History Literature / AlphaAndOmega

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Eric and Gabriela in particular reflects that animal sacrifice won't go over too well with the modern world. After Tel Aviv, the new coalition that governs Israel doesn't care.

* FailedFutureForecast: This story is implied to take place during Donald Trump's second term. Additionally, there is no mention of COVID-19, seeing as the pandemic began about half a year after publication.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Starting with [[spoiler:the dirty bomb in Tel Aviv]], every act of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism in the story serves to further the Jewish cause of rebuilding the Temple.

* MinnesotaNice: One of the few callers on Stark's show to get a sympathetic portrayal is a woman named Jane from Duluth Minnesota, who expresses curiosity rather than hostility about the unfolding developments, particularly [[spoiler:the appearance of the Islamic Messiah.]]

* PetTheDog: Kupferman helps Eric and Orly cut through the red tape necessary to [[spoiler:have a Jewish wedding in Israel.]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Brandon. He shows himself to be a racist and a misogynist in referring to Gabriela as a "Mexican bitch" and regarding himself as entitled to top billing solely because he is White and male. He slips Gabriela a roofie to take her out of action so he can scoop her on a story, and even toys with the idea of raping her as she lies unconscious before him.

* ReligionIsRight: Unlike most examples of this trope, in this book, this ends up being true of [[spoiler:all three Abrahamic religions, as is evidenced by Jesus rapturing the Jewish Messiah and the Mahdi]].

* TheyDo: [[spoiler: Having realized that God being real means that they are living in sin, Eric and Orly get married.]]

** The logical consequence of ReligionIsRight is that God is ultimately in charge, not the various religious leaders who have their own ideas of how the End Times will go. This leads [[spoiler:Reverend Stark and the Grand Mufti]] to admit their errors. ([[spoiler:Although Rabbi Kupferman receives a similar demonstration, but since he's not a viewpoint character, it's not clear whether he learns his lesson.]])

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the whole End Times Prophecies Coming True literature. See SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome below for more detail.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: As can be expected in a {{Deconstruction}} of End Times fiction.
** Among real people, religious devotion isn't all or nothing, with some people being completely secular and others being pious fundamentalists. Orly, despite being a secular Israeli Jew, is shocked that Eric eats pork. Yoram Louvish, Eric's boss, is not a fundamentalist like the Avigads, and certainly nothing like Rabbi Kupferman, but is somewhat more pious than Eric and Orly. Munir al-Nuwayhi, an Arab Israeli, is a secularized Muslim but still is opposed to the clearing of the Temple Mount.
** So [[spoiler:Chaim]] is TheMessiah. Turns out he's scared shitless by all the ghosts chasing him[[note]]The Jewish Messiah will cause the dead to rise during the End Times[[/note]] and is embarrassed by having them watch his every private moment. Moreover, Rabbi Kupferman, who has been eying the High Priest spot, is none too pleased about taking orders from a teenager, especially orders that contradict his views of Orthodox Judaism. (He probably only does so because he is up against both Muslims and Christians who suspect [[spoiler:Chaim]] of being TheAntiChrist.)
** Even the most devout will be devastated to find that their loved ones were CaughtUpInTheRapture. Just ask [[spoiler:Chaim's]] family, who now wish they hadn't raised him to be so pious.
** The logical consequence of ReligionIsRight is that God is ultimately in charge, not the various religious leaders who have their own ideas of how the End Times will go. This leads [[spoiler:Reverend Stark and the Grand Mufti]] to admit their errors. ([[spoiler:Although Rabbi Kupferman receives a similar demonstration, but since he's not a viewpoint character, it's not clear whether he learns his lesson.]])

Not to be confused with the other ''WesternAnimation/AlphaAndOmega''

* YouHaveToHaveJews: Very much justified as this is a Judeo-Christian End Times story set in Israel. Of the eight viewpoint characters, Eric, Yitzhak, and Chaim are all Jewish, with the latter two being ultra-Orthodox and Eric being a secularized American Jew.

''Alpha and Omega'' is a 2019 novel by Creator/HarryTurtledove in which ultra-Orthodox Jews try to bring about the rebuilding of the Temple and the return of the Messiah in modern-day Jerusalem. [[spoiler:They succeed...but it turns out the Christian and Shiite Muslim versions of the End Times also are mostly true.]]

* Eric Katz, an archeologist from Los Angeles who is on an excavation in Israel, where he has met his girlfriend [[spoiler:and eventual wife]], Israeli archeologist Orly Binur.

