Left Behind: Soul Harvest Review–Part 5
Ken’s response to Buck (p. 274, see above): “I know, Buck. I’ve never seen anything like how you people take care of each other.” Have we truly never seen anyone besides Christians take care of each other this way?
Later on, he says, “So once I join up I get the secret mark on my forehead?” Earlier, Buck said, “It’s time you joined our team.” What’s with the sports terminology for matters of faith? Salvation is not a football game or business paradigm!
Starting on page 302, Chloe and Buck get into a little tiff: She was badly injured in the earthquake–er, the Wrath of the Lamb–and has been recovering at home, ever since Buck sprung her from that evil Global Community hospital.
She’s still not quite well yet, but her spunk has returned. She insists on going to Israel with Tsion and Buck, but Buck insists that she stay home.
Buck also makes a few cracks such as, “Forgive her. She’s going through a twenty-two-year-old’s bout with political correctness.” Buck quickly gets into hot water for this, of course.
As they argue over whether or not Chloe can go to Israel, she finally says,
“Don’t parent me, Buck. Seriously, I don’t have a problem submitting to you because I know how much you love me. I’m willing to obey you even when you’re wrong. But don’t be unreasonable. And don’t be wrong if you don’t have to be.
“You know I’m going to do what you say, and I’ll even get over it if you make me miss out on one of the greatest events in history.
“But don’t do it out of some old-fashioned, macho sense of protecting the little woman. I’ll take this pity and help for just so long, and then I want back in the game full-time. I thought that was one of the things you liked about me.”
It was. Pride kept him from agreeing right then. He’d give it a day or two and then tell her he’d come to a decision. Her eyes were boring into his. It was clear she was eager to win this one. He tried to stare her down and lost. He glanced at Tsion.
“Listen to her,” Tsion said.
“You keep out of it,” Buck said, smiling. “I don’t need to be ganged up on. I thought you were on my side. I thought you would agree that this was no place for–”
“For what?” Chloe said. “A girl? The ‘little woman’? An injured, pregnant woman? Am I still a member of the Tribulation Force, or have I been demoted to mascot now?”
Buck had interviewed heads of state easier than this.
“You can’t defend this one, Buck,” she added.
“You want to just pin me while I’m down,” Buck said.
“I won’t say another word,” she said.
Buck chuckled. “That’ll be the day.”
“If you two chauvinists will excuse me, I want to try [reaching] Hattie again.”….
Er, um….Go, Chloe! Except for the part where you say you’ll obey. Even if you’re wrong, Buck’s not your “boss” or “daddy” telling you what you can or can’t do!
Oh, wait, or is he? Even Chloe doesn’t seem quite certain about this. I’ve heard and read plenty of Evangelical preachers/authors explain that a wife’s “submission” is NOT the same as “obedience.” Yet here we see that LaHaye and Jenkins obviously connect “submission” with good little wifely “obedience.”
Somehow, in her conversion, Chloe has been turned into everything a domineering man might want in a wife–except, of course, that she argues before finally obeying. But at least she’s standing up for herself!
Well, except that Buck gets to make the final decision. She’s still spunky: She fights first, THEN submits. And won’t be, er, bitter about it, even if it means she misses one of the greatest events in history, darn it! (Does anybody else detect a little passive aggression in this?)
The passage goes on:
“I want to try Hattie again. We’re going to have a telephone meeting of the weak sister club.”
Buck flinched. “Hey! You weren’t going to say another word.”
“Well then get out of here so you don’t have to listen.”
“I need to call [Ken] Ritz anyway. When you reach Hattie, be sure and find out what name she was admitted under there [at the reproductive clinic].”
Buck went to follow Tsion up the stairs, but Chloe called out to him.
“C’mere a minute, big guy.” He turned to face her. She beckoned him closer. “C’mon,” she said. She lifted her arm, the one with the cast from shoulder to wrist, and hooked him with it behind the neck. She pulled his face to hers and kissed him long and hard. He pulled back and smiled shyly. “You’re so easy,” she whispered.
“Who loves ya, baby?” he said, heading for the stairs again.
“Hey,” she said, “if you see my husband up there, tell him I’m tired of sleeping alone.”
Er, um, what? What happened? “Easy”? How is he “easy”? And why is Chloe kissing him all of a sudden?
On page 313, Chloe says about Ken Ritz, “Find out if he wants to arm wrestle.” Buck’s response: “Aren’t you getting frisky?” Frisky? Who the heck says “frisky” in the younger generations? Besides, I can’t hear that word without thinking of Mrs. Cunningham on Happy Days saying that Mr. Cunningham is “getting frisky.” As in, for you younger ones who may not know about 70s pop culture, he wants to get his wife into the bedroom.
Which leads us right into page 314, when Ken Ritz enters the room, and everyone begins talking about the little crosses that have been popping up on the foreheads of believers, visible only to other believers. Ken says, “Maybe it shows on my forehead. I can see yours. Can you see mine?” Ooooh, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours!