Contact: Linda Murphy, 619-443-0216

WASHINGTON, June 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- The threat of nuclear attack from North Korea last week was fact, not fiction, but it had an eerie similarity to the beginning of a new political thriller/ "end times" novel by Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall. And the authors say that the tepid response to the threat from Washington shows that the Obama Administration needs to step up its position of strength against the communist regime.

In the launch of their new blog site, EdgeofApocalypseToday.com, LaHaye, originator and co-author of the blockbuster Left Behind ® series, and Parshall, a veteran Capitol Hill lawyer and suspense novelist, say that "the rants and ravings of North Korea's despot, Kim Jon-il and his deputies need to be taken more seriously." They cite last Tuesday's report from the Council on Foreign Relations that strongly criticized the Obama Administration's response to North Korea's nuclear weapons program as "half-hearted." But all of this may have more than just geopolitical importance. LaHaye a Bible prophecy expert and co-author Parshall see the absence of any clear mention of the United States in prophetic Scripture as an indication that change will take place: "America may capitulate to a radical form of internationalism and be absorbed into a global community of nations, or that we will fail to defend ourselves against real and present dangers from our enemies. Or possibly both." Aggression from enemy states like North Korea could be a part of that puzzle.

But this doesn't mean that Christians should retreat from impacting the national security policies of their nation, LaHaye and Parshall say. In their blog article they urge followers of Christ to "reject as far as they are able, government policies that fail to protect our national security." This emphasis is a stark departure from some self-styled "Evangelicals" who stress only nuclear disarmament. The LaHaye/Parshall novel Edge of Apocalypse, the first in a series, begins with an off-shore attack on American by North Korean nuclear missiles, but ends with a glimpse of larger global threats. It was released in late April and within weeks hit the extended version of the New York Times best-seller list. The fiction book is a futuristic view of declining security, economic collapse, media censorship and loss of religious liberty in an America at the very beginning lead- up to the "End of Days."