Tyrant: The Rise of the Beast (Chronicles of the Apocalypse book 1)

465 Pages·2016·3.4 MB·English

by  Brian Godawa

Tyrant
Rise of the Beast
Chronicles of the Apocalypse
Book One
By Brian Godawa
Tyrant: Rise of the Beast Chronicles of the Apocalypse Book One
1st Edition Copyright © 2017 Brian Godawa All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written
permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews.

Embedded Pictures Publishing Los Angeles, CA [email protected]
www.godawa.com

ISBN: 978-1-942858-25-6 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-942858-24-9 (ebook)
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.
Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001.
TOC
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Read This Note—It’s Important
MAP: Rome, AD 64
MAP: Extent of Great Fire, Rome
MAP: Jerusalem AD 70
MAP: Holy Temple & Grounds
Part One Antichrist
Chapter 1 – Ephesus, AD 64
Chapter 2 – Rome, July, AD 64
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5 - Laodicea
Chapter 6 – Rome July 19
Chapter 7 – Philadelphia, Sardis
Chapter 8 – Antium, South of Rome, July 20, AD 64
Chapter 9 - Smyrna
Chapter 10 – Rome, July 26, AD 64
Chapter 11
Chapter 12 - Thyatira
Chapter 13 - Rome
Chapter 14 - Pergamum
Chapter 15 - Rome
Chapter 16 – November, AD 64
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Part Two Apostasy
Chapter 22 – Jerusalem, December, AD 64
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Part Three Apocalypse
Chapter 32 – Rome, May, AD 65
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39 - Ephesus
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Afterword
Chronicles of the Apocalypse
Chronicles of the Nephilim
Chronicles of the Watchers
About the Author
Endnotes
The Chronicles of the Apocalypse series
is dedicated to
Ken Gentry and Gary DeMar.
Scholars and gentlemen, both.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to my wife, Kimberly, always, always, always; to Sean
McDowell for his research on the death of the apostles; to Doug Van Dorn,
Michael Gavlak and Chris Holmes for their amazing storytelling input; to
Jeanette Windle for her editorial input; to Christy Callahan for her proofreading,
and to my Advance Reader Team for their helpful input (you know who you
are).
And also special thanks to the courageous Biblical scholars who have stood
against the tide of sensationalist popular opinion to unveil the apocalypse in its
original ancient context.
READ THIS NOTE—IT’S IMPORTANT
Chronicles of the Apocalypse is the conclusive sequel series to my
Chronicles of the Nephilim series about the Biblical Cosmic War of the Seed.
But one need not read the previous Nephilim series to be able to understand this
Apocalypse series, though the literary and theological connections run deep.
This is the story of the apostle John’s writing of the Apocalypse during the
time of the Roman Empire, the first major persecution and martyrdom of
Christians, and the Jewish revolt of AD 66 that resulted in the destruction of
Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70. My hope is that the original context of the
ancient world in all its symbolic glory will come alive to the reader as you
encounter the imagery in Revelation dramatically unveiled through its Old
Testament and first-century literary lens.
Creative License
I have tried to be as accurate as I can with the actual historical events and
characters surrounding the Jewish revolt of AD 66-70. However, there are many
details that we simply do not know with certainty either because the Bible or
other historical sources are silent, or because there is disagreement over the
facts. Because of this, I had to take some creative license to fill in the gaps or
simplify for easier reading. But I tried to remain true to the spirit of the text if
not to the letter.
For example, the New Testament letters, such as John’s Apocalypse, did not
have chapter or verse numbers. They were originally letters written to various
people and congregations. The chapter and verse numbers were added in the
medieval era for closer detailed study of the Scriptures. In Chronicles of the
Apocalypse, I broke up the book of Revelation into “fragments” that correspond
to our modern chapters for the purpose of making it easy for the modern reader
to look up those Bible verses. It was a kind of creative license footnoting within
the context of a narrative. I hope the more demanding “Bible scholars” will
forgive such petty contrivances for the sake of helpful annotation and
storytelling.
Endnotes
I’ve included numbered endnotes for each chapter that provide detailed
Biblical and historical substantiation behind the fictional story. As it turns out,
half of the text of this book is endnotes. This may be my most heavily researched
series of novels yet. Though using endnote numbers in a novel text is considered
anathema by many, I chose to use them to provide proof for my fans who want
to “fact-check” and dig deeper. This is fiction based on fact. If you question
anything I’ve written in a particular paragraph, simply check the closest endnote
to that paragraph. You will find that the truth is stranger than fiction! The
historical fulfillment is mind-blowing.
Besides, my fans have come to expect such documentation!