A word about Prophecy

Posted on December 25, 2014 by graewulf73 | Edit

 

“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” 2Pet 1:20

 

The word “prophecy” in the verse above comes from the root prophetes which translates: “one who, moved by the Spirit of God and hence his organ or spokesman, solemnly declares to men what he has received by inspiration, especially concerning future events, and in particular such as relate to the cause and kingdom of God and to human salvation”. Notice the last four words of the verse” “and to human salvation”. That worked for me. I had this old Bible that my dad gave to me. I went to a private Lutheran school for 5 years. We were taught to respect the Holy Bible as God’s Word. Many memory verses to learn each week. I noticed that there was this last chapter of the Bible that was neglected it seemed to me. I would read through the Book of Revelation myself because it seemed so fascinating, scary and wondrous all at the same time. Then in my teenage years Hal Lindsay came out with his best seller The Late Great Planet Earth. With Israel back on the scene and Wars and famines happening, I took notice. I believe the Lord used prophecy in this way to guide me into reading His Word and getting saved.  We found a bible teaching church or should I say the Lord led us to a church that we could grow and develop in. New things like “Rapture”, “Millennium” “Judgment Seat” and “Born again”… all concepts clearly taught in the Bible but seeing them with new eyes for the first time. Now we had a pastor out of Dallas Theological Seminary. This was back in the day before man’s wisdom of psychology and “Meism” took hold there. The Scofield bible was a common sight. Besides learning the basics of what the bible teaches about salvation, judgment and missions, we were being taught a fairly rigid dispensational type of eschatology (end times) that favored a pre-trib view. Dr Walvoord actually visited our church once (former pres of Dallas Theo). About ten years ago the Lord led me to an online Christian learning center called Koinonia Institute. Chuck Missler is the head of this. What KI taught me was this: Read the Bible for yourself, prayerfully with the asking of the Holy Spirit to guide me into learning His Word. I had heard this before from Dave Hunt who said to be a Berean. When Paul went to Berea to preach the gospel, the people there looked into the scriptures themselves to check out if what Paul was telling them was accurate. Now I started applying this concept on my own and found that there were verses in the Bible that were nagging at me because they did not seem to line up with my preconceived learning that I had received way back in the 1980’s. Here is my point: Do not me too rigid in what you have learned previously from your denomination or your pastor or a book you have read. The Lord uses these things to guide you many times into the truth. There really is only one correct interpretation but God’s Word is so fascinating because there are deeper meanings underlying the surface many times. Jacob Prasch of Moriel Ministries has taught me that many of us have learned to read the Bible from a Hellenistic view. Hellenistic meaning from a Greek based concept. Being fairly straightforward and rigid. Read from a Jewish perspective, the Bible has “midrash” which is a really enlightening concept of approach to scripture. Prasch is careful in differentiating the term midrash from what developed later in the Talmud (the Rabbi’s excessive laws and interpretations of the Torah). An example he gives is found in Matthew where a verse out of Hosea that says God’s daughter came out of Egypt in Hosea means the people of Israel escaped Pharaoh, but in Matthew it is talking of Mary and Joseph coming out of their sojourn in Egypt and coming to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. God wants you to dig deep into His Word. He wants you to know what’s happening. Be open to His Holy Spirit teaching you. Don’t be too rigid in your preconceived ideas and learning. They are helpful as guideposts and stepping stones but ultimately we need to get our knowledge from God’s knowledge which is called Wisdom. No one has all the answers. No one knows exactly how all the pieces of bible prophecy fit together. If someone claims to know everything watch out! Many have made such claims in the past and have led many astray. As we progress through these end times the Lord will give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Are we listening? It truly is an amazing time to be a Christian!

Israel

Are the Jews still God's chosen people? Has the Church replaced Israel as His chosen ones? Is there any significance of the nation of Israel being a newly formed country in 1948? Are the Jews already saved or should the gospel be preached to them? Your thoughts.

Revelation

Have you read the last book of the Bible recently? Do you regard Revelation as history, or as symbolical, or as poetry, or as prophecy past or present or both, or as an interesting story about the end of the world? Let me know which view you have.

The Rapture

My posts will be much shorter. I do not know if in spite of the 500+ views of my blog if anyone is really reading them. I know that maybe in the past because of their length or non open ended structure this may have been a hindrance but I would like some communication out there....OK?

I would like to know if my readers(anyone?) believe in a rapture. If so, are you Pre-Trib, Mid-trib, Post-Trib, Pre-wrath, or none of the above and why. Let's have a blog...

