PROPHETIC SIGNS THAT WE ARE IN THE END TIMES [A good summary of SOME key evidences--QX]

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The Bible gives many examples of signs that should warn us of the coming end of the age. Six such signs are given by Jesus, two characteristics are given by Paul, and eleven other occurrences are given by the prophets to occur prior to or soon after the end of the age. While we are also told we will not know the time of the End, God obviously wanted us to know when that time was getting closer. As the Christian church is increasingly drawn into the interfaith movement, and as more and more churches go into isolation, preparing to sleep through the growing attacks on their faith, perhaps God knew it would take a few signs to wake us up and remind us that we have work to do.

Unfortunately, many Christians take the verses that tell us we won't know the time of His coming to mean they should ignore any and all scripture that might warn us of this time of tribulation. Others have fallen into the trap of fearing being labeled a "conspiracy theorist" should they display an interest in the Biblical prophecies about our future on Earth. My philosophy is simple. God included it in the Bible and, since God is all knowing, we should trust that it is something we should know and study along with the rest of His Word.

It is increasingly obvious that the time of our Lord's coming is drawing near. Prophecy is being fulfilled daily, and at a faster pace than ever before. Whether you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, or believe Christians will be witness to the full tribulation, wrath, and final judgments, matters not. The beginning of birth pains and the signs of the times should have the same effect on all of us. It should motivate us to save as many souls as we can in the time that we have left. The Great Commission tells us to be disciples to all nations, bringing the message of salvation through Christ to all people. If the Church is raptured before the tribulation, it is important that we leave behind an explanation for the trials and judgments those left behind will face. How else will they recognize the deception of the anti-Christ and seek instead the truth of the Bible? If we are to endure the tribulation along side them, we will need to be prepared to not only share the message of salvation, but share with them the reasons for God's judgment and hold it up as further proof of their need to be saved.

Below is a study of the prophetic signs God gave us as a warning of the approaching end of the age. Many of them are being fulfilled now and many will be fulfilled in the near future. I would encourage you to study prophecy, know what is coming and be prepared to share it with others.

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In Matthew24:3 Jesus was asked, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" Jesus told his apostles to look for the following signs prior to his second coming and the end of the age.

Matthew 24:5 "For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will mislead many."

In the last several years many have claimed to be the Messiah. Jim Jones and David Koresh are examples of these false christs as well as countless others who are not as newsworthy. These false prophets are a prelude to the ultimate false christ, the antichrist. Many New Age groups, some even NGO's working for the United Nations, are anxiously awaiting the antichrist, preparing the way for his acceptance as the head of the hierarchy of gods and the one who will usher in world peace.

Matthew 24:6 "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end."

Rumors of wars in all areas of the world now occur frequently thanks to instant media coverage and the availability of a multitude of 24-hour news sources.

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

More people have been killed in warfare in this century than at any other time in history. As the death toll rises in the Middle East, more and more countries work feverishly to develop devastating weapons of mass destruction. Add to that the expanding threat of terrorism and unpredictable dictators such as Saddam Hussein, and the potential for the outbreak of war exists in nations, kingdoms and places across the globe.

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

As white, Christian farmers are driven out of Africa in increasing numbers, and foreigners move in to replace life-sustaining crops with poppies that now supply 25% of the worlds drugs, famine spreads across the African continent. The undernourished are not limited to Africa, however. A large portion of the worlds 5 billion people suffers from a shortage of food.

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

The number and intensity of earthquakes this century is at a level higher than any other time in history. A staggering number of seismic events occur around the world daily. The earthquake seismic monitor IRIS shows all major earthquakes for the last year. Indicated by yellow and red circles, the seismic events of the last 15 days provides strong evidence of the fulfillment of Matthew 24:7 in our day. By contrast, in the years from 1890 to 1900 there was only one major earthquake in the world.

Matthew 24:8-9 "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name."

Christians are under attack throughout the world today. In the United States Christians still enjoy freedom to worship God without suffering much more than ridicule, hatred, or discrimination at work and school. However in many other countries such as China, Sudan, Africa, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Russia, and many Muslim nations, Christian suffer much greater persecution and often times death for their faith. During the tribulation this suffering will be worldwide and will continue even to the point of martyrdom. These first 5 signs will increase in intensity and severity as the tribulation approaches, much like the birth pangs or contractions of a pregnant woman worsen as the delivery time approaches.

Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come."

This prophecy has already been fulfilled through television, radio, missionaries, the translation of the Bible into many languages, and the internet. People all over the world now hear the message of Christ from missionaries who have the means to travel the globe, and via technology that allows us to communicate with people on the other side of the world right from our own homes, churches and offices.

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II Timothy 3:1-5,7 "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

For anyone who has watched television, read a newspaper, lost a retirement to corporate greed and corruption, or just walked outside their front door, it is obvious this prophecy has been fulfilled by our generation. Our leaders are often corrupt; our cities are filled with crime, brutality, and neon signs proclaiming our sinful, godless nature. The New Age Movement brings in increasing numbers of mystics who claim to be the enlightened ones. They are some of the most educated and influential people in our societies, and yet the most lacking in real truth.

I Timothy 4:1-3 "But the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. By means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth."

Churches today are becoming more and more ecumenical, embracing the New Age interfaith agenda, and denying Christ as the only way to salvation. Giving in to the politically correct media and a corrupt society, they have embrace homosexuality as an acceptable alternate lifestyle and preach tolerance and compromise in place of God's truth for the salvation of the world. The environmentalist movement within the New Age movement lures them into a worship of mother earth, belief in past lives, reincarnation, and Karma while demonizing all those who would eat the meat God gave us as nourishment for our bodies.

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Revelation 9:16 "And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them."

An army of that size had never existed until China's army reached that number in the 1960's.

Daniel 2:32-33 "The head of the statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay."

Daniel 2:40-43 "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have the toughness of iron, and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery."

The fourth kingdom of iron is the Roman empire according to Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The two legs are the division of the Roman empire into an eastern portion called the Byzantine empire which ended in the 1400's and a western portion based in Rome which ended in the 400's. The nations of Europe since the Roman empire dissolved have never adhered or formed one empire but continue as separate nations, however, the European Union now has 15 Member States and is preparing for the accession of 13 eastern and southern European countries.

Zephaniah 3:9 "For then I will return to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."

Prior to the restoration of Israel in 1948, Hebrew was a dead language. Now Hebrew is spoken throughout Israel.

4. REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE, RESTORATION OF TEMPLE WORSHIP AND ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN JERUSALEM

For several end time prophecies to be fulfilled, the temple will have to be rebuilt.

Revelation 11:2 "Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the oly city for forty-two months."

Daniel 9:27 "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."

Daniel 9:26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary."

Some archeologists believe that the temple mount is actually 340 feet south of the Dome of the Rock site, putting the Dome of the Rock within the Court of the Gentiles. This may be the court outside the temple that is left out.

There are many groups already working on preparations for the new temple. The blueprints are already done, the temple garments have been made, and there have already been attempts to lay the cornerstone of the temple. The only thing standing in the way of the construction of the new temple is Islam's third holiest site, the Dome of the Rock and government support for such an undertaking. Some possible scenarios for the rebuilding of the temple are as follows:

1. The persuasion and performing of miracles by the Antichrist and False Prophet convinces the Islamic world to approve the rebuilding.

2. The United Nations will negotiate the rebuilding of the temple following a war with the armies from the North (Russia and Islamic forces). This assumes that the war with the armies from the North is not the battle of Armageddon as some feel and that this attack occurs before the rapture or tribulation period begins. The supernatural destruction of the Russian army and Islamic forces will cause an outpouring of Christian worship and zeal amongst the Jewish people who will reconstruct the temple.

3. It is determined that the site of the first two temples is actually south of the Dome of the Rock, and the court of the gentiles (Dome of the Rock) will be left out of the 3rd temple.

A group in Israel called the Temple Mount Faithful have obtained most of the clothing, instruments and other equipment required for temple worship and are actively preparing for the laying of the third temple's cornerstone.

Numbers 19:2-7 "This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect and on which a yoke has never been placed. "You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. "Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its hide and its flesh and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned. "The priest shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest shall be unclean until evening."

A red heifer will be required to be used in the process of purification described in the book of Numbers. In May 1997 the first Red Heifer was born in 2000 years. Another red Heifer was born in Israel in March of 2002.

