#nicolae carpathia

[thehopeelias]

Cool tone stills from the Left Behind OP

[katie-the-bug]

IN WHICH Katie continues to complain about books she knew beforehand would be bad

Still reading the Left Behind series. Finished Apollyon. God I'm tired.

The cast, for those just tuning in:

The Tribulation Force: Rayford Steele, freelance pilot and evangelist; Buck Williams, freelance writer for God; Chloe Williams, Buck's pregnant wife, Rayford's daughter; Tsion Ben-Judah, internet-famous evangelist and ex-rabbi; Ken Ritz, charter pilot and new convert; David Hassid, techie and the group's man inside the Antichrist's bureaucracy; Floyd Charles, unemployed doctor.

The Bad Guys: Nicolae Carpathia, Antichrist and beloved leader of the Global Community; Peter Mathews, Pope of Enigma Babylon One World Faith.

Others: Hattie Durham, Nicolae's pregnant ex, rescued by the Tribulation Force, who are trying to make her convert; Chaim Rosenzweig, Israeli scientist and friend to Nicolae, Buck, and Tsion. There's also the two witnesses, resurrected saints who do nothing but yell about Jesus and cause natural disasters.

At the beginning of the book, most of our heroes are off to Israel for the meeting of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses, knowing that this will mark them as enemies of the Global Community in general and the Antichrist in particular and expose them to potential reprisal. Perhaps I'm too sensible for a thriller novel, but that's stupid.

Buck, Chloe, and Tsion are going, and Rayford has work, but "pregnant, Hattie Durham had been left home fighting for her life against poison in her system." The Tribulation Force harps on how much they care for Hattie, but leaving her alone while she's possibly dying indicates it's all talk.

David has designed a number of "handheld electronic organizers" that can access position data, connect to the internet, and make calls. In other words, he's invented smartphones.

Nicolae takes some time out of his day to try and threaten the two witnesses into no longer messing with Israel's water supply. A valiant effort, but one doomed to fail because somehow the guys spreading drought and disease have the blessing of a loving God.

In a review of the professions represented by the Tribulation Force, Chloe is said to be "without a specialty." Not coincidentally, she's the only woman. I'm pretty sure if she were a man something she studied in college would have come up by now, but as it is the extent of Chloe's abilities and character is Woman.

Chaim argues against Nicolae being the Antichrist by saying "He seeks world peace, disarmament, global unity," to which Chloe replies "My point exactly." As Jesus said, "Cursed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the Antichrist." Or something like that.

Meanwhile, we return to a dangling plot threat from the last book: was Amanda, Rayford's second dead wife in three years, a traitor? The answer will not surprise you! She wasn't. All the evidence against her was faked by Nicolae, who already has a personal vendetta against the Tribulation Force despite them being seven people operating out of a basement.

The Meeting of the Witnesses happens, and Nicolae makes a suitably dramatic entrance in a helicopter just as Tsion is trying to read John 3:16. Points for timing.

Pope Peter (II) gives a little speech to the 144,000, representing how the authors think proponents of religious tolerance talk. He offers "the blessings of the universal father and mother and animal deities," advertises his religion, which "includes and affirms and accepts the major tenets of all the world's great religions," and refers to a "multilayered plural godhead." The idea of all the world's religions forming seamlessly into one faith is utter nonsense, but given the choice between that and True Christianity, I'll take the father and mother and animal deities any day.

Nicolae gives his own speech, and the two witnesses pull a funny prank where they make him thirsty and turn the water he tries to drink into blood. He immediately starts cursing them and threatening to kill them. I suppose this is the witnesses' roundabout way of trying to tell the audience he's the Antichrist, since they don't dare say it out loud for reasons that are never made entirely clear.

Nicolae later describes this as an attempt to poison him, and, while he embellishes the incident somewhat, he doesn't need to - they tried to make him drink blood. In no world is that not an attempt to poison someone. Hell, do it on a large enough scale, like the two witnesses are doing to Israel, and it counts as biological warfare!

