Category: BIBLE PROPHECY


THE BIBLE PROPHECY EXPERT IN THE MIRROR

Filed under: APOLOGETICS, BIBLE PROPHECY, FAITH, JESUS CHRIST — Leave a comment
May 17, 2018

I’ve studied Bible prophecy for 37 years, and in that time I’ve become increasingly disillusioned with those claiming to be “prophecy experts”…

REMAINS OF THE SECOND JEWISH TEMPLE, WITH ISLAMIC DOME OF THE ROCK BEHIND IT

One by one, the most influential people, the biggest names in Bible prophecy, have proved themselves to me and to many others to be painfully wrong and mistaken. They get entrenched in some kind of prophetic political correctness and refuse to budge from it for fear of denying their faith and of going against the grain of current interpretation. Even the big-wigs, those with international names and a list of formal qualifications a mile long, say and write things which can be shown to be wrong by anyone with discernment, an open mind and an open Bible.

Perhaps it’s understandable, though frustrating, that the most common words and phrases emitted by such people for decades include the following: the stage is being set; it looks like; probably; just about to happen; fulfillment; on the horizon.

Of course, interpreting Bible prophecy can be a tricky pass-time, but it doesn’t have to be. The mistake so many make is in attempting to force their faulty ideas into present-day events and future ones.

Whenever I write on Bible prophecy I get fewer views than I do on any other subject. I see the reason for that to be the fact that people are so numbed to it all by all the many false predictions made in over-confidence, the ridiculous non-Biblical event and date-setting, and sometimes the hands grasping for money which “we badly need to continue this vital ministry”. Ha! I can write here and reach people all around the world, without spending or asking for a penny…why can’t the experts?

Why does it matter? It matters because there are huge numbers of people in the West who see that the world must indeed be headed towards what has been foretold in the Bible, or at least towards some sort of date with destiny, but who are either badly misinformed or uninformed, and fail to ” search the scriptures”. There are millions of others who have no knowledge at all of what is down the road for planet earth, and need to be warned with correct information.

So don’t get me wrong-I’m not mocking the idea of the Second Coming. In fact I’m convinced in my own mind that it certainly is coming…soon. But what does “soon” mean in this context? Does it mean next year, next decade, or in another thousand years or so?

And what gives me the right to find fault with the experts? Who am I and where did I learn my theology and get my ordination? The answer to that is simple: God has not commissioned those self-proclaimed experts to pass on the message while forbidding the rest of us from figuring it all out for ourselves. As Vernon McGee said, God put the cookies on the bottom shelf so that everyone could reach them. The experts are no more “right” than we can be if we simply look into Scripture and look at our world.

As in the dark days when the Bible could only be read in Latin and interpreted by the “experts” in the Church, so now we have such people and their admirers in the Christian media claiming to be the proper proponents of truth while the rest of us…. the ignorant masses… need to pay attention to them and believe every word they say. That’s not God’s truth. We have every right, as believers, to test what we hear and to hunt down the truth for ourselves. In fact we’re obligated to do so. I’ve done plenty of it over the years, and I’ve concluded that there are no experts that I fully trust now. Test everything, I say. Either they’re in it for the money or the prestige, or because they don’t want to have to go out and get a proper job. Or perhaps they’re just plain wrong.

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THE UNPREPARED PILGRIMS

Filed under: APOLOGETICS, BIBLE PROPHECY, Evolution/Creation, FAITH, JESUS CHRIST, MUSIC, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, Politics — Leave a comment
March 3, 2018

I’ll confess I’m not an authority on churchy affairs, but perhaps that’s a good thing. Perhaps it’s time political correctness within the church faced a little more opposition from those who aren’t under its power…

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I’ve no doubt that many or most church ministers are working hard and doing their best for their congregations and for their God. But my experience and my observation of today’s church world, overall, is that the flock is not being prepared for what it already faces, or for what may be coming…

We don’t have to go any further than our television or our web-based news feeds to see the direction our world is heading in. Here in the US we’re becoming more and more polarized as the haters crawl out of the closet and make their intentions clear. Our culture is being torn because those who are most intent on changing it have the power of most of the media on their side.

POLITICS AND RELIGION

Of those who take a Biblical view of culture and politics in the Church how many are talking about it? Alright, we don’t have to side openly with either major political party, but we absolutely should be discussing the issues, because they affect all of us and all our children. We don’t live in a theocracy or a church state, and I wouldn’t want to. But we all, in a so-called “democracy” or “republic” or “democratic republic” have a right and a duty to shape it, rather than just handing it over to those who want to tear down all the principles our Creator created us to live by, and even the obvious principles of nature itself.

 

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SEX

Another but not unrelated subject is sex and romance. Without these none of us would be here, right? But how many churches and their ministers discuss the hows and the whys of love: the principles God expects us to live by? How many discuss that stuff which the Bible calls “sin”? “Sin” is such a little word, but it’s so profoundly important. How many young people are being told what sin is and what its consequences are? How many are being told that the things now being forced onto the Western world regarding morality and sexuality are enough to bring eternal consequences?

…those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21 NIV).

ORIGINS

Some in the Church regard the subject of our origins as being insignificant. Where we came from isn’t important, they say. What did Jesus say about origins? He said:

If you believed Moses, you would believe me…but if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? (John 5:46).

The writing of Moses, and the prophets, and the apostles, all speak of our creation: not our evolution. We’re made by God in the image of God, not by chance, random mutations and billions of years of time in the image of a lemur or an ape-like creature. Calling into question our creation is calling into question our salvation from sin, and our eternal destiny. If all the writers are wrong about creation, so are they wrong about salvation.

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Our kids are being taught that they evolved from soup. The church which is not working to correct this view is not, I repeat not, caring for its flock.

WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD

I believe in the rapture of the Church. However, what many ministers in churches and on the radio and internet are teaching is that before all that’s foretold in Revelation and elsewhere occurs we’re all going to be taken to heaven…

Armageddon-out-of-here..!

Bury-your-Head-in-the-sand

Why did our God go to so much trouble to foretell last days events if we aren’t going to see them or experience them? Why do so many prophecy “experts” make a living at what they do if all the time we’re going to disappear before it all happens? Why are so many in the Church sticking their heads in the sands of rapture, when half way across the world many of their believing brothers and sisters are already being martyred for their faith? We are not all going to escape what is to come. We are not all going to get out of here, without some very serious opposition first. So why are the churches passing out buckets full of sand when they should be equipping the saints for what may come and for what has already come in many parts of the world?

FELLOWSHIP AND WORSHIP

One powerful way to prepare the Church for what it has to deal with and for what it may have to face is through fellowship and worship. Sadly, I see very little. I see cliques and little groups who like each other and turn their noses up at the rest. I see very few Bible studies where the  Bible is studied and where it’s not just another opportunity for someone to give a sermon rather than openly discuss Scripture in relation to today’s world. And I see a kind of worship where if you don’t like or accept a very specific genre of music, i.e. Christian “contemporary” music-an innocuous and generic form of pop-you’re out of luck and probably out of any possibility of fellowship.

APOLOGIES

We all get bombarded with lies from every direction. And who did Jesus say was the father of all lies? The devil.

Our history is being revised and scrubbed out by our education establishments and our media. Our “news” feeds are not giving us news at all any more but propaganda, gossip, slander and fakery. Our schools and universities are teaching that we all evolved out of nothing, that there’s no truth to Christian “myths”, and that the Christian Church is the cause of all that’s wrong in the world. Our entertainment world is stuffing gross immorality and extreme violence down our throats, sometimes dressed in special effects, and always with attractive people, to get our attention. Our politicians are (generally) out of touch with reality, with their own voters, and with any sense of Godly wisdom, and our judges are making laws and ignoring others to suit their own agendas.

So how is the Church countering all the lies and deceit we all face every day? I’ll rephrase that last question. Is the Church countering all the lies and deceit?

 

 

 

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SEVEN FAT YEARS, SEVEN LEAN

Filed under: APOLOGETICS, BIBLE PROPHECY, FAITH, Politics — Leave a comment
February 18, 2018

What would you think if you saw seven skinny cows eat seven fat cows? You might wonder if you’re next on the menu. Or perhaps you’d think you were dreaming…

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Most people who were raised in a church or who are believers know the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Jo was the young lad who started off as the black sheep of the family (cows…sheep…make up your mind eh?). One of the things Joseph is famous for is the interpretation of Pharaoh’s bad dream. Pharaoh saw in his dream seven fat healthy cows, then seven ugly looking thin cows. The seven lean cows devoured the fat ones. Jo’s correct interpretation was that the seven fat cows foretold seven years of plenty and prosperity, while the seven lean represented the seven harsh, terrible years which followed. I know the word “fat” has all but been banished from our vocabulary, but I always was a bit of a rebel.

It may seem like quite a stretch for me to associate Pharaoh’s dream with today’s political and social scene, but I’m going to do it anyway. Weren’t Pharaoh and Joseph politicians, of a sort?
Depending on which side of the political divide you see yourself on today, and from where you get your “news”, you may associate Mr Trump more with the tyrannical slave-driving Pharaoh, or instead with Joseph the deliverer. I confess shamelessly to being in the latter camp, being very mindful that Trump is only human, and that he’s provided the world a very temporary and limited respite.

