Bible Prophecy

Pastor Bruce Ball

CrossWinds Bible Church

‘16) All Scripture is given by God and is useful for teaching, for showing people what is wrong in their lives, for correcting faults, and for teaching how to live right. 17) Using the Scriptures, the person who serves God will be capable, having all that is needed to do every good work.’ [NCV]

During this past decade, there has been a revival of interest in the gift of prophecy. If you ask any group of people, especially since 9/11, you will find that over half are very curious about biblical prophecy. This even applies to those who do not necessarily claim belief in the Bible in their lives.

This is one of the several "Spiritual Gifts" which has had it’s hills and valleys since it was first mentioned in GENESIS 20:3, when God told Abimilech that Abraham’s wife Sarah was a prophet. Ever since then, there have been times when prophecy was accepted for the gift it is, and other periods of time when the church all but refused to acknowledge its existence. The truth is, however, that prophecy is a real.

Today, I am going to talk about prophecy. And, I am going to do so in such a manner as to give even those who do not have much information about it the chance to understand the basics of prophecy.

It seems that we are in the age of polls. Every night on the news, it will tell which poll puts which presidential candidate ahead. And, of course, we all have seen how many politicians will forsake their so-called ‘ideals’ just over what the latest poll says the people want. For those of you who have Internet service, many web sites that you visit will offer polls on a variety of subjects for you to take.

Keeping in line with that wonderful information I just gave you, we are going to give you some more information taken from recent polls. According to a recent Time/CNN poll, since 9/11, 35% of Americans are paying more attention to how the world’s daily news might relate to the end of the world.

People have always had a preoccupation with the future. In the world, people gamble on the outcome of a game or a particular stock. Others go to Ouiji boards or to horoscopes to see what kind of future they are going to have.

A couple of years ago, there was a TV show that was about a man getting tomorrow’s paper today, and how he went about trying to prevent the bad things that were going to happen.

The need to know about what will happen even included the sex of unborn children. Women used to spit in Sani-Flush. It would turn one color if it were a boy, and another color if it were a girl.

The recent "Left Behind" books and videos have fed this hunger to know what will happen next. One of the earmarks of new religious groups has often been the convincing predictions their founders made concerning the soon coming end of the world.

William Miller, founder of the Millerite movement, which had over a million followers, predicted that Jesus would come on March 21, 1843. There has been some suggestions that Mr. Miller was drunk on his Miller beer. I can say these two men are not one in the same, but I cannot attest to the sobriety of either person.

So, we can see that the lure of knowing the future has been with us for a very long time, and in today’s world, it seems to all be focused on world events and how they are involved in the biblical end times. We are truly living in the day of biblical prophecy.

We are also living in the day of apostates. The apostate in today’s church is defined as a person who has fallen away from the truth and is now leading people in a direction of non-truth.

More than ever before, today’s church is trying its best to keep from telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to its congregations. The Christian church in America is acting very unchristian when it pertains to giving the whole and unabated Word of God to its congregations. Of course, we understand why, don’t we? The fad in America is to have the biggest church in the area, and if we start upsetting our people with the truth, they may not come back to us. Besides, why worry them with something like the truth of what is going to happen to them?

Three of the most-often questions asked by people, including churchgoers, are:

1. What is Bible prophecy?

2. When will the end-times happen?

3. What does all that mean to ‘me’?

People are starting to become more aware than they have ever been before. They want to know what is going to happen in the world so they will know what is going to happen to them. Today, I am going to give you some answers to each of those three questions, so get ready; put the cat out; sit down and hold on tight; for we are getting ready to embark on a very curious journey. A journey you need to know about.