Dead Heat by Joel Rosenberg

A couple years ago I heard a radio interview with an author who wrote novels based on Bible prophecy and current events. He had the uncanny knack of predicting world events. The first chapter of his first book, written before 9/11 (and published right after) described an airplane hijacked by terrorists to fly kamikaze into a target in the US. So when I remembered his name long enough to find his newest book, Ezekiel Option, I grabbed it. And then I read a fascinating intersection of prophecy and foreseeable world events.

The scientific method requires a scientist to make a hypothesis and then to conduct a series of tests. If x is true, then y. If x is false, then no y or z instead… Joel Rosenberg is a sort of scientist. His hypothesis is that the Bible is true, and that certain of its prophecies are next on the prophetic timeline. His test is that if this were so, international politics would be moving in a certain direction. I don’t regret picking up in the middle of his series. The first two books describe an attack on America that leads to a war with Sadaam Hussein, which at its conclusion produces an increasingly prosperous Iraq. Ezekiel Option picks up about where we actually are in world events, and predicts a Russian alliance particularly with Iran, but with other Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries as well.

I pay attention to these parts of world news like a scientist testing a theory. Joel Rosenberg, who, it turns out, doesn’t just see these things in visions but actually does a huge amount of research through personal interviews and worldwide newspapers and Bible study, helps me to stay up to date on potentially prophecy-related news items through his weblog. Last night scrolling across the bottom of Hannity and Colmes or the O’Reilly Factor (late repeats of both) was the casual report: Russia, Iran & Qatar move towards oil cartel, would force EU to rethink energy policies. Russia has sold arms to Iran. Putin is moving more and more to be the strong central leader of his country, a requirement of the Ezekiel prophecies.

Anyway, all of that is preliminary to this actual review of Joel Rosenberg’s fifth novel, Dead Heat. When I first picked this book up from the library, my dad read it. He said a lot of people died, and was mum about the rest. So I wasn’t really in the mood to read about people dying. After the elections last week, however, I remembered a quote on Joel Rosenberg’s weblog from this book, “What Bennett had never really considered carefully until now was the possibility that something else might devastate the American people, rendering them ineffective heading into the last of the last days. A financial downturn on Wall Street. The sudden collapse of the dollar. The beginning of another Great Depression. A series of devastating earthquakes. Or hurricanes. Or other natural disasters, like a tsunami… None of it was clearly prophesied in the Scriptures. Not that he could find. But perhaps he should have foreseen the neutralization of America by more carefully reading between the lines. If so, what else was he missing? What exactly was coming next?”(edited for spoilers) Since it looks to me like this is happening to America, this economic depression and weak leadership essentially neutralizing us as a Superpower, I figured now would be the time to pick up Dead Heat. I was in the mood for a depressing book.

Except we hadn’t purchased the book like I thought. Our collection of secondhand Joel Rosenberg novels had an empty spot at the end. So I couldn’t just pick it up and read it last Tuesday night. I read Lady Susan instead, a much more cheerful response, I must say. But Mom found Dead Heat at a thrift store over the weekend, so I set about reading it.

374 fast-paced pages led me from a close presidential election to the rapture and beginning of the tribulation. No book I’ve ever read has made me feel more vulnerable. Waking up after dreams (casual dreams, not nightmares) continuing the book in my imagination, and as I read, I had to keep telling myself that there is no safer place than where God wants me. There’s this temptation when I read Joel’s books to pack up and move either to Israel or some place safe like Antarctica. God has given no guarantees on my life either way. I could die, or I could suffer pain, or I could have a peaceful life like many have experienced in the past. To be honest I don’t think I could run. I like to be a part of things going on, even if they’re dangerous.

Spoiler: The book essentially opens with five nuclear bombs taking out four major American cities and the President and at least half the government. No one knows who is responsible for the attacks. Like the movie Crimson Tide (whose plot fascinates me), ignorance could be fatal for most of the world. And in Dead Heat, there are virtually no voices urging caution.

How do you know which world leaders to believe? Are the more aggressive ones just equally afraid, or are the opportunistic, or are they part of a mega-conspiracy to destroy you? Why is this happening? What are the motives of the world leaders, or of the people sitting next to you? Who has the answers? How does one make such huge decisions when you haven’t had any sleep and you’re grieving the loss of millions of lives?

Once again the book weaves the stories of fictional world leaders with that of the main character, Jon Bennett. He and his wife have cashed in their portfolios to help an exponentially needy world. And convinced that time is running short, they invest their lives in helping others and spreading Jesus’ love one encounter at a time. This book is filled with references to salvation, to the love of God and the peace of accepting His provision for our sinfulness. When any character asks, “what should I do?” the answer is always something Jesus says. The answer is what Jon and his new wife Erin did: love people and tell them about Jesus.

A theme of Jon Bennett’s story is responsibility. Is he responsible for things that happen or don’t happen? He asks a lot of if-only’s, and other people point blame-filled fingers at him. Should he have stayed involved in politics, shared what he knew? Should he have taken his wife to the infirmary sooner? What about the choices facing him in the future? What’s his responsibility? How on earth do you decide? The answer, of course, is to do the right thing, including loving even your enemies. And God had blessed Jon with the answers when he sought Him.

Near the end of the book, Jon has a revelation: his whole life he’s chased after measurable results. He’s wanted to be a part of important things. He wanted control. And spending months in a refugee camp helping the poor wasn’t so measurable. People weren’t responsive to the gospel like he thought they should be. What difference was he making? Was it worth it? Could he have done something more productive? What about now, when he was helpless as the world slipped into war and there was no one even to talk to about Jesus. What is God’s purpose in that?

Isn’t it our responsibility to do something? Didn’t God put us here to get results? Isn’t he to blame if his wife isn’t safe? Isn’t that his job? Jon’s to-do list had two columns: done or to-be-done. But he learned something through his helplessness, a miniature of the helplessness felt by all the world at such a time. Erin said God wanted her to “do the loving; I’ll do the converting.” Love is not measurable. People are not ever checked off your list as done. And grace isn’t about accomplishments or blame. Jesus says well done because we’ve been good and faithful, not competent and productive. Jesus isn’t a CEO or a president. He knows the end result, and He knows how He’s getting it there.

God knows how the world is going to come to the last days. Joel Rosenberg’s hypotheses aren’t all right. He’s waiting like the rest of us. It is possible that the time between the Ezekiel prophecies and the classic end times events (world government, temple in Israel, rapture) is longer than a book series will allow. The rapture could come earlier than these devastating wars. Or later. Or the wars may not happen at all. Given his reputation for correctly predicting the future, Joel opens his book with a sort of disclaimer: “I pray to God the novel you hold in your hands never comes true.”

The idea of prophecy is an interesting one. For centuries if a man sought to unite the world, he failed. He was doomed to do so, because the time was not fulfilled. Other elements of prophecy were not in place. But at some point things are going to happen, and nothing will be able to stop them. There will be that one-world government. Any superpower or leader or ministry that stands in the way will be removed. We put off disaster, continue peace negotiations about Israel, etc. One day none of that will work. Will it be that no one is left who wants anything different, or will God remove them from power? Is there any difference?

I (Lisa of Longbourn) am willing to say plainly that I think Obama’s presidency (based on the Dead Heat quote above) weakens the prophetic necessity of a violent neutralization of America. But it increases other likelihoods. When our enemies think we are weak, those who want us destroyed because they hate us (not because we’re in their way) are emboldened to attack. Persecution may arise from inside, as it has in other countries that drifted toward socialism as we are doing. Obama is ardently pro-abortion, and the longer our country massacres its innocents, the more likely we are to incur natural consequences (economic, military manpower) and supernatural judgment. Dead Heat makes my final point, that it is possible America is prosperous because it supports Israel. If we stop being their ally, we remove from ourselves the Genesis 12 blessing of God. And if we ally ourselves with Israel’s enemies, we incur the curse of Genesis 12. So we might be asking for bad things to come to America.

I’m having a hard time shaking my mind free of the story. I look out my window and wonder why people are so casual. Why is my church doing ministry as usual? Why am I sitting at my desk reading or writing when people are dying and, truly, millions could die at any minute? Shouldn’t I say something? Doesn’t the whole lost world (of which I’m increasingly aware) need to hear the gospel? I watch the news and have to remind myself they won’t mention President MacPherson or UN Secretary Lucente or Iraqi leader Al-Hassani. So this is a vivid piece of writing. But I pray that its impact has more to do with my character and less to do with my imagination.

This book challenges me to be urgent about the Father’s business, and to live out love, ministry, and faith all the more radically. The more I feel helpless, and am humbled by my lack of control, the more I need God. I need His direction and His peace. I need to believe in His goodness. And I need to lean on His instructions.

To God be all glory.