David Jeremiah Thomas Nelson 2008-09-30

Jeremiah is the founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries and the senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, El Cajon, California. His weekly Turning Point thirty-minute radio program is heard on more than 1,800 stations worldwide. In 1999 he received the Broadcaster of the Year Award from National Religious Broadcasters and in 2002 the Award of Merit from the Western Chapter of National Religious Broadcasters for Excellence in Broadcasting and Faithfulness in Service. He has authored numerous books, including Escape the Coming Night, The Power of Encouragement, What the Bible Says about Angels, Prayer: The Great Adventure (for which he received The Gold Medallion Award in 1998), God in You, Gifts from God, Jesus’ Final Warning, A Bend in the Road, Slaying the Giants in Your Life, and My Heart’s Desire (for which he received another Gold Medallion Award in 2003).

Books on eschatology often overextend themselves with specific interpretations and speculations by relating current events to prophetic Scripture. However, Jeremiah avoids this extreme with balanced and reasonable suggestions based on the biblical text mixed with contemporary events and interspersed with interesting stories and anecdotes. His dispensational, pretribulational, premillennial explanations of Daniel's prophecies, along with salient passages from Revelation, Jeremiah, and Zechariah, include quotations from diverse modern sources such as Nicolaus Sarkozy, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Dutch Bishop Muskens of Breda. He also cites John F. Walvoord, J. Dwight Pentecost, Lehman Strauss, Harry Ironside, Vance Havner, W. A. Criswell, Tim LaHaye, Erwin Lutzer, Hal Lindsey, Joel Rosenberg, A. T. Pierson, and many more conservative writers who share his prophetic views.

In developing the book’s subtitle, 10 Prophetic Clues You Cannot Afford to Ignore, Jeremiah devotes a chapter to each of the following “clues”: The Israel Connection; The Crude Awakening; Modern Europe . . . Ancient Rome; Islamic Terrorism; Vanished without a Trace; Does America Have a Role in Prophecy? When One Man Rules the World; The New Axis of Evil; Arming for Armageddon; and The Return of the King. Jeremiah says that if the prophetic events mentioned in Scripture were to take place today, much could be explained by the present world political structure and events. Jeremiah points to the new Russia-Iran deal, the recent American election season, and the growing influence of the European Union to show that the promised future may not be as distant as one might think. He provides numerous endnotes, with approximately 130 citations of websites and news articles providing up-to-date events, and two appendixes of charts on population and oil reserve statistics that he feels possibly relate to prophetic passages. This, in part, is what makes the book so appealing. Of special interest is his chapter on the United States in prophecy, in which he suggests some explanations for the absence of America in biblical prophecy. Admittedly the present contemporary situations may not be the ones described in eschatological prophecy, but the world stage is certainly set for the possibility.

The book is easy to read, holds attention, and gives a helpful overview of coming events from a dispensational viewpoint. Not all readers will agree with his views and explanations. Jeremiah would certainly caution against taking his book to the extreme of interpreting contemporary events as definitive explanations of biblical prophetic literature. Also readers should not apply these “clues” with exact precision to present events. If the rapture does not take place in the near future, contemporary history will change and new players will eventually populate the scene. Taking this possibility into account, Jeremiah admonishes readers simply to be alert and expectant regarding the Lord’s return. He suggests the following guidelines until that day arrives: refrain from judging others (1 Cor. 4:5), respond to life spiritually (Col. 3:1–4), relate to one another in love (1 Thess. 3:12–13), restore the bereaved (1 Thess. 4:13–18); recommit oneself to the ministry (1 Tim. 4:1–2), remain steadfast (James 5:7–8), renounce sin (1 John 2:28–29), and reach the lost (Jude 21–23). The book is an enjoyable and worthy addition to any library.

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