Revelation: The Way It Happened
Lee Harmon
Langdon Street Press
212 3rd Ave North, Suite 290, Minneapolis, MN 55401
www.langdonstreetpress.com
978-1-936183-62-3, 2010, $16.95
Title of review: Fascinating and definitely plausible, 5 stars
Author Lee Harmon tackles the most elusive and mysterious book of the Bible in his new release, “Revelation: The Way It Happened”. Within its pages, Harmon explores what he believes to be a more probable interpretation of Revelation’s meaning. Fascinating, intelligent, and definitely plausible, “Revelation: The Way It Happened” is a powerful read.
“Revelation: The Way It Happened” is the study of the book of Revelation and told from a first century Jewish-Christian perspective and takes into account the current events, traditions, practices, and language of that day. By utilizing this viewpoint, it becomes clearer as to what Revelation’s author John might have been writing about; instead of the traditional futuristic and puzzling apocalyptic scenario, Harmon presents the scriptures as the historical facts of the war for Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and the tyrannical reign of Nero.
“Revelation: The Way It Happened” is an enlightening and enjoyable read! Harmon’s fictional story breathes life into his analysis of the scriptures and makes the study entertaining and easy to follow from the characters’ frame of reference. In order to distinguish between inspired scripture, the author interpretations and explanations, and the fictional story, Harmon uses different fonts and spacing for each. This allowed for great ease in reading and thought transition. Further, Harmon ensured that he didn’t just provide random ideas; his translation of this biblical tome is grounded in not only scripture but published literature and the historical writings of the day. I found his analysis to be intellectual, thought-provoking, and intriguing. In addition, the book was extremely well-organized and edited; I found no discernible spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors.
If you’ve ever poured over Revelation with frustration and left with even more unanswered questions, “Revelation: The Way It Happened” will be a breath of fresh air. Author Lee Harmon doesn’t profess to be a prophet or have some sort of mystic connection with God; he’s just a ‘regular’ Christian with a drive to find applicable explanations. By paralleling world history with the writings contained in the book of Revelation, he presents a profound and possible scenario. A must-have for any serious bible student!