Customer Reviews

Armageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis: What the Bible Says About the Future of the MiddleEast and the End of Western Civilization

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John F. Walvoord's Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis remains an interesting and timely read, despite the fact that the book was originally published in 1974 and revised in 1990. Drawing heavily from the myriad of prophecies in the Bible, particularly those in Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelations, Walvoord paints a vivid picture of the end of days and argues rather convincingly that the end is indeed quite near. Central to his thesis is the perpetual hotbed that is the Middle East. It is here that the final battle of Armageddon will take place, and Israel will stand at the very center of the ultimate conflict. The restoration of Israel as a nation in Palestine was the final critical piece of the puzzle that worked to set the stage for the fulfillment of the prophecies of old.

The Arab-Israeli conflict over land will be the powder keg that sets everything in motion, according to the author. The oil embargoes of the 1970s clearly impressed Walvoord in terms of the growing wealth and power in the Middle East, and he implies that the importance of oil throughout the world will shape future events quite radically. It is Europe that is most dependent on the import of oil from the Middle East, and this leads Walvoord to conclude that the ten-headed beast of Biblical prophecy will take the form of a ten-nation confederation of European, Arab, and possibly north African nations - it will be the equivalent of a new Roman empire centered around the Mediterranean, and from this group a powerful leader will emerge to somehow force a peace settlement between Israel and its neighbors. This leader will then seize power over three of the ten allied nations and go on to proclaim himself the world dictator and supreme deity. Three and a half years after securing Israel a seemingly lasting peace, the Antichrist will turn and destroy the country. By this time, armies from the north, south, and east will march on Jerusalem in an attempt to overthrow the self-proclaimed world dictator, at which point Jesus will return to Earth to punish the evil-doers and establish His millennial kingdom.

Walvoord does a very nice job explaining the terrible things that will take place on earth in the last days, particularly after the Antichrist declares himself to the world and before Jesus' triumphant return. Descriptions of all of these catastrophic punishments can all be found in the Bible, and they make for a decidedly grim period of time. Walvoord clearly espouses his conclusion that the Rapture of the church will take place before the time of tribulation on earth begins. Unlike Armageddon, the Bible provides no real clues as to when the Rapture will take place, but Walvoord's conviction that the time of tribulation is drawing nigh leads him to infer that the preceding Rapture could happen at any time. Interestingly, Walvoord theorizes that the United States will not play a central role in these events, having fallen into a state of isolation. Russia will hold even less power over the pivotal future events in the Middle East; it will try to regain its influence by attacking Israel, only to see its invading army destroyed by some supernatural force.

The subject of the end times can be rather confusing, and Walvoord does the reader a great service by providing graphs and lists of the coming events as he sees them. He also backs up his arguments well with many references to the Scriptures and the application of deductive reasoning. Certainly, though, he may not be right about everything. I personally disagree with a couple of his conclusions, and he clearly expected certain events to be in motion before the current year of 2004, but he makes a clear, cogent presentation of all his evidence. The passage of over ten years since the revised edition of the book, during which two wars have been fought in the Persian Gulf, really does nothing to invalidate any of Walvoord's main points, making this a still remarkably timely analysis of end time prophecy.

Dr. Walvoord, past President of Dallas Theological Seminary has many tremendous books. He wrote this in the 70's and updated it
in the 90's with no changes and adding current events. Some chapter titles. The Israeli-Arab Conflict, The Oil Blackmail, Watch Jerusalem, Changing Europe, The Day of World Catastrophe.
In the light of September 11, and the world events daily of the esculating violence in the Middle East, this book is a must read
for today about the end of Western civilization.

I'm two thirds through this book, and I'm about ready to toss it.

If you come to this book with dispensational presuppositions already firmly in place, this book will reinforce them. It's all standard pop dispensationalism, as that model stood in 1990. Just another prophecy book on the pile.

If you come to the book without those presuppositions, I doubt this book will be either very helpful or very convincing.

The author makes no effort to defend his interpretation, he just throws it out there. There's no in depth look at any scripture. There's no attempt to defend or even identify dispensational distinctive beliefs or methods. They are simply assumed.

I started this book after finishing a re-read of <u>God, Heaven and Har Magedon</u> by the late Dr. Meredith Kline, a covenental amilenialist. Both Kline's and Walvoord's books are of similar length (200-ish pages), and both intended for lay readers. The contrast between the two is stark.

With the World in termoil... Economy(s) in jeapardy everwhere, a book written some 20 years ago in which the author new exactly what was coming. A mixture of Christian Religion, Middle-Eastern beliefs, demands for the future, Governments views, and just what are we going to expect and do about things happening now. A good fit.

The late Dr. John F. Walvoord is recognized as one of the foremost scholars of "end-times theology". He was a Professor at Dallas Theological Seminary for many years where he authored several books on this subject.

If you wish to know where the world as we know it is headed (perhaps much sooner than later?), then this page-turner is for you! I've read it 3 times over the years and have given numerous copies as gifts.

Dr. Walvoord points out Bible prophecies that have come true in our life-time and what to watch for in the future as events occur at a hasting pace. There may be a few parts readers have difficulty with(?), but overall a sound work. This writer knew his stuff!

Varalagom

I read this book when it was first published in 1974. It left a lasting impression on me and I tried very hard to hold on to it through the years. Somewhere along the way I lost it, to my great dismay. I remember thinking, this book was truly reveolutionary for its time. When I read it I thought, "I will likely be alive when these events occur!" And sure enough, I am! This book was and is truly prophetical. Unless my memory fails me, this is a must read book for all those seriously interested in end times as outlined in the Bible.

Just more pre-trib propaganda. There is not a single verse in the Bible that says the Rapture will be before the Tribulation. In fact Jesus told us the very opposite (read Matthew 24:29-31 very carefully). Revelation 20:4,5 tells us that the saints martyred in the Tribulation will be in the First Resurrection. The First Resurrection is the RAPTURE! The Rapture is obviously after the Tribulation! It's time to wake up and accept the truth. Place your trust in Jesus Christ not in fictional escapism.

The trend of reviewers when they did not like a book is to give it a low rating. Sometimes they may not like an author or the book may have been contrary to the reviewer's political or religious beliefs, but the end result is nearly always a low rating for the book. This review will break that trend. I felt this book was among the stupidest I've read, but it made me think and the author obviously felt he was writing about something worthwhile. He repeats himself so many times his book is about 40% longer than it needs to be. It wasn't until the end that I discovered a list of all the theories presented in synopsis format. Had I noticed this earlier, I could have ignored the rest of the book.

I cannot subscribe to end time prophecies and feel the inevitability of Armageddon, especially when presented in such a poorly written format, is not just around the corner. Author John Walvoord certainly knows his Bible and he was an authority among his peers, but his theory is so full of holes he ultimately discredits himself over the course of 228 pages. The key flaw is presented on page 23 where he writes that prophecies should not be adjusted to any situation, yet he does that without regard to his own warning throughout the book. Some authors write that the folklore of the Middle East is the basis for many Biblical books, yet Walvoord never mentions any such connection. He is content to proceed happily through his theories of Russia invading Israel, a Mediterranean Confederacy of ten nations (based on Daniel 7:8 which actually mentions an 11th nation but three of the original ten were pulled up by the roots 10+1-3=8, but Walvoord sticks with 10), a world dictator who brings a false peace (aren't all peaces false or temporary?), and the final Battle of Armageddon. He insists all Christians will be removed from the earth prior to Christ's second coming, but what's the point of coming back to rule with Christ if we make it to heaven?

The author is consistent with many mainstream churches who proclaim the Bible was written for modern times as well as ancient. This is obvious because if the Bible were not presented in this manner no one would care what it says and it would join the ranks of millions of dusty history books. Too many times Walvoord uses speculative words like "may" or "possibly" which leave the reader to consider "may not" or "possibly no" or any other open-ended contrary response. It isn't all Walvoord's ignorance; he just doesn't have much concrete evidence to base his claims upon. In court this is considered circumstantial evidence and while not inadmissible, it makes the case more difficult to prove. He warns against an increase in belief in supernatural, mystical, and bizarre phenomena, but what is creationism? Creationists discount evolutionists, but at least evolutionism has more concrete evidence (though evolutionism as a theory has many of its own flaws and problems).

Like I said, the theories presented are holes big enough for a semi truck to fit in, and I simply do not subscribe to the basic argument presented, but the book made me think. For this reason alone I do not give this an all around bad review. Ironically, Walvoord died prior to the second coming, as everyone else who's died to this point. Perhaps answers to his questions were revealed to him in the hereafter. Of course he may be right all along and people like me will find themselves scratching their head asking "how did that happen?"