Aboard two 757 airliners originally destined for Los Angeles, California, Al Queda suicide operatives prayed silently to their god while studying the instrumentation before them, instrumentation that they had only examined from books, pictures, rugged drawings and a very sophisticated flight simulation software called Microsoft Flight Simulator. Had Microsoft ever known that their software had the potential of being used as a terrorist training video, I am sure they would have done the right thing and removed it from retail shelves.

Unfortunately hindsight is always 20/20. By 10:30 AM on that beautiful autumn morning, New York Harbor and the great and notorious New York skyline looked something like this:

http://images.strategyinformer.com/screenshots/00159440.jpg

Of course the above New York landscape isn't the doing of Al Qaeda operatives. No the above is the doing of Left Behind Games, Inc. and is a promotional screenshot used to promote their new game "Left Behind: Eternal Forces".  This is a game that can only be described as "unconstitutional and repulsive", but before I straight out call it a "Christian Terrorist Training Video", lets have a look at the deeper picture it paints for America's youth.

Excerpt about "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" from their initial press release regarding the game:

The Left Behind game series will allow play in the same End of Days fictional world as
the bestselling Left Behind® novels, which use the prophecies of the Book of Revelation as a framework. The first title, Left Behind: Eternal Forces, is set in the future when the faithful have been gathered up and ascended to Heaven during the Rapture. In the chaos that follows, the Antichrist has taken the reigns of power at the United Nations and is gathering the countries of the world under his banner. But a small resistance, the Tribulation Forces, have formed to oppose Satan’s legions. The challenge of converting secular/neutral units to fight on the side of light or darkness is sure to present gamers with a deeper level of game play than in other real-time-strategy titles.

The company says the scenery will also be the most realistic representation of New York City ever seen in a game. Left Behind Games photographed nearly 500 blocks of the city to create maps and 3D environments in the first title.  - Left Behind Games

First let me start with the landscape. New York City! A great big shame on you to Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins and Troy A. Lyndon for putting this great city through yet another terroristic dismemberment even if it is allegedly fictional. As a software developer myself I find this very rude, crude and downright repulsive.

It's Just a Game Isn't It?

Then we are forced to ask, is it INDEED fictional?  Aren't these the same Christian extremists who have been writing and preaching this apocalyptic dogma for ages now? So, the Sunday before the release of the game they speak of an Apocalypse, End of Days, rapture, sinners burning in hell and death to the unsaved by the forces of good?  But then when the game is released and on the shelves we hear it is a work of fiction. I find that very hard to believe.  This is in fact, a game that was created with fully non-fictional intent under the smokescreen of fiction.

When we started Left Behind Games 5 years ago, we had a dream. It was a noble dream, to build the most successful “inspirational and family” video game publishing company in the world. Everyone knows that the entertainment industry, especially video game publishers, create dark content…and the idea to create games with positive morals and values is an aspiration almost everyone can get behind.  -Left Behind Games

Did they say to inspire and to promote positive morals and values?  Isn't that what happened with good old John Walker Lindh who was inspired by the teachings of Al Qaeda and the Taliban's version of positive morals and values? Who are these Left Behind people and what gives them the authority to dictate what "positive morals and values" are to me? And can a fictional video game be "inspirational" and still be fiction?  These guys believe in the End of Days and that it is coming soon. To them none of it is fictional. Why else would they try to hide their game behind their Right to Free Speech? Does the First Amendment now protect fiction? I didn't even know fiction required protection. After all it is only fiction, right?

"Finally, we have an inspirational game for the marketplace that challenges game makers' beliefs that gore is better, by introducing one of the first high-quality games with a positive moral message. No blood, no gore, just great fun!" -Troy Lyndon, co-founder and CEO of Left Behind Games.

As a gamer myself I actually do think gore is better, but hey I am an old guy that just likes to stick to the old mantra of "kill pixels and not people."  But my argument here is that gore is gore and violence is violence.  This is still a VERY violent game. Just because you take the gore out of a game doesn't take the violence out.  What they have done is taken out the gore and left just enough of the violence to get a TEEN rating.  How else can you market yourself to the churches? Church goers can't very well be passing around free copies of a MATURE rated game or the folks would really start to talk, wouldn't they.

“The game is about good vs. evil, not Christian versus non-Christian,” said Jeffrey Frichner, president of Left Behind Games. “When people understand that, they love what we’re doing because who doesn’t want to fight against evil?”

How about you call the public stupid a little louder, Jeffrey!  The game is based on the Left Behind books where Good vs. Evil IS depicted as Christian vs. Non-Christian. Even the Holy Bible depicts the Apocalyptic Good vs. Evil as Christian vs. Non-Christian. You do read the Bible don't you, Jeffrey?

What's worse is this game is not being marketed like any other game has been marketed. It is being marketed directly to Christians in an attempt to pass its temptations and dogma on to Christian children. The makers of this game admittedly have distributed sets of 18 free demo copies of the game to several churches for their distribution to select individuals.