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: This story is implied to take place during Donald Trump's second term. Additionally, there is no mention of COVID-19, seeing as the pandemic began about half a year after publication.

* EyesNeverLie: Multiple characters believe the [[spoiler:Islamic Madhi]] is the real deal and not an imposter due to the simultaneously powerful and confused and uneasy look in his eyes, which reminds them of [[spoiler:Chaim, the newfound Jewish Messiah.]]

* NotSoDifferent: Eric compares Kupferman to the people who run Iran and ISIS.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the whole End Times Prophecies Coming True literature. See RealityEnsues below for more detail.

* RealityEnsues: As can be expected in a {{Deconstruction}} of End Times fiction.
** Among real people, religious devotion isn't all or nothing, with some people being completely secular and others being pious fundamentalists. Orly, despite being a secular Israeli Jew, is shocked that Eric eats pork. Yoram Louvish, Eric's boss, is not a fundamentalist like the Avigads, and certainly nothing like Rabbi Kupferman, but is somewhat more pious than Eric and Orly. Munir al-Nuwayhi, an Arab Israeli, is a secularized Muslim but still is opposed to the clearing of the Temple Mount.
** So [[spoiler:Chaim]] is TheMessiah. Turns out he's scared shitless by all the ghosts chasing him[[note]]The Jewish Messiah will cause the dead to rise during the End Times[[/note]] and is embarrassed by having them watch his every private moment. Moreover, Rabbi Kupferman, who has been eying the High Priest spot, is none too pleased about taking orders from a teenager, especially orders that contradict his views of Orthodox Judaism. (He probably only does so because he is up against both Muslims and Christians who suspect [[spoiler:Chaim]] of being TheAntiChrist.)
** Even the most devout will be devastated to find that their loved ones were CaughtUpInTheRapture. Just ask [[spoiler:Chaim's]] family, who now wish they hadn't raised him to be so pious.
** The logical consequence of ReligionIsRight is that God is ultimately in charge, not the various religious leaders who have their own ideas of how the End Times will go. This leads [[spoiler:Reverend Stark and the Grand Mufti]] to admit their errors. ([[spoiler:Although Rabbi Kupferman receives a similar demonstration, but since he's not a viewpoint character, it's not clear whether he learns his lesson.]])

''AlphaAndOmega'' is a 2019 novel by Creator/HarryTurtledove in which ultra-Orthodox Jews try to bring about the rebuilding of the Temple and the return of the Messiah in modern-day Jerusalem. [[spoiler:They succeed...but it turns out the Christian and Shiite Muslim versions of the End Times also are mostly true.]]

** The logical consequence of ReligionIsRight is that God is ultimately in charge, not the various religious leaders who have their own ideas of how the End Times will go. This leads [[spoiler:Reverend Stark and the Grand Mufti]] to admit their errors. ([[spoiler:Although Rabbi Kupferman receives a similar demonstration, but since he's not a viewpoint character, it's not clear whether he learns his lesson.]]

* MinnesotaNice: One of the few callers on Stark's show to get a sympathetic portrayal is a woman named Jane from Duluth Minnesota, who expresses curiosity rather than hostility about the unfolding developments, particularly [[spoiler:The appearance of the Islamic Messiah.]]

* HumansAreBastards: During one of Lester's radio shows, he is shaken by the final caller wondering if the reason there hasn't been a rapture yet is that no one on Earth is spiritually pure enough to be worthy anymore. Stark tells the caller that it's an interesting theory, but one he hopes is wrong.

* NoEndorHolocaust: Especially considering the situation between Israel and Iran, it's a ''damn'' good thing that [[spoiler: the Rapture of the Mahdi happened on life international television]].

** Among real people, religious devotion isn't all of a piece, with some people being completely secular and others being pious fundamentalists. Orly, despite being a secular Israeli Jew, is shocked that Eric eats pork. Yoram Louvish, Eric's boss, is not a fundamentalist like the Avigads, and certainly nothing like Rabbi Kupferman, but is somewhat more pious than Eric and Orly. Munir al-Nuwayhi, an Arab Israeli, is a secularized Muslim but still is opposed to the clearing of the Temple Mount.

* IWarnedYou: After [[spoiler: Brandon dies trying to open the ark]], Rabbi Kupferman shakes his head and mouths to himself that he'd tried to tell Brandon that would happen.

* ReligionIsRight: Unlike other examples of this trope, in this book, this ends up being true of [[spoiler:all three Abrahamic religions, as is evidenced by Jesus rapturing the Jewish Messiah and the Mahdi]].