The Christ Clone Trilogy by James BeauSeigneur is a Christian End Times novel series, fictionalizing the story of Bible prophecy being fulfilled 20 Minutes into the Future. As such, it technically qualifies as Science Fiction, but reads more like a technothriller mixed with a Disaster Movie. The overtly supernatural content is introduced gradually from the second book onward.
The story is told primarily from the viewpoint of the journalist Decker Hawthorne, and spans over several decades, beginning with chronicling his work on a scientific expedition to analyze the Shroud of Turin. An old friend of his, Professor Harry Goodman, is a member of the expedition, and later reveals in private that he has found living cells on the Shroud, which he plans to cultivate. Decker, though not particularly religious, is uncomfortable with the implications, and the two don't see each other for another several years. When he later meets the Goodmans' "adopted grand-nephew," Christopher, he can't help but suspect...
Despite his initial unease, Decker quickly comes to think of Christopher as a very nice boy and good person. When the Goodmans die in a car accident, he becomes his legal guardian. But shadowy forces are at work, thinking the boy important to their vision of the world they wish to create. Moreover, as Christopher discovers that he has apparently inherited extraordinary abilities, it becomes clear to all that he has an important part to play in what is to come.
The series spans three volumes:
- In His Image
- Birth of an Age
- Acts of God
Provides examples of:
- Ancient Astronauts: Christopher's story about the Theatans (does this sound similar to something?) being the race that seeded the human race, which turns out to be a complete lie.
- The Antichrist: Christopher Goodman. He eventually proclaims that he's the Second Coming, and also the long-awaited messiah of many other faiths, setting up a global religion centered on himself which incorporates many different beliefs, while persecuting Christians who reject it. His goal is to mislead the most people he can so they'll go to Hell with him in the end.
- Anyone Can Die: Major characters, viewpoint characters, friends and family of the above, and Decker himself all bite the dust at various points throughout the series.
- Apocalypse How: Beautifully done, particularly in the second book, where a series of asteroid strikes manage to provide an almost-to-the-letter-literal interpretation of various Biblical prophecies while still being one hundred per cent grounded in scientific fact.
- An Arm and a Leg: Several Jews near the end of the third book amputate their right hands to attempt averting the Heel–Face Door-Slam that comes with taking the Mark of the Beast.
- Author Filibuster: Several characters make long speeches about why Christianity is the most reasonable faith there is. On the another hand, the villains also get to make their case, and it's not generally full of strawmen.
- Big "NO!": Christopher Goodman, right after he had killed Decker.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Jesus to Christopher: "ENOUGH!"
- Blessed with Suck: Those who get the Mark of the Beast "communion" experience miraculous healings, restored youth, and psychic abilities, all for the cost of spending eternity in the Lake of Fire.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: The second and third Bowl Judgments turn the seas and the springs of water into blood.
- Body Horror: Jesus causes all the people who took the Mark of the Beast to undergo a flesh-dissolving disease when they were gathered with the Antichrist against Him at Petra.
- Caught Up in the Rapture: Subverted. When "the Disaster" (never referred to as "the Rapture" before the final installment) happens, the people who are raptured actually die. It's just their souls that are taken up to God.
- Clone Jesus: Christopher Goodman.
- Cult: The Koum Damah Patar, an all-Jewish ascetic sect with apparent psychic powers. They dress in sackcloth and tattoo the name of God (YHWH) on their foreheads. Played with in that they are actually the good guys.
- Deadly Euphemism: Executions of those who oppose the Christopher Goodman regime are referred to as "liberations", since the belief is that those who die end up reincarnated as new people with no memories of their past.
- Dead Guy on Display: The bodies of John and Cohen, the Two Witnesses, were left untouched and unburied for four days after Christopher Goodman had killed them.
- Demonic Possession: The prophecy about 200 million horsemen (Revelation 9) is interpreted this way, on a continental scale.
- Disney Death: The Two Witnesses, as they were resurrected four days after they were killed. Also Christopher Goodman, and all the Christians who died.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Yahweh's given reason for unleashing horrific plagues and disasters upon the Earth? Astrology and New Age trends. People were worshipping nature (so earthquakes and locusts were unleashed), believing in astrology (so the Earth was devastated by asteroids - "falling stars"), as well as spiritualism (so millions of people were possessed by demons and forced to kill their families).
- Doomed Hometown: Babylon is destroyed near the end of the third book.
- The Dragon: Robert Milner, A.K.A. "The False Prophet."
- Easy Evangelism: One Orthodox rabbi is converted to Christianity by convincing him that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Messiah prophecies. It takes surprisingly little effort.
- Eaten Alive: A good deal of the people who try to flee from the full effects of the flesh-dissolving disease inflicted upon them end up getting eaten by the birds who have gathered together for the day of the Lord's coming.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Robert Milner and pretty much everybody who followed Christopher Goodman to the battle of Petra when they realized that Christopher was a deceiver who wanted to take them all to hell, but particularly more so for Milner.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: In the last book of the trilogy, everybody on Earth dies after the Lord's Second Coming. However, only believers are resurrected and given glorified bodies.
- Evolutionary Levels: The basis of much of the Antichrist's ruling ideology.
