End Time Bible Prophecy – CHAOS!
Part 1 of the Harlot of Babylon Series
The state of end time Bible prophecy in the church today is total chaos. There is no other way to describe it. I have been studying and teaching end time Bible prophecy since the Six Day War in 1967. That is when the whole church world realized that end time Bible prophecy was upon us.
Over the years I have heard or read just about every interpretation of the end of the age that exists. I have been taught a myriad of opinions on the tribulation, the rapture, Israel, God Magog, Armageddon, and the Messianic Kingdom.
Most of this end time prophecy teaching is done in a very knowledgeable way. The teachers have researched and studied the prophecies with due diligence. They have taught at the seminaries, and they have written hundreds of books. However, there is a problem. Very few of them agree with each other! You would think that there would be a consensus today in the church as to the major events of the last days since we are so close to the time of their fulfillment. The opposite is true. There is more division, infighting, strife, frustration, and confusion in the church today, when it comes to end time Bible prophecy, than ever before.
If you are a Christian today wanting to understand end time Bible prophecy, you will be inundated with a host of different teachings. Should you be a premillennialist? A postmillennialist? An amillennialist? Should you adhere to the pre-tribulation rapture? The mid-tribulation rapture? The post-tribulation rapture? The pre-wrath rapture? No rapture? Oh yeah, and don’t forget the preterists. Then you have all the different divisions within these groups. Like I said, chaos!
After all these years, I have finally discovered the secret to understanding end time Bible prophecy. It is very simple and very biblical. Two things are required. First, of course, is the Bible. Second, and this is in very short supply today in the church, the ability to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Seven times, in the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, it says, ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ Notice it does not say, let him hear what the theologians say, or what the scholars say. It says, hear what the Spirit says!
I am not saying we should ignore the theologians and scholars. I have learned a lot from them. However, I am saying they are not the final word on Bible prophecy. In fact, they are the ones that got us into this mess! The theologians and scholars created all these different doctrines that have caused the chaos.
I Cor 1:27 …but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.
So, what went wrong? The church, for the most part, traded the voice of the Holy Spirit for the wisdom of the wise. We handed what should have been done by the Holy Spirit, over to theologians and scholars. It is much easier to listen to a theologian’s opinion than to listen to the Holy Spirit. In the process, we lost the ability to hear the Holy Spirit. Did the theologians and scholars hear from the Holy Spirit when they created all these different end time doctrines? Some, for sure, did. However, it would seem most relied on their own understanding, research, and wisdom. If they had relied on the Holy Spirit, we would not have the confusion and strife in the last day prophetic world that we have today. We need heavenly wisdom, not earthly wisdom. Lean not on your own understanding.
The Lord hides things from the wise and reveals them to infants.
Luke 10:21 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.
The word, infants, means no pre-conceived concepts. An infant is a blank sheet of paper. The Lord doesn’t have to spend years with an eraser, removing the pre-conceived concepts, before He starts writing. We must become like little children. We must become teachable. This is very difficult. Dropping our pre-conceived concepts is nearly impossible. We need to humble ourselves and quit thinking we are so smart. We need a sincere desire to be taught by the Holy Spirit.