Now I will say it. In my opinion this looks like a Christian Terrorist Training Video. Lets get to that positive message (the fictional one of course) that they are teaching to Christian kids across the globe. That might help you understand my opinion of the game:

A. The rapture as dictated in the Book of Revelation has already occurred. Those left behind were either a non-believer that had no religion in his/her life or they are one of the other non-christian faiths.  The non-christian faiths are considered the antichrist who have "already taken the mark of the beast and committed themselves to his service." Yeah whatever!

B. You can either choose to join the Tribulation Forces, join the Global Community Peacekeepers (led by the Antichrist) or be killed. Conversion is important because the more non-believers you convert to Christianity the more grace you receive.

C. You will learn what an easy convert is versus a difficult one. Rock stars and other such characters are difficult converts as they have spent their lives following Satan's ways, but those that are without faith are ignorant and easy to convert.

D. It is ok to kill those that do not believe the way you do. You will lose some spirit points but you can get back in good graces and improve your characters spirit points by praying.  That's the answer.  Kill, but just be sure to pray afterwards.

E. Killing isn't violence as long as it isn't gory.  That, after all, is why they took the gore out of the game. But you can still blow groups of people up with tanks and make their little extremities fly across the screen as long as you don't actually see the gore. The bigger the explosion, the better. Just remember to do LOTS of praying afterwards.

So I ask you, what constitutes a Terrorist Training Video? Teach them the dogma behind your religion, make them think the whole world including the United Nations is after their god, make them promises of a great afterlife, teach them how to recruit others, teach them how to kill, and teach them how to find atonement. Sound familiar?

Al Qaeda is Islamic and teaches from the Quran (English Koran), teaches that the infidels, namely the USA and United Nations, are out to rid the world of Allah, promises their martyrs 17 virgins in the afterlife, teaches how to recruit others (evident in John Walker Lindh), teaches via writings and video on how to assassinate large numbers of people, and of course teaches them atonement and how to find the greatest favor by giving their life for Allah. 

Al Qaeda used their propaganda and training materials to prepare for the War Against Terror. This is a war they believed continue to believe in. Left Behind uses theirs in the preparation of the Apocolypse. A war that THEY also continue to believe in. DOES THAT SPELL IT OUT ENOUGH FOR YOU!?

Our Right To Protection:

Our constitutional rights give us, the people of the United States of America, the right to freedom of religion. The Constitution states that we as a country will do anything in our power to protect those rights. We now have a Patriot Act that was put in place to protect the people of the United States of America from terrorist acts both Foreign and Domestic. That protection is there to protect ALL U.S. Citizens and not just Christians. That means equal protection for Pagans, Jews, Islam, Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, Christians and anyone else who considers themselves of a religion. WE WANT THAT PROTECTION NOW!!!!

Statement on Religious Freedom and the Fight Against Terrorism  -  July 14, 2005
As delivered by Catherine Kuchta-Helbling U.S. State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor to the Supplemental Human Dimension Meeting.

"The tragedies of September 11, March 11, Beslan, and London have been a graphic reminder of the threat of terrorism. We need to be mindful of the role religion sometimes plays in this conflict, as many terrorists have chosen to hide behind a distorted version of their faiths. The United States welcomes this topic and hopes the discussion will highlight effective ways to uphold the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, while protecting our societies from terrorism."
http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&x=200507151338061CJsamohT0.4797937

Put your money where your mouth is Catherine.  Again I say WE WANT THAT PROTECTION!!!  Lets not just apply it to Islamic terrorists with distorted versions of their faiths. It needs to be applied to Christian terrorists that hide behind distorted versions as well.

Opposition to this strategy game are:

The Association of United Pagans
The Council on American-Islamic Relations
The Christian Alliance for Progress
CrossWalk America
The Beatitudes Society and
The Center for Progressive Christianity
Campaign to Defend the Constitution

TAKE ACTION:

Let the government know that Left Behind: Eternal Forces is a Christosupremist Terrorist Training Video in disguise. It teaches youth to violate the constitutional rights of others that don't believe the way they do by killing them. Inform them that you want it investigated further without bias. Here are the contacts to use:

FBI Tips Form https://tips.fbi.gov/
National Security Administration Public and Media Affairs This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

TAKE FURTHER ACTION

- Write your Senators. To get contact information for your Senators, do the following:

Go to http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=CA and email, call and/or fax your thoughts on this matter to them.

- NOTE* Phone calls, phone messages, and faxes receive more attention and have more impact than emails.

SIGN THE PETITION

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/694475088

SPREAD THE WORD

Forward this link widely to lists, websites, blogs, and others that may be able to help. A tiny URL has been created to make this easier. Use this url in your posts and correspondences:
http://tinyurl.com/yjw27n

SOURCES:
http://www.leftbehindgames.com
http://www.leftbehind.com
http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&x=200507151338061CJsamohT0.4797937