John's Story: The Last Eyewitness

Amen to the first reviewer. This book is awful, a poorly written attempt to sugarcoat a grand idea with fundimental propaganda. John was a wonderful man, the beloved. In this book he is a cardboard comic book character. Thank heaven it is fiction, and a good thing the last half is the Gospel and writings of John otherwise I could never finish it. Give alms to the poor but don't waste your money on this commercial pulp paper.

Who was the last eyewitness to testify about seeing the miracles of Jesus with his or her own eyes? Regardless of the number of times one has read the New Testament, many have forgotten this key fact about John, the beloved disciple who wrote the Gospel of John, three Epistles and, finally, the book of Revelation on the Island of Patmos. JOHN'S STORY, by Left Behind authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, marks the first installment in The Jesus Chronicles, a four-book series that features each Gospel through the eyewitness author.

The opening pages begin in Rome in 95 A.D. with the aging disciple almost 90 years old. He appears before the Emperor Domitian, who had a reputation for cruelty with Christians. The Emperor labels John a heretic and, before a huge coliseum crowd, sentences him to be boiled in oil. Manacled at his hands and feet, the Apostle is lowered into oil until he is kneeling. In the heat, his manacles soften and he boils to death, while the crowd watches and cheers. To everyone's surprise, Jesus works a miracle on the order of the Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego story. Thousands of people believe in Christ upon witnessing John's preservation from the boiling oil. Domitian is furious and wants John killed, but this is impossible because the sentence already has been carried out. Instead, the Emperor assigns the old Apostle to hard labor on the Island of Patmos.

>From this dramatic opening, the authors flash back to the previous year and the events in Ephesus, which motivated John to write his eyewitness account about Jesus. The rise of Gnosticism among the Ephesians is served to readers in the vehicle of John's stories about Jesus. Cerinthus leads a group of Christians into forming a Gnostic church that denies the power of Christ and promotes the idea that someone can work their way to heaven, which is a contrary message to the teachings of Jesus. This drives the elderly Apostle to write his stories with the help of his scribe, Polycarp.

After the creation of his Gospel, soldiers come one night and take John to Rome. At a chapter break, the story picks up with John working tirelessly on Patmos and his vision that becomes the book of Revelation. Some readers will be surprised to find the New King James Version Bible text for John's writings in the final third of this volume. It shortchanges expectations for a full-length novel, and instead they receive a novella-length story.

LaHaye and Jenkins have written a book true to the messages of Scripture. They use the vehicle of fiction to help people understand the hardship and faith walk of the Beloved Apostle. I found it to be a fascinating journey and recommend it wholeheartedly.

--- Reviewed by W. Terry Whalin

I just checked this book out from our public library and I must say, I for one enjoyed this book very much. I will leave the "theological" debate for the Theologist's and their wanna bees. But I enjoyed the book for what it is "A Novel", which last time I checked is found in the Fiction section, so those that think that things were left out or deleted I am sure you can find many titles on Saint John's life in the Non-Fiction section.

This book was a treat to read and led me to want to Read the book of John, Johns epistles and the revelation again. (fortunantly the authors placed these New testemant books in the back of the book.)

I am not sure the intent was to give a detailed step by step theological account of Johns Life, but instead to present the New Testement books in a unique and easy flowing manner and if that was the intent, in my opinion the authors hit a home run.

The book centers around two eventd in Johns Life , the dictation of the Gospal of John to Polycarp and Jesus's Revelation to John at Patmos. It is I believe a great way to introduce the central componants of each teaching to the non or newly churched and would make an excellent study tool for a beginners bible study or small group.

Good solid read and, folks, lighten up it is after all found in the Fiction section. Well Done

I am a follower of Jesus Christ! I am an avid reader and am in charge of the reading list for a Christian fiction book club. I was so excited when this book came out because I have enjoyed The Left Behind series by these same authors and was hoping I could put it on my reading list. I can't. I could put the books John, 1st, 2nd and 3rd John and Revelation on my reading list...that would be better.

