Tim LaHaye
Timothy Francis LaHaye (April 27, 1926 – July 25, 2016) was an American Baptist evangelical Christian minister who wrote more than 85 books, both fiction and non-fiction, including the Left Behind series of apocalyptic fiction, which he co-authored with Jerry B. Jenkins.[1]
Not to be confused with Tim Lahey.
He was a founder of the Council for National Policy, a Conservative Christian advocacy group. LaHaye opposed homosexuality, believing it to be immoral and unbiblical. He was a critic of Roman Catholicism, and a believer in conspiracy theories regarding the Illuminati.
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Timothy Francis LaHaye was born on April 27, 1926, in Detroit, Michigan, to Frank LaHaye, a Ford auto worker who died in 1936 of a heart attack, and Margaret LaHaye (née Palmer). His father's death had a significant influence on LaHaye, who was only nine years old at the time. He had been inconsolable until the minister at the funeral said, "This is not the end of Frank LaHaye; because he accepted Jesus Christ, the day will come when the Lord will shout from heaven and descend, and the dead in Christ will rise first and then we'll be caught up together to meet him in the air."[2]
LaHaye later said that, upon hearing those remarks, "all of a sudden, there was hope in my heart I'd see my father again."[2]
LaHaye enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in 1944, at the age of 18,[1] after he finished night school. He served in the European Theater of Operations as a machine gunner aboard a bomber.[3] Then he studied at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1950. LaHaye held the Doctor of Ministry degree from Western Seminary.[4]
Ministry[edit]
He served as a pastor in Pumpkintown, South Carolina, and after that he pastored a congregation in Minneapolis until 1956.[4][5] After that, the LaHaye family moved to San Diego, California, where he served as pastor of the Scott Memorial Baptist Church (now called Shadow Mountain Community Church)[6][7] for nearly 25 years.[4] In 1971, he founded Christian Heritage College, now known as San Diego Christian College.[4]
In 1972, LaHaye helped establish the Institute for Creation Research in El Cajon, California, along with Henry M. Morris.[8][9]
Tributes[edit]
Time Magazine named LaHaye one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America, and in the summer of 2001, the Evangelical Studies Bulletin named him the most influential Christian leader of the preceding quarter century.[21][39]
Awards[edit]
He received an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from Liberty University.[48][49]