On the strength of its cover art " a clapboard New England church standing amidst apocalyptic smoke plumes " I was prepared for a scoffing, and perhaps frightening, expose of this unusual expression of contemporary Christianity.
But Nicholas Guyatt " not a Christian himself " is respectful towards the Christians he meets " many of them charm him with their attempts to introduce him to Jesus and their understanding of His timetable.
Have a Nice Doomsday is an investigation of those Americans whose faith is particularised by two tenets: firstly that the return of Christ will be heralded by a vertical extraction (the rapture) of Christians from the earth and secondly that the 1948 proclamation of the State of Israel is a direct fulfilment of Bible prophecy.
Guyatt quotes some relevant verses from Daniel, Ezekiel, Thessalonians and Revelation, so that we " the secular cultural inquirers he has in mind " may understand how 50 million Americans are said to have concluded that the end is literally nigh.
A central figure in this subculture, John Hagee, pastors a mega-church in Texas and chairs a national pro-Israel organization. The active support he gives to the policies of the Jerusalem Government puts even the rabbi of his local synagogue to shame.
Guyatt also meets Tim LaHaye, co-author of Left Behind " a series of novels depicting the fate of people who live through the events foretold " as he interprets them " in the Book of Revelation. These books have been merchandised into movies and even video games. Mel Odom describes his own contribution to the industry, Apocalypse Dawn, as "Tom Clancy with Prayer". It's no fringe sub-culture: Mel writes scripts for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sabrina the Teenage Witch too.
Seeing another novelist of the apocalypse, Joel Rosenberg, described on US television as a "Middle Eastern expert", Guyatt is prompted to ask how much influence these people have in Washington. Well, America's certainly a colourful and diverse place (as this book undoubtedly proves). Hagee's lobby group mounts an impressive annual convention. But the answer seems to be: not much. Belying his reputation as a creature of the "religious right', even President George W. Bush advocates a "two state solution" in the Holy Land " anathema to those who think that it is there that God is even now fulfilling his promises to Abraham.
Anti-Americanism sometimes seems to be the last acceptable kind of bigotry; so it's pleasing that this book avoids ridicule and fear-mongering. However, it would have been helpful if Guyatt had attempted to explain why this exotic theological plant has taken root here and now. He interviews no clergy who dispute this interpretation of the Bible; or indeed any other kinds of Christian at all.
A Seventh Day Adventist friend once told me how his denomination began with the failure of a bold prediction about the Lord's return " "the Great Disappointment" they call it. It makes me wonder if this movement will also have one?
Sensibly today's prophets won't be pinned down even to a decade. They find "signs of the times" in the Cold War, and the end of the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli War, and Peace between Israel and Egypt; War in Iraq, and a threatened War with Iran, the European Union and the United Nations.
Guyatt queries the incongruity between the imminent global apocalypse they forecast, and the traditional American patriotic values these preachers espouse. But then, conventional Christians too are sometimes called to explain how their belief in the world to come sits with caring for the world we have.
It was JC Ryle who said of Jesus: The whole Bible is about Him; look for Him on every page. A problem many Christians have with Christian Zionism (as this movement is sometimes known) is that its interpretation gives an inadequate place to the gospel. It seems to be all about Middle Eastern politics. Graeme Goldsworthy offers a more Christ-focussed perspective. In Gospel and Revelation he explains how the visions in the Revelation of John signify things beyond history: the triumph through eternity of the Cross of Christ over sin.
While He tarries, all sides in this theological debate can treat this book as a gentle reminder that knowledge puffs up, while love builds up. Being right or wrong about when and how He will return is less important than simply trusting Jesus when He says He will.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
