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70 of 74 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Current Resource on the End Times, November 21, 2008
Books on end times prophecy often overextend themselves with specific interpretations and speculation on exact events of the future. David Jeremiah avoids this extreme with solid scholarship mixed with interesting stories and anecdotes. The book does a good job of explaining Daniel's prophecies, along with salient passages from Revelation, Jeremiah and Zechariah, while quoting such diverse modern sources as Nicolaus Sarkozy, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Dutch Bishop Muskens of Breda for their perspectives on current events. I have read several of David's books and, IMHO, this is his best to date.
The book's subtitle is, "10 Prophetic Clues You Cannot Afford to Ignore." Jeremiah devotes a chapter to each of his "clues" as follows:
1. The Israel Connect
2. The Crude Awakening
3. Modern Europe... Ancient Rome
4. Islamic Terrorism
5. Vanished Without a Trace
6. Does America Have a Role in Prophecy?
7. When One Man Rules the World
8. The New Axis of Evil
9. Arming for Armageddon
10. The Return of the King
Jeremiah writes (and interprets Scripture) from the Dallas Seminary dispensational pre-millennial, pre-tribulation rapture viewpoint. I disagree with his projected order of coming events, but admire his accuracy in handling the history of Israel, the development of the oil industry, Islamic Terrorism, and "The New Axis of Evil." Taken as a whole, this book provides a great, broad view of what is occurring now and will be coming in the not-too-distant future.
"What in the World is Going on?" is easy to read, holds attention, and gives a helpful overview of coming events. I believe every Christian ought to be studying this subject at this time in history because we are either on the brink of revival, or rapidly advancing towards the culmination of this phase of earth's existence. I recommend this book to you.
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Bible teaching, but too specific with predictions, December 22, 2008
"What in the world is going on?" is a summary of Dr. David Jeremiah's teaching on biblical prophecy and current events from a dispensational perspective. From all the alliteration and parallel construction, it is obvious that Dr. Jeremiah put together 10 sermons that he preached on this topic and compiled them in book form for this publication. To be completely transparent before I review his work, you need to know that I am a fellow graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and a committed dispensationalist in my view of Scripture and eschatology. With all that in mind, let's talk about Dr. Jeremiah's latest book...
First, let's review what really works in this book. Dr. Jeremiah, because he writes not just from an academic perspective, but a pastoral perspective, is conscious in each chapter to discuss the practical applications of his eschatological views. I agree with Dr. Jeremiah's conviction that biblical prophecy has huge implications for the daily life of the Christian believer, and he does a great job of taking time at the end of each chapter to discuss what his theological views mean for everyday life.
Another positive in this book is Dr. Jeremiah's faith in the truthfulness of Scripture. Even if you disagree with his hermeneutic or his interpretation of modern events in light of biblical prophecy, you leave the book with the strong sense that Dr. Jeremiah believes every word of the Bible to be trustworthy. His strong faith encourages the reader to have a higher view of the Word - always a good mark in my opinion.
With regards to the individual chapters, I felt like his discussion about Israel and his discussion about Islam were the most helpful. The unique place that dispensationalism holds in evangelical theology is related to its view that God is not done with the nation of Israel, but that He will completely fulfill his promises to them when Jesus returns to the earth. Dr. Jeremiah is definitely in that stream of teaching (a lot of the book feels like an updated version of Dr. Walvoord's writings), and he does a good job of helping the reader understand how the nation of Israel fits into end-time prophecies. After the chapter on Israel, the chapter on Islam was the most powerful in my mind - maybe because it contained the most new information to me. The startling detail about the nature of Islamic teaching always makes me pause and pray.
Not everything about the book is a home-run, however. Though I agree with Dr. Jeremiah's theology, his book is a good reminder of the danger of getting too specific in identifying the players, the motives, and the dates of end-time prophecy. Every dispensationalist in the 1940's was sure that Hitler was the Antichrist and that the end was near. Every book about the end-times over the last 20 years has had a section about oil and the impact that the energy markets will have on the end times. Dr. Jeremiah devotes a whole chapter to this topic, and I'm sure when he wrote it in May-June and oil was $140 a barrel, it made total sense to him. Of course, oil is now back to $40 a barrel and his insights don't seem that timely.
