cover image WHAT'S NEXT? God, Israel, and the Future of Iraq

WHAT'S NEXT? God, Israel, and the Future of Iraq

Charles H. Dyer, . . Moody, $12.99 (160pp) ISBN 978-0-8024-0907-2

Atypically for a work of fundamentalist Christian eschatology, this primer takes the historical past of the Middle East as seriously as its prophetic future. Dyer (The Rise of Babylon ), provost at the Moody Bible Institute, has a slightly revisionist interpretation of end-times prophecy, one informed by recent upheavals in Iraq. He contends that the Babylon discussed in Revelation is not, as many scholars believe, a recrudescent Rome but a reconstructed Iraq. Awash in oil wealth, the new Babylon will seduce the world economically and participate in complex political wranglings with a pan-European superstate during the seven-year run-up to the final assaults on Israel and the Second Coming. Based on passages from Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation, Dyer's is a not entirely implausible exegesis of Biblical prophecy, but while it may lure the Left Behind audience, it is somewhat peripheral to the book's main focus on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. Spanning the century from the birth of Zionism to the al-Aqsa intifada, Dyer's account of the conflict is more even-handed than the usual fundamentalist cheerleading for the Israeli side. He argues that American evangelicals should support Israel, but acknowledges some Palestinian grievances, insists that God sanctions Palestinians' rights to the land they live on and even gives a sympathetic profile of a former PLO terrorist. Dyer's humanization of Palestinians seems partly an effort to reassure readers about the safety of travel in Israel (he has a sideline in guided tours of the Holy Land), but his nuanced, readable treatment makes this a good introduction to a region that is of central concern to fundamentalists. 8-page photo insert not seen by PW . (Jan.)