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Like much of Revelation, its familiar symbols are meant to represent familiar concepts to its first readers. This is why Revelation must be read against the backdrop of the Old Testament and the contemporary historical context...

Revelation is one of the most densely "hyperlinked" books of the Bible, rather like a visual index to the rest of the Bible. Fittingly, placed at the end of the Book. FOR EXAMPLE: a "lectionary" version of Revelation, one divided into 50 or so chunks so as to be read through in a year's worth of public worship, precisely echoes the lectionary readings of Ezekiel.

Biblical illiterates and sensation-mongers, "prophecy pimps," have to ignore most of the Bible in order to read today's lamestream media headlines back into Revelation.

Definition: Prophecy pimps -- those wolves who profit from the more gullible members of God's flock by pretending that they can predict the future. For some reason, no matter how often their pretty imaginary maps of the future turn out to be nonsense, they always have a market for their hateful baneful and disastrous fantasies.

>>For some reason, no matter how often their pretty imaginary maps of the future turn out to be nonsense, they always have a market for their hateful baneful and disastrous fantasies.<<

Throughout the Bible God has attempted to warn, teach, and prepare His people. He used prophecy as a means to instruct His followers about how to prepare and be ready. The prophecy deniers have always tried to thwart that effort. God used prophecy consistently throughout history to allow those faithful to His word to prepare for coming judgment. Noah, Lot, and Joseph are examples of those who listened and understood. God has never left His faithful without knowledge of what was coming and how to prepare. Each of those believers was mocked and ridiculed but were proven correct and saved from God’s wrath.

Today we have those who would have us believe that sometime in the past God stopped giving us information of what to prepare for. Somehow they would have us believe that He did not instruct us about what was coming and how to prepare. They use the same mocking tone as Joseph’s brothers and people in Noah’s day. Peter and other’s warned us to “be mindful of the words which were spoken before” and that there would be “scoffers”.

2 Peter 3:2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

There is a force in this world that would have us not believe or be prepared for coming judgment on this world. Just as with Noah, Joseph, and Lot, I believe the prophets have given us information of what is coming. We were told it would not be easy to understand.

2 Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

I believe that God HAS given us information about what the future holds and has told us how to prepare. He used the prophets to inform the people of what was coming throughout history and He has not abandoned us to guess about what the future holds. Just as in Noah’s day we have been information about what is coming and the same force that caused people to scoff at Noah is at work today to keep people from being prepared for what is coming.

I, for one, would rather ere on the side of being over prepared then to suffer like those who scoffed at Noah, Lot, and Joseph or those who will suffer for scoffing at us who would be prepared today.