Wednesday, August 08, 2007

EVANGELISM IN (VIDEO) ACTION


This is a still from Left Behind: Eternal Forces as devout Christians gun down the unbelievers. The Left Behind: Eternal Forces video game is a real-time strategy game that makes players commanders of a virtual evangelical army in a post-apocalyptic landscape that looks strikingly like New York City after 9/11. The game is inspired by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' ultra-violent novels about a blood-soaked Battle of Armageddon pitting born-again Christians against anybody who does not adhere to their particular theology. In LaHaye and Jenkins' books, the non-believers are ultimately condemned to "everlasting punishment" while the evangelicals are "raptured" up to heaven. With tanks, helicopters and fearsome firepower from automatic weapons, Left Behind players wage a violent war against United Nations-like peacekeepers who, according to LaHaye's interpretation of Revelation, represent the armies of the Antichrist. Each time a Left Behind player kills a UN soldier, their virtual character hollers "Praise the Lord!" To win the game, players must kill or convert all the non-believers left behind after the rapture. They also have the option of reversing roles and commanding the forces of the Antichrist. But that’s not the truly weird part, an evangelical organization called Operation Straight Up is mailing care packages containing the Left Behind: Eternal Forces video game to soldiers serving in Iraq. (Thanks to Ilene Proctor.)

The secret word is Hallelujah

2 comments:

M. Bouffant said...

My hazy recollection has it that the company which made this stupid game wasn't doing too well, & the game itself wasn't really moving either. (Not sure if this was the only game they produce.) Anyhoo, freebies to the boyz & grrlz in the Quagmire may well be some sort of tax dodge. "Die, Infidel Scum!!!"

Jay McHue said...

Amazing, Mick. You didn't get a single detail about the game right.