A warning derived from hidden biblical codes should prove irresistible to Christian fans with a Da Vinci Code sweet tooth.
A work offers a numerological deciphering of the Book of Revelation.
The latest book from Torckler (The Millennial Code, 2012) takes 2014 as a pivotal year in human history. It was then that former government contractor Edward Snowden revealed the National Security Agency’s massive, global data-harvesting policies, which had been hidden from the public until then. This now constitutes, in Torckler’s mind, a sign of “the beginning of the end of the Christian churches’ legal freedom to operate as a morals-based church entity we’ve enjoyed and assumed with the full rights of tax freedom.” The author looks to the standard biblical sources for End of Days calculations, the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation. He hopes his elucidations will “switch the light on” in his readers’ imaginations, alerting them to the possibility that the apocalyptic predictions made in Scripture might be coming true at this moment. The prerequisites for these revelations should be familiar to students of Christian eschatology: a charismatic dictator will be aided in his rise to power by a mega-city called Babylon (not to be confused with the historical city of the same name) and will bring the entire world under one despotic rule. Torckler, writing “not as a professor but as a poet,” sifts through biblical clues using a simple cipher that assigns a number value to each letter of the alphabet: 1 for a, 2 for b, etc. This cipher gives the author an obviously generous amount of interpretational leeway, and in the nature of such analyses, he makes the most of that latitude when rolling out his speculations (“beast is used fourteen times in chapter 13 and thirty-seven times in the book of Revelation”—and many pages of the like). Christian readers should find Torckler’s energetic prose engaging, and his underlying contentions about a looming global hive mind (he notes Google’s recent prediction that the entire world will be online by 2020) add contemporary spice to his conjectures.
A warning derived from hidden biblical codes should prove irresistible to Christian fans with a Da Vinci Code sweet tooth.Pub Date: July 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5127-4683-9
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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