Publishers Find Religion Sells Christian Fiction More Sophisticated

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- An airline pilot who is feeling estranged from a wife he finds too religious suddenly has more than 100 passengers disappear from his plane, leaving behind their clothes, glasses and jewelry. Rayford Steele learns later that millions of people around the world have disappeared.

Had his wife been right when she warned him Judgment Day was coming?

So begins Left Behind, the first in a series of apocalyptic novels about what happens to those bypassed by the Rapture, when true Christians ascend to heaven and those left behind must find salvation before Armageddon.

Combined sales of the six books by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye have topped 7.4 million. Apollyon, the latest in the series, has been on The New York Times fiction best-seller list for months. It is the first Christian fiction book to crack a …