Taking jabs at the popular "Left Behind" series has become the norm in many Christian circles.  I'm anticipating these doctrinal jabs to intensify at the reboot of this movie that will star Nicolas Cage in 2014 (not even joking, click here and see for yourself).  Whether you think "Left Behind" is deserving of all the bad mouthing, doctrinally flawed or not, you wouldn't want to base your eschatological position off of a novel would you? No...

     With that said, Revelation is notoriously the book Christians want to learn about the most and the book pastors want to preach on the least.  I've read through Revelation several times and even taught multiple bible studies through it and it still intimidates me.  However, Revelation isn't the only place one needs to look in Scripture if they want a complete study on end-times which makes the study of eschatology even more overwhelming.

     I say all this to share with you an incredible resource I just finished up that will now be the first book I recommend to somebody who wants to study end-times.  "Kingdom Come, The Amillennial Alternative" by Sam Storms efficiently leads you through this immensely complicated topic.  Though your millennial stance is a very secondary doctrinal issue, I think this book reconciles a ton of Scripture.  Sam lays out every possible end-time stance in great detail, tackles every notorious end-time passage and very politely dismantles each position he does not agree with while making a strong case for Amillennialism.

     Even if you simply want to learn about all the different perspectives on the end-times then this is a book you'll want to pick up.  This book captivated my attention for several weeks and is definitely a resource I'll go back to several times in the future, well... until Jesus comes back anyway. 

Here's the layout of Storms' Book.  Don't let some of these chapter titles scare you, he's a very practical writer and communicates hard concepts very clearly.  I only had to reference a dictionary a couple of times, ha!

Kingdom Come,
[The Amillennial Alternative]

• Chapter 1: The Hermeneutics of Eschatology: 5 Foundational Principles for the Interpretation of Prophecy
• Chapter 2: Defining Dispensationalism
• Chapter 3: The 70 Weeks of Daniel 9 and the Old Testament Roots of Dispensationalism
• Chapter 4: Daniel's Contribution to Biblical Eschatology
• Chapter 5: Problems with Premillennialism
• Chapter 6: Who are the People of God? Israel, the Church, and "Replacement" Theology
• Chapter 7: The Eschatology of Jesus: Matthew 24 and the Olivet Discourse (1)
• Chapter 8: The Eschatology of Jesus: Matthew 24 and the Olivet Discourse (2)
• Chapter 9: The Book of Acts and the Promise of Israel's Restoration
• Chapter 10: Romans 11 and the "Future" of Israel
• Chapter 11: The Kingdom of God: Now and Not Yet
• Chapter 12: The Postmillennial View of the Kingdom of God
• Chapter 13: The Book of Revelation and Biblical Eschatology: The Chronology of the Seal, Trumpet, and Bowl Judgements
• Chapter 14: Amillennialism, Revelation 20, and The Binding of Satan
• Chapter 15: Amillennialism, Revelation 20, and The First Resurrection
• Chapter 16: The Antichrist in Biblical Eschatology: A Study of Revelation 13 & 17
• Chapter 17: The Antichrist in Biblical Eschatology: A Study of 2 Thessalonians 2
• Conclusion: A Cumulative Case Argument for Amillenialism

I pray this book is a blessing to you!

Cody Parman