Prophetic Subtlety.

A major purpose of the Prophecyline Website is to establish the true nature of time partly by demonstrating that predicting the future is possible. It is only possible for this to occur if the universe exists in a unitary entity of spacetime as described by Einstein and Minkowski (also known as a block universe). In reading what many others have had to say about predictions it is amazing how many different interpretations there are of each prediction. No doubt the large number of fanciful notions and concepts that have been promoted has done more to turn people away from examining the possibilities than even the most avid atheist or any scientific hypothesis. Atheists have long promoted Darwin’s theory as proof that there is no Creator and that the Bible is little more than a collection of myths and legends. In modern Western Society it is probable that a majority of people hold this view, and consider the Bible as simply an ancient moral story rather than the actual word of a living holy being.

The main thing that stands as a challenge to this paradigm is Biblical Prophecy, most of which is either very obscure or has definitely never occurred. There are a number of predictions that appear to have occurred but the relevant passages are vague enough to be challenged. There are however two prophecies which have undeniably occurred, not however in the manner in which we might have expected from an omnipotent supreme being but simply as the result of the actions of humans. The first is of course the dispersion or scattering of the Israelites among the nations of the world threatened and predicted by many ancient prophets such as; Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and others and fulfilled when the Romans destroyed the Temple and banished Jews from Jerusalem. The prediction simply occurred without any obvious divine intervention, those expecting to see miraculous signs were sorely disappointed.

The second prophecy that has undoubtedly occurred is the return of the dispersed Jews to their homeland. Biblical scripture cites the Almighty as saying, “I will gather you back to the land that I promised to your forefathers.” It was the actions of men that again brought about the prediction, no great fist from heaven sweeping up the Jews and gathering them back to the Holy Land. Instead there was a Holocaust forcing Jews from their comfortable European homes and leaving them nowhere else to go, but to return to the land of their ancestors. The worrying aspect of this prediction is not that it has eventuated but the timing of it, because the prediction is also a dating for, “the days of the end”. The re-establishment of an Israelite homeland is predicted to be a precursor to an apocalypse and judgement day.

Whether we want to consider the Bible a work of fiction or not is irrelevant, the fact is that these two events have been predicted and have occurred, despite the efforts of many to prevent the second. It is therefore not illogical to anticipate the occurrence of other predicted events. Those waiting for signs and omens will probably be disappointed, for just as other events have passed and appeared to be just a natural outcome of preceding actions most of the prophecies will pass unnoticed by the majority of people. Biblical prophecy also predicts a gathering of “the armies of the world” as a precursor to a battle at Har Megiddo (Armageddon). Most people have not even noticed the build up of forces in the Middle East. There are peace keepers on the Israel – Lebanon border and international troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, in all a total of forty nations currently have forces deployed across the region. There has been no obvious sign but again a Biblical prophecy seems to be taking shape before our eyes, except that most do not recognise it, but surely the military forces of forty nations could be considered a gathering of “the armies of the world”.

We should not be surprised that we do not recognise prophecies when they eventuate because this has also been predicted; prophecy says that most people will be unaware and in denial. In various verses the Bible tells us that people will be living normally up until the last moments, “as in the days of Noah”. If we use this and examine the Noah story as a guide we see that during the years of the construction of the Ark, Noah was ridiculed and derided. Similarly religious people who suggest that Biblical predictions are taking place suffer the same fate and academics who dare to suggest the same or research and investigate Biblical credibility are dismissed. A recently released documentary titled, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”, took in $3.2 million in its opening weekend. The movie stars Ben Stein, who interviews scientists and professors who have been blacklisted, lost tenure, and in some cases were fired for questioning Darwinian evolution and wanting to teach intelligent design. There is a determination in modern society to stifle all debate about religion and deny the possibility of any kind of spirituality.

This attack on religious study and belief should also come as no surprise because this too was predicted; by attacking those who have a religious belief atheists are fulfilling Biblical prophecy. The predictions also indicate that this persecution of religious belief will continue and will become more aggressive. There will be no obvious signs and only those familiar with scripture will continue to notice the apparent fulfilment of predictions and then the prophecies say, “The end will come as a flood”. In other words a great many predicted events will happen in a very short time. There is also a reference to two witnesses, some scholars claim that these are symbolic and refer to churches while others see them as real people; the real people theory appears logical as the prediction says that when they are killed their bodies will lie in the street for three days and the people of the Earth will rejoice at their demise. This indicates that there is nothing to demonstrate the hand of a Supreme Being in any event that precedes this or the world would not rejoice, but the prediction states that after three days the bodies will be revived by the Almighty and the whole world will be terrified at the sight.

The problem of recognising actual Biblical predictions is exacerbated by a multitude of self proclaimed prophets claiming to be genuine messengers of the Lord, invariably they are either selling books or collecting money and I have not yet seen confirmation of even one of them making a verifiable prediction. It probably seems like a pretty good way to make a few dollars because although the Bible says we can know a prophet because what he says will come to pass we cannot know about these people until some time in the future. Those who try to cash in on this are obviously unlikely to be real prophets because a real prophet will be careful not to break commandments such as taking the Lords name in vain. If you claim to have messages from the Almighty and you have “spoken presumptuously” then you haven taken his name in vain, no doubt many of these self proclaimed messengers have done just that. During the last 500 years only a few of many seers have been considered accurate so even though we might be close to the end times it is unlikely that hundreds of true prophets will appear. History has shown that prophets are rare and their message is usually unpopular and events unfold in subtle ways.

The apparent fulfilment of prophecy is just enough to tantalise and interest but there are no predictions definitive enough to identify events that could be declared proof positive. Atheists meanwhile continue to lobby strenuously to prevent any research into religious or paranormal subjects and the vigour with which these subjects are being attacked rivals the efforts of the inquisition. Some atheists it appears would happily capture the religious and burn them at the stake. Obviously, we will have to wait a little longer to see whether we really are in the end times and to prove that the prophecies that seem to have been fulfilled are not just coincidences. We can only hope that the freedom to examine these is not oppressed by those who are desperately attempting to prevent scientific investigation of what they regard as impossible, because failing to investigate phenomena is the most unscientific thing we can do.






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