In Glorious Appearing, there are two different groups of believers – Enoch and his followers as compared to Chaim, Ray, Abdullah and the remaining soldiers of God. Strozier’s connection between violence and paranoia can clearly be seen in both groups, albeit in different ways. The tribulation forces have a physically violent response to Carpathia’s army while Enoch and his followers do not exhibit any physical violence throughout the story. However, Enoch certainly exhibits violent behavior as he continuously supports the idea of revenge and murder against Carpathia’s army of sinners and nonbelievers.

At first, I hesitated to qualify the characters in Glorious Appearing as paranoid, in the Strozier sense, because they are actually experiencing the end of the world whereas many of the paranoid Strozier describes in his essay have created an apocalyptic world in their head. Strozier seems to be an apocalyptic skeptic and critic as he even warns us “Revelation is a dangerous and ugly book” whose words need to be contained in its pages. So, Strozier seems to be describing these paranoids as people who have created this all in their head. Nonetheless, although LaHaye’s characters are living through the apocalypse, the “paranoid” Americans today also firmly believe they are experiencing the end of the world regardless if there is an obvious cross in the sky or not. They will connect objects and events in today’s world as signs of the end of the world. So, I’ve concluded its actually not a farfetched idea to qualify the characters of Glorious Appearing as paranoid, in the strozier sense, especially Enoch and his followers who don’t actually meet Jesus until the end of the story.

Even though Enoch may not have acted violently, Strozier would describe Enoch as having a violent “potential” (p. 67 in Essay 6). Strozier would argue that Enoch’s congregation have continuous violent fantasies in order to be “self-protective.” Even as there is chaos on the streets of Chicago and Carpathia’s army is being killed, Enoch continuously reminds his followers that they will be safe even though he isn’t sure himself. As mentioned in my last post, Enoch yelled out the passages in the Old Testament that emphasize the “darkness” that will prevail over “God’s enemies.” Even when his followers ask him if Jesus will kill everyone, Enoch replies with “I’m afraid He is. If they’re working for the Antichrist, they’re in serious trouble.” (p. 189) After Jesus announces to everyone that he has taken vengeance on all people who do not know God or who do not obey his gospel, Enoch kneels and weeps on his yard out of an assumed exhilaration. Enoch’s constant emphasis on the duality of his world and his approval of the violence and murder of nonbelievers clearly stems from his congregation’s paranoia and an effort to protect himself and his followers.

I found the sequences involving Enoch and his followers far more intriguing than the main plot of the story. However, I kept wondering what role it plays in the overall story. Initially, I sympathized with Enoch and his followers. They were a stark contrast to the action-packed violence taking place in Petra. Also, I believed they were doing whatever they could to keep each other alive and served as more realistic characters. However, after reading Strozier’s essays, I was turned off by Enoch’s continuous affirmation of Jesus’ revenge. At the same time, I also understood it as stemming from his inevitable paranoia as a Christian preacher. As for Enoch’s role in the overall story, he and his followers served as an example of what the common folk will endure during the apocalypse and their eventual settlement in New Jerusalem.