Reviewed by: Benjamin McKinney, professional writing major at Taylor University

Introduction

Title: God’s Final Jubilee

Author: Dan Goodwin

Publisher: FBC Publications

Publication Date: March 1, 2014

Format: Paperback

Length: 236 Pages

OVERVIEW

Do you ever see something coming that no one else notices? Maybe you spot a child wobble on her bicycle or a man’s shoelace come untied seconds before scuffed knees or a staggering step confirm your fears. You might ask yourself if anyone else is seeing this, but the answer is no. In that moment, you have a unique window into the future, a moment of crystal clear foresight that is yours and yours alone. Responsibility falls suddenly in your lap. What if you would have the presence of mind to shake off your stunned paralysis and say something? What if you would speak up?

Dan Goodwin engages the reader with this sort of cautionary urgency. He believes he has a glimpse of the future, a harrowing look at what’s to come, and he has chosen to speak up and prepare all those who will listen.

God’s Final Jubilee is an eschatological work centering on Goodwin’s theory that the calendar of feasts given to Israel in the Old Testament is symbolic of the wider scope of human history. The work samples many passages throughout the Bible and references recent political, religious, and natural events across the globe as Goodwin makes his case for an imminent, pre-tribulation rapture. Despite the heavy subject matter, Goodwin draws on his background as an evangelist and keeps the tone light and conversational throughout, coming across more as a preacher and teacher than an author.

This, however, also seems to be at the root of many of the work’s weaknesses. For all its author’s enthusiasm and interesting ideas, God’s Final Jubilee often comes across more as a scattered set of sermon notes than a finished, written work. The speculative subject matter, already complex, is further obscured by a number of formatting, grammatical, and spelling errors.

To his credit, Goodwin uses lists as a means of organizing his thoughts and arguments, but this often proves to be a crutch. Most of the work is divided into lists: lists that span entire chapters, lists within lists, lists so numerous and lengthy that the reader easily gets lost within one point or another, unsure of how it relates to the larger argument. This only contributes to the disorganized, disconnected feeling that haunts God’s Final Jubilee. When most lines of a book are simply explanations of phrases behind bullet points, it begins to lose the feeling of a cohesive work.

It should also be noted that, throughout his arguments, Goodwin refuses to acknowledge the possible validity of any viewpoints other than that of a pre-tribulation rapture, a topic still widely debated throughout Christian orthodoxy.

God’s Final Jubilee contains some engaging content, but for all the reasons mentioned above, suffers from a definite lack of professionalism. What insights it might contain are lost within a plethora of basic errors and a labyrinth of confusing lists, hidden behind a narrow and obvious bias. I cannot recommend this book except, perhaps, to the most avid readers of Christian eschatology.

ASSESSMENT

Rating (1 to 5)

2 out of 5 stars

Suggested Audience

Adults

Christian Impact

Dan Goodwin’s God’s Final Jubilee seeks to predict the sequence and nature of the events of the Christian end times, firmly advocating for a coming, pre-tribulation rapture.

Benjamin McKinney is a professional writing major at Taylor University and an avid reader.

Interested in reviewing a book, movie, album, or other type of media for our website? We would love to hear from you! Find out more about how to submit media reviews.