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Rating: 
Summary: Just starting to read
Review: After reading Ultimate Things by Dennis E. Engleman, I found it to be an unbeleivable book putting some of the real questions in perspective. A rumor of War takes you deeper,looking at things from the begining where it all started with the creation and the falling of satan from Heaven. Although I am only in the early stage of the book my soul is hungry for the food that our fathers are interpreting and delivering the message through this book. Being a Russian Orthodox and getting back to my faith after the parting of my mother late last year. It is an unbeleivable feeling to re-new and deepen the faith and the relationship with God. I will be posting a complete review after I finish reading it.
Thank you Dennis for your inspirational writings.
Rating: 
Summary: Orthodox Christian teachings on the Millennium
Review: Engleman's _A Rumor of War: Christ's Millennial Reign and the Rapture of His Church_ is an excellent metahistory spanning from Lucifer's Fall from celestial glory to the Second Coming of Christ. The cover features a mosaic of St. John the Evangelist symbolized by a multi-winged bird soaring through the clouds carrying a book (the Gospel). It offers an Eastern Orthodox perspective on Jesus' controversial teachings regarding the Kingdom of God, the Rapture, the first and second resurrections, and the seal that binds Satan. It is written, as a sequel to Engleman's other book dealing specifically with the End Times, _Ultimate Things_, and also to debunk the false dispensationalist speculation of a pre-Tribulation rapture. Engleman quotes from a variety of ancient Church Fathers, in particular St. Augustine's _City of God_. Before God created Man, earth and the material universe, He created the angels. Angels are beings of pure intelligence without physical bodies. Lucifer (the Bearer of Light, as "even Satan can pose as an angel of righteousness") was the greatest of the angels, and he rejected God's authority in heaven. In his rebellion, he brought down one-third of the angelic host. Lucifer, also known as "Satan," meaning "adversary" was given domain "over the power of the air." This refers to a spiritual world that is higher than earth but lower than heaven from where Satan can tempt man. Engleman posits that God allowed Adam and Eve fall from glory in the Garden of Eden so that Christ could eventually redeem them and fill the space in heaven left remaining by the fallen angels. Although Satan had fallen humanity in his power, Christ redeemed man by his sacrificial death on the Cross. The Church was instituted by Christ through His Apostles to offer salvation to man in the Eucharist, the literal Body and Blood of Christ, understood as partaking in the first resurrection. At Christ's resurrection, Satan was bound "for a thousand years" (the Millennium) and a seal placed on him. Some among the Holy Fathers believed that the seal that kept Satan in check was the authority of the Roman Empire. This ties in with Jesus prophecies that the Old Testament agreement with Israel would be handed to a nation "bearing the fruits thereof." Rome fell to heresy and barbarian invasions, while St. Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Empire to the Greek City of Byzantium. Constantinople fell to the Muslim Turks in 1453 and the only Orthodox nation left at that time was Russia. The Grand Duke of Moscow became known as "Czar"/Caesar and was considered the official guardian of Orthodox Christianity. However, Communist revolutionaries assassinated the last Czar, St. Nicholas II, on July 17th, 1918, which Engleman dates as the official unbinding of Satan in today's world. To this effect, Engleman cites the strange rock n' roll song "Sympathy for the Devil" by Mick Jagger, as a veiled demonic revelation, where Satan brags that he "killed the czar and his ministers" among other atrocities. The Millennium is the period of Christ's Church on earth that was free to convert and sanctify its members with official Roman protection. The saints are a visible manifestation of Christ reigning in heaven. This Millennium is to be understood as an allegory of symbolic of the Church rather than in a political, materialist sense. Also, it does not have to be exactly one thousand years in length, as St. Peter notes that "a day with the lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." During the Millennium Satan could only operate behind the scenes and not against the Orthodox Church openly, but with the removal of the seal, the Church was once again under official state persecution as it was in the ancient Roman Empire. The world is approaching closer to the reign of Antichrist, although exactly who he remains unknown. He will be a manifestation of all the worldly heretical currents directed against traditional Christianity. The pre-Tribulation Rapture theory popular among evangelical Christians is a recent concoction dating from the 19th century revivalist Darby who based a "secret" coming of Christ before the tribulation on a radical misinterpretation of a handful of Scripture passages. Jesus is emphatic that the Christians will suffer in this life for him during a great martyrdom and persecution. Christians who are too deeply entrenched in the pre-Tribulation Rapture belief are less likely to recognize the Antichrist when he manifests his power. Christ's Second Coming will not be in secret, but "like lightning coming from the east to west." The entire world will know in an instant that Christ has come in the midst of its apostasy. The only ones who will be expecting this are the handfuls of Christians who have managed to keep the Faith in the midst of the world's dissolution under the Satanic tyranny of the Antichrist.
