The question Dr. Jeremiah asks in this book is an important one for our day. As we look around our world and see mass chaos and confusion, we often wonder – what is going on? The Bible gives us several prophetic clues and David Jeremiah explores some of these in this book. Just to give you a birds eye view of the contents of the book, Jeremiah gives 10 prophetic clues as to “what in the world is going on” and these are the chapter titles:

1. The Israel Connection (how the nation of Israel figures into prophecy)
2. The Crude Awakening (the importance of oil and how that might play into end-times prophecy)
3. Modern Europe……Ancient Rome (the connection between these two and prophecy)
4. Islamic Terrorism (Radical Islam)
5. Vanished Without a Trace (the Rapture)
6. Does America Have a Role in Prophecy?
7. When One Man Rules the World (the antichrist)
8. The New Axis of Evil (the countries that are determined to destroy Israel)
9. Arming for Armageddon (the preparation for the final battle)
10. The Return of the King (the Second Coming of Jesus Christ)

Dr. Jeremiah is a well-known preacher and bible teacher who often teaches on Biblical prophecy. I must admit that I used to be skeptical of teaches like him because it appeared to me as if he was overly focused on prophecy and failed to preach the whole counsel of God. To be sure, there are many teachers like that (and there probably always will be), but I don’t think David Jeremiah.

I found chapter two to be very interesting as Jeremiah looked at the growing importance of oil in our world. What I thought was lacking in this chapter was a biblical basis for how oil fits into end-times prophecy. Jeremiah used few (if any) verses in this chapter simply because the bible does not say much about oil. This book was published about 2 years ago when oil hit 140$/barrel and many analysts were predicting 200$/barrel oil. The price of oil has now settled at around 70$ and most countries are working to find alternative sources of energy. What I am saying is that perhaps Jeremiah has stretched the importance of oil just a little. At the moment, it would appear that oil will factor into end-times prophecy, however, a hundred years from now we (Christians) might have a very different perspective. Anytime we go beyond the pages of scripture, it can only be speculation which is what Jeremiah has done in this chapter.

Something else that concerned me about this book was Jeremiah’s willingness to make assumptions about things which no one can know. Just to give one example, Dr. Jeremiah claims that during the Rapture a “billion people” will suddenly disappear from the earth (p. 98). How does Jeremiah know that there are a billion Christians in the world? There might be a billion professing Christians, but that does not mean there are a billion true believers. He makes a similar statement in chapter 5 where he claims that during the rapture, America will lose “a minimum of 25 percent of her population.” I ask the same question – how does he know this?

Those familiar with David Jeremiah will know that he is writing this book as a staunch dispensationalist. If your theology is not dispensational, this might be a tough read for you. For some, his eschatology might seem too tight and polished in the sense that he seems to have every end times event nailed down and figured out and his pre-trib, pre-millennial eschatology comes through in almost every chapter. As I read through the book, I often wondered if this book was more about “what in the world is going to happen?” rather than “what in the world is going on?” Case in point the chapters on the rapture, the antichrist, Armageddon, and the Second Coming. This is not what is happening “now” but rather what will happen in the future according to biblical prophecy. Granted, Jeremiah is trying to show how things are lining up in our day to usher in these events.

As you can see, I certainly don’t agree with everything in this book, but it is an interesting read that will make you think. The best part of the book was at the very end where Jeremiah gives ten ways in which we should be different in light of our prophetic understanding and these come directly from the New Testament epistles.