Probably not too many people in our world today know much of anything about what the Bible says about the times we are living in now.  In fact most would probably say that people who believe in all that Bible prophecy stuff, and think we are living in the “end-times,” are just religious fanatics, or Chicken-little types, always preaching doom.  And indeed there are and always have been plenty of those in every generation.  Why take it seriously now? Perhaps ignorance is bliss, if you believe that what you don’t know can’t hurt you.

But when it comes to our future, even as individuals, it is widely recognized that the smart and responsible person gives some thought to the future.  In a society and culture like what most of us enjoy, only the fool doesn’t plan ahead for retirement, or possible involuntary unemployment, or health problems, or even death.  Responsible people do their financial planning, buy health and life insurance plans, put aside something for retirement, and do estate planning with wills and living trusts.  Even young people (some young people) delay the gratification of their desires to be earning and spending money and enjoying the good life while they go to college to prepare themselves for what lies ahead, hoping for a good profession or career.  Those who don’t do these things have to live and die with the consequences of their choices, often made in ignorance – whether that is not knowing, or ignoring about wiser courses of action.  So much for the bliss of ignorance.

Still others plan and make life altering choices based on wrong information, such as wrong predictions about what the future will hold for them.  We live in a world in which we are inundated with information, and predictions.  We are told the economy is going to collapse, perhaps even the global economy, or global warming is going to cause disasters of all kinds, or if draught doesn’t get us flooding and hurricanes or tornadoes or earthquakes or killer bees or overpopulation of the planet, will.  Then there are the optimists who see everything getting better and see no need to worry about the future, just have high hopes and enjoy the good life.

Obviously if indeed anyone could predict the future it would enable us to make better choices, perhaps to be better prepared for what the future holds.  But no one can, right?  Well no normal human being anyway.  Oh yes we have had Nostradamus and Edgar Casey who some claim made predictions that in retrospect look like they may have come true – but they were vague enough that they had little value to anyone, and its debatable as to what they were really predicting.

Then we have had many Bible thumpers down through the centuries, who have come up with all kinds of predictions based on how they interpreted the Bible.  We have had the end-of-the-world many times, and everyone from Nero to Hitler have been the Antichrist.  So why would anyone believe that Bible prophecy has any real significance or reliable predictions, except to  the religious fanatics, or the lunatic fringe? Even if we do take it all seriously, there are so many interpretations and theories floating around out there, and more every day, who  would you believe and why would you believe anybody?  Maybe you could just go with the majority, if you could figure out which school of thought is the majority, or the mainstream view.

But then when you look close and examine what seems to be a couple of the mainstream views, some of which have been around a long time, it can be pretty disappointing with respect to logical inconsistencies, and failures to make very accurate predictions.  Does this mean that the source, the Bible, is not really reliable or believable, or of any real value with respect to predicting the future?  Or does it mean that the truth is so shrouded in mystery that no one can really understand it and get it right? Like any predictive source or device, such as computer models are supposed to be, their predictive value must be tested based on the ability to predict accurately what has already happened in the past, and perhaps what is happening now.  Those who have studied biblical prophecy know with certainty that there are many predictions, or prophecies, concerning past developments and events, which have been very accurate in their fulfillment down to specific details.  This would strongly suggest to the rational mind that the Bible is in fact a valuable and reliable predictor of future developments and events.  Even on a global scale, we see a number of the most significant events in world history, including empires and world rulers, accurately predicted long before they even appeared on the world’s stage.  Of course the main character in the Biblical narrative is Jesus Christ, and there were over 300 detailed predictions about His birth, life and death, and His impact on the world, most of which have already been accurately fulfilled.  How rational is it then to just ignore or just disregard the predictions made in the Bible about our future?  It may be blissful for a while, but the consequences will be forever.

Then there is the problem of accurate interpretation.  While the source may be entirely accurate, human interpreters are not always so reliable.  The science of Textual Criticism has exploded the myth that the Bible itself is not reliable since it has been transcribed and translated so many times.  It doesn’t take a whole lot of objective examination of the evidence for the Bible being a supernatural book given by divine revelation (see books like Josh McDowell’s “Evidence that Demands a Verdict”) to ascertain that fact – as unpopular as it may be to many.  But men have often made the same kind of mistakes in interpreting it that they make in interpreting anything else (like the Constitution of the United States).  Some have had ulterior motives, many have had only the best of intentions, but they fall into familiar patterns of logic errors and less than objective approaches.

Most approach the scripture with presuppositions, which prevent objectivity, and lead to forcing a text to fit a preconceived narrative, or assumptions or preferred interpretations.  Circular reasoning is very common, as is taking out of context, and selectively choosing some texts while ignoring others. It is the assumption and contention of this Blog site that when we take the right approach to examining and interpreting the scripture, we will get better results.  That will look like more accurate predictions, which will be logically consistent, and accurately reflective of what is actually happening in the world.   To the degree that it is relevant, such predictions will be scientifically sound – referring to sound “science” as opposed to modern trends to substitute fantastic theories and unvalidated computer models for the more reliable observation/ experimentation based approaches.

While the subject of this blog-site is Bible prophecy about the end-times, it is also about how to understand and interpret the scriptures, letting the scriptures speak for themselves.  Instead of approaching what God inspired the authors of scripture to write with preconceptions of what they must have meant, based on pre-indoctrination or personal preferences or mainstream popular views, the emphasis is on letting scripture interpret scripture.  Admittedly such an approach leads to conclusions that don’t concur with such mainstream schools of thought and theories as Pre-tribulation Rapture (an interpretation nowhere articulated in scripture), or the more allegorical or non-literal views of most Reformed Theologians (Preterism, Amillennialism, Postmillennialism, etc.).  But  the conclusions can be demonstrated to be biblical, and logical.

Of course not everything is spelled out in scripture, such as who exactly the Antichrist will be, or when exactly he will appear.  But many things are rather clearly explained, if we let scripture do the explaining.  We don’t need to speculate on when Gog of Magog will appear, for example, scripture tells us that.  We don’t need to guess at what the end-time Beast of Revelation and Daniel will be, scripture gives us explanations and strong clues – and explicitly excludes some theories, such as the Revived Roman Empire theory – the modern European Union. The articles herein are mostly short summaries or excerpts from books on the corresponding subjects which are available as e-books on Amazon.  They include The Methods of Interpretation, The Seals Trumpets and Bowls of Revelation, The Beasts of Daniel and Revelation, the Antichrist and the Harlot Babylon, The Rapture of the Church, The Judgments, The Millennium, the Gog/Magog rebellion, and the Eternal State – Heaven and Hell.