‘John’s Story’ begins

Evangelical Christian authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins are publishing superstars famous for the after-the-rapture “Left Behind” thrillers, which have sold more than 62 million copies and inspired three low-budget movies and a video game – not to mention a lawsuit and charges of anti-Semitism.

Now, the pair have begun “The Jesus Chronicles,” a series of four novels based on the New Testament.

This time, they’re likely to rile biblical purists, even as they aim for “Da Vinci Code” fans hungry for less strident approaches to the mysteries of the Bible.

Though the books aren’t built on premises as controversial as those underlying their previous series – in which Jews and others who don’t convert die in a bloody battle – LaHaye and Jenkins say their message is the same: The end is coming. Be ready. Know the Bible.

“That theme ‘left behind’ is a warning we want to give everybody in our world,” says LaHaye, who at 80 still has a youthful head of dark brown hair and a blinding white smile.

“You need to come to grips on who Jesus is so that you can decide to accept him or, if you choose to reject him, that’s your choice,” he says. “At least you should come to that decision or you’re going to be left behind in a biblical sense.

“Our new book is not about prophecy, but we’re still motivated by the same thing: recognizing the identity of Jesus.”

“John’s Story: The Last Eyewitness (Book One of the Jesus Chronicles)” follows the last living apostle as he records the miracles of Jesus and later, after months of hard labor in the marble mines, writes the psychedelic Book of Revelation.

Here, John is 89, leading Christians in secret, spreading Jesus’ teachings by word-of-mouth. Then Cerinthus, a new celebrity preacher, hits the Roman Empire and his Gnostic sermons gather huge crowds. So along with two sidekicks, twentysomething acolyte Polycarp and aspiring martyr Ignatius, John sets out to write his Gospel.

“John’s Story” is the first big title to be released through Putnam Praise, a new Christian program of G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Two weeks after its Nov. 21 publication, it was already in its second printing.

LaHaye and Jenkins are pros in the publishing game, having hit gold with “Left Behind: A Novel of Earth’s Last Days” in 1995, which led to a 16-book series.

Those books revealed an untapped marketing behemoth, clearing the way for other Christian blockbusters, including Mel Gibson’s 2004 film “The Passion of the Christ” and Rick Warren’s 2002 book “The Purpose Driven Life.”

The movie side of things has not gone as well. LaHaye and Jenkins admit that they naively sold the rights to “Left Behind” too early and ended up with what Jenkins called glorified “church basement movies,” starring Christian actor Kirk Cameron.

Around the time that the first of three films was released in 2000, LaHaye sued Canadian film production company Cloud Ten Pictures and Namesake Entertainment, claiming they made a lower-quality film than the contract demanded. LaHaye says he’s still fighting to win back the rights to the series.

“We thought we had a chance to reach millions of people with our message,” he says. “And you don’t do that with videos.”

As for the new series’ movie prospects, their agents are pitching to studios and “we’re hopeful,” Jenkins says, that a film or series of films would result.

Although “Left Behind” hit the rapture-apocalypse theme hard, “John’s Story” attempts to draw people to the Bible with a less polarizing story. It comes as the evangelical Christian community’s hold on national power might be loosening.

It’s not unusual now to hear evangelicals – among them LaHaye and Jenkins – eager to stress their tolerance in the same breath that they warn people to repent or face the dire consequences of being left to fight the anti-Christ after Christians are called up to heaven.

“People assume we fall into this camp of evangelicalism that is sympathetic to Israel for some self-serving reason, that we want to get certain numbers of them converted so that Jesus can return or we need certain things to be in place in the Holy Land so that Jesus can return,” Jenkins says.

Those kinds of characterizations, he says, misunderstand the nature of their mission in writing their books: “We believe Jesus is the Messiah, but we’re not looking for a fight.”

With “John’s Story,” LaHaye and Jenkins attempt to plump up the Bible stories with color and plot, even though they expect that to upset some Christians.

They say they added historical context that came from LaHaye’s years as a biblical scholar and from Jenkins’ recent visit to Israel. But they say they didn’t change Scripture.

“Jesus himself taught in parables which are clearly fictitious stories,” Jenkins says. “People have said they’re earthly stories with heavenly meanings. He was clearly making up stories to make his point. And so that’s what we’re doing, too.”