It’s God who “removes kings and sets up kings” (Daniel 2:21) The leaders we have are there either because we get what we deserve or ask for foolishly, or because our Creator is attempting to show us mercy and sense. Unfortunately the respite is so temporary it can be no more than another seven years long. And now some of you know where I’m going with this post…
Respite, some of you ask? Respite from what? I’ll spell it out.
The US, and with it the entire Western world, has been running headlong down a road of globalism and open borders, and particularly open to people of a certain religion whose stated goal is to subject the world to its prophet. It’s also been moving us all towards a system in which personal freedom is to be diminished for the “common good”; the tiny nation of Israel is to be exposed to its enemies; anti-Christian bias and harassment in the nations founded by Christians is to be institutionalized, and a brand of morality and political correctness which wishes to turn the world upside down is to be imposed on us by re-education and modern-day thought police. Evil is called good and good evil. Truth with a capital “T” is being thrown to the ground.

In this Satanic, insane attack on the fundamentals of our Creator’s standards, we would, or will have to stop calling boys “boys” and girls “girls”, because the social engineers of our time wish to deny the blatantly obvious of human physique, DNA, emotional and hormonal make-up; to emasculate and denigrate men and masculinity, and to impose belligerent, angry women as kings (ahem…queens) of the castle. All of which doesn’t make sense, because if we’re born gender-less as some now want us to believe, how can women be even identified, let alone discriminated against or promoted? Surely the term “woman” is now redundant? Cannot a man now call himself a woman and so receive politically motivated promotion, or does hypocrisy reign in this situation also? Where is the logic in all of this?

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All of the above conditions are warnings and hallmarks of a culture ripe for judgment. In fact, they are Biblical signs of the end-times.
The world has been getting rapidly sicker under a runaway subduction and subversion of our culture and our sanity. And I’m not naive enough to think that Trump alone can hold back the tide. But at least the flow has been slowed, to the absolutely manic anger of Trump’s opponents, who, having worked to force “tolerance” upon us for decades, now pour out hatred and intolerance for him and his supporters without measure.

Why do the nations rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us (Psalm 2:1 KJV 2000).

And so to the seven “lean” years.
While I’m certain that watching  for the signs of judgment is Biblical (Luke 21:35-36) I’m aware of the many mistakes made by some “experts” in the subject, and I’m not one to set dates. I’m not making a prophecy, and I’m not about to say that the “seven-year Tribulation” (even given that all of the seven years really do remain to be enacted) will begin the moment Mr Trump leaves office. But given the depth of determination on the other side of the political and moral spectrum, and the success with which they’ve already removed constraints and the will to reason from the minds of many people, I can’t help thinking that after Trump the Western world will immediately resume its headlong gallop towards that mythical utopia, which dangles in front of the eyes of the hopeful like some juicy carrot on a stick in front of a donkey.

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JERUSALEM AND YOU: CHOOSE WISELY

Filed under: APOLOGETICS, BIBLE PROPHECY, FAITH, Politics — Leave a comment
December 6, 2017

ON the occasion of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, I decided to re-post something on the subject. This post is five years old, but not at all out of date. In fact, what is covered here will become increasingly relevant to all of us in the coming months and years…

Take a look at the map above. If you can spot tiny Israel at all, dwarfed by all the surrounding lands governed by Muslims, you will see how disproportionate is the opposition to its existence. I say “existence” because sometimes Islamic leaders speak of their determination that Israel should be “driven into the sea”, or “wiped off the map” To locate Israel in this map, refer to the one at the bottom.

In my country of origin, the United Kingdom, it’s become fashionable to blame all the problems of the Middle East on Israel. Neo-Nazis and other anti-Semites even go so far as claiming that all the political and economic problems of the world are caused by Zionists and Jews. I’ve heard some of them say it myself – perhaps you have too.  Anti Semitism did not die with Hitler, it just took a back seat for a time.

Here’s a rather enlightening quote from the Hadith, a collection of phrases attributed to Mohammed:

The day of resurrection will not arrive until the Muslims make war against the Jews and kill them, and until a Jew hiding behind a rock and  tree, and the rock and tree will say: ‘Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!’ (Sahih Bukhari 004.52.176)

The Koran does not contradict the Hadith:

Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends (Surah 5:51).

And for our liberal friends, who generally side solidly against Israel, here’s some rather politically incorrect advice from the Koran which seems to escape your attention:

Men take authority over women…As for those who are disobedient, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them (Surah 4:34).

Of course, anti Semitic views are not confined to Muslims or to the United Kingdom – they are worldwide. It’s fashionable for the news media, for colleges and universities, for many politicians, celebrities, and the people on the street to take sides against Israel. The United Nations regularly condemns Israel for defending itself, and wishes to diminish its power in any way possible.

I don’t intend to go through the history of Israel, Islam and the Middle East here, except to remind you (or perhaps you’ve never been told) that  Israel was last removed from its land by the legions of the Roman Empire under Titus, in the first century AD. Josephus estimated that the Romans killed over one million people in the process, ploughing Jerusalem into the ground, and then renaming the land “Palestina” as a final insult to the Jewish race, since Israel’s nearby enemies for centuries had included the Philistines.

There has never been a nation called “Palestine”, and no other nation has had Jerusalem as its capital except Israel. Israelites wandered the earth since the first century, being hounded and persecuted wherever they went. The last significant persecutions, perpetrated by Hitler and Stalin, caused Israelites to seek their own homeland after WWII, in the hope of avoiding any future genocidal attempts against them. Fulfilling Bible prophecies, they founded the new nation of Israel, and have been growing in population and economic success. People of Jewish descent have been moving into the land from all over the world.

The terrible history of the Jewish nation, struggling for its very survival, as well as its future, was prophecied well before and during the time of Christ. In fact, the Bible speaks clearly of events still to come which will affect the whole world, centred in the nation of Israel.

The current “peace process” calls for the division of Jerusalem, and for Israel to become even smaller, so that it would be shrunk to nine miles wide at its narrowest point, and fifty at its widest. A space this small would be impossible to defend agoinst the many surrounding nations committed to Israel’s destrution. Islam now (and not in the past) claims that Jerusalem and the land “occupied” by Israel belongs to them.  Jerusalem was not mentioned once in the Koran, but is mentioned 800 times in the Bible. Jews established Jerusalem as their capital three thousand years ago.

This opposition has been prophecied in the Bible. Not only so , but the Bible speaks of a time, just before the return of Christ to the earth, when Israel’s neighbors, with the help of “all nations of the earth” will make one last almighty effort to remove the Jewish state, particularly Jerusalem and Judah, currently known as the West Bank. The number of similarities between Bible prophecy about Israel in the “Last Days”, and the current situation in the Middle East, along with world wide anti-Semitism, is amazing. You can see some of the details below.

Please understand that I am not saying that all Israelis are good and all Moslems are evil. Many Moslems are good people, and many have found faith in Christ, despite the threat of persecution from radicals among their own people. Many Israelis are ungodly people, and the judgments of the Last Days are aimed at them as much as anyone.

I’m writing today to suggest that you choose sides wisely in your discussions and your prayers, in the coming Middle East peace or security arrangement which will not last, and in the coming battles and wars between Israel and its neighbors. Choose wisely before and during the war of all wars between Israel and all the nations of the world (“all” implies that even the US will side with the Muslims, or just step aside). Choose wisely, because God has said to Israel, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you” (Genesis 12:1-3). Choose wisely, because whoever touches Israel touches the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8). Choose wisely, because in the day that “all nations” attack Israel, and forcefully divide Jerusalem, The Son of God Himself will show up to join in the fight (Zechariah chapters 14 and 12). At that time he will not be meek and mild, but the roaring lion of Judah:

I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to fight against it…Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives…(Zechariah 14: 2-4).

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem, the earth and sky will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel (Joel 3:14-16).

In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land (Joel 3:1-2).

Notice the words “my land” in that last verse. The land belongs to God, and he can lease it out to whoever He wants. Notice also the words “my people”.

ISRAEL IN SCRIPTURE – PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE:

THE LAND OF CANAAN WAS PROMISED TO ABRAHAM’S DESCENDANTS

Genesis 12: 1-3

Genesis 13: 14 – 17

Genesis 17: 8

THROUGH THE LINEAGE OF ISAAC, NOT ISHMAEL:

Genesis 17: 18 – 21

THE PROMISE IS IRREVOCABLE – IT CANNOT BE CANCELLED:

Jeremiah 31: 35 -37

Romans 11:25– 32

Isaiah 49: 14 – 18

EXILE WAS A PART OF GOD’S JUDGEMENT ON ISRAEL’S REBELLION:

Deuteronomy 28, especially v.63 – 65

THE FIRST COMPLETE EXILE WAS TO BABYLON:

Daniel 1: 1 – 2

Ezra 5: 11 – 16

THE SECOND WAS TO ALL NATIONS:

