How does Bible Prophesy impact our future?

I began an experiment some months ago.  There are some things I cannot write in an open blog such as this, and I thought I would begin a private newsletter to see if some of my more trusted friends (about half dozen of them) would want to discuss them.   Well, it was to begin as e-mail, and then move to something more private, but it didn't work out, so a majority of what was in those letters will appear here, as I begin to bring this blog back on line for yet another year.

The letter was to discuss a mix of Biblical Prophesy and stuff I have learned from Prepper forums, and be in the form of a newsletter.  The only glitch is I would need feed back to keep it going, and I got none. 

So, my first remark about prophesy is this:

I must emphasize that the events of the future that I discuss in here have no date attached to them.  Anyone who says they know when these things will happen is working for Satan, and not for God.  I like to say they will "most likely" happen between two and twenty years from now, but they could happen before the next issue of this newsletter reaches you.  When God addressed Israel, He always told them when things would happen, but for the Church, He told us to "watch always."  He said we would see the signs, like "the olive tree puts forth its leaves in early summer," but would not know the day or the hour (not even the angles know).

For those steeped in Biblical knowledge, most of what I say in this section will not be much news at all.  Still, there might be a tidbit here and there. 

Almost every book in the Bible contains some elements of prophesy.  In distant past times, much of Scripture was looked at piecemeal, and Israel was not a physical country, so it is no wonder almost no one understood the Biblical prophesies about the end times.  There were a few, however.  In the early 19th century a coherent theology of pretrib understanding was published.  It was, of course, ridiculed.  Even today some people look at Israel and pretend it does not exist.

Most people, when asked about Bible Prophesy, turn to the book of the Revelation.  Well, that is where Bible Prophesy ends.  As I pointed out in the previous newsletter, Bible Prophesy is found in just about every book in the Bible.  For the centerpiece, though, of Bible Prophesy should look at the major and minor prophets in the Old Testament. And which of these wrote first?  Well, that would be Joel. Why the books here are not arranged in chronological order is beyond me (and more importantly, beyond the scope of this letter), but they are not.  By looking at the historical events mentioned in the various books, they can be placed in order, and Joel is earlier than the others.  Now that we have that understood there is one more little piece to understand, and it is found in Genesis chapter one. 

Recall, there, that the phrase "and the evening and the morning were the (number) day.  This is one major key, that is, the day in the Hebrew Bible always begins at dusk, or in darkness. Now the statement Joel makes, (and several prophets after him) makes sense. 


Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near,  a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. - Joel 2:1,2

His prophesy was true on two levels.  First, on the local level, they had just been invaded by a locust army and he prophesied they would be invaded by armies out of the North, from Syria and Assyria. His prophesy deals with the invading army, and how it will resemble the locust invasion.   Had he not been correct about this, you would have never heard about him, as they killed any prophet whose prophesies didn't come true.

Then, on another level (which we will hear about in other books) this prophesy is expanded into an invasion in the future.  Our future, not too distant.  No, I don't know how many years, but we understand it will be a modern army of enormous size.  

While most of those found in churches in the US think things will go along much as they always have, and many think things will get better, I can tell you that this is not so.  The US will deteriorate, until it is no more than a third world kind of nation and the Rapture will come.  We don't know which will happen first, nor do we know how many years there might be between the two events.  We only know they will both happen.