Product Description

Kenneth L. Gentry's scholarly skills are evidenced in this fascinating book. Who is the mysterious person behind the number 666? Who is the Beast who has perplexed and evaded prophecy students for 2,000 years? The reader will quickly learn that the Bible does interpret itself. Gentry employs this method throughout the book and exhibits its rational and illuminating effects page after page. If you are weary of the hype over the identity of the Beast and the plethora of theories that border on the nonsensical, then you are in for a most refreshing read.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #557486 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 246 pages

About the Author
Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., Th.D., is Chancellor and Research Professor in Theology at Christ College, Lynchburg, Virginia. He has authored numerous books including, Before Jerusalem Fell, Perilous Times, He Shall Have Dominion, God Gave Wine, and The Greatness of the Great Commission. He has contributed to several debate books including, The Great Tribulation: Past or Future? with Thomas Ice, Four Views on the Millennium, ed. by Marvin Pate, and Three Views on the End of History, ed. by Darrell Bock.

Customer Reviews

It's about time they put this book back into print!
About 250 pages in length, this book is vintage Gentry. He spends about 100 pages or so identifying the Beast of Revelation, making an ironclad case that has proven impossible to refute. In order to buttress his position, he spends almost 150 pages (the rest of the book) answering when exactly Revelation was written. This is an abbreviated version of Gentry's "Before Jerusalem Fell," another work that conclusively affirms the Preterist perspective.
There is no better defender of the Preterist view alive today than Gentry. His works, always scholarly, yet accessible to the reader of every type, have given orthodox Preterism a solid voice in the evangelical community.
He has done a great service to the body of Christ with his research, and American Vision has fleshed out this service by putting Gentry's book back into print.
This book is comprised of 15 chapters that break down the issues very thoroughly, yet simply. READ THIS BOOK! One chapter a day, and in 2 weeks your entire perspective on the book of Revelation may be revolutionized!!
In addition to a great theological watershed, you'll get a book with a really cool cover. What else could you ask for?

Wonderful book!
In reading R. C. Sproul a few years ago, I noted his frequent mention of Kenneth L. Gentry's writings. So I decided to look into Gentry's works. Amazon.com is always my first source for good, economical books.

Boy was I impressed with Gentry's theological argumentation. And this book is one of his best. He points out from history and from the Bible that the terrifying Beast portrayed in Revelation is none other than the evil emperor Nero Caesar.

Although this is surprising at first (because of the prominence of Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye books), I didn't put the book down. Rather I read on. And was I amazed!

He points out that to understand Revelation you must read the first three verses -- and take them seriously. John very clearly tells us that he is writing about things "shortly to take place" because "the time is at hand." He also ends his book with the same statements: Rev. 22:6, 10.

Gentry shows that Nero was the sixth emperor of Rome (corresponding with the sixth head of the Beast), that when he died the next emperor ruled only a "short while" (like Rev. 17:10ff teaches), and that he sought to "make war against the saints" through persecution (Rev. 13:5ff). Nero fits these and other Revelation statement very nicely.

Thanks, Dr. Gentry, for such a helpful book!

Eschatology from a partial preterist perspective
This is a great book. While I knew it was going to nail the Roman Empire, and Caesar Nero as the head, of the beast of Revelation, there was much more discussion of Revelation than just that alone, including how the 42 days fits in, how Nero was the sixth Caesar and Galba the seventh, serving for a short time. The last half of the book is a comprehensive examination both internally from the Book of Revelation and externally from early Church Fathers, why the Book of Revelation was probably written prior to 70 AD.