Daniel 12:4 "But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase."

Billy Graham was quoted as saying, "ninety percent of all the engineers and scientists who have ever lived are alive today." Air travel, space travel, DNA research and human cloning are all examples of the rapid increase in knowledge in our generation.

Zephaniah 3:10-11 "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones, will bring My offerings. In that day you will feel no shame because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst your proud, exulting ones, and you will never again be haughty on My holy mountain."

In 1984, Operation Moses saw the airlift of 15,000 Jews who had already fled to refugee camps in Sudan to escape starvation. In 1991, Operation Solomon flew 20,000 Jews to Israel from Ethiopia itself. A further airlift began in June of 1999, aimed at transporting the last 3,000 members of the Quara Jewish community from northeastern Ethiopia to Israel.

Ezekiel 38:2,4,8 "Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords. After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them."

In order for some end time events to occur Russia will have to be a strong nation with a strong military.

Jeremiah 23:7-8 "Therefore behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, as the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, but as the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I have driven them. Then they will live on their own soil."

In the 1970's and 1980's there was a mass exodus of Russian Jews out of Communist Russia. In 1999 the Associated Press reported a dramatic increase in the number of Jewish immigrants from Russia, bringing the largest number of Russian Jews to Israel since the early 1990's.

Revelation 13:16-17 "And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name."

On May 10, three members of a family in Florida became the first people to receive the biochip implant. Each device, made of silicon and called a VeriChip, is a small radio transmitter about the size of a piece of rice that is injected under a person's skin. It transmits a unique personal ID number whenever it is within a few feet of a special receiver unit. VeriChip's maker describes it as "a miniaturized, implantable, radio frequency identification device (RFID) that can be used in a variety of security, emergency and healthcare applications."

Is the biochip the mark of the beast to be used by the antichrist? We can't really know. What is significant is that people are being softened to the idea of a mark or an implant as a means of maintaining security, providing medical information, and regulating a more interdependent world. As attitudes change, fears subside, and people are convinced of the need for such a mark, the true mark of the beast will be easily introduced to the world by the antichrist.

The United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Criminal Court, UN peacekeeping/police force, numerous UN NGO's, and other agencies are preliminary steps to the formation of a one world government. We now have the communications technology, transportation, and the pro-globalization media necessary to usher in the one world government headed by the antichrist. The increasing terrorist threat and the middle east conflict will only speed up the formation of this governing body as fear and promises of better security make more people willing to give up their national sovereignty for global governance.

Revelation 11:3, 7-10 "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophecy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth."

Television and the 24-hour news networks make it possible for people around the world to see the dead prophets and rejoice at their deaths.

Luke 21:28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

Luke 21:32 "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place."

Thank you so much for your reply!

IMHO, because the term gnosticism is ill-defined - it becomes the condemning perjorative of choice in many "debates" with other believers. But if one inquiries more closely as to the origin of the term, it becomes clear that the term originally is:

A collective name for a large number of greatly-varying and pantheistic-idealistic sects, which flourished from some time before the Christian Era down to the fifth century, and which, while borrowing the phraseology and some of the tenets of the chief religions of the day, and especially of Christianity, held matter to be a deterioration of spirit, and the whole universe a depravation of the Deity, and taught the ultimate end of all being to be the overcoming of the grossness of matter and the return to the Parent-Spirit, which return they held to be inaugurated and facilitated by the appearance of some God-sent Saviour.

These days, the term more commonly means "the doctrine of salvation by knowledge".

Any man can obtain knowledge wisdom requires humility. Even so, both knowledge and wisdom lead to despair:

I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all [they] that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. - Ecclesiastes 1:16-18

There is only one way out of this conundrum. And, unsurprisingly, it is the Great Commandment – to love God absolutely, i.e. with all our heart, mind, soul, strength and understanding. (Matthew 22:36-40) There is no alternative way to Truth than to abide in Him (John 15):

For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. – John 1:17

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. – John 8:31-32

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. – John 14:6

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. – John 16:13

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. – John 17:17

This is he that came by water and blood, [even] Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. – 1 John 5:6

Cessationists seem to believe that St Paul's exhortations about spiritual gifts and their operation IN THE CHURCH during the CHURCH AGE era should be removed from The Bible and ignored totally as having absolutely no application or value in today's Christian life (congregational or otherwise). Evidently, Paul was hearing wrong when he scribed those verses and should have just distributed them as part of the temporary weekly order of service instead of as part of The Canon. I'm sure Paul is sitting in heaven very impressed with their magnanimous discernment. Perhaps he's lobbying God to send legions of angels to every printed Scriptural edition with erasures to remove his error.

