It’s an awkward business, reviewing a book written by a friend. I mean, you have to be honest or you might as well not do it at all. Well, here goes.
Our friend Michael Riemer (“Elder Mike”) has written a book–Israel, Rapture, Tribulation–on eschatology, End Times, an area in which my own expertise is wanting. It’s obvious that a great deal of thought and research went into it.
Christians do not agree, when it comes to End Times prophecies. They’ve never agreed. Personally, I find Riemer’s argument fully persuasive when he cites the Scriptures and interprets them as Christ warning His audience that Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed–in their own lifetimes. The destruction came in 70 A.D. at the hands of the Romans–with Jewish factions fighting each other to the death even as the Romans breached the walls.
Based on this, Riemer refutes Dispensationalism’s claim that all such prophecies will only be fulfilled at some unknown time in the future.
I don’t want to stir up a hornets’ nest, but we shouldn’t avoid theological debates for fear of angering our fellow Christians. St. Paul prayed for harmony; but we can see from his various epistles that he seldom got it. But that didn’t stop him from doing his best to minister to the various churches under his care.
Elder Mike’s book is valuable in that it ought to make us think. These are important issues, or they wouldn’t be included in the Bible. We shouldn’t ignore them. And hopefully we can talk about them without losing our tempers.
Eschatology is a hot button for many Christians because how one views the future effects greatly how he lives in the present. I zero in on Jeus’s words to occupy until He comes. I want to be an occupier, not a Christian with his head in the sand. I pray for Elder Mike’s health on a regular basis – we need him on this Blog.
“Occupy” is my watchword, too.
Thank you so very much, brother, for your review. As I read it, I came across this thought.
“I thought I’d better bone up on eschatology as I read this book and tried to prepare to review it. But the more I read, the less certain I became about any aspect of eschatology.”
I had to smile, for I understand those sentiments very well. One of the reference books I used (among many others) for my book was “The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers” by LeRoy Edwin Froom, a four-volume set, of about 4,000 pages, which covers the numerous beliefs and views concerning eschatology for the last 2,000 years or so.
You put in a lot of time doing research, reading the book, and a lot of time writing the review, again, thank you.