15 Facts About Rayford Steele

Rayford Steele is a fictional character and the de facto protagonist in the Left Behind series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins.

Rayford Steele is the leader of the group known as the Tribulation Force, and is the most fully developed character in the series.

Rayford Steele eventually obtained an Air Force ROTC scholarship to attend Purdue University; while there, he met a fellow ROTC cadet two years his junior, Irene.

Three years after Raymie is born, Rayford Steele has a brush with death when he nearly collides with another airplane while landing at LAX, and he impulsively promises God that he will go to church and pray more regularly; on the same night, Irene, after talking to a neighborhood friend, becomes a born-again Christian.

Rayford Steele is thrilled when Chloe soon does the same, and together under Barnes's tutelage, they form the Tribulation Force to face the travails of the next seven years and to counter the plans of the Antichrist, who is soon revealed to be the new head of the United Nations, Nicolae Carpathia.

Rayford Steele later finds her body in a plane submerged in the Tigris River.

Carpathia's operatives attempt to discredit Amanda by planting false evidence that she was a mole for Nicolae's regime but Rayford Steele sees through the subterfuge.

Rayford Steele flees amidst the chaos, and escapes to Greece, where he is housed by local believers.

Rayford Steele is the only original surviving member of the Tribulation Force left when Jesus Christ returns to the earth, whose very presence heals Rayford's wounds.

Rayford Steele is present at the final battle of the Millennium, watching with the rest of his friends from Cameron's estate.

However, while the main male character in the novels, his role in the film series has him downplayed to a supporting role, with Cameron "Buck" Williams taking over the leadership role Rayford Steele held in the novels.

Rayford Steele is the primary protagonist in the Left Behind series.

Rayford Steele is, at the outset, an example of the worldly man stock character that is common in rapture fiction.

Nonetheless, the authors' construction of Rayford Steele runs counter to much of the rapture fiction tradition in that he is a member of the elite.

In Left Behind Rayford Steele is a very prestigious pilot who is so prominent that even the President of the United States knows his name.