Babylon Rising : My Thoughts

This summer I read Babylon Rising, a four-book series by Tim Lahaye (named after the first title in the series). I tend to forget what books are about after a while, even forget favorite characters' names (!). I finished reading this a few weeks ago, so this is how I remember it.

Titles: Babylong Rising, The Secret on Ararat, The Europa Conspiracy, The Edge of Darkness

Author: Tim Lahaye, co-authored by Greg Dinallo and Bob Phillips

Dates published: 2003-2006

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

Characters:

Dr. Michael Murphy (who goes by "Murphy"): The protagonist, a Biblical archaeology professor and outdoorsy, adventure-seeking archaeologist with brawn and brains, outgoing and outspoken, quick to get impatient, seems to think he is invincible, firm in his Christian faith. Murphy is a man of God, and I appreciate his clean character, but combined with his superhuman athletic abilities and mental genius, he's just a little too perfect to be real. Never mind that though, he's my new literary crush; where is his real-life twin?!

Bob Wagoner: Murphy's pastor and accountability partner, gentle and loving to his congregation, always ready to humbly take a stand for the truth. That makes him sound like such a stereotypical minister, but in Bob these things are authentic.

Laura Murphy: Murphy's first wife, a college counselor who is genuinely kind and caring, adventurous and brave in her own right.

Dr. Isis McDonald: a reserved philologist who becomes a close friend of Murphy, focused and diligent in her work, naturally timid but driven by curiosity and a bit of headstrong pride, brave in spite of fear. In many ways she reminds me of myself. She starts off as the typical anti-social academic, but she is one of the few characters who undergoes radical change; she develops a much deeper character as the series went along.

Shari: Murphy's hardworking lab assistant, one of his most passionate students, and almost like a daughter to him, strong through a lot of grief, sympathetic to others. She's a really lovable and believable character; I wish the subplot surrounding her life went better, but then again, that's what made her believable.

Paul Wallach: an archaeology student and skeptic of Christianity, friend of Shari.

Methusaleh: Extremely wealthy, mysterious old man who stays out of the public eye, has little affection for other individuals but wants to see right win

The Seven: Group of seven powerful, arrogant individuals from around the world who are intentionally preparing the world for the Anti-Christ

Talon: The Seven's hired assassin, who takes a sickening pleasure in his work, and is completely indifferent toward any other human, caring only for his two killer falcons

Shane Barrington: One of the richest men in the world, owner of a major media corporation, calloused, cruel, and self-absorbed to an incredible extreme.

Stacy: Star reporter, very ambitious without much of a moral compass, but has a deeply buried inquisitive and open-minded side that is refreshing to see.

Plot:

Murphy has been receiving a series of cryptic message from a man who calls himself Methusaleh. Intrigued, he takes the bait each time, and each time ends up traveling to a deserted location where he fights for his life in an extreme physical challenge (wrestling a giant-sized man, fighting a ferocious lion, fighting three ninjas at once at an old abandoned theme park, etc). When he lives through each test, he gets a "reward": a clue telling him where to go to dig up an invaluable historical artifact that has mention in the Bible. He makes several stunning discoveries this way, including the head of Nebuchadnezzar's statue, the Brazen serpent, and the ark built by Noah. Murphy manages to survive and eagerly shares the facts with his archaeology students. However, his artifacts or the evidence of their existence are repeatedly stolen and anyone unlucky enough to be present is brutally murdered. Meanwhile, "terror attacks" are occurring in America, and Christians are blamed by the media. Laura is murdered in the aftermath of one of the early attacks. All of this is perpetrated by the Seven, via Talon. Murphy finally begins to get weary of Methusaleh's games and pursues Methusaleh's true identity and motivation. Methusaleh tells him about the Seven and their plan to institute a one-world religion and government, and Murphy goes after Talon before he can get the final artifact- bronze plates that contain crucial pre-Flood information for energy production- buried beneath the sea. Talon dies in their underwater confrontation, Murphy is seriously injured, and the Seven move forward unhindered.

Negative themes:

I don't like the relationship between Murphy and Isis. Granted, Murphy and Isis are adults, and not young adults either, but I wish their relationship were platonic. Isis and Murphy cuddle and kiss toward the end of the series. They go through some terrifying experiences together in their search for the Brazen serpent and subsequently experience the joy of their discovery and coming out alive at the other end of it all. I suppose one could say when two people go through that much together, how can they not care about each other deeply? But why didn't the author keep Laura alive for all that? She is murdered in the middle of the first book, which was extremely disappointing to me since I really liked the affectionate, pure married relationship between her and Murphy while it lasted.

