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Racing Toward Armageddon: The Three Great Religions and the Plot to End the World

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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.

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.

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.

As I read this book, I'm seeing news stories that confirm what Baigent wrote about. I know a lot of people think Baigent is a major conspiracy theorist who's somewhere out in left field. That may be so, but this one hits the nail right on the head. It's well researched, very well written, & terrifying.

Some may find Michael Baigent's treatise, Racing Toward Armageddon a bit alarmist, however it may also be a warning that must be heeded. The religious zealots who believe in biblical fairytales seem to be gaining momentum around the world. Having previously read Matthew Alper's book, The God Part of the Brain, I couldn't help but wonder if these religious extremists simply aren't wired differently than some of us. But,that doesn't make them any less dangerous. And this is where Baigent's premise shines. He names the three Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as all marching merrily along toward Armageddon and doing all they can to hasten its arrival. It's up to us, who have not been brainwashed with religious myths to prevent any of these three from making Armageddon a reality.

I loved this book as much as The Inquisition.Baigent has a great writing style and insight into mans` relationship with religion, and how dangerous/damaging it can be when fundamentalists interpret a book or incident to suit their own agenda.Well worth the money and packed with useful tid bits of info.

Good book. I would recommend it for any person. Lots of claims that can be looked as a possible outcomes for our changing world.

Michael Baigent examines the apocalyptic perspectives of the three Abrahamic religions, and the disturbing agendas of their respective fundamentalists - in effect a "plot to end the world" in order to bring about the coming of the messiah. He links these agendas to the politics of today, and if he doesn't succeed in scaring you, you probably weren't paying attention.

Baigent traces the traditions of Armageddon and the end times using the same investigative approach we saw in his other books, like Holy Blood, Holy Grail, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception and The Jesus Papers. In a fascinating tour through history, he explores the earliest apocalyptic visions found the Bible, Isaiah and Revelations. He shows how they have evolved within different religions and sects, and how they have been used by those in power through the centuries and down to the present day.

The agendas Baigent describes call for world domination centered on the city of Jerusalem - either physical, as in the Caliphate of the Mahdi of Islam or the second coming of the Christian messiah, or spiritual, as in the rebuilding of Solomon's Temple. Although each religion's view anticipates a messiah being sent by God, none of these monotheistic religions seems open to the possibility that they are talking about one and the same God or messiah.

Even more alarming is their attitude, documented by Baigent, that killing non-believers to herald in this era of peace is perfectly acceptable - even admirable! These ideas are seeded in the minds of children in Madrassahs, parochial schools and through home schooling. US politics has been increasingly manipulated by the views of the religious right, using the principles of freedom of speech and religion in the Bill of Rights to deny both to those not agreeing with them.

Baigent is concerned that it may already be too late to stop the slide of civilization over the brink of global conflict. Baigent is saying that the only way to de-fuse the power of militant religions is through the direct and unmediated experience of the individual with God. That is why, he believes, only those awake to the mystical traditions within these religions - Christian mysticism, Sufism, and the Kabbalah - have a chance of reversing this race to Armageddon... in essence "fighting fire with fire."

Baigent believes that the influence of fundamentalism on our American political system is potentially devastating to our freedoms. Whatever one's own views on religion, I think the questions he raises about what we really value as a society are important. There are no easy answers, but at the very least we must think hard about the questions.

This is a very enjoyable and entertaining read. It includes a great deal of interesting history, the thesis is sure to irritate a lot of fundamentalists from the three major world religions. Unfortunately, there is a lot of truth in the danger of religious fundamentalism. I hope the author has overstated the case but even if he has not, it is still a peril worth considering. You will either love this book or hate it. I, for one, loved it. Keep up the good work.

I usually like Baigent's books, but this one degenerates half-way through into a screed against the Christian right and the various utterances of the Bush presidencies. Bush's religious views weren't a secret and the fact that he (or his writers) made biblical references is not suspicious or probative that he was driving us all to the end-times. It seems odd that all the weight of his arguments are leveled at Christianity even as he acknowledges that Islam is the movement that is most recklessly on a course of global destruction.

Finally, he seems to equate all religious fundamentalism with totalitarianism and completely ignores the plain and recent historical fact of non-religious totalitarianism (soviet and Chinese communism).

The best advice in this book is to read the book of Revelations yourself.