In Chapter 4, Hattie's baby dies, probably because the authors didn't know what to do with the idea of the Antichrist's child. Hattie's immediate response is an overwhelming desire to kill Nicolae and avenge her child. My ship is home to a thriving coral reef ecosystem BUT now I have a new pipe dream for this series: I want Hattie to get that sonofabitch. She has the strongest motive out of any of the major characters and, unlike the Tribulation Force, she doesn't believe Nicolae is fated to survive another year, so she'll actually TRY. In a good story, she'd be the hero - the only one with a desire, a drive, and a willingness to act. In the story as it is, the authors just want us to laugh at her.

The narration says of the scene in a bar that "Not all the couples were made up of both sexes." Much shock. How scandal.

While he's planning his team's daring escape from Chaim's house, Chloe accuses Buck of "playing Spiderman." RESPECT. THE. HYPHEN.

Tsion implores his audience to tell people that the catastrophes befalling the Earth are "God's way of getting their attention." I will reiterate that these catastrophes are deadly. God's way of getting people's attention to to kill them.

Ken says something trite about Hattie, and Rayford says, "Ritz, you've got to be on the feminist' top ten most wanted list." Addendum to my pipe dream: I want Hattie to kill Rayford too.

Chaim is letting the Tribulation Force stay in his house and convert his staff, meaning he's surrounded by Christians. He's taking it very well and he thinks that the "seal of God" that they can see on each other is just a silly little joke. I aspire to have his level of tolerance.

We learn that Ken has a considerable pile of gold stashed away, because he makes a lot of money, spends none of it, and shared the authors' weird beliefs about money even before converting to Christianity. He buried it under the airport he usually works from, which he is thinking of buying - a situation bearing an odd resemblance to a Biblical parable. That feels like it should be intentional but I really doubt it is.

Precisely because they were dumb enough to go out in public where Nicolae could target them, the Tribulation Force has to make a daring midnight escape, during which Ken is killed and the position of my favorite character is left wide open. At least they know where he hid all his gold?

Buck also gets left behind, which is an issue, because it was him being charged with yet another murder that made the escape necessary. He just goes back to Chaim's house and waits for the whole thing to blow over for what ends up being five months.

Another judgement comes in which the sun loses a third of its brightness. The authors interpret this as causing deep cold weather. Now, I'm not an astronomer yet, but I'm pretty sure that a loss of solar luminosity that large would actually move the sun's habitable zone, possibly removing Earth from the area of the Solar System where liquid water, and thus life as we know it, is possible. On the plus side, maybe Venus will cool down a bit.

Chaim describes Israel as the "land where the name Jesus Christ is anathema." Once again the authors express their understanding of Judaism as a religion whose defining characteristic is hating Christ.

The loss of sunlight and solar power causes an energy crisis, and the narration puts the death toll in the hundreds of thousands. The very next page, Tsion describes the catastrophes as an "attention-getter." I'm going to repeat myself ad nauseam, but this is how the authors justify their God killing so many people - it gets the attention of the survivors.

Later on Chaim asks the real questions - "Why can he not get people's attention through wonderful miracles, as he did in the Bible? Why make things worse and worse until a person has no choice?" The authors, via Buck, try to shoot this down, but Chaim is right. God's tactics are abusive and coercive, and trying to tell us that he's loving is the icing on the cake.

Hit character limit. More coming. So, so tired.

[ecosaboteurmemes]

J D Vance looks like he'd play Nicolae Carpathia in a somehow even more low budget movie.

[delphinidin4]

I still think it’s a sin and a shame that the Left Behind novels used Nicolae Carpathia as the name of the antichrist. Because that is the most AWESOME antichrist name EVER. I’m gonna name a cat that.

[chawsl]

The "Left Behind" movie series is based on a series of Christian apocalyptic novels written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. The series revolves around the events of the Rapture, as described in Christian eschatology, where believers are taken up to heaven, leaving the unbelievers behind to face the tribulation.

