By Randy DeSoto,
Veteran actor Neal McDonough, who stars in the latest movie in the “Left Behind” series “Rise of the Antichrist,” says faith in God and in himself have been key to his success.
McDonough has drawn some lines in the sand as he’s navigated his way through his career in Hollywood, McDonough told Faithwire’s Billy Hallowell during a recent interview.
The Catholic actor — who has starred in blockbuster films such as “Captain America” and “Minority Report,” as well as in the popular Paramount Network series “Yellowstone” — has refused to do sex scenes, nor even kiss on-screen.
In 2010, McDonough was reportedly fired from the ABC show “Scoundrels” over the boundaries he set in this regard.
“Believe in yourself, believe in yourself wholeheartedly and know that God has your back,” the husband and father of five advised. “Those are the tenets that we kind of live by in our house.”
Ironically, McDonough noted that because of his moral stance regarding sex, “I have to play a lot of villains because I won’t do certain scenes, and that’s fine.”
“I’ve loved my career getting to play Damien Darhk [on the CW show “Arrow”] for all these years, getting to play all these other villainous characters because it … makes me realize even more how much God has given me.”
McDonough portrays the villain Jonathan Stonogal in “Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist.”
Stonogal is a media mogul and the creator of a Facebook-like social media platform, who wants to help usher in a one world currency system.
That plan just so happens to align well with the Antichrist’s agenda.
“It’s nice to tap into people who are the big decision makers on this planet, and how these people get to power, and how they, at times, use their power for good,” McDonough said.
“And, at times, some of them use their power for obviously malicious intent and … their own betterment,” McDonough added.
He argued portraying these kind of characters can be instructive to others as to what not to do in life.
“I think these kinds of tales are so well received by so many people because it talks about real life,” he said. “You know, there’s the obvious massive scale that this film touches upon, but for me, it’s always the minutiae of the characters. And the characters in this piece are really well-crafted.”
“Rise of the Antichrist” is set six months after the rapture has occurred.
The rapture is when Christ comes to take His believers away from the earth before God comes to judge it.
Bible scholars differ as to when the rapture will occur, with some believing it will happen in the end times before what Jesus called the Great Tribulation.
Others believe that Christ will come midway through the Tribulation before God pours out his wrath on the earth, while others think the rapture will happen at the end the Tribulation.
The Tribulation is a seven-year period detailed in the Bible’s books Revelation, Daniel and Matthew that involves famine, pestilence, and wars, that leave over half the world’s population dead.
“Rise of the Antichrist” definitely takes what’s called the pre-Trib view: The Antichrist arrives on the scene in the film after the rapture and before the seven years have begun.
Kevin Sorbo directed the film and plays the lead, Rayford Steele, a pilot whose wife and son were raptured, but he and his daughter Chloe were left behind.
Corbin Bernsen (seen in “Major League” and “LA Law”) portrays Steve Plank, a news network executive who’s trying to enforce the government/corporate line about the cause of “the vanishings” of the people from the earth.
At the network, Greg Perrow plays top news anchor Buck Williams, a Tucker Carlson-like personality, who is not willing to just accept the approved narrative about the vanishings.
“Rise of the Antichrist” began a limited four-day release in 1,500 theaters nationwide Thursday, but will run longer if the demand is there, according to Sorbo.
You can find show times and theaters here.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