Have a blessed day, Ron

About(part 5)

     I know this is getting ridiculously long, but this is the best part if you read this far. The Lord used Cumbey's book to knock me over the head. The next thing was checking out the book's references which included Marilyn Ferguson's book The Aquarian Conspiracy.  Cumbey's book also included many biblical refernces  to the New World Order(NWO) and the end times scenario. But there was this constant urge for me to read the bible. I started by obtaining a copy of Gordon Fee's How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth. The book suggested I read the bible in a way that I would be reading the Old Testament and the New Testament at the same time. In other words, read a section of Genesis and Matthew in one reading. I cannot stress enough how  powerful this urge was to start to read the bible. I found an easy to read version called The Living Bible  and went to work highlighting verses that I started to see in the OT and NT. I discovered many verses quoted by Jesus in the NT from the OT. I also noted that the prophets were foretelling the same things even though they wrote at different times. In April 1985 I had read through the Gospels and was reading the book of Isaiah. I was at chapter 53 in particular. Isaiah is describing "a man of sorrows" that suffers horribly so that man can be redeemed, This man shed His blood and suffered the worst beatings and disfigurement because of His unconditional love for the lost. Suddenly, as if blinders were lifted off my eyes, I understood that this prophet Isaiah was describing a person that would suffer and die for His people more than 500 years in the future! It all suddenly made sense to me. That the Gospel, the Good News of what Jesus did was for ME. All the prophecies written about Jesus and His first coming back 2000 years ago had ALL been predicted and had all come to pass! Where He was to be born, where He was to live, how he was to be betrayed, how He was to die and even how he was to be buried. When this TRUTH finally was made clear to me, I had many emotions come over me. I wept because I had missed this TRUTH for 30 years of my life. I knew that Jesus had saved me at that moment that He revealed Himself to me through reading the Word of God. I then also knew that God's Word is absolutely TRUE in every sense. I was amazed that I had missed the most important thing in this world for anyone to accept: that Jesus died not only for the sins of the world but for MY sins. The absolutely Holy, sinless God Himself came into this world as a MAN and provided the ONLY WAY OUT of darkness and death. I was amazed that all I did was finally understand this wonderful thing that God had done for ME. I was so grateful that this saving grace was  
was absolutely a free gift. I could not earn it or work for it or ever be good enough to deserve it. In conclusion, I realized that I had been born again. A new creature had been created. (to be continued...)

About (part 4)

     After graduating college in 1980 and starting my career as a pharmacist, things were good. We bought a new car, went on a cruise and bought a house. In 1981 our daughter was born. Our son was born in 1983. By 1985 we were living in a nice house across from a park. We had two children and a dog. Life was good.......and yet...  There was something I felt was missing. I had the feeling that there was still something more in life that I yearned for but I did not know what it was. Even though I had no complaints on the surface, there was a hole in my soul that I could not define. I wonder how many people out there go through this feeling of "something lacking". Many people are drawn close to God in times of personal hardship, turmoil, crisis and sickness. I was drawn to the Lord in a time of "peace and prosperity" relatively speaking. God does indeed work in mysterious ways.
       One night at work the assistant manager came back to my area and asked me why I was listening to that awful rock music. Well that was just regular listening pleasure to me at the time. I knew she was a born again Christian and she thought rock music was satanic. I really do not recall why I stopped listening to the music channel after that but I did. I started listening to "Talk Radio" which was very popular at the time. One evening they had on as a guest Constance Cumbey, a Detroit lawyer and recent author of a book called:
 http://archive.org/details/HiddenDangersOfTheRainbow. You could say that the Lord started changing my life after listening to the author then in reading her book. I had always been interested in Bible prophecy and I had read The Late Great Planet Earth  by Hal Lindsey back in high school and knew that the rebirth of Israel and the wars they had fought in the last several decades had prophetic meaning, but this book made me really want to read the bible all the way through. Her book was about the New Age movement, which would culminate in a New World Order and the reign of the Antichrist. This book really opened up my eyes as to how this new age network worked. She backed everything up with scripture. I got a hold of a very simple to read paraphrase of the bible and began to highlight all the verses that she used in her book. I read her book through at least three times and I began to see evidence of this "New Age" everywhere I looked. I'm afraid I was like the Mel Gibson character in "Conspiracy Theory"(the movie) at this point. (To be continued...)

Thanksgiving

I am truly thankful for the cease-fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip. An invasion by Israeli forces would have been a lit match that would have lighted a fuse resulting in a powder keg blowing up and starting a horrendous chain reaction of events in the Middle East and beyond. Everyone could watch their football games and enjoy their family dinners today knowing that an unstoppable red horse of war was not going to be unleashed on the world. Again, God is trying to get our attention to the lateness of the hour. There will be no peace in the world until the Prince Of Peace, Yeshua, comes and brings about that true peace for His Millennial rule on earth. Wikipedia's definition of a cease-fire:

A ceasefire (or truce) is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. 