The first film in the series, "Left Behind: The Movie," released in 2000, follows the story of Rayford Steele, a pilot, and Chloe Steele, his daughter, as they grapple with the sudden disappearance of millions of people worldwide. They soon discover that this event, known as the Rapture, has left chaos and confusion in its wake. As they try to make sense of the situation, they encounter Pastor Bruce Barnes, who helps them understand the biblical prophecy unfolding before their eyes.

Subsequent films in the series, including "Left Behind II: Tribulation Force" (2002) and "Left Behind: World at War" (2005), continue the story as the characters navigate the turbulent times of the tribulation period. They face persecution and opposition from the global authority known as the Global Community, led by the charismatic Nicolae Carpathia, who rises to power as a world leader but is eventually revealed as the Antichrist.

Throughout the series, themes of faith, redemption, and the battle between good and evil are central as characters struggle to survive and resist the oppressive regime of the Antichrist. The films blend elements of action, drama, and religious prophecy to create a compelling narrative that explores the end-times scenario as depicted in the Book of Revelation.

While the "Left Behind" series received mixed reviews from critics, it found a dedicated audience among Christian viewers interested in exploring themes of faith and eschatology. Overall, the series serves as an interpretation of biblical prophecy and offers a fictionalized portrayal of what some believers anticipate will occur during the end times.

[txcharms-blog]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: NWOT - The Remnant: On the Brink of Armageddon.

[beesmygod]

OH NO thank you @nicolae-carpathia

does anyone have access to the american urology journals from 1929. im dying at all of this

[pastorhogg]

The Antichrists Are Not Who You Think They Are

Nicolae Carpathia made a great villain. He was “The Antichrist,” born from an ancient Roman lineage, remarkably intelligent and athletic, manipulative and unbelievably successful in business. Naturally, that led him to politics and soon he was the Supreme Potentate. He was the sort of character we love to hate. In the book his life takes a turn with an assassination, a resurrection, the…

[the-commonplace-book]

not gonna lie the whole way through the rooftop scene in left behind: tribulation force I thought nikolae was going to go in for a kiss the sexual tension was hiiiigh (sorry not sorry, krik cameron)

[thehopeelias]

Higher Quality on Youtube:

I’ll probably post some of the individual art here without the credits on it. I’ll definitely be posting them ALL on my art insta ( @ hopesartcastle ) including some sketches and concept art type things.

The Japanese lyrics were from Lauren Horii’s original Youtube video. The rest of the Japanese text was me. And I am by no means fluent so apologies if I made any glaring or horrible mistakes 😆

[sexhaver]

after @nicolae-carpathia pointed out that The Master, Multiplied from the Dr. Who set would slot into these shenanigans perfectly, i combed through the cards to see if they put out anything new that could also enable further degeneracy. two cards jumped out:

this is the cheapest creature in Obeka's colors with Myriad that isn't complete ass (sorry, Genasi Enforcers), so you can start flooding the board as soon as turn 4 with the right draw. it even has menace so you can swing the original at someone with <2 creatures and not risk it dying to a blocker. if it eats removal once people realize what it's up to, that's even better - less removal for the actually scary stuff.

this card though. this card. whew lad. hooooo boy. the myriad tokens are created as copies of the thing Auton Soldier copied (plus all the other stuff like being nonlegendary and artifact), so unfortunately you don't get to reselect what you're copying with each token as it ETBs, but that doesn't really matter. not only do you copy the best thing on the field, you then start shitting out even more copies of it. exponentially. even if that thing is legendary. go ahead, fill your board with copies of your opponent's commander. see if Auton Soldier cares. Auton Soldier doesn't give a fuck. God help your opponents if you copy something with haste

what tokens even are those. im guessing 1/1 spirits cuz its flying?

