Lord of the World

Imagine a world far in the future where a super nice but sneaky bad guy named Julian tricks everyone into forgetting God and makes one big country for the whole world, where sad people go to special rooms to die peacefully and fly in magic ships. A brave priest named Percy becomes the secret Pope and with a few friends fights back against the evil leader who wants to destroy all churches, but in the end, God wins with a big miracle while the bad guys' cities burn up. It's like a scary Bible story come to life with airplanes and bad governments, showing good always beats evil if you believe.

Published in 1907, Robert Hugh Benson's 'Lord of Light' no, 'Lord of the World' presents a chilling dystopian vision of the near future where secular humanism has triumphed, forming a one-world government under the charismatic American politician Julian Felsenburgh, subtly revealed as the Antichrist. Christianity clings to existence as a marginalized faith, with the last Pope retreating to the Alps amid widespread apostasy, euthanasia legalized, and advanced technologies like volors—personal flying ships—facilitating global control. Father Percy Franklin, a young priest disillusioned by the Church's decline, rises through intrigue to become Pope Sylvester VII, navigating espionage, betrayal, and the subtle rise of Eastern mysticism fused with socialism. As Felsenburgh's peace unravels into totalitarian terror, Percy leads a remnant Church against the Beast's image—a holographic idol projected worldwide—culminating in aerial battles over London and Rome. Benson weaves Catholic eschatology with political prophecy, depicting the final persecution where faith endures amid global catastrophe, ending in divine intervention at Nazareth, underscoring the eternal conflict between Christ and Anti-Christ in a vividly prophetic narrative.