{"id":496,"date":"2012-12-22T15:56:41","date_gmt":"2012-12-22T20:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/isittheendoftheworld\/?p=496"},"modified":"2012-12-22T15:56:41","modified_gmt":"2012-12-22T20:56:41","slug":"prophecy-still-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/isittheendoftheworld\/2012\/12\/prophecy-still-matters.html","title":{"rendered":"Prophecy Still Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much is being made of the “predictably” (pun intended) failed Mayan doomsday…thing. What bothers me is that credible Bible prophecy teaching is also suffering as a result.<\/p>\n

Weekly, people ask me to name the one, overwhelming piece of evidence that we are living in the last days: Earthquakes? Wars and rumors of wars? Sadly, extra-biblical issues like alleged UFO activity are rapidly becoming part of the mix. And this among evangelicals!<\/p>\n

Instead, I continuously think about that chief reason we are indeed living in the last days.<\/p>\n

Israel.<\/p>\n

Even among critics (especially, with supreme irony, from within the Church!), I have never heard an adequate refutation of the fