Charles H. Betz is a retired pastor

Prophecy' 'has remained a bedrock of American popular religion," believes Paul Boyer, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin. The author also believes that this interest in prophecy has never been greater than at the present time. According to pollsters, 40 to 60 percent of Americans give attention to Bible prophecy, and 62 percent have no doubts that Jesus will come back to earth again.

In this book the author attempts to show how the proclamation of Bible prophecy has influenced and shaped American society, politics, and foreign policy especially our relations with Israel during the Reagan years. This scholarly yet fascinating book is the fruit age of four years of intensive research. U.S. News & World Report gave it extensive review.

Much of the book is focused on the teaching of Bible prophecy during the past 75 years. It is the author's belief that prophecy endures because it is one way of making sense of the world. He makes a distinction between respected biblical scholars and the "prophecy popularizers such as Hal Lindsey, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson. Boyer faults those who use the latest headlines to identify the antichrist, the king of the north, the mark of the beast, etc.

Boyer deals with the Millerite movement and Seventh-day Adventists in an evenhanded way. He refers to many conversions resulting from Miller's preaching. He concludes by saying, "The conviction that God's plan for human history lays encrypted in ancient biblical texts remains very much alive as the century draws to a close. From pulpits, cassette tapes, orbiting communication satellites, and the pages of millions of paper backs, the ancient cry rings out as it has for hundreds of years: 'He is coming soon.'"

This book gives us a new appreciation of the place and power of Bible prophecy throughout the Christian Era. We get to know the prophetic movement through the eyes of a contemporary historian with no apparent sectarian bias.


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Charles H. Betz is a retired pastor

October 1995

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