i don't have any specific purpose for them (and if i need a specific token i have Infinitokens to draw on). in practice they usually end up serving as copies of one of these two dudes:

creatures that inherently have Myriad are extremely fucking funny when you end the turn at the start of the end-of-combat phase to dodge having to sacrifice the "temporary" copies. usually it goes like this:

slap down Warchief Giant with either Sundial or Obeka on the field and swing at someone (doesn't matter who). Myriad triggers to make 2 extra attacking copies of the Giant, so you're attacking everyone for 5

at end of combat, in response to the game politely asking you to sacrifice your temporary copies, use Obeka or Sundial to tell it to fuck off by skipping your second main phase. you now control one "original" Warchief Giant and two token copies of it. really smart players will identify you as the threat starting at this point

attack anyone with the 3 Giants, each of which triggers Myriad and spawns 2 more copies for a total of 9 Giants attacking everyone other than you for 15 each. decently smart players and ones who can do basic math will identify you as the threat starting at this point

9 Giants in. 27 Giants roaming the field attacking for 45 three times over. mankind is dead. blood is fuel. you are now Archenemy

[katie-the-bug]

The Mark of the Bees

Title largely unrelated to subject matter (The Mark, book eight of the Left Behind series). I just wanted to say "The Mark of the Bees." And now I have. Thank you for your indulgence.

The characters, in case you've forgotten:

The Tribulation Force: Rayford Steele, pilot; Buck Williams, journalist; Chloe Williams, organizer; Kenny Williams, infant; Tsion Ben-Judah, internet evangelist and ex-rabbi; Chaim Rosenzweig, new Israeli convert; Mac McCullum, backup pilot; Abdullah Smith, backup to the backup pilot; Albie, former black-marketer, espionage expert; David Hassid, IT guy on the inside; Annie Christopher, David's girlfriend; Hattie Durham, bitter ex-girlfriend of the Beast.

The Global Community: Nicolae Carpathia, risen lord and deity of the GC, in other words, the Antichrist; Leon Fortunato, Satan's little helper; Viv Ivins, role unclear.

Okay, so Nicolae's just come back from the dead, but, despite extremely limited changes in demeanor, our lead characters know he's possessed by Satan. Alright, what does this mean for Nicolae himself? Is his soul in Hell? Is he trapped in his body? He had a decent relationship with Satan already; maybe they're copiloting? Stay tuned while I figure out which answer is funniest.

Tsion leads Chaim in Bible study, saying that soon he will be "an expert about our own people," meaning the Jewish people. Because, as we all know, Christians know more about Judaism than Jews do.

Many of the group's capers owe their success to Albie's fake identity as a GC officer. Rayford seeks a similar false identity, hoping that David can get him into the system at a higher rank than Albie. Never mind that Albie has proven himself better at this whole "Impersonating the enemy" business - Rayford's the leader, so he should outrank him in disguise too.

Buck gets a new car, which the narration gushes about. I guess I can't begrudge the authors their hobbies.

Rayford and Albie go looking for Hattie, who wound up in GC custody in the last book. On the way, they find Steve Plank, Buck's old boss who vanished from the story a few books ago. He's wounded and deformed, but he converted and opposes the GC from the inside under a false identity. I suppose the only question now is how he'll really die, given that no character with more than a few pages of relevance can leave the story any other way.

It turns out that Annie was killed in the last book, randomly lightning'd to death by Leon, but we only learn about it now. I think it would have been more impactful for David to see her die at the hands of the enemy rather than finding out about it after the fact, but maybe that's just me.

Hattie becomes a Christian, and I can only assume that her days are numbered now that her ongoing struggle has been resolved.

Tsion, via his blog posts internet transmissions, tells people not to take the titular Mark (of the Beast), despite the threat of death for not doing so, because it will irrevocably damn them to Hell, but he also says that True Christians with the seal of God on their foreheads "will not be able to turn [their] back on Christ." It's never explained what this means for people who might take the Mark. Do you lose your salvation if you take it? Does the Mark not affect the saved? Will the Mark simply not apply itself to a sealed believer? I have many questions and the book is very slow to answer them.

Leon discusses the rollout of the Mark, mentioning that people can choose "design and size" as well as its location. A few preset designs have been mentioned, but I wonder - can you design your own? That'd be kinda fun actually - a visual mark everyone gets, but everyone puts their own spin on it. New worldbuilding idea...

"You can just squeegee me off the floor and pour me down the drain." I will give you no context because it's funnier that way.

