"[The] seer/author examines the writings of the Old Testament to discover that Israel and Judah, Sodom and Gomorrah, and even the antediluvians of Noah's day all evidenced a common condition as the prelude to their final destructions. The final, common condition that preceded God's destructive judgment upon these civilizations was economic "prosperity!" This insight may come as a shocking and unpleasant surprise to many Chrisian readers who often interpret material abundance, and prosperity in general, as a sign of God's unmixed blessing and sanctioned approval of them personally and our American society-at-large. This kind of response, Wilkerson argues, is exactly the same response that God's "chosen people" of Israel and Judah exhibited when informed by the prophets of their day that God was bringing judgment upon them. Many will find chapter eight ("Misreading the Times") especially unsettling precisely because the warning of calamitous upheaval and reversal of personal or national fortune is so nearly unthinkable to even the discerning Christian who has perhaps come to enjoy and rely upon the fruits of his earthly abundance more than is appropriate to a "child of God" destined for heaven." --provided by Amazon.