Note the words temporary and suspend. Hamas is most likely using this "peace time" to restock their rockets.

"And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it."  ~Zechariah 12:3

Sandy

Matthew 7:25-29 come to mind looking back at the Frankenstorm of the decade. Look up from your iPads and iPhones and laptops and see how God is trying to get our attention. The death toll was thankfully incredibly low for such a widespread disaster. People were doing crazy things like walking in streets of water that had live power lines dangling in them or trying to navigate raging water. Look for more "warning signs" coming up fast. Pay attention. The bible does indeed have all the answers your looking for. Sand is not a stable foundation for a house especially when built on a beach. Build your foundation on The Rock which is Jesus Christ and your future is insured!

Sand

Sand. Sand on the beach. Sands of the sea. Sand is mentioned in the bible often to illustrate the concept of things too numerous to count. As the "Frankenstorm" Sandy is causing destructive flooding, winds, property damage and even deaths across our nation's heavily populated northeast quadrant, it brought to mind the verses in Matthew 7:24-29. God's judgment? How about God's warning? I believe this may be a warning or wake up call to be alert for future judgment. Read those verses. Are we building on sand or rock? One is temporary and one is eternal. Are we trusting our investments here on earth or are we trusting what God has invested for our benefit? God the Father has invested His only begotten Son Jesus Christ in our behalf. Be alert. Keep looking up. Ever look around you in a public place and observe the people around you. Many, you will notice are looking down. Looking down at their iPads and iPhones and laptops. Perhaps some of these "natural" disasters are God wanting us to look up to Him. Think about it...

Psalm 83

Most of us know of the great Gog-Magog war predicted in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Some believe that this war will either occur during the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel (7 year tribulation) or just preceeding it. The confederacy includes Turkey, Russia, Iran and Libya. Bill Salus in his book Isralestine points out that there is another war that occurs prior to that one. Look at the areas mentioned in Psalm 83. The names are the ones used at the time, but include Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia along with the factions such as Hamas and Hezbollah that are actually inside the so-called "occupied territory". These peoples come together and attack Israel with the intent of driving it into the Sea. Who wins this one? Who miraculously came out on top in 1948, 1967, and 1973? Israel! You will notice that the Ezekial 38-39 countries attack Israel when they are at peace, unwalled and in a properous state. Sheba and Dedan(Saudi/Yemen etc) ask if they are there to plunder. In light of the so-called "democratic uprisings" as of late, we may be seeing the scenario of Psalm 83 unfold before our eyes. Libya especially has captured everyone's attention. Libya is not in the Psalm 83 confederacy but is in the Ezekial 38,39 scenario. We may expect Libya to come out of the uprisings differently than the other countries in Psalm 83. Note the flags of these countries. Most have the crescent moon and star symbol. Most contain the same colors: red,green,black and white. These are the symbols and colors of a religion. When the dust has settled, look for a common goal among these countries. Look for a common enemy. The epicenter is Israel. Jerusalem is the apple of God's eye. Selah.

Hello and Welcome

I do not often have the opportunity to let my family and friends know what is really going on inside my head. With this blog I hope to express what is the most important issues that I am concerned with. There is so much happening in today's world and it is unfolding at an incredibly fast and exponential pace. I will use this blog to inform my friends and family of what I consider to be important events taking place that are not only affecting our lives now, but also and most importantly how these unfolding events are what is written in the Bible and are there for our benefit.
Of utmost concern to me is Biblical illiteracy among many that consider themselves Christians. As many of you know, I have been a student at Koinonia Institute, which is an on-line, non-denominational ministry headed up by Chuck Misssler. I have been taking courses offered at KI for a few years now. I fervently believe that many Christians are unaware of the impact of today's events and are being caught up in many movements that are going in the wrong direction, or even do not see these current events relating to Biblical prophecy due to the fact of Biblical illiteracy. I believe we are entering a time that the Bible has more to say about then when Jesus walked on the earth at His first coming. I am paraphrasing Chuck Missler here. More than one-third of the Bible is prophecy. A portion of those prophecies concerning Yeshua's first coming have already been fulfilled exactly as they were written in scripture. Many of these yet to occur prophecies may very well be fulfiilled in our lifetime. So let's look at what is going on in our world in this prophetic light that the Lord has given us and start to get excited!  We owe it to the people we are in touch with every day that are wondering what is going on in the world to have some answers.  I'm excited about this blog.