Most people read only the New Testament and base all their beliefs strictly on that. My suggestion is read the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others. You will get a much better perspective as to where we really are in Biblical time in respect to New Testament teachings. For example, I will only use Ezekiel 37 although there are many others. The 2 houses, Judah and Israel (10 tribes) have never been one nation since the split in 931 BC during the reign of Soloman. If one looks at the current war in Iraq with the Alliance of the US/Britain with Israel, one can begin to understand Ezekiel 37:21,22. That union has not occurred since 931BC but is in it’s beginnings. Note verse 21, “bring them into their own land.” Unless one understands the Abrahamic covenant of the Old, the parable of Lazarus and the rich man with Lazarus going to the bosom of Abraham of the New, Zechariah 14:9 (King over all the earth of the Old – did you read that? Rev 5:10 of the New). Hosea 6:2 of the Old. The parable of the fig tree and Matt.15:24 of the New. All those verses refer to the times we’re in and the redemption going into effect. If one is blind to the new ecollogical and world and heavenly changes (new earth and new heavens) then all the reading in the world will never convince you. There is much much more one needs to read in the Old if he is going to get the big picture of the New. I’ve got to run.
G-d bless in your search for Truth.
That is a VERY good suggestion. An even better suggestion is then to go back and read the NEW TESTAMENT AS IT INTERPRETS THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES FOR US. When one does that, we let the bible itself teach us how to interpret it, rather than bring some man made rule like "literaly whenever possible" into play. In fact, the New Testament teaches us OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER that the promises made in the OT are in fact fulfilled in the NT saints. Many of my brothers respond that "yes, they have a PARTIAL fulfillment, but the REAL DEAL is literal and future." The problem with that is that this does not come from the Bible itself, but a method of interpreting the Old Testament (literal whenever possible) that the New Testament simply does not teach. It is a man-made hermeneutic (rule for interpreting scripture), which is -again- why the church never heard of most of the end times events pictured by pretrib dispensationalists until about 1830. It is a NEW method of interpreting the bible.