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American Morning

Author Tim LaHaye Discusses End Time

Aired November 08, 2002 - 09:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Tim LaHaye is the coauthor of a true phenomenon in the book publishing world. It's the Left Behind series. More than 50 million copies sold. And the ninth book in that series, "Desecration," last year's number one selling book. Why the books on the end of the world? Tim LaHaye, whose latest book is called "The Merciful God of Prophecy," is our guest this morning here in New York.
Good morning to you.

TIM LAHAYE, AUTHOR: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: There are a number of things we can dissect here. One of the things you stress, though, is that you believe the end is near.

LAHAYE: Yes.

HEMMER: Today. Why?

LAHAYE: A number of reasons. One is because there is so many biblical prophecies being fulfilled, but another is the frightening conditions of the world. It's not just preachers that are teaching this. Scientists that have no place for God in their lives and look at science and the development of weapons of mass destruction and bacterial warfare and so on. And they say we see no future for the year beyond 25 years.

HEMMER: Let's me stop you there. You bring up two points. Let's go back to your first one, about the prophecies, biblical, today are what as you see them?

LAHAYE: The prophecies show that we are coming close to the end. I'm not a date-setter or someone that's going to...

HEMMER: Can you define that? How do you define near, how do you define close?

LAHAYE: Well, within a lifetime. It could be in our lifetime. I say this in print, that our generation has more biblical reason to believe that Christ could come in our generation than any generation that has ever lived.

HEMMER: Why?

LAHAYE: Because there are so many signs. For example, the state of Israel being gathered back into the land after 1,700 years outside of the land of Palestine. Now, they've been brought back into the land, in our lifetime. And we think that the generation that sees all of these things come to pass could very well be the end of the last generation before the exciting plan.

See, what this book is about is the future plan that God has. And it's really a message of hope. Here, we live in a despairing time when no one knows what is going to happen. People are seeking for a message of hope. I think that is one of the reasons for the popularity of prophecy books like this.

HEMMER: Let me go back to your second point you made in your first answer, saying that the events of the of the world today give you reason to think that the end is near, within a lifetime. What is it about the events of today that differentiate themselves from past history? I'll give you a really good example, just to play the contrarian. Yesterday we were talking about this couple from New Mexico coming to New York suffering from the bubonic plague. In the 14th century, 37 million people on this planet died in a span of about five years from the plague. I would say that is apocalyptic, not what we're facing today.

LAHAYE: That was frightening, but that seems to be a natural or unnatural cause from certain conditions. But today, what is happening is mankind who -- and we all know there are some very evil people in this world -- a lot of good people, but also some very evil people -- and if they ever get the weapons of mass destruction in their hands, then they could subjugate the world from just a very small nucleus of people.

HEMMER: Is it true that half of your leaders are not religious?

LAHAYE: That is what I'm told. I find that very exciting.

HEMMER: What does it tell you?

LAHAYE: It tells us that there is a void in people. Even though people have been just -- they have not paid attention to religion. It's not been a very big part of their life. They're curious about the future, and there's this nagging feeling that maybe God has some solution and some prognostication of the future. And again, that's what these books are about. They're trying to flesh out what's God's plan for the future, and I find it very wonderful, thrilling story.

HEMMER: How about this theory, though: If you're not religious and you don't believe in God, and you don't believe in organized religion, perhaps you are seeking answers much more than other people would, and that is perhaps the reason why they go to your material. True or not?

LAHAYE: I really don't know about that because people who don't have any hope for God, they recognize the Bible was written by God -- or actually through prophets over a period of 1,600 years -- and that it has a supernatural hand to it, and they don't believe in the supernatural, so they didn't bother with the Bible. But there are a lot of Americans out there, and in fact, people all over the world, where our books are popular, indicating that there are people that are seeking God. They want to have some answers, and although they're not ready to commit their lives to him, they have the idea that maybe there are some answers that they ought to pay attention to. HEMMER: You're an amazing phenomenon right now in the book publishing world. We talked about that. If somebody reads the current book right now, what do they find in it, what do they learn?

LAHAYE: They find God's blueprint for the future and the message of hope. The world is not going to get worse and worse. Things are going to be very traumatic and difficult, but when Jesus Christ comes and sets up his kingdom, we are going to live in a utopia. And what our job is to try to help people prepare for that utopia. And then after that, it gets even better. It's called heaven, and everybody knows what heaven is for.

HEMMER: I hope your definition of "near" does not come to pass. If it is true, that you believe it's a few decades away.

LAHAYE: If it is, it's going to be better than it is now. Remember this: Someone has said that for the Christian, this world is as bad as it gets because the next world is heaven.

