I Think I Understand Roughly 5% of the Plot: Left Behind Chapter 19

Left Behind Chapter 19:

Rayford is still stressed that he might not be able to convince Chloe to accept Christ. He doesn’t want to be annoying, but he really really wants to save her. I’m starting to feel a little bad for how exasperated I feel when Jehova’s Witnesses somehow get into my apartment building and urgently try to save my soul. It must be frustrating to be 100% certain of something, and you’re just trying to help, but most people aren’t interested in hearing it.

Ray is reading the bible all the time while his colleagues are reading frivolous magazines. I bet all these people care about are magazines with Carpathia on the cover as the Sexiest Man Alive. When asked why he’s reading the bible, he tells these schmucks that he’s “finding answers and direction he had never seen before.” He then wishes he could be that straightforward with Hattie and Chloe. To me that sounds just as vague as what he has already told Chloe and Hattie, though.

He calls Bruce, who I guess has solidified himself as a bonafide main character now. Bruce tells him to turn on the news.

The men in Jerusalem were the two witnesses, preaching Christ. They had been attacked, and they didn’t even have to respond. The attackers had fallen dead and no harm had been done to the witnesses.

Now, on CNN, Rayford watched as crowds surged into the area in front of the Wailing Wall to listen to the witnesses. People knelt, weeping, some with their faces on the ground.

[…]

He knew that the first of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists were being converted to Christ before his eyes.

Everything Bruce told the congregation is coming true! Rayford prays he’ll be able to save Hattie and Chloe.

Meanwhile, Buck is still with Hattie, but he wants to stop by his office to grab his equipment bag. He tells Hattie he’ll only be a minute, so of course he spends the rest of the chapter in a meeting with Bailey and Steve.

In Bailey’s office the boss got right to the point. “I’m gonna ask you two some
pointed questions, and I want some quick and straight answers. A whole bunch of
stuff is coming down right now, and we’re gonna be on top of every bit of it. First
off, Plank, rumors are flying that Mwangati Ngumo is calling a press conference for
late this afternoon, and everybody thinks he’s stepping down as secretary-general.”

Bailey suspects somehow Jonathan Stonagal and Carpathia are involved in all this and that Carpathia will be making a play for Ngumo’s job. Bailey’s understanding of the situation seems to alarm Steve, who has definitely transformed into a deeply untrustworthy bad guy. Over the span of a chapter. With 0 character development.

For the first time in years, Steve sounded nervous, almost panicky. “I’ll tell you what I know.” he said, but Buck guessed there was more he didn’t say. “My first assignment
tomorrow morning is to deny Carpathia’s interest in the job. He’s going to say he has
too many revolutionary ideas and that he would insist on almost unanimous
approval on the parts of the current members. They would have to agree to his ideas
for reorganization, a change of emphasis, and a few other things.”

I think we can all agree that even if no one agreed to Carpathia’s ideas for reorganization, he would just repeat them again and also say the names of every country, and then everyone would agree to his plans.

Bailey also tells them that anything that is said in this room stays between them, but that he has inside sources into what’s going on, which is how he’s so in the know. He said that, for instance, Eric Miller’s boss was wondering if Buck was also writing a story about Carpathia that would get him killed.

“…I told him that as far as I knew, you were working on a general cover story about the guy and that we were going to be positive. He said his guy had intended to take a slightly different approach—you know, zig when everybody else is zagging. Miller was doing a story on the meaning behind the disappearances, which I know you were planning for an issue or two from now. How that ties in with Carpathia, and why it might paint him in a dark light, I don’t know. Do you?”

Is this meant to imply Eric was writing a cover story on how Carpathia is the Antichrist? Question for you guys, does the Antichrist know he’s the Antichrist? Or is he just a pawn in a bigger game who genuinely thinks he’s doing the right thing? I guess if he’s called a great deceiver, he must be aware that he’s deceiving…

Anyway, Buck says he thinks he’s safe because he wants to write separate stories on the disappearances and Carpathia’s rise to fame. Buck also agrees to take the promotion. Huzzah!

Steve reveals that Carpathia does want the job but only if certain conditions are met. Like he wants to be able to begin every meeting by naming lists of different things. For instance, one day he might like to list every type of pie in the world. On another day, he might like to list his favourite musicals in alphabetical order.

He also “‘…wants a commitment to disarmament from member nations, the destruction of ninety percent of their weapons, and the donation of the other ten percent to the U.N.'” On top if this, he wants the U.N. to be moved to “New Babylon.” Apparently the city has had loads of money poured into it over the years for renovations. Sounds sinister.

“Think anyone will agree to that?”

“Depends how bad they want him.” Steve chuckled. “He’s on The Tonight Show
tonight.”

“He’ll be more popular than ever!”

Yeah, if he’s on The Tonight Show, I’m not sure how they could justify refusing his demands.

He’s currently meeting with world leaders right now (before The Tonight Show!) to discuss these important demands:

“He’s asking for resolutions supporting some of the things he wants to do. The
seven-year peace treaty with Israel, in exchange for his ability to broker the desert
fertilizer formula. The move to New Babylon. The establishment of one-religion for
the world, probably headquartered in Italy.”

“He’s not going to get far with the Jews on that one.”

“They’re an exception. He’s going to help them rebuild their temple during the years
of the peace treaty. He believes they deserve special treatment.”

“And they do,” Bailey said. “The man is brilliant. Not only have I never seen
someone with such revolutionary ideas, but I’ve also never seen anyone who moves
so quickly.”

I am so overwhelmed by everything going on in this book, that I can’t figure out why they’re talking about “the Jews” getting special treatment or if any of this is offensive. There’s going to be one religion for the whole world, but Jewish people are exempt from this mass move to one religion? And if Carpathia is denying that the disappearances are the Rapture, why the focus on creating one world religion?

Buck finally asks if anyone is “shaky” on Carpathia given people keep winding up dead who get close to him. Everyone is like, “Nah, he’s cool.”

“What about Eric Miller?”

“I think people are making too much of that. We don’t know that his death wasn’t
just what it appeared and was only coincidental with his run-in with you and
Carpathia. Anyway, Carpathia didn’t know what Miller was after, did he?”

“Not that I know of,” Buck said, but he noticed that Steve said nothing.

Real subtle, Steve.

The rest of the chapter is mainly Buck thinking about what he believes caused the disappearances and whether or not he can trust Carpathia given how close he is with Jonathan Stonagal. Again, I still don’t quite understand what role Jonathan Stonagal is playing in this story.