I have decided to build a new section on this website and it will be dedicated to bible prophecy. I have been a student of bible prophecy since the early 1980’s. Over the course of time I have read many books with different points of view. My own research and study has led me into a belief system that is somewhat different from what was brought out in the left behind series and the belief systems that were established in the 20th century.
Many people seem to tie biblical prophecy to current events while ignoring the overall theme of prophecy. This has led to a lot of error and wrong teaching in the 20th century. Books like 88 reasons why Jesus will return in 1988 and others like it seem to only focus on the rapture of the church and they ignore the truly amazing prophecies that have already come to pass. These books are filled with errors and they are responsible for creating new beliefs that did not exist before the 20th century.
Many people during this time frame (my self included) viewed bible prophecy as a fire escape. We were really more concerned about when we were getting out of here and when the world was going to end. These prophecies served as a whipping post that tied the believer to denominations that practiced legalism. This fueled the fire escape theology of the 20th century. To be fair, many people were looking for a way of escape more than we were looking at the absolute amazement and beauty of all prophecy as a complete picture. This is why teachings and books about the rapture became very popular. It seemed to be what most people were focused on.
Not only were there grave errors and misinterpretations, people inserted their own personal actions and ministry as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. People tied bible prophecy to current events such as the formation of the European Union. Some people even proclaimed themselves to be prophets. There was even a church in Northern California that claimed to be the man-child found in Revelation chapter 12, but nothing could be further from the truth. I ran into a girl who claimed to be one of the two witnesses in the book of Revelation.
I spent most of the 1990’s breaking free from these various belief systems. I came to understand prophecy as a complete picture declaring the beginning and the end. No longer was biblical prophecy fire escape doctrine. It was replaced with an understanding of a greater God that is so incredible it boggles the mind! I quickly discovered that God is greater than I could even imagine. An amazing and awe-struck wonder as to who God really is overtook me as I began to understand the truth in bible prophecy.
There is another problem that I see. Much of the belief system that originated in the 20th century has carried over to the 21st century. In addition to this people started to use bible prophecy for their own personal gain. Many currency pumpers exploited the belief in bible prophecy to acquire investors. Scam investments like the Iraqi dinar was sold under a false notion that the currency was somehow part of a fulfillment of prophecy. Christians were targeted.
Therefore, for all these reasons I decided to put together a complete biblical prophecy series on this website. I am also writing a book about this subject. I want to address many misconceptions. This is going to take a while. I am writing about what I studied for over 30 years. I will try to present everyone’s point of view along with my own. One reason for this is because I want people who don’t have much background in bible prophecy to understand a brief history on what was taught. We can also use these examples so we can see the right way to interpret prophecy. There is actually a set of rules as to how it is done and the bible outlines all of them. From there you can draw your own conclusions.
I have started this massive project by creating a main prophecy page. While you read through it you just click on sub pages and each sub page is a detailed study in and of itself. We start off by explaining the basics. In this section we explain the rules for interpretation. We also discuss 7 key concepts for bible prophecy interpretation. We will also look at something called Hermeneutics. This will outline the proper way to approach scripture. Finally we will outline different belief systems.
After this we will look at prophecies Jesus already fulfilled the first time he came to earth. Part 1 covers his birth and lineage. Part 2 covers his ministry and death. There are well over 300 prophecies that were fulfilled the first time Jesus came to earth. Looking at these prophecies in detail presences an outline as to how future bible prophecy interpretation is approached. Past fulfillment of scripture serves to outline methods for future interpretation! We can use the same approach the apostles used to show how Jesus fulfilled scripture. In many cases we see scripture taken in a very literal sense.
In the “Prophecies Concerning The Nation of Israel” series we out line many prophecies that Israel already fulfilled. Once again, we can see a pattern emerge. There are many details in this 4 part series. Many people know and believe that bible prophecy was fulfilled when Israel became a nation again on May 14th, 1948, but there are other fulfillments as well.
The dispersion of Israel into all nations also known as the Diaspora is also a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. These prophecies are found in the Old Testament and were written down well before the main dispersment began. Israel was dispersed starting in 70 AD. The regathering of Israel is also prophesied. There are other prophecies that came to pass when Israel was restored as a nation. Their language, system of money, and their agriculture, were restored as foretold in the Old Testament. In fact, the very order of their locations and how they would regather as a nation are also found in Old Testament scripture.
There is some prophecy left to be fulfilled. But by studying what has already happened we can see a proper way to interpret what is going to happen. These prophecies will be complete in their season. We go into details on a few of these events.
From there we go into the book of Daniel. This is another four-part series and it covers all of the prophecies that are outlined in that book. Many are fulfilled and some will be completed in their season. I got one more study to add in order to complete this series,
This represents what I have done so far but I got much more to do. I am going to write a series on Revelation. I am going to write about the millennial reign of Christ. I am going to write about the rapture of the church. I am going to assemble a time line. I am going to talk about a few other prophecies that are not normally discussed. So I am about half way done. I am double checking and triple checking 30 years of notes.
So in conclusion, half of this section is up and ready to go. Hopefully the rest will be done soon. Send your feedback and let me know if there is anything I am overlooking.
Biblical Views and World Economics 