Racing Toward Armageddon: The Three Great Religions and the Plot to End the World

by Michael Baigent

Overview

In Racing Toward Armageddon, Michael Baigent, the New York Times bestselling author of The Jesus Papers and Holy Blood, Holy Grail, exposes the conspiracy of religious extremists in the Holy Land and their efforts to bring about the end of the world in our lifetime. Baigent expose the many diverse, public, and clandestine figures who are driving this perilous messianic message forward, and poses a pressing question: can we really afford to remain oblivious much longer?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061669033
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Edition description:	Larger Print
Pages:	442
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Michael Baigent is the author of From the Omens of Babylon, Ancient Traces, and the New York Times bestseller The Jesus Papers. He is also the coauthor of the international bestsellers Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Messianic Legacy (with Henry Lincoln and Richard Leigh). He lives in England.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Timeline xi

Preface xvii

1 Taking the Temple 1

2 The Red Heifer 15

3 Destroying the Mosques 29

4 Armageddon 39

5 John of Patmos 59

6 Revelation 77

7 The Day of the Beast 93

8 Carried Away by the Rapture 115

9 Fighting for God 131

10 Planet Rushdoony 153

11 The Caliphate 181

12 Jerusalem 209

13 Welcome to the Gods 221

Notes 241

Bibliography 259

Index 265

Editorial Reviews

As in his previous books (Holy Blood, Holy Grail; The Jesus Papers), Baigent tries to uncover the dark forceshiding in the shadows of religion and ferret out fundamentalists whose dogmatism often turns to violence. Focusing on the end times, he warns that powerful fundamentalist sects in Christianity, Judaism and Islam are working to bring about the battle of Armageddon, when the forces of darkness will be destroyed by the Messiah, who will then bring about a new reign. All three groups want Jerusalem, where each lays claim to a physical spot, the Dome of the Rock, as a sacred place in its history; all three want a state in which politics are subservient to religion. Baigent makes the same mistake that the fundamentalists make when reading the book of Revelation. It is not a book of prophecy and “manual for frightening sinners back into the fold”; it is apocalyptic literature that uses symbols as secret codes for the state of affairs in the lives of first- and second-century Christians, offering them hope for escaping from their plights. Regrettably, Baigent's well-intentioned exposé turns out to be little more than a screed against fundamentalism that is based on a misreading of his central text. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly