As the creator and co-writer of the mega-best-selling Left Behind series about the pre-tribulation rapture and subsequent tribulation, Dr. Tim LaHaye has become a household name in most Christian homes and many, many non-Christian homes as well. Aside from his work on the Left Behind series, Dr. LaHaye is a noted author, minister, counselor and nationally recognized speaker on Bible prophecy.
LaHaye and his wife Beverly, who is Chairman of the Board and founder of Concerned Women for America, have been married for over 50 years. They have four grown children and nine grandchildren. LaHaye holds an earned Doctor of Ministry degree from Western Theological Seminary and has been awarded the Doctor of Literature degree from Liberty University.
For 25 years, Tim LaHaye was the pastor of Scott Memorial Church, in San Diego, California. During this time, he also founded two accredited Christian high schools, a school system of 10 Christian schools and Christian Heritage College. He also assisted Dr. Henry Morris in the founding of the Institute for Creation Research, the nation’s foremost exponent of creationist materials. Currently, LaHaye speaks at many of the major Bible prophecy conferences in the United States and Canada.
He is the founder and president of Tim LaHaye Ministries and the co-founder of the Pre-Trib Research Center. The Pre-Trib Research Center was established to expose ministers to the teachings of good Bible prophecy. At this time, the research center publishes The Pre-Trib Perspectives, a monthly journal intended to keep the reader on the cutting edge of prophetic events as they unfold and to guard against deception. Exposing false prophets and their harmful teaching is one of the many goals of the Pre-Trib Research Center. The PTRC is considered to be a “think tank” committed to the study, proclamation, teaching and defending of the Pre-tribulational Rapture (pre-70th week of Daniel) and related end-time prophecy.
LaHaye has written nearly 50 non-fiction books–many of them translated into any number of up to 33 languages–on subjects such as family life, emotional well-being, sexual adjustment, secular humanism, the will of God and Bible prophecy. His writing style is well known as easily understood and scripturally sound. His wife Beverly helped him write the book The Act of Marriage, which has sold more than 2.5 million copies since it was first printed in 1976.
In The End Times Controversy, Tim LaHaye partnered with prophecy expert Tommy Ice to respond to the growing controversy about the end times. Some difficult and probing questions about prophecy are held up to the magnifying glass of Scripture, providing the reader with a clear and concise understanding of how God’s prophetic plan will continue to unfold in the near future. Many serious errors and misconceptions are deftly uncovered and skillfully dealt with in this book.
LaHaye’s recent fiction series, Left Behind, which he co-authored with Jerry Jenkins, is the all-time best-selling Christian fiction series. The series begins with the occurrence of the Rapture and then continues as, book by book, the biblical account of the tribulation unfolds before the eyes of those left behind.
With new additions to the series consistently being published–at a slower than necessary rate, some would say–much of the world of Christian readers and millions of non-Christians as well, wait with bated breath to see what will take place in the next book. The books have debuted at number one on the best-seller lists for The New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and the Wall Street Journal. Sales have exceeded more than 50 million copies, including Left Behind: The Kids Series and various audio products. LaHaye has even appeared on such national television programs as Good Morning America and Larry King Live to discuss the Left Behind phenomenon.
In response to his success, The Evangelical Studies Bulletin, the newsletter of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals, picked LaHaye as the most influential evangelical leader in the United States over Billy Graham, Bill Bright, James Dobson and Pat Robertson.
Dr. LaHaye founded the Tim LaHaye School of Prophecy with the belief that a thorough understanding of Bible Prophecy can help each individual become a more confident Christian. Ed Hindson, the Dean of the School of Prophecy had this to say,The time has come when serious students of biblical prophecy must be clear about what is fact, what is assumption, and what is speculation. For example, just because a war breaks out in the Middle East does not mean that war will necessarily lead to Armageddon. Just because modern geopolitical Iraq includes the ruins of ancient Babylon does not necessarily mean that Iraq will be the Babylon of the last days.
The issue at stake is that we must carefully distinguish between the facts of prophecy and our own assumptions and speculations. This is why we are launching the Tim LaHaye School of Prophecy at Liberty University. We want to help our students study, understand, and teach Bible prophecy properly and effectively — based on the facts.