Ezekiel 36: 16 – 19

Ezekiel 36: 3

Matthew 23: 33 – 39

THE SECOND COMPLETE EXILE WAS TO BE THE LAST:

Isaiah 11:10– 16

Ezekiel 37: 21 – 25

ISRAEL WOULD BE REGATHERED TO THEIR LAND BEFORE THE TRIBULATION:

Ezekiel 38: 8 – 9

Ezekiel 39 21 – 29

Zephaniah 2: 1 – 3

THE WASTE-LAND WOULD THEN BECOME FERTILE AND DENSELY POPULATED:

Ezekiel 36: 8 – 12

Ezekiel 36: 30 – 38

Joel 3:1-2

ISRAEL’S ENEMIES WOULD SAY THAT THE LAND WAS THEIRS:

Ezekiel 36: 1 – 7

Ezekiel 35

ISRAEL WOULD NOT BE REPENTANT UNTIL JESUS’ RETURN:

Ezekiel 36: 22, 23, 31, 32

Ezekiel 39: 21 – 29

Romans 11:25– 27

JERUSALEM WOULD BE A ‘CUP OF TREMBLING’ FOR THE NATIONS:

Zechariah 12: 1 – 10, especially 2, 3

Zechariah 14: 1 – 19, especially 2, 3

Matthew 24: 14 – 22

Revelation 16: 1 – 2

THE SO-CALLED ‘OCCUPIED WEST BANK’ IS ‘JUDAH’ IN PROPHECY:

Zechariah 12, verses 2, 6 and 7.

Zechariah 14:14

Joel 3:1

Matthew 24:15-22

JERUSALEM AND JUDAH (THE WEST BANK) WOULD BE THE DISPUTED TERRITORIES

Zechariah 12: 2-3

THEY WILL BE ATTACKED BY THE WORLD COMMUNITY, AND JERUSALEM WILL BE DIVIDED FORCEFULLY:

Zechariah 12:2, 3

Zechariah 14:2-9

THE ENEMIES OF ISRAEL TODAY WERE PROPHECIED 2500 YEARS AGO

All the nations around Israel: Ezekiel 36 – 39; Zechariah 12:2

Russia: Ezekiel 38

Iran (called Persia until 20th C): Ezekiel 38

Turkey(then Gomer) Ezekiel 38

All nations of the world – see below

ALL NATIONS WILL BE ANGRY WITH THE BIBLICAL GOD AS WELL AS ISRAEL:

Revelation 19 – 19

Psalm 2: 1 – 6

Revelation 11: 18

ALL NATIONS WILL ATTACK ISRAEL (PERHAPS TWO SEPARATE ATTACKS):

Joel 3, especially verses 1 – 2

Zechariah 12:3

Zechariah 14:2

Revelation 16: 14 – 16

Ezekiel 38: 1 – 9

THE ATTACKS WOULD BE SOON AFTER ISRAEL’S REGATHERING TO THE LAND:

Ezekiel 38:7-9

Ezekiel 39:25-27

BUT FIRST, THERE WILL BE A TEMPORARY ‘PEACE’ OR SECURITY PACT INVOLVING ISRAEL:

1 Thessalonians 5: 1 – 4

Daniel 8: 25 (esp. see the KJV)

Daniel 9: 27

Ezekiel 38: 14 – 16

THERE WILL BE A JEWISH TEMPLE OR WORSHIP CENTER BUILT AT ABOUT THIS TIME IN J:

Daniel 9: 27

Revelation 11: 1 – 2

2 Thessalonians 2: 4 – 6

Matthew 24: 15

PEOPLE WILL BE LIVING ‘NORMALLY‘ AND UNSUSPECTING, UNTIL THE TRIBULATION STARTS:

Matthew 24: 37 – 39

Ezekiel 39: 6

GOD WILL DEFEND ISRAEL AGAINST ITS ATTACKERS:

Zechariah 14: 2 – 5 and verse 12

Zechariah 12: 9

Isaiah 34:1 – 10

Joel 3: 16

Ezekiel 38: 17 – 23

Matthew 24: 30

THIS WILL BE THE END OF HUMAN RULE OVER THE EARTH:

Revelation 19 and 20

Daniel 2: 42 – 45

Isaiah 34: 1 – 4

Zechariah 14: 9 and v 16 – 19

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A VIEW FROM THE FAR-LEFT

Filed under: BIBLE PROPHECY, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, Politics, THE US ELECTION, Uncategorized — Leave a comment
November 19, 2017

From the far left what most of us know to be reality seems to be at the far right of the spectrum…

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…or perhaps they know it’s not. Perhaps they just want to shape your view of things.

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