Talon and his killing methods are disturbingly interesting. In fact, Talon might be the most fascinating character in the book. A lot of the characters are a bit predictable, but any time Talon shows up, he's doing something unheard-of. He didn't seem human in the first book, but his character got a little more developed in later books. He actually experiences fear at the hands of the Seven and grief at the death of his birds. We're only given vague hints at his past, but it seems that he had a sad childhood. We're never allowed to develop any compassion for him though; he's 100% villain. There is a lot of murder in these books. Most of the people who die are people we were just introduced to and haven't really come to love, and we move on easily. After a while, the deaths seem insignificant. I don't think the author meant it to come across that way, but I can't shake the feeling that it's wrong somehow.

Positive themes:

If God foretells it, it will come true. God has always kept His word in the past, so we know that He will keep His word in the future. Everything in Revelation will come to pass, from the rapture of Christians, to the Anti-Christ, to the return of Jesus as the Warrior-King to defeat his enemies and bring in the new heavens and earth. Lahaye tells the story of these prophecies in the Left Behind series, but in this series he focuses on biblical prophecy that has already been fulfilled. The artifacts that Murphy finds are from time periods when God was letting people in on future events. God told Noah that He would destroy the earth with a Flood, and He did. He told King Nebuchadnezzar about all of the world powers that would arise after him, and we have already seen most of them come and go already. God told King Belteshazzar that his kingdom would fall to the Medes and Persians, and it did unexpectedly- that very night. God's prophets are usually ridiculed or even silenced. Twenty-first century people are skeptical that there's a God and of course that He will really take His church to heaven and destroy the rest of the earth, and that's nothing new. It doesn't change the reality of what is and what will be.

Archaeology confirms the Bible. Murphy's archaeological finds are fictional of course, but in his class lectures he brings up past discoveries that have really happened, such as all the witnesses who have seen Noah's ark in the last hundred years or so. I would love to research in more detail from authoritative sources some of the things he touched on.

People already have the evidence they need to believe. I have wondered, as I know many other Christians and skeptics have too, why God doesn't just provide such indisputable evidence of His existence and His word that we'll be able to believe in Him without a doubt. If we found Noah's ark, for example, wouldn't people believe then? Nope, not according to Lahaye. People who approach with a firm belief that the Bible is a myth will find some reason, however slim, to explain the evidence in other terms. For example, one of the men on the Noah's ark expedition with Murphy commented that there has been plenty of time for someone to construct a fake ark and plant it on Ararat. That is true, of course, and even though it goes against the general direction of the evidence, it offers enough hope to a skeptic that they can avoid thinking about it. What's more, even if the evidence does point to Nebuchadnezzar or Noah or even Jesus as historical characters, people don't automatically go from there to making Jesus their Lord and Savior. On the plane home after the discovery of Noah's ark, Isis realizes that she believes that the worldwide flood really took place and Noah and his family really were saved on the ark. However, she doesn't become a Christian until quite a while later, and then it is mostly as a result of watching how Murphy lives his life and how he treats her so differently from the way other men she's known have treated her before. Most of Murphy's discoveries are never made secure enough or documented enough to publicize. The one that does get media attention- the golden head of Nebuchadnezzar's statue- doesn't seem to lead anyone to Christ. People think it's neat and then move on with life.

There is not a happily-ever-after on earth. The end of the fourth book is a let-down unless you let your imagination go way into the future- into eternity. Murphy gives everything had for the sake of making these discoveries and comes away with nothing to show for it. He loses his physical strength due to injury and can't do the activities he loves to do anymore. Isis seems to have a full life on her own, apart from him. It might seem worth it if lots of people had come to trust in God as a result of his work, but that's not the case. Not only did he lose possession of all the artifacts he found, but they're in the hands of people who will use them for evil. As the book closes, doom seems inevitable- and then you realize that it is. Good only wins when Jesus reveals himself and everything plays out in eternity. I had to ask myself, then should Murphy have done what he did? Was it a waste of his life to chase after these artifacts? Was that what God wanted him to do? And I think it was. Murphy's own faith was built up time after time, as was that of Shari and a few other Christians who got to hear and see these things from Murphy. And Shari and Murphy needed that encouragement, just because of their own trials. Even though the whole world didn't come to Christ because of Murphy, there are a handful of individuals who did- Isis and Stacy are two I know of for sure. Many other characters' final decisions are yet to be determined or simply unknown- again, a reminder that what we see on earth isn't the whole story.

Overall, a really good series.