As the millennium approaches, apocalyptic fervor is sweeping the nation. Militias, white supremacists, survivalists, and cults have seized upon the Book of Revelation to trumpet their own fractured version of the end of the world. Millennium Rage is the only book that connects the strands of these fringe groups to a tradition that has underpinnings in American culture and mainstream religion.
It moreover shows that many of these groups have stolen and twisted apocalyptic religious symbols to fit their own end: gearing up for Armageddon in this world, not the next.
The Oklahoma bombers, the Sons of Gestapo, the Branch Davidians, and the Unabomber are, as Philip Lamy astutely demonstrates, extreme examples of burgeoning strains within society. "Ruby Ridge" and "Waco" have become rallying cries of a growing number of average Americans who feel disenfranchised and forgotten. Members of militia movements and white supremacists, whom Lamy interviewed for this book, have tapped into their reservoir of discontent and are channeling it for their own aims.
As Lamy points out, rugged individualists and utopian groups have always dotted the American landscape. What is alarming, however, is the misuse of the Christian apocalypse to promote a religion that fans the flames of hate, preaching the destruction of minorities - including Jews, blacks, and immigrants - in a whirlwind showdown. Lamy asserts that this new religion, "Christian Identity," serves as a unifying factor among an array of extremist groups who call for a battle here on earth against Satan's supposed forces - minorities allegedly bent on a worldwide conspiracy to rule the world.
Distorting the Bible and other literature through a prism of hate and fear, they have made some inroads into the consciousness of America, according to Lamy. When a leading presidential candidate feels comfortable proclaiming he'll destroy "the New World Order" - a code word for the supposed minority-led, worldwide conspiracy - it cannot be a moment too soon to learn the truth about the covert symbols, spreading zealotry, and deadly machinations of the armies of millennium rage.