HEMMER: Thank you, Tim. Good to see you. Tim LaHaye. A phenomenon right now across the country. Good to chat with you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 8, 2002 - 09:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Tim LaHaye is the coauthor of a true phenomenon in the book publishing world. It's the Left Behind series. More than 50 million copies sold. And the ninth book in that series, "Desecration," last year's number one selling book. Why the books on the end of the world? Tim LaHaye, whose latest book is called "The Merciful God of Prophecy," is our guest this morning here in New York.
Good morning to you.

TIM LAHAYE, AUTHOR: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: There are a number of things we can dissect here. One of the things you stress, though, is that you believe the end is near.

LAHAYE: Yes.

HEMMER: Today. Why?

LAHAYE: A number of reasons. One is because there is so many biblical prophecies being fulfilled, but another is the frightening conditions of the world. It's not just preachers that are teaching this. Scientists that have no place for God in their lives and look at science and the development of weapons of mass destruction and bacterial warfare and so on. And they say we see no future for the year beyond 25 years.

HEMMER: Let's me stop you there. You bring up two points. Let's go back to your first one, about the prophecies, biblical, today are what as you see them?

LAHAYE: The prophecies show that we are coming close to the end. I'm not a date-setter or someone that's going to...

HEMMER: Can you define that? How do you define near, how do you define close?

LAHAYE: Well, within a lifetime. It could be in our lifetime. I say this in print, that our generation has more biblical reason to believe that Christ could come in our generation than any generation that has ever lived.

HEMMER: Why?

LAHAYE: Because there are so many signs. For example, the state of Israel being gathered back into the land after 1,700 years outside of the land of Palestine. Now, they've been brought back into the land, in our lifetime. And we think that the generation that sees all of these things come to pass could very well be the end of the last generation before the exciting plan.

See, what this book is about is the future plan that God has. And it's really a message of hope. Here, we live in a despairing time when no one knows what is going to happen. People are seeking for a message of hope. I think that is one of the reasons for the popularity of prophecy books like this.

HEMMER: Let me go back to your second point you made in your first answer, saying that the events of the of the world today give you reason to think that the end is near, within a lifetime. What is it about the events of today that differentiate themselves from past history? I'll give you a really good example, just to play the contrarian. Yesterday we were talking about this couple from New Mexico coming to New York suffering from the bubonic plague. In the 14th century, 37 million people on this planet died in a span of about five years from the plague. I would say that is apocalyptic, not what we're facing today.

LAHAYE: That was frightening, but that seems to be a natural or unnatural cause from certain conditions. But today, what is happening is mankind who -- and we all know there are some very evil people in this world -- a lot of good people, but also some very evil people -- and if they ever get the weapons of mass destruction in their hands, then they could subjugate the world from just a very small nucleus of people.

HEMMER: Is it true that half of your leaders are not religious?

LAHAYE: That is what I'm told. I find that very exciting.

HEMMER: What does it tell you?

LAHAYE: It tells us that there is a void in people. Even though people have been just -- they have not paid attention to religion. It's not been a very big part of their life. They're curious about the future, and there's this nagging feeling that maybe God has some solution and some prognostication of the future. And again, that's what these books are about. They're trying to flesh out what's God's plan for the future, and I find it very wonderful, thrilling story.

HEMMER: How about this theory, though: If you're not religious and you don't believe in God, and you don't believe in organized religion, perhaps you are seeking answers much more than other people would, and that is perhaps the reason why they go to your material. True or not?

LAHAYE: I really don't know about that because people who don't have any hope for God, they recognize the Bible was written by God -- or actually through prophets over a period of 1,600 years -- and that it has a supernatural hand to it, and they don't believe in the supernatural, so they didn't bother with the Bible. But there are a lot of Americans out there, and in fact, people all over the world, where our books are popular, indicating that there are people that are seeking God. They want to have some answers, and although they're not ready to commit their lives to him, they have the idea that maybe there are some answers that they ought to pay attention to. HEMMER: You're an amazing phenomenon right now in the book publishing world. We talked about that. If somebody reads the current book right now, what do they find in it, what do they learn?

LAHAYE: They find God's blueprint for the future and the message of hope. The world is not going to get worse and worse. Things are going to be very traumatic and difficult, but when Jesus Christ comes and sets up his kingdom, we are going to live in a utopia. And what our job is to try to help people prepare for that utopia. And then after that, it gets even better. It's called heaven, and everybody knows what heaven is for.

HEMMER: I hope your definition of "near" does not come to pass. If it is true, that you believe it's a few decades away.

LAHAYE: If it is, it's going to be better than it is now. Remember this: Someone has said that for the Christian, this world is as bad as it gets because the next world is heaven.

HEMMER: Thank you, Tim. Good to see you. Tim LaHaye. A phenomenon right now across the country. Good to chat with you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com