A popular, though erroneous, view of Bible prophecy is that it deals solely with the fore-telling of events that lie in the future. However, in a more utilitarian sense, Bible prophecy should stress the forth-telling of events, by showing how contemporary times can be properly interpreted only through the filter of God's prophetic word. Accordingly, It was by this means that many of the teachings of Moses and Jesus, the two greatest prophets in the Bible, showed how a fundamental understanding of God's perspective, applied to Israel's contemporary problems, could provide vital answers for their times.
Accordingly, in all communications from God to man, two elements may be traced, the moral and the predictive. Neither element must be pressed or insisted on, so as to depress and exclude the other. Yet the moral element is the fundamental, to which the predictive should always be subsidiary. Thus, it is from the forth-telling perspective that believers today can use God's prophetic Word to shed light on God's Plan during the times in which we live, and it is this same forth-telling approach which is emphasized in The Prophets Speak.
Bible prophecy should be as accurate as the Bible itself. In turn, if the Bible is truly the Word of God, then Bible prophecy should be as trustworthy as God Himself. Nevertheless, statements about the accuracy of Bible prophecy based on such arguments are generally unsatisfactory, because the majority of people do not believe that the Bible is God's Word, or do not believe that the Bible has come to us in an uncorrupted way. Consequently, we must approach the study of Bible prophecy in a way designed to allow an objective evaluation of this important question.
The Prophets Speak attempts to organize the study of Bible prophecy for the End Times to facilitate a logical development of its fundamental tenants. In this respect, the material avoids the temptation of trying to interpret Bible prophecies that are yet unfulfilled beyond what they clearly state for everyone to read, for to take such a leap into the future precludes one's ability to check their validity. Instead, The Prophets Speak focuses only on recent historic events within the last several decades, some of which have left prophetic footprints that may be tested quantitatively, and related to specific End Time Bible prophecies. In this way, it becomes possible to investigate these cases, and to arrive at a personal view regarding the accuracy of Bible prophecy.
The Bible uses the term "prophet" in a very restricted sense. In both the Old and New Testaments, prophets constituted one of three very special offices within God's economy, i.e. the offices of "prophet", "priest", and "king". Although, individuals at times tried to usurp those God appointed offices, God never sanctioned such man-made arrogations of authority. In the case of the "prophet", the people were to test his genuineness by determining whether his predictions actually happened. The punishment for false prophets was death (Deuteronomy 18.20-22).
Likewise, the distinct God-given offices of "apostles", "prophets", "evangelists", "pastors", and "teachers" are listed in (Ephesians 4.11). Although no summary punishments are specified for false prophets in the New Testament, (II Peter 1.21, 2.1-3) makes it clear that prophecy never comes by the will of man, but only by the moving of the Holy Spirit, and that false prophets will be subject to the most severe judgement from God.
These statements regarding a Bible "prophet" serve to distinguish that office from a "prognosticator". Prognostication is simply the art of predicting something on the basis of current indications or signs. Therefore, a meteorologist, a consultant, or a doctor may be a "prognosticator", without necessarily being correct or incurring the wrath of God.
If teaching about the End Times is to pass muster by Bible scholars, it must be based on some paradigm for the End Times which receives general acceptance. That model for the End Times is currently predicated on the theory of a Rapture for the Body of Christ prior to the Great Tribulation described in both the Old and New Testaments, e.g. (Daniel 12.1; Matthew 24.15-28; Mark 13.14-23). Since it is generally believed that this will occur during a seven-year period just prior to the Lord's return, and since nothing remotely approaching its apparent scope and intensity has occurred in recent years, it is thought that the Great Tribulation must still be future. In addition, this same "Pre-tribulation" model has organized the book of Revelation in a way that causes all of its contents following (Revelation 4.1) to also occur following the Rapture.
Therefore, this reasoning requires that the End Times, which cannot get underway until the Rapture occurs, must also remain in the future, thereby making it impossible to teach about it authoritatively or in detail beyond those obscure descriptions provided in the latter chapters of the Revelation. Consequently, any alleged connection between a modern-day event and End Times Bible prophecy must dispute the current Pre-tribulation model.
The Coming Glory portion of Olive Tree Studies attempts to
circumvent this dilemma by proposing a methodology for testing the prophetic
nature of modern-day events to determine if any possess the properties of a
prophetic event declared in the Bible to occur during the End Times. You may
study that methodology in detail in Coming Glory
Surely, personal reasons may be valid or invalid. Since almost all of contemporary teaching about the End Times is based on the idea of trying to predict what will happen in the future, two very legitimate criticisms may be directed against it.
Teaching about things that may only happen in the future is not very useful for those of us who face very real struggles in our everyday walk, especially when our primary objective is to improve our present relationship with the Lord.
Unless the individuals who are doing the fore-telling are "prophets" in the Biblical sense, they run the risk of offering predictions that are grossly in error. Such predictions cannot be honored with the term "prophecies", but must be labeled "prognostications". Anyone who has read books or regarded the views of "experts" who make assertions about future events will likely become disillusioned, because those assertions will almost certainly be fraught with error. A few such experiences will turn people away from such teaching on the End Times.
In another vein, our thinking about the future is greatly influenced by our perceived state of well-being, so that one's degree of satisfaction with life will also have an important bearing on one's willingness to seek out teaching on the End Times. People whose lives are very secure and rewarding will certainly not relish the idea of the world coming to a climactic conclusion, with the certainty of some form of judgement at the hands of God, even as those who are driven by fear, knowing that they are living in disfavor of the Almighty. Contrastingly, those who are suffering great affliction will desire to see it end, yearning for the End Times and the Lord's return.
If we are willing to accept the Bible's testimony on this matter, both the Old and New Testaments make it clear that there is coming a time of Judgement at the hands of God, after which time peace will be enacted on the earth by the Lord, e.g. (Joel 3; Matthew 24; II Thessalonians 1.3-10; Revelation 19.11-21). Therefore, a direct reading of Scriptures like these leads to the view that peace on earth will be achieved only by God's direct intervention into the affairs of mankind.
On a more philosophic note, we might reflect for a moment on our inability to get along with each other over the recorded history of our existence. The history of mankind has been one of continual conflict and strife, among both individuals and nations, throughout thousands of years since the dawn of civilization. Indeed, the Bible again testifies that our problem is fundamental; we suffer from a fallen nature, inherited from our original ancestors who fell from grace back in the Garden of Eden. Whatever constituted the full nature of that fall, one thing can be certain --- we are all very self-centered. We all covet that desire to have life work for us, sometimes even at other people's expense. Those yearnings for egocentric fulfillment often manifest themselves by overt verbal or physical attacks on each other, whereas the more Machiavellian approach seems to predominate in "sophisticated" societies.
In any case, from either the prophetic or philosophic points of view, what is required for true peace in this world is a change of heart at the individual level, not just a change of strategy. Only God is able to accomplish this.