My point here is simply to say that our theological beliefs need to be informed by historical awareness. Every generation looks for signs of the times, as they should, but the point I think from Jesus' generalized teachings is that we should be ready all the time, knowing that His return could come at any point. When teachers attempt to identify the countries that will attack Israel and the place that the Antichrist comes from, I believe they are speaking more specifically than the Scriptures. Dr. Jeremiah uses prophecies from Ezekiel and Daniel to speak to end-time players and the sequences of events. The problem with doing that (in my humble opinion) is that we are reading our 21st century worldview into an ancient document (with a 6th century BC worldview). If the end comes tomorrow, Dr. Jeremiah may end up being a genius. But history is full of prophecy readers who were sure they were close to the end, proclaimed it boldly, yet were terribly wrong. Do we want to hang our credibility as Christians on our ability to predict the end-times?
I personally don't. I want to be very humble in my handling of biblical prophecy, and teach it and preach it in light of how many before me have been so wrong. This doesn't mean that we can't have a conviction about what Scripture is teaching; it just means we need to be extremely careful lest we speak with more specificity than the Bible itself.
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89 of 103 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic, except ..., November 25, 2008
Dr. Jeremiah is a pastor, best-selling author, and host of an international television and radio program for Bible-teaching. I'd never heard of him, but his credentials are noteworthy.
In What in the World is Going On?, Dr. Jeremiah does a stunning - almost alarming - job of connecting the dots between Biblical end times prophecy and current events.
Chapters one through four, as well as seven and eight, and most of nine and ten are fantastic.
Chapter one discusses the rebirth of the nation of Israel according to Isaiah's prophecy, "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such a thing? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once?" (Isa 66:8) This chapter is not only deep, it's emotional, and it taught me much about an aspect of the end times I thought I understood.
Chapter two discusses oil. I'd never heard oil discussed in the context of the end times, but Dr. Jeremiah helps the reader take a few steps back to display the big picture of tensions in the Middle East.
Chapter three discusses modern Europe. Dreams and visions from Daniel (chapters 2 and 7), as well as John's revelation of the beast with 10 horns, are easily connected to the currently developing European Union.
Chapter four discusses Islamic Terrorism in no uncertain terms. I appreciate that Dr. Jeremiah doesn't shy away from the topic. Rather, he gives a history of Islam and quotes many Muslim or former Muslim scholars and authors.
Chapter seven continues chapter three with a discussion on the emergence of the character known as the Antichrist. Dr. Jeremiah reviews biblical prophecy concerning this man - who he is and what he does - and then demonstrates how easily all that is foretold of such an evil man can be accomplished in our modern world.
Chapter eight discusses biblical prophecy concerning the enemies of Israel. They are named in Old Testament scriptures, but the names of many nations have changed. In this chapter, Dr. Jeremiah demonstrates how the enemies of Israel thousands of years ago are her enemies still today, and how they are currently aligning themselves to perfectly fulfill what is prophesied concerning them.
Chapters nine and ten discuss the war at Armageddon - which is actually a place - and the return of the King of kings. Much of these chapters is enlightening, but the whole of them - along with chapter six - is tainted by chapter five.
Chapter five discusses Dr. Jeremiah's theory about the rapture - the time when Jesus comes back to claim His church. Some believe this will happen before the years of tribulation that will come over the earth, some think after. Dr. Jeremiah and I do not agree, and his interjection of this theory throughout the remained of the book was at first bothersome and eventually discerning.
I took it as an opportunity to clarify my beliefs about the rapture vs. the second coming. Dr. Jeremiah is much better versed in scripture and prophecy than I am, and if I was wrong I wanted to know. After several long afternoons and evenings of comparing notes and sorting through scripture, I'm not swayed at all by his ideas.
More than that, I found several occasions where scripture is quoted in part, and the part neglected may well contradict his theory! I also discovered at least once where scripture was referenced and implicated to say something it very clearly does not say.
Of course there are also several passages that make claims about the rapture or Christs' second coming where no scriptural support is given. I respect that Dr. Jeremiah understood himself to be stating fact and that listing the biblical support for every assertion would surely add considerable length to the project. Still, as one trying to fight herself out of a rock and a hard place, I was looking for those scripture references and they were not given.
I certainly don't presume to accuse Dr. Jeremiah of deliberately deceiving his audience. It may have been in many of these cases that he didn't see the necessity in explaining pieces of his theory in greater detail, or that he believed some truth was easily understood that perhaps was not. It may also simply be that doctrine long held has a way of turning our eyes from scriptural contradictions.
That said, I believe his teaching on the rapture to be dangerously erroneous.
In all, however, What in the World is Going On? is an entertaining, insightful, and very valuable read. For the weight of its subject, Dr. Jeremiah pens an easy read. I would highly recommend it to anyone - Christian or no - with the addendum that you look up the scriptures he references as you go, and after you've read it, we get together for coffee and a discussion of the rapture.
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