Poems for the End of the Age

By John Peter Allemand

Poems for the End of the Age is a poetry book with an apocalyptic message. A reading of the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible and also known as the Revelation to John or the Apocalypse, has led the author to an entirely new and astounding interpretation of a number of Johns visions. His conclusion is that there will be an end-time upheaval in the world order and, specifically, a catastrophic war between the United States and Russia before the end of 2030. An Introduction offers the historical background and the detailed analysis of the Apocalypse for this frightening scenario. The following seventy rhymed quatrains are divided into two collections, namely, Reflections of a Believer and Empire of the Apocalypse. The former includes verses of a Christian, inspirational, and personal nature while the latter directly addresses the authors interpretation of the Apocalypse. In a poem of 100 rhymed quatrains entitled Discourse on the Mosel or The Century Poem, four characters, namely, an American, a German, an Israeli, and a Poet, discus their views of recent historical events and their prognostications for the future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524540739

John Peter Allemand

John Peter Allemand was born just prior to World War II in a small village in southwestern Germany and came to the United States in 1950. His family settled in suburban Chicago where he attended high school. Subsequently, Mr. Allemand studied electrical engineering and served on active duty with the U.S. Army. After employment as an engineer, he attended business school in New York City where he earned an MBA degree. He subsequently held management positions with several multinational companies. Mr. Allemand now lives in retirement in the Phoenix area and is the author of a A Poetical Offering With Commentaries (2006) and Visions of the Apocalypse (2015), both published by Xlibirs.

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Copyright © 2016 by John Peter Allemand.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Website

Rev. date: 10/12/2016

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Contents

Introduction

Reflections of a Believer

Empire of the Apocalypse

Discourse on the Mosel or The Century Poem

Appendix

Notes

Die Maxime (The Maxims)

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one

comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember,

I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:19-20

Introduction

(i)

Poetry is well suited to the revelation of truth because poetry is truth. It is difficult if not impossible to write a poem that is not fundamentally truthful whatever that truth might be. Falsehoods and lies appear to be completely foreign to poetic thought and expression. Poetry is especially ideal for the revelation of divine truth and the interpretation of such truth. Divine truth and Christianity are as one and the Holy Spirit has been called the Spirit of Truth. [John 14:17]. In Poems for the End of the Age parts of the foremost prophesy of all time, namely, the Book of Revelation, among Christians also known as The Revelation of John or the Apocalypse, are newly interpreted in light of historical and more recent events. These interpretations lead to certain inescapable truths as presented in the present Introduction and the verses to follow.

These new interpretations of Revelation represent a radical departure from prior ones in that they are very specific and extremely shocking. They predict a devastating war between the most powerful military empire in world history, namely, the Anglo-American Empire, and its major adversary, a resurgent Russia, during the lifetime of most readers. By this most frightening and lamentable scenario, both countries with their allies are destined to perish as a result of this devastating encounter together with much of mankind. The days of immense misery, as foretold in Holy Scripture, are upon us: For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. [Matthew 24:21-22]. It is undoubtedly no coincidence that the two thousandth anniversary of Jesus the Christ’s death and resurrection is a little more than a decade away. Mankind is approaching the end of the Age of Grace.

Poems for the End of the Age is my third book in a series dealing with the Apocalypse, but, as the title indicates, this little volume is strictly focused on the verses that have been given to me over the years. I say given to me because I have never attempted to write poetry such as a professional or amateur poet might be expected to do with varying degrees of success. I must assume that these rhymed couplets and quatrains with their Christian and apocalyptic messages were bestowed on me from on high to be disseminated as a stern warning of things to come. Yet, I am arguably the most unlikely candidate to have received this poetic gift since, except for a brief period in my youth, neither my education nor interests have been in literature or the liberal arts and the language of most of my verses, English, is not my mother tongue. This is not to say, however, that I am not well acquainted with some of the great German and English poets of the past including Goethe, Schiller, and Shakespeare.

The present Introduction is an updated synopsis of my recently published Visions of the Apocalypse.¹ It should assist in making the three collections of poems to follow more intelligible although, admittedly, a few of these have remained obscure even to me as to their exact meaning. The collection of thirty rhymed verses entitled Reflections of a Believer are mostly of a Christian, inspirational, and personal nature and should be a welcome addition to this genre. There follows Empire of the Apocalypse, a set of forty rhymed quatrains which, with their apocalyptic messages, are sure to anger and even outrage the most ardent supporters, promoters and beneficiaries of the foremost empire of our age because its imminent demise is here foretold. Imperialists, expansionists, interventionists, militarists, war mongers, and ultranationalists (in the guise of patriots) who seek the way of empire to lead and rule over the peoples and nations of the world, usually under false pretenses, will find little comfort in these lines.

Discourse on the Mosel, subtitled The Century Poem for its one hundred rhymed quatrains, was composed between February 15 and November 15, 2004 and inspired by the Iraq War which had begun in March 2003 and which I strongly opposed because it seemed unjustified, illegal, and immoral. I saw in this new military conflict, which is still ongoing, not a war of liberation to free the Iraqi people from a brutal despot, as its initiators and promoters had falsely claimed, but as another attempt by the leaders and promoters of a militant Anglo-American Empire to expand their realm in a relentless quest to achieve global hegemony and world rule. It would be another giant step forward on the road to Armageddon. Events since have borne out my worst fears of chaos and turmoil in the Middle East and a war without end.

In the apocalyptic verses reference is made to a certain people as Normans. Who exactly are the Normans? Normans is my indulgence in poetic license and stands for Anglo-Americans, the dominant people of our age.² For better or worse, ours is the age of the Normans! The term Norman appears historically justified. Thus, with the withdrawal of the Romans from England around 400 A.D., the British islands were invaded by various Germanic tribes including Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Meanwhile a seafaring warrior people known as Northmen, Norsemen or Vikings, who were of Scandinavian origin, plowed the North Sea and entered the rivers of Western Europe to sack and plunder its towns and villages. From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord deliver us was a common Christian prayer of the day."³ One group of Norsemen known as Russ gave their name to Russia while another settled on the northern coast of France and came to be known as Normans.

In 1066 these Normans, under their Duke William (later known as William the Conqueror), invaded England and defeated the Saxons at the battle of Hastings.