But I wouldn't hold my breath for their arrival and resulting blank spots on your Bible's pages.

Paul knew precisely what He was doing as he scribed every Greek letter of his parts of the New Testament. He knew he was scribing THE MANUAL FOR CHRISTIANS--at least for THE CHURCH AGE, if not for the conceivable future.

There was a spot where he oned his own personal opinion apart from that scribed for The Lord. The rest of the text can be taken as The Lord's instructions for Christian life.

But, no!!!! The cessationists will have none of it. They'd rather pick and choose what's plausible and COMFORTABLE TO THEM! This is really not far removed from the so called 'HIGHER' CRITICISM school of Biblical so called scholarship. Those characters have tried for decades to erase any supernatural, miraculous element from Scriptures at all.

Cessationists are slightly better. They'll allow supernatural events, miracles WAYYYYYYYY BACK THEN--VERRRRRRRRRYYYYY SAFELY 2,000 years ago--so they don't have to get their knickers in a twist trying to learn how to flow with HOLY SPIRIT IN THE DAY BY DAY, MOMENT BY MOMENT PRESENT.

There were VERY RELIGIOUS leaders of Jesus' dusty pathed days who felt the same way. They wanted God in THEIR CAREFULLY CRAFTED; CAREFULLY RATIONALIZED; CAREFULLY JUSTIFIED; CAREFULLY PROOF-TEXTED; RIGIDLY STRUCTURED; VERY TIDY; VERY TINY; VERY NARROW LITTLE BOXES. Their traditions-of-men-imprisoned constructions on reality as well as their psychology demanded it.

There Jesus was running around in the flesh. John the Beloved seems to have enjoyed great holy intimacy routinely with Christ tangibly present.

But the RELIGIOUS leaders would have none of it. He threatened their constructions on reality. He was unpredictable. He couldn't be controlled. WORSE, HE DEMANDED THAT THEY SUBMIT TO HIS LORDSHIP! That was really scary. They'd not only lose control of the people--they'd have to learn to flow with God Almighty and HIS UNPREDICTABLE tendencies. That was intolerable. They were their own gods and had no intention of being deposed.

Besides, all this picking corn on the Sabbath; healing on the Sabbath and a list of other things just didn't fit their reading of the Scriptural texts. They just couldn't have any part of it. It rocked their boat and shattered their tidy little boxes far too much from the git-go.

One of the cessationists favorite fantasies is that prophecy in the NT has to operate 100% totally according to THEIR UNDERSTANDING of how prophecy operated in the Old Testament--even though there's abundant Scriptural and early church evidence that such a notion is off the wall.

They insist that Old Testament Prophets were stoned if they were not 100% accurate. Scripture indicates otherwise in several places. I hope to post at least one or two this evening. Perhaps some great Bible scholars can beat me to it.

Blessings,

FOLLOW-UP FROM THIS MORNING'S POST ON THE ISSUE OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS NOT ALWAYS BEING CONSIDERED FALSE PROPHETS OR BEING STONED BECAUSE THEY MISSED IT AT TIMES.

Taken from YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHECY.

p. 359:

"Glenn Foster shares this interesting thought: "The prophet Samuel told King Saul that the kingdom of Israel was torn from him by the Lord that day. Yet twenty-four years passed before David was crowned King of Israel. When God spoke that word by His prophet, it was a settled fact in the spiritual realm. But it took a process of time before it was evidenced in the natural realm." ⁴

4 Foster, Glenn. The Purpose and Use of Prophecy. Glendale, Ariz.: Sweetwater, 1988. p 93.

PERSISTENTLY the cessationists rant that prophecy ceased once the last word was scribed in the last sentence of Revelation. Certainly this is an UNBiblical assertion fabricated from the whole cloth of their own biases and assumptions. IT IS ALSO PLAINGLY UNTRUE HISTORICALLY --as the following from the Didache illustrates. The quote is again from YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHECY p. 323:

The Didache, dating from the last half of the first century, instructed the early Christians to beware of prophets who demanded money and wanted to make extended visits to the local church, thereby abusing hospitality. ³⁴ The first-century Church, it seems was more "concerned with discerning prophets [and motives] rather than prophecies. The warnings of the epistles are directed toward false prophets, not specific false prophecies." ³⁵

4. Does this person display the fruit of the Holy Spirit in his or her life? Galatians 5 contrasts the "deeds of the flesh" (verse 19) and the "fruit of the Spirit" verse 22). All of us respond more positively to a prophecy if we sense in that person a loving humility that reflects the life of Jesus. Does this person's life add up? Does he or she demonstrate the character of Christ? Some call this "the moral test," and it is an important one. The Didache says that "not everybody making ecstatic utterances is a prophet, but only if he behaves like the Lord" (11:8) and that "every prophet who teaches the truth but fails to practice what he preaches is a false prophet" (11:10). True prophecy produces fruit in character and conduct consistent with the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

[end of p. 323 quotes from YSADSP]

34 Kydd, Ronald A. N. Charismatic Gifts in the Early Church. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1984. pp 6-11; The Didache 11:4-6, 12.

35 Yocum, Bruce. Prophecy: Exercising the Prophetic Gifts of the Spirit in the Church Today. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant 1976. p63.

[PERSISTENTLY THE CESSATIONIST NAYSAYERS INSIST that there's nothing any Believer needs to know that's not in The Bible. I guess they don't think God should give advice on whom to marry; which of two attractive jobs to take; whether to stay in the current city or move to a distant one; etc. Evidently they'd be much more comfortable with Believers getting such counsel from the ungodly counselors, economic advisors and the like??? As the following illustration from history--found on p322 in YSADSP shows rather dramatically how useful and even critical timely prophecy from Holy Spirit can be in the lives of believers.]

[#4 of a list of items in the book advising about good guidelines regarding determining whether a prophecy is a good one or not.]

4. Does the prophecy have value within specific limits of time and space? Robeck calls this "context specificity" and points out (using as an illustration Agabus' foretelling of a famine) that sometimes a prophecy has certain limitations. "and the ability to test the prophetic gift adequately also lies within that context." ³⁰ As it happened, the church at Antioch exercised faith in the prophet and rallied to the immediate challenge. To respond later with an offering would have been too late.

Another "limited-time" prophecy was apparently given to the church at Jerusalem just before the city was put under siege by the Roman general Titus. According to Eusebius, the third-century historian, all the believers fled from Jerusalem in response to prophecy, thereby saving their lives. The city was destroyed shortly thereafter in A.D. 70. "The whole body, hoever, of the church at Jerusalem having been commanded by a divine revelation, given to men of approved piety there before the war, removed from the city, and dwelt at a certain town beyond the Jordan, called Pella." ³¹

30 Robeck, Cecil M. Jr, "Gift of Prophecy," p. 733, Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements by Stanley M. Burgess, Gary B McGee and Patrick H. Alexander. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

31 Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981), p. 86.

A good comment on potentially flawed prophecies is also found on p 174 of YSADSP:

To be judged. We will discuss fully the subject of testing prophetic utterances in chapters 20 and 21. Three Scripture passages (1 Corinthians 14:29, 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 and 1 John 4:1, each of which we will examine in those chapters) teach that Christian prophecies should be judged or evaluated. This implies, of course, that prophecy can have error [particularly in the NT when all believers are indwelt by Holy Spirit vs the lone or a few particularly indwelt individuals in the OT at any given time--Qx]. False prophecy is troublesome for a local congregation, but there are also the challenges of impure, weak or "sloppy" prophecy given by sincere but untrained people. ³¹ Even the content of "good" prophecy must be guaged by whether the utterance is inspired in general content or exact wording.

p174

31 See the practical discussion by Yocum [listed above], Prophecy, chapter 7. He focuses from a [Roman] Catholic charismatic viewpoint on the role of the Christian community in testing and forming prophets who can be trusted . . .

