Louis Richard Patmont (1884–1957)

One needs to keep in mind that this book was written in 1936. The author brought to the subject the perspective of a foreign born (1884 in Poland, a part of the Russian Empire) citizen of the United States. Patmont received his education in Germany and Russia before leaving for the USA in 1908. He continued his university and biblical higher education in the US, although I am not yet sure which schools. He made a number of return visits to Europe as a way to minister and to continue receiving life-experience education.

The book is a compilation of lectures and essays published in conservative publications Truth and Grace, The Moody Monthly, and the Defender Magazine. It is written from a premillennial perspective, and with the conviction that other millennial perspectives are all wrong.

Here are the chapters of the book:

1. The Perils of Socialism and Communism
2. The Peril of he Apostasy
3. Demon Perils
4. The Perils of False Christs and False Prophets
5. Perils on Earth and Signs in the Heavens
6. Perils of War and Armageddon

As one would expect, the author sees the world as being in the last days, although he does not attempt to name a specific date. As was done, and continues to be done by some others of the premillennial view of history, Patmont literally correlated events of the day to Scripture. To him it was "obvious" and "clear" what had transpired and what little remained to happen as prophesied in Scripture. I found it interesting that Hitler played a lesser role as a peril (he believed Hitler's days were numbered because he had a throat infection) compared to named perils of Mussolini and Soviet communism. Again, one has to keep in mind the time the book was written.

I found the book helped me better understand the thinking that seemed to be a driving force in the life of the author for many years (he died in 1957). I am glad to have read the book.

The book is available in many libraries and may readily be purchased from used book outlets.… (más)

I wanted to read this book primarily because of my interest in the author, Louis R. Patmont. In 1884, he was born in Europe and claimed to be a descendant of Jan Sobieski, who was elected King John III of Poland in 1674. He arrived in America in 1906 and spent most of his life in some form of Christian ministry. He was associated with the Christian Church/Church of Christ. Patmont was multilingual, highly educated, and the first Dean of International Christian Bible College in Minneapolis (now Crossroads College in Rochester, Minnesota), serving but one academic year, 1915-16. He apparently left the college on unfriendly terms. [None of the above in the book, but is the result of my own research.]

The book was written in the early 1930s and is based, in part, on travels the author made to Russia. Stalin was the leader of Russia where evangelical Christianity was under severe attack. Patmont intended to expose the horrors of international communism. The theme of the book can pretty much be summarized by quoting a brief passage from the book:

"Communism has become a faith, although this faith is not a contributing factor to salvation, but is, rather, a sinister power which destroys civilization, bringing about the destruction of the social economic structure, as well as the ideals of the true faith, and imposing upon its victims the godless mark of the 'mystery of iniquity'." (p. 76).

Patmont included the testimony of numerous evangelical Christians, politicians, quotations from a variety of writers who espoused the correctness of communism. The book also included many photos, and replicas of communist's banners, posters, and cartoons to help him "expose the spirit and nature of international communism" -- the book's subtitle.

The book reflects the spirit of the time, when the United States faced much uncertainty about its own future and its role in international affairs. It's hard to imagine that at the time the book was written, the United State had (according to the author) the seventeenth largest army in the world (pp. 79-80).

I appreciated reading the book as it filled-in some holes in my knowledge, but primarily because it helped me understand better the author, Louis Richard Patmont.… (más)