Customer Reviews

Shadows of Things to Come: A Prophetic Look at God's Unfolding Plan

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one of the best books on church history, and no, not all of it, it's not an encyclopedia. And in response to the other reviews, why would he talk about things that don't have anything to do with his main points? And besides those points, he gives the disclaimer at the beginning: "Though I have studied history for many years, I am not a historian or an academic. This book is not intended to be an academic or objective view of history, but a cursory examination of history for the sake of insight in our on times. Keep in mind that this is necessarily a superficial study of this great subject." So take that into consideration when reading the other reviews. I would HIGHLY recommend this book, to anyone who is interested in church history, simply the part about Constantine is worth reading if nothing else, it will explain a lot about how the church got so off course.

I love this book, for people who aren't big history buffs, but want to get some background on the church with out reading a million boring books, this is the one.

And Oh my goodness! the last 2 reviews for this book couldn't be anymore general or jaded in their accusations! The last one sounds like he is mad because he's trying to figure out what God is doing in his life and wants to blame it on somebody, I guess Rick Joyner and the like will do huh? It's a book review not a review of the things you don't like in life. Come on people!

Rick Joyner's books are all full of powerful revelation and anointed teaching because he has devoted himself to seeking, serving, and knowing the truth. Truth is Jesus Christ. This book is a wonderful compilation of historic events regarding the church and how these time periods of the church's past are a reflection of her present and her future. This is not a very deep exploration of church history but rather more like a an overview of some of the most powerful and shaking events that took place. If you flunked out of world history in school or just never cared before now to explore history at all, especially church history, this is not only a great eye opener pointing out key events and people for further study, it's also going to make you hungry to know more and to go deeper. You'll read about the persecutions of the apostles, the church itself, and the different events that all played a part in the course of the church from Antioch, to persecutions under Nero, to Constantine, the dark ages, and more. This book does not read like a dry discourse or time line but rather an eye opening plethora of hidden treasures, treasures that took years of study and research to dig up which we can now absorb in only a few hours.

The only beef I have with this book is that it seemed to take a few chapters too many to get into the heart of the matter. But it was well worth it for the spiritual truths and insights I am now gaining.

I am not even entirely finished with the book yet and already I think I will read this one a second time.

God bless!

Rick Joyner makes a major interpretive mistake early on in this book when he uses the non-canonical Epistle of Barnabas to construct a prophetic timeline using the six days of creation in Genesis to correspond to thousand-year periods. Yes, of course, 2nd Peter says that one day is as a thousand years to God, but he was speaking SYMBOLICALLY, not literally. For an example of this tortured allegorizing, here's a quote from the book: "One day five, God created the 'great sea monsters.' During this one-thousand-year period, the powerful and monstrous religions of the world were formed that were to rule the 'seas' or peoples, such as Islam, Hinduism, and some of the powerful and dominating institutions of Christianity that would devour so many." Is he giving God credit/blame for creating what he would surely regard as false religions? Joyner proceeds to map out a rather selective survey of Christian history to support his particular agenda.

To give Joyner a little credit, he feels it is important for Christians to know church history. I would agree. Charismatic Christians, especially, seem to have a profound disinterest in anything but the early church and 20th-century Pentecostalism, skipping everything in between. Unfortunately, Joyner seems to skip a lot in between, himself. He at least admits as much, and promises some follow-up volumes. A better suggestion than getting this book and waiting for the sequels would be to get a good, comprehensive history like "The Story of Christianity" by Justo Gonzalez.

Devotees of Joyner and his quarterly publication "The Morning Star Journal" will notice familiar themes emerging: re-establishment of the apostolic ministry, the great revival that is surely coming (in his opinion), and the like. He is particularly interested in the history of revivals, and the story of Sam Jones who evangelized Nashville in the late 1800's is an interesting, not-so-well-known story. Most of the other accounts I have read elsewhere. But Joyner occasionally throws in some real oddball opinions. Did you know that Satan named the planet Venus, for example? Hmmm.

I read this book because I used to be a regular reader of Joyner's "Morning Star Journal" and had read some of his other visionary works like "The Final Quest". I fellowshipped with a group of people who were really into the "prophetic", and even identified myself with those teachings for awhile. About a year ago, I walked away from all that because I felt there was excessive emphasis placed on dreams, visions, and "prophetic words" and not enough on the Word of God. I got tired of always looking for the "next big thing" and the coming "great revival" that never came. I bought this book because I wanted to see if there was still something in me that identified with that particular strain of teaching. Guess what? There wasn't. Now, this book is not without value, but I'm not even sure fans of Rick Joyner will be all that crazy about it, since it is bereft of his personal dreams and supernatuaral visions, and it is a little disjointed. But he certainly uses Christian history to support his own vision for the future, which may or may not come to pass.

An important book with clear insights into where we are, how we got here, and what's to come!

This is the second book by Joyner I've read and he really confuses me. On the one hand he seems sincere about his praise of God and seems to understand who Jesus was (is). On the other hand, Joyner continuously misapplies scripture to suit his purposes and he treats biblical narratives like they were just allegories. In "Shadow of Things to Come" he jumps around so much in his topics that he really doesn't say much. He claims to be well-read and well-studied in the history of the church, but he really isn't; he misses so much and emphasizes a very narrow understanding. My main complaint about this book is that he abuses the Word of God, he uses scripture inappropriately.