[Qx: Another example of an OLD TESTAMENT prophecy that did not come to pass without the prophet being stoned or considered false is mentioned on p 397 at footnote 37 in YSADSP]:

37. Ellison, Men Spake, p. 18. Nineveh was not destroyed, and we understand why because of the book of Jonah. Ellison also points out that the judgment of Tyre, Egypt and Babylon were all "suspended."

[Qx: I can hear the cessationist naysayers crying "That's different." No, it's not. Many modern day prophecies result in the same folks crying FALES PROPHET when a prophecy 'fails' for a similar reason. Much prophecy is given so that prayer and/or repentance can forestall the prophecies coming to pass].

[Qx: Some other good refs to the Church in the first centuries A.D. are]:

p388

10. Stanley M. Burgess deals with the tension between prophecy and form in a fine study of the Church from the end of the first century. A.D. to the end of the fifth century. The Spirit and the Church: Antiquity (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1984). Also see chapter 15 in this book.

11. See M. Eugene Boring, The Continuing Voice of Jesus: Christian Prophecy & the Gospel Tradiation (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1991), chapter 1. Also see Aune, David E. Prophecy in Early Christianity, chapter 9, and "Christian Prophecy and Sayings of Jesus," New Testament Studies 29 (1982), pp. 104-112.

[Qx: Also interesting is this note found on p388]:

27. Scripture itself seems to take in stride certain prophecy that was not fulfilled verbatim and could be classified as inspired or Spirit-quickened but not God-breathed or inscripturated. Agabus' "thus saith the Spirit" prophecy was fulfilled in meaning but not in minute detail of actual words used (see Acts 21:11, 33).

[QX: Another useful ref]:

David Pytches' chapter 15, "Prophecy during the Dark Ages," and his chapters 16-19, which talk about the French prophets (A.D. 1500-1600) . . .

[QX: And]:

Ronald A. N. Kydd, Charismatic Gifts in the Early Church: An Exploration into the Gifts of the Spirit during the First Three Centuries of the Christian Church (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1984). Also see Burgess, Spirit and the Church.

[Qx: I also like Gentile's comment on p31 of YSADSP quoting R Joyner]:

"Most of what is called 'prophecy' today is on the lowest level of prophetic revelation, which is the impression level. These are general revelations that we have to put words to. Personally, I do not add the addendum 'thus saith the Lord' to what is in fact an impression that I have expressed in my own words. The word of the Lord is precious, and the last thing I want to do is put my words in His mouth. . . . In fact, it is debatable whether we ever need to include such a statement in our propheies today. . . . We might be trusted with far more authority and higher levels of revelation if we start calling impressions just what they are, and do not so freely misuse those precious words 'thus saith the Lord.'" ²⁶

[Qx: I strongly agree. And the best I've known--whenever they VERY RARELY said--THE LORD IS SAYING/TELLING ME . . . It always came to pass exactly as they said it would. Their IMPRESSIONS, on the other hand could have a routine accuracy of around 80-85% or so, in my experience].

26 Joyner, R., Prophetic Ministry, pp. 117-118.

[QX: Gentile notes that perhaps we should demand 100% accuracy in preaching! p. 389 LOL.]

CESSATIONIST NAYSAYERS persistently talk as though ****ALL**** Biblical era prophecies were involved with confirming THE SCRIPTURES. That, too, is simply untrue, false, wrong.

A note on p395 touches on this:

. . . "The Old Testament makes no obviouis attempt to distinguish the activities of the early prophets from those of the writing prophets, and in fact, the same titles are given to both groups." R. R. Wilson, "Early Israelite Prophecy," Interpretation 32 (1978), p.7. This can also be said in evaluating Old versus New Testament prophets.

Qx: Cessationist naysayers persistently claim that there's NO REASON for modern day prophecy. The following source is a good, factual, historical proof of the nonsense of such a claim:

. . . "Jane Rumph's compilation of forth true, dramatic accounts of worldwide conversions resulting from "power evangelism" (which includes prophecy), Stories from the Front Lines.

p. 402

Qx: Enough of my roamings amongst the refs and underlinings tonight.

May all those of a teachable spirit, heart; and the least bit of fair-mindedness be enlighted BY HOLY SPIRIT regarding these matters. May all biases and blinders be silenced in the face of Holy Spirit's speaking to the hearts, spirits and minds of any and all readers.

Blessings,

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