I prayed for understanding of prophecy too, which I believe is why I have become a partial preterist.
“Isaiah for example seemed to witness an alien craft ascending into the sky with the prophet Elijah as describing it as a chariot of fire, circled with multiple rings.”
I agree with R.C. Sproul — you cannot understand Bible prophecy until you differentiate between the literal and apocalyptic hyperbole.
For example, the following verse is a PAST judgment on Edom:
Isaiah 34:4-5: All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; all their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine, and as fruit falling from a fig tree. “For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of My curse, for judgment.”
Did the above literally happen? Did the universe dissolve? Obviously not.
Ironically, Tim LaHaye said the following:
“When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense, but take every word at its primary, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context clearly indicate otherwise.”
So “horse” should mean horse. “Plundering livestock” should mean plundering livestock. Unfortunately, LaHaye didn’t take his own good advice. People such as LaHaye and Lindsey instead take the apocalyptic hyperbole literally and then spiritualize the literal. It may be a good way to sell their sensationalist books but not a good way to find the true meaning of Scripture.
I started out (back in 1981) as a pre-tribulationist. I looked into preterist, mid-tribulationist and post-tribulationist. I firmly settled in the mid-tribulationist (also called pre-wrath) camp.
I was doing some googling a month or so ago, looking for some good arguments against pre-tribulationism. My sunday school class is covering the book of Revelation and, sure enough, they started giving it a STRONG pre-tribulation slant. Anyway, my search quickly led me to this site: http://watchmanbiblestudy.com/BibleStudies/Definitions/Def_Pretrib.htm
Like me, the guy used to be pre-trib.
BTW, I tend to agree with a lot of what you say, but obviously we disagree on a couple of very basic things.
The pre-trib fiction that has been produced the last decade or so gives me the willies. Almost as bad as what you see on TBN. Almost...
Great insights. I agree. The bible is a guidebook and general roadmap of where our species originated from and where it is going. When you understand this, the apocalyptic becomes secondary teaching. What can and should become primary teaching is that we are not alone in this universe, our Creators have good intentions for our species and that we can participate in this good work for the betterment of all mankind.
Many religions take one prophetic passage and try to explain why such an event will unfold while ignoring the other 3 or 4 other major events as a timeline and reason for the event to come to pass. For example, dozens of prophecies talk about Israel coming into God’s favored nation status and covenent, but without the timetable of Daniel’s calculations how would you ever know such an imporant event/prophecy has been fulfilled?