This, the latest book by Herbert Douglass, is not for the fainthearted among Seventh-day Adventists. In the first half of the book (chapters 1-6) Red Alert takes us on a whirlwind tour of recent world events. It begins with a discussion of the increase in appearances of the Virgin Mary and the rise of Mariology among Protestants and Moslems. In chapter two, it chronicles the exponential rise of disasters (natural and man-made): earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, volcanoes, famine, diseases, etc. The next chapter titled “The World’s Bloodiest Centuries” reviews the wars in the twentieth century and highlights the powder kegs of religion and race in many of the civil unrests and wars in this world. Chapter four looks at the reasons behind the current financial crisis and the recent street riots in Europe. The issue of globalization and the push for a one-world government and one world religion is the topic of chapter five. This is followed by a chapter on the astonishing worldwide appeal of the papacy in recent times.

The mass of facts and figures Douglass has put together in these chapters describes a world out of control, reeling from the impact of all these events in nature and society. This condensed dose of negative “signs” may cause the readers nightmares. Nevertheless, it is a reality check that we are truly living in a time when “men’s hearts [are] failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth” (Luke 21:26).

The second half of the book (chapters 7-12) emphasizes the Great Controversy theme which provides the spiritual rationale for these world events. Red Alert discusses the role of Satan in this war between good and evil as well as America’s role in the last-day events according to Revelation 13:12-14 and the writings of Ellen White. Two chapters are devoted to the tsunami of the new spirituality–the emerging church movement which Douglass sees as the predicted counterfeit spirituality. The book concludes with a discourse on the Second Advent and how Jesus saw the end of the world.

Red Alert puts the great controversy in the context of recent world history and shows that we are indeed living in the time of the end. It also shows that many of these signs are only “the beginning of sorrows” (Matt 24:8); but we are told that “the final movements will be rapid ones” (9T 11). In this book Douglass introduces the readers to God’s warnings about future events. He writes, “I can say without ambiguity that the coming ‘storm’ that arises from each of the areas highlighted in this book will truly be ‘relentless in its fury.’ And together, the combined effect will catch us all with ‘overwhelming surprise.’ All of us! But the better we are prepared, the easier it will be to balance ourselves when we are surprised” (p. 204).

Every Adventist who truly believes in the reality of the great controversy needs to read this book; and every pastor will find a wealth of material and illustrations for sermons on last-day events in Red Alert. After all, isn’t the topic of last-day events part of the revival and reformation emphasis in our church today?