fulfilling the sixth Bowl Judgment. The day before the Lord's second coming, Tsion travels to Jerusalem with Buck to fight with the Jews and to share the gospel with them so that they could be saved. An angel appears in New Babylon and calls believers to come out of her before she is destroyed. Mac McCullum travels to New Babylon with Lionel Whalum and delivers the remaining believers out prior to its destruction. The battle finally commences on the day of the Lord's coming, with the Jews in Jerusalem dealing with Global Community forces storming the city and the people of Petra dealing with the vast sea of armed forces surrounding the location. During the battle, Tsion is killed, and Buck and Rayford are mortally wounded. One of the two original Tribulation Force members die at the end of the book...but who is it?
Characters In Armageddon
- Rayford Steele, former pilot for Pan-Continental
- Buck Williams, former news reporter for Global Weekly
- Chloe Williams, the wife of Buck Williams and head of the Co-op
- Kenny Bruce Williams, son of Buck and Chloe Williams
- Chaim Rosenzweig, former Israeli scientist
- Tsion Ben-Judah, rabbinical scholar and leader of the people at Petra
- Eleazar Tiberias, former restauranteur
- Naomi Tiberias, daughter of Eleazar
- Mac McCullum, former pilot to Nicolae Carpathia
- Abdullah Smith, former pilot to Nicolae Carpathia
- Albie, former black market dealer
- George Sebastian, former military commander
- Priscilla Sebastian, George's wife
- Beth Ann Sebastian, daughter of George and Priscilla Sebastian
- Chang Wong, computer genius formerly working at New Babylon
- Gustaf Zuckermandel, Jr., master of disguises and fake IDs
- Razor, soldier under George Sebastian's command
- Otto Weser, former German woodsman
- Leah Rose, nurse at the infirmary in Petra
- Hannah Palemoon, nurse at the infirmary in Petra
- Ming Toy, former Global Community employee
- Ree Woo, pilot and new husband of Ming Toy
- Lionel Whalum, businessman and new head of the Co-op
- Nicolae Carpathia, the Antichrist
- Leon Fortunato, the False Prophet, the High Reverend Father of Carpathianism
- Suhail Akbar, Security and Intelligence Chief
- The three froglike spirits -- Ashtaroth, Baal, and Cankerworm
Fulfilled Events
- The fifth and sixth Bowl Judgments
- The destruction of Babylon (Revelation chapter 18)
- The gathering of armies in Armageddon
Notes
- Nicolae Carpathia mentions the upcoming battle against the Jews and Judah-ites in Jerusalem and Petra as being "the final solution", a term used during World War II as the final terrible phase of the Holocaust.
