Summary
This series is well researched and looks at many aspects of prophecy from the point of view of faith. Prophecy is explored in its cultural, historical, and eschatological context.
Topics include:
- What does prophecy mean?
- What is the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord about?
- What does apocalyptic "trembling in our boots" prophecy mean?
- What does modern prophecy mean?
- What are our defining issues today, and can our values save us?
All of the hoopla and hysterics about Dec. 21, 2012, has generated a lot of fear bordering on panic, and endangers the real value of prophecy: the things we need to watch out for. This book tells many secrets that those who only want to make a fortune on prophecy books, are not telling you.
Secret 1: We are instructed not to watch for signs in national events, or calendars, or in the sky. We are expected to know the signs of the times and know it is our responsibility to act to change things when we see bad people in power.
Secret 2: Biblical prophecy is based on historical traditions in the Bible. If you look at those traditions grow and mature, you understand more about what is written. If you look at the destruction at the time of Noah, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, you see that God would only destroy a rotten apple, not an apple with a rotten spot. Of good people, there had to be nearly none in the world or civilization before it got destroyed. People's terrible behavior toward each other brought about their destruction, and nothing else.
Secret 3: If you look at the Biblical book of Jonah, you understand what prophecy is for. Prophecy is not primarily about impending destruction. It is a warning that destruction may occur if you don't change. What God appears to want is for people to follow His leadership, and He immediately asks us to change the way we treat others.
Secret 4: The prophecies forseen by Biblical prophets did not always come competely true. The Prophets saw destruction of other nations, and it... partly happened.
Secret 5: It is questionable whether God actually ever used destruction against the people of the world. Destruction is typically brought about by nature and political/military movements, both of which were in a constant state of unrest and domination in the Middle East.
Secret 6: It is the patterns warned about in the Bible that recur because of human nature, which never changes, that we have to watch for. People like Hitler, who would bring about destruction on nations and the entire world, causing immeasurable suffering.
Secret 7: The real value in prophecy is in helping us recognize the patterns of evil people in this world, and move to stop them.
Secret 8: The Bible explicitly warns people about "looking for signs." "A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it..." It warns about not judging others. But people insist on judging the entire world and sentencing most of it to Hell, and pointing to numerous signs that they conveniently interpret indicate the end times. "Wicked" in the Bible generally means that those people will be destroyed. "Adulterous" in the Bible, when used metaphorically, general refers to people who have corrupted or left the faith. What adulterous likely means here is that the "Good News" message is distorted by those looking for a sign. It means that their focus is on the wrong things. Instead of bringing a very welcome message of forgiveness, and the eternal weight of that, they instead focus on a message of suffering and destruction. It's like they are giddily using the Bible as an instrument to condemn people, rubbing their hands together in joy over seeing them destroyed. Yet we know, not one of us is any better than any other - we are all imperfect. Judge not, unless you want judged. If the end time comes, it will be easily sensed by the "signs of the times," which probably means that all of the people except a very few will be noteworthily wicked, as in the time of Noah, or other notable times of destruction.
From the NASA point of view: The quasi-scientific hysteria debunked.
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