Nicolae's office is being renovated, and he asks for several full-length mirrors, because "Why deprive myself of the joy others luxuriate in? They get to look at me whenever they want." I aspire to this level of confidence in my body.

This series has exactly one running joke, and it's at the expense of Abdullah's limited English - he used the word "pout" as an adjective rather than a verb once, and now people ask him if he "is pout." It's funny only by comparison to the rest of the book, but I'll take what I can get.

Apparently "amateur craftsmen in their backyards" are making guillotines for the GC. All I can think of is reddit posts in the woodworking subreddit featuring pictures of cute, intricately decorated guillotines with a blurb about the wood and techniques used and how it'll be donated to the GC.

Buck and Albie, disguised, watch a group of Greek Christians get martyred for not taking the Mark. Too often this series tells without showing, but here we get the experience of watching your comrades die lovingly described to us. More of this please.

The narration refers to people who've taken the Mark as having "ignorantly sealed their fate." This is something I don't understand about whatever brand of Christianity the authors are pushing. In Catholicism, for example, if you commit a mortal sin without knowing it's wrong, your culpability in the eyes of God is reduced and you wouldn't automatically go to Hell if you died right then. But in LaHaye and Jenkins' world, you can do something without knowing it's wrong and God will reject you forever. Catholicism has its issues - why do you think I'm an atheist? - but at the very least its God is understanding of circumstances. The God of Left Behind wants to see people suffer.

Tsion finally reveals why saved Christians can't take the Mark to decieve their enemies and further their cause - God "miraculously overcomes" your self-preservation instincts and provides the "grace and courage" to go to your death. In other words, you can't take the Mark because God will mind-control you to refuse. That's not the answer I was expecting, but okay.

Our new friend Chang, a teenage believer who's about to be employed by the GC, is drugged and given the Mark despite his protests. He is still saved, because he never agreed to take the Mark. You'd think the same logic would apply to people being threatened with death if they don't take the mark, because consent under duress is not consent, but God wants to see people die for him, so Chang gets a special exception.

It's said that "no one would fake the mark of the beast," and it's mentioned that the penalty for doing so is death, but why wouldn't you at least try if the penalty for being caught without a Mark is death anyway? With the GC terrifically understaffed and security at an all-time low, it could buy a disguised believer some time, even if they didn't have the microchip that all marks contain. And there's nothing in the Scriptures that says a fake Mark will damn you.

Well, that was certainly a book. I can only assume the next one will be more frustrating.

[pickledchickenetti]

OMG

[meta-hattie-blog]

He drowns in his dreams An exquisite extreme I know He’s as damned as he seems And more heaven than a heart could hold And if I try to save him My whole world could cave in

Beautiful disaster, Kelly Clarkson

[cantsayidont]

The first scenario @3liza describes happens, more or less, in one of the earliest TOS episodes, "The Enemy Within," where a transporter malfunction causes transport subjects — including Kirk and some animal test subjects — to split into Jekyll and Hyde versions of themselves; Kirk is subsequently reintegrated in this way, apparently possessing memories of both selves.

As for the continuity/duplication issue, @nicolae-carpathia is generally correct about how it's presented in the series, but the principal counterpoint to that is Thomas Riker, a transporter duplicate of Will Riker introduced in the S6 TNG episode "Second Chances." I think there was some technobabble hand-waving for why the accident duplicated him rather than as well as transporting him, but the show was explicit that he was an exact copy of Riker as of the time of the accident, and he was never canonically reintegrated or killed off, so he was able to wander off to do his own thing.

In Star Trek, the transporter works by converting you as a complete copy from matter to energy containing all information necessary to reassemble you, sends that information wirelessly over a distance to a location where you are then reassembled, molecule by molecule. Since the copy is so perfect you do not perceive any interruption between conversions and everything about you is physically in tact at the end of the procedure (assuming nothing goes wrong, which canonically very rarely happens).

[bourtange]

@nicolae-carpathia i can't get answer replies to work but it was this one http://boysinbarrettes.tumblr.com/post/134418951371