Rating:
Summary: Orthodox Christian teachings on the Millennium
Review: Engleman's _A Rumor of War: Christ's Millennial Reign and the Rapture of His Church_ is an excellent metahistory spanning from Lucifer's Fall from celestial glory to the Second Coming of Christ. The cover features a mosaic of St. John the Evangelist symbolized by a multi-winged bird soaring through the clouds carrying a book (the Gospel). It offers an Eastern Orthodox perspective on Jesus' controversial teachings regarding the Kingdom of God, the Rapture, the first and second resurrections, and the seal that binds Satan. It is written, as a sequel to Engleman's other book dealing specifically with the End Times, _Ultimate Things_, and also to debunk the false dispensationalist speculation of a pre-Tribulation rapture. Engleman quotes from a variety of ancient Church Fathers, in particular St. Augustine's _City of God_. Before God created Man, earth and the material universe, He created the angels. Angels are beings of pure intelligence without physical bodies. Lucifer (the Bearer of Light, as "even Satan can pose as an angel of righteousness") was the greatest of the angels, and he rejected God's authority in heaven. In his rebellion, he brought down one-third of the angelic host. Lucifer, also known as "Satan," meaning "adversary" was given domain "over the power of the air." This refers to a spiritual world that is higher than earth but lower than heaven from where Satan can tempt man. Engleman posits that God allowed Adam and Eve fall from glory in the Garden of Eden so that Christ could eventually redeem them and fill the space in heaven left remaining by the fallen angels. Although Satan had fallen humanity in his power, Christ redeemed man by his sacrificial death on the Cross. The Church was instituted by Christ through His Apostles to offer salvation to man in the Eucharist, the literal Body and Blood of Christ, understood as partaking in the first resurrection. At Christ's resurrection, Satan was bound "for a thousand years" (the Millennium) and a seal placed on him. Some among the Holy Fathers believed that the seal that kept Satan in check was the authority of the Roman Empire. This ties in with Jesus prophecies that the Old Testament agreement with Israel would be handed to a nation "bearing the fruits thereof." Rome fell to heresy and barbarian invasions, while St. Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Empire to the Greek City of Byzantium. Constantinople fell to the Muslim Turks in 1453 and the only Orthodox nation left at that time was Russia. The Grand Duke of Moscow became known as "Czar"/Caesar and was considered the official guardian of Orthodox Christianity. However, Communist revolutionaries assassinated the last Czar, St. Nicholas II, on July 17th, 1918, which Engleman dates as the official unbinding of Satan in today's world. To this effect, Engleman cites the strange rock n' roll song "Sympathy for the Devil" by Mick Jagger, as a veiled demonic revelation, where Satan brags that he "killed the czar and his ministers" among other atrocities. The Millennium is the period of Christ's Church on earth that was free to convert and sanctify its members with official Roman protection. The saints are a visible manifestation of Christ reigning in heaven. This Millennium is to be understood as an allegory of symbolic of the Church rather than in a political, materialist sense. Also, it does not have to be exactly one thousand years in length, as St. Peter notes that "a day with the lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." During the Millennium Satan could only operate behind the scenes and not against the Orthodox Church openly, but with the removal of the seal, the Church was once again under official state persecution as it was in the ancient Roman Empire. The world is approaching closer to the reign of Antichrist, although exactly who he remains unknown. He will be a manifestation of all the worldly heretical currents directed against traditional Christianity. The pre-Tribulation Rapture theory popular among evangelical Christians is a recent concoction dating from the 19th century revivalist Darby who based a "secret" coming of Christ before the tribulation on a radical misinterpretation of a handful of Scripture passages. Jesus is emphatic that the Christians will suffer in this life for him during a great martyrdom and persecution. Christians who are too deeply entrenched in the pre-Tribulation Rapture belief are less likely to recognize the Antichrist when he manifests his power. Christ's Second Coming will not be in secret, but "like lightning coming from the east to west." The entire world will know in an instant that Christ has come in the midst of its apostasy. The only ones who will be expecting this are the handfuls of Christians who have managed to keep the Faith in the midst of the world's dissolution under the Satanic tyranny of the Antichrist.
Rating:
Summary: A Peace of mind for the Heart and Soul
Review: WOW ! What can I say about A RUMOR of WAR except that this is one of the BEST and most enlightening books I have EVER read. With ULTIMATE THINGS being the second best. Our Soul searches for nourishment every day and many times the type of nourishment that we find is not the right kind to easy the hunger of the soul. But A Rumor of WAR finds the proper portion in fullfiling the hunger and replaces the hunger with hope and faith through salvation of our spiritual life. It puts questions of the faith in perfect harmony, it opens up your HEART to show us what really is our purpose here on earth. It makes sure that we don't get deceived by the new wave pre- trib teachings of todays churches, it focuses on the teachings of our fathers and it opens our understanding of the material presented in A Rumor of WAR. A must Read for anyone in search and whos SOUL is hungering for the truth. I only wish that there was a way that Dennis E. Engleman could some how put his work of the books into a series of videos or a mini - series type like a movie to show the people the real way of things to come and open up their eyes and heart by saving them from the false teachings that are going on out there in our World. Thank you very much Dennis for your books, please continue to feed our souls, for the hunger is always there! Amen
Walt
tereprises@yahoo.com
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