Goldstein sees himself as a marked man who someday soon may have a price on his head. Author of numerous articles defending the principle of religious liberty against the New Right's drive to Christianize America through legislation, he knows that he has set himself to struggle against a power that is in the ascendancy. He has already felt the scorn of those who want to break down the wall between church and state in the United States (see "Who's Afraid of a Judeo-Christian America?" Ministry, July 1986).
But Goldstein believes he is on God's side in the struggle. He sees the principle of religious liberty as fundamental in the great controversy between Christ and Satan, and illustrates this point with lessons from God's dealings with Job. In conclusion he finds in Job a foreshadow ing of the abuse Satan will heap upon true Christians in the last days, and sees in Job's "comforters" a type of the religious persecutors who will assert charges against God's faithful, obedient remnant. He appeals to us to be ready to stand for God amid abuse and suffering.
He makes a strong case against the need of state-supported religion, saying that "spiritual revival is about as dependent upon legislative reform as NATO forces are on Wonder Woman."
Arguing from the standpoint of prophecy and current events, Goldstein marshals evidence in quote after quote that the time of the end hasteth greatly. (I only wish that all of the quotations were documented in the endnotes, rather than just some.) Be it in the push for prayer in public schools--which he sees as a percursor to reestablishment of Sunday laws--or in the visit of a delegation from the Lord's Day Alliance to Pope John Paul II, he sees events coming together to hasten the establishment of religious persecution as a state-sponsored principle in America.
While some may view Goldstein as an alarmist, his views are worth hearing out. A book like this is good to read once in a while, if only to help us get our heads above the sand and look around at what is happening in our world.
