The Rising

This book is the initial installment of Countdown to the Rapture, a prequel series to Left Behind, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins's bestselling Christian post-apocalyptic series. It concerns the early careers and precursors of the main characters of Left Behind, including Ray Steele's dreams of becoming a pilot and Marilena Carpathia's struggle to become pregnant, a quest that will eventually result in the birth of Nicolae Carpathia, the Antichrist.