- Eye Scream: Christopher Goodman loses his right eye when Tom Donafin shoots him in the head.
- Final Solution: Christopher Goodman gets the whole world to join together with him at the battle of Armageddon to deal once and for all with the Jews and the "cult of Yahweh".
- Flat-Earth Atheist: Averted. Instead of disbelieving God when the divine judgments start hitting Earth, the populace turn into Nay Theists and join the vaguely supernaturalistic but assuredly anti-God Path of Inspiration instead.
- Flying Dutchman: The mysterious leader of the Koum Damah Patar, Yokhanan Bar-Zebadee, also known as the disciple John.
- For the Evulz: Christopher's sole motivation is to deceive and take as many people to Hell with him before his time is up, through false promises of ascension and power. He succeeds in getting hundreds of millions of people to join him against God and even brags to Jesus's face about it.
- Free-Love Future: Implied to be the case with the world under the rulership of Christopher Goodman, as one of the Petra citizens comments about sex being without limits among the world's citizens, including bestiality.
- God Is Evil: Christopher's belief about the God of the Bible, which fuels his motive for having the people of the world turn against Him.
- Heat Wave: The fourth Bowl Judgment turns up the sun's heat to dangerous levels.
- Holy Is Not Safe: Alice Bernley died when she touched The Ark of the Covenant on the day Christopher Goodman had it brought back to Israel to make appeasement to the country's prime minister.
- Ignored Enamored Underling: Gerard Poupardin has an unrequited love for Albert Moore. When Moore died at the time his sins were exposed by Christopher Goodman in the first book, Poupardin sought revenge in an attempt to kill Goodman, only for Tom Donafin to shoot Goodman first, so Poupardin killed Donafin instead.
- Mark of the Beast: Done in the form of "communion" injections of Christopher's blood to willing recipients.
- Off with His Head!: Besides the resisters of the Mark of the Beast getting the guillotine, Decker gets his head lopped off by a sword.
- Oh, Crap!: Christopher Goodman and Robert Milner's reactions when they see they are headed for hell. Probably more so for Milner, since Christopher already knew he was headed there, but he didn't know the magnitude of how terrible hell would actually be.
- Path of Inspiration: Christopher Goodman sets up a false religion with the intent to mislead people. Among the things instituted are euthanasia for anyone who wants it, and public orgies. Its beliefs include the idea that ancient aliens seeded all life on Earth, a progressive reincarnation to higher spiritual enlightenment, spirit guides, astrology etc.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Tom Donafin's assassination of Christopher Goodman is according to the belief that, since Tom is a descendant of one of Jesus' brothers, he must carry out the role of the Biblical blood avenger for the death of Christ.
- Precision F-Strike: Quite a few of them, particularly coming from Christopher.
- Prophecies Are Always Right: The prophecies of the Book of Revelations all show up in order.
- Purpose-Driven Immortality: John son of Zebedee, who lives long enough to be one of the Two Witnesses, then dies, then is resurrected and brought up into heaven by God.
- Reincarnation: The Antichrist spreads the belief that people aren't gone forever when they die, but are reincarnated with no memory of their past lives, to excuse the beheading of Jews and Christians.
- Religion Is Right: Premillennial futurist Christianity, that is.
- Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony: Christopher Goodman does the honors for opening the new United Nations headquarters in Babylon. Of course, God's angel shows up at the event to warn the world about Babylon's eventual downfall.
- Second Coming: Naturally, Jesus' second coming is part of the story.
- See You in Hell: Christopher says this after he kills Decker with a sword in the third book.
- Shout-Out
- Tom mentions Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Ten Commandments, and Mary Poppins when talking to Joshua Rosen about The Ark of the Covenant.
- There's a MAD magazine in Hebrew found in Petra.
- Shown Their Work: The author really shines at this when writing many of the global disasters, particularly in the second book (see above). Not so much when it comes to the geopolitics, however.
- Shroud of Turin: The Shroud appears in the first book, from which Professor Harry Goodman discovers preserved living cells from Jesus' body to create the Clone Jesus Christopher.
- Strawman Political: The UN is portrayed as an evil empire in being, infiltrated to the bone with various New Age cultists ... who don't themselves exactly come across as sympathetic.
- Take That!:
- Most prominently, the major villains early on are "Alice Bernley" and her Tibetan "spirit guide."
- There are also Straw Man representatives of both the Westboro Baptist Church and of mainline Protestant churches
- Taking You with Me: Christopher Goodman as the Antichrist knows that he's headed for the Lake of Fire, so he plans to take as many with him as possible in order to make God weep.
- 20 Minutes into the Future: Most of the series is this (with background set in the past and semi-present).
- We Can Rule Together: The Antichrist makes this offer to Jesus. Predictably, it doesn't work.
- Would Hurt a Child: It is mentioned that the plague of darkness caused by God kills babies in their cribs.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Christopher Goodman is this toward Decker Hawthorne, saying that the reason Decker was chosen to be Christopher's guardian and to help him become the United Nations Secretary-General is that Decker was simply at the right place at the right time. Once the Mark of the Beast system was in place (implemented by Decker's suggestion), Christopher had no qualms with offing Decker.