A good novel needs a good lead character. One that the reader can identify with or at least root for. In "John's Story", the title character is a rather unpleasant old man who spends much of the opening part of the book whining about, and shouting at, people with other religious beliefs. He does calm down after a while and starts writing his gospel, but that's no more exciting to read about. He just sits around talking about Jesus. This kind of filler makes up most of the book. A good novel also needs a plot. I'd estimate that less than 5 percent of "John's Story" is plot; the rest is filler. And it gets boring VERY quickly. Like in the neverending "Left Behind" series, Jenkins again proves his talent is not in storytelling, but in his ability to take a thin plot and pad it with filler into as many words as possible. It was so boring I was unable to finish it.

It's obvious that the authors didn't put much effort into the book. They knew their names on the cover would guarantee sales and wrote it for no other purpose than to make some quick money. It's not a novel as much as a long discussion of theology. And flawed theology at that. If you want to read about theology, find a nonfiction book. If you want to read a novel, don't read this one. It will bore you to tears.

Independent of what other reviewers have written, I have found this book to be just what it says it is, "Johns Story". While written as a work of fiction, it is however a study of the Gospel According to John. Through the dialogue between John and his scribe, Polycarp, the book of John is understood and meaning taken away. I found it interesting that the Book of John from the bible was incluede at the end of the book. Why, because once you finish the text and read John's work from the Bible, one will have a sense of understanding and clarity in the reading.

John's Story

The time is coming, or it might already be here, when no one will be able to use the excuse of "I just don't get it." The internet has brought information to our fingertips such that every one who can read or watch YouTube can become quite an expert on any subject in only a few hours.

As the internet is to knowledge in general, so is Tim LaHaye to understanding the Bible. Those of us raised on the King James and the Revised Standard could be forgiven for needed a guide through some of the more difficult words, sentences, or even chapters. Along came the NIV, Living, The Answer, and the Message, and most folks who could read could certainly understand the text of the Bible.

The most difficult concept in the Bible was end times prophesy, and even with these easy-to-read translations, getting a grasp on what dispensationalists and premillenialists were saying about the future of the earth was still a realm for intellectuals only. Personally, I read massive tomes on the subject, heard sermons from some of the best and wisest, but still had some pretty fuzzy notions, and bunches of questions.

Whether you agree with his interpretation or not, no one can argue that Tim LaHaye made Revelation understandable to anyone who could read at the third grade level. Sure, you had to read 15 books or so to get the whole thing. But for those who cared, the material was there and totally accessible.

Now too with the Story of John. Certainly the Gospel of John and his three letters to the churches are not as difficult to understand as his Revelation. But LaHaye has now put John's life and writing into context. To be sure, this is an historical fiction. It is not supposed to be a literal view of what took place in Johns last few years of life. However, as the reader keeps that info in the back of his mind, it is helpful to get a glimpse of the time and circumstances that led to the most loved of the gospels, by the man that Jesus `loved."

Since reviews are supposed to include criticism, i will point out that this book is disappointingly short, and like some of LaHayes other works with Jenkins, less layered than it might have been. I reached the end wanting more substance.

If you take out the recitation of scripture, necessary to the context of the story to be sure, the sum total of original words written is pretty small. More meat on those bones would have made the work seem more of a good "value."

But, having said that, read it. Borrow a copy since it will only take three hours to read, but do read it. For more on tim LaHaye [...]

Couldn't have been a better account of the happenings back then...just loved it...thanks!

If you know the gospel of John really well, almost no need to read this book. I'll not be buying the next in the series.

I have read the previous reviews of those with their heads and chests so puffed out they lose sight of the fact that this is FICTION; forgive me...but....with all these touted academic credentials tossed around...I can only come up with one word. "Duh."

It's a good read for those of us whom are not so anal and can relax and enjoy a fictional novel.