Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reaping the Whirlwind, September 1, 2009
This review is from: Racing Toward Armageddon: The Three Great Religions and the Plot to End the World (Hardcover)
The one thing these religious extremists have in common is the belief that they and they alone are the keepers of the "True Faith" and it is their God given duty to bring about their version of the end times (of course, the rest of us are generously given the option of converting or facing God's wrath by their blood soaked hands). All this brings me to a highly engaging and eye opening book by Michael Baigent entitled, "Racing Toward Armageddon: The Three Great Religions And The Plot To End The World" (you may remember Mr. Baigent as the co-author of the hugely popular "Holy Blood Holy Grail" and "The Messianic Legacy"). Mr. Baigent gives us an excellent historical overview the three main religions and their claim on Jerusalem. He then leads us through their Byzantine world to induce the coming of the Messiah, but which Messiah? Is it the Messiah Ben David or the Twelfth Iman? Or is it the Second Coming of Jesus? Finally, Mr. Baigent details the objectives of each and finally, what we can do.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Beware of the red heifer!, July 26, 2010
This review is from: Racing Toward Armageddon: The Three Great Religions and the Plot to End the World (Hardcover)
If the name Michael Baigent sounds familiar, it's because he wrote HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL in collaboration with Henry Lincoln and Richard Leigh. Dan Brown's blockbuster novel, THE DAVINCI CODE was based on that work. Baigent and Leigh unsuccessfully sued.
RACING TOWARD ARMAGEDDON maintains that some of the more radical members of the three Abrahamic religions are doing their best to make Armageddon happen sooner rather than later.
Baigent starts with an anecdote about the Red Heifer. In Old Testament times, anyone who touched a dead person (just about everybody) was considered unclean. He had to be cleansed with the ashes of a perfect red heifer (no white or black hairs) in order to be allowed into the temple. Christian fundamentalists predict that when the third temple is built, Jesus will return. Some Jewish rabbis want to blow up the Islamic mosques presently occupying the temple mount. But they can't walk across the mount unless they are cleansed. Problem: there are no perfect red heifers. Not that Christian fundamentalists aren't trying. An Alabama breeder is currently trying to breed the perfect red heifer.
After the red heifer story, Baigent turns to an analysis of Revelation. He maintains that author John of Patmos was talking about Rome, that it was symbolic, that even John says it was symbolic, that John expected Christ's return in his lifetime, and that many church fathers were reluctant to include Revelation in the New Testament and didn't until well into the fifth century.
There's also a chapter on Jerry Falwell, which gives Baigent a chance to introduce other worthies such as Michael Farris of the Home School Legal Defense Association; Rousas Rushdoony of the Chalcedon Foundation, a group dedicated to the promotion of Christian Reconstruction and a US theocracy; and "Scary Gary" North, who endorses stoning for such offenses as adultery. Throw in Tim LaHaye, Holland Coors, Oliver North, and Major-General John K. Singlaub and you've got yourself a grand conspiracy working toward a Christian theocratic government in the United States.
Baigent asks the reasonable question: "How is such a program of a theocratic empire under biblical law different from the Islamic fundamentalist's demand for a worldwide caliphate and the introduction of sharia law?"
Radical moslems also believe in a final battle between the Christians and the Jews on one side and Islam on the other, only they foresee a nuclear confrontation and a victory for their side. They also believe in a messiah whom they call the Mahdi, a caliph who disappeared in the ninth century.
Baigent solution for all of this is to turn to spirituality: the Sufi Moslems disdain political involvement; the Jewish Kabala and Hermetic Philosophy also meet Baigent's specifications.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exposes a truly deadly mind-set, November 30, 2009
This review is from: Racing Toward Armageddon: The Three Great Religions and the Plot to End the World (Hardcover)
Baigent has written neither a history book nor a religion book. Rather, he has sounded a warning cry about the manner in which extremists of three faiths have very specific plans to attempt the destruction of the world. Baigent's information is relatively easy to corroborate, but he has "connected the dots" in an attempt to warn everyone else that these people genuinely believe in their lunacy and genuinely intend to carry it out.
The three groups of extremists begin with the Jewish extremists who are determined to expand the state of Israel to its Biblical dimensions, which some (basing their thinking on the book of Joshua) regard as extending into modern-day Iraq. They are also determined to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, and as a first step they want to demolish the Dome of the Rock, which is merely the third holiest shrine in all of Islam. Baigent records how a rabbi present in 1967, when the Israelis reclaimed Jerusalem, insisted that Moshe Dayan take the opportunity to blow up the Dome of the Rock then and there, and how Dayan courageously refused. But the extremists are determined to destroy it. The only problem: They can't attack the Dome without risking a sinful intrusion on sacred ground, and they lack the means of cleansing themselves of this sin.
Enter the red heifer. A pure red heifer with no more than one black hair is required for the ritual to purify those who would assault the Dome. An evangelical Christian cattle rancher in the American South has been working with Jewish ultra-orthodox rabbis to breed such a red heifer. They have almost succeeded on two occasions. The Christian extremist is helping because Christian extremists believe that the Temple must be rebuilt in Jerusalem in order for the Apocalypse to come and Jesus to return. They expect that this will bring on a global catastrophe, a war that will surpass all past wars, but they don't care; they believe they will be magically raptured up to Heaven before the shooting starts, where they can sip tea with Jesus and watch us sinners getting slaughtered.
The key message of this book is not the details of the thinking of the lunatic fringe. Baigent wrote this book in an effort to shake everyone else out of their slumber. He is trying to warn everyone else that these people are determined to take actions that could easily lead to a global nuclear war. He warns us that they genuinely believe that they will somehow prosper in a global catastrophe, and are determined to bring it on. They are really, truly, as deluded and as dangerous as Charles Manson ever was with his Helter-Skelter plot, but with vastly greater resources in their hands.
Measured against his intent, Baigent has done a good job of making the true situation clear and compelling. He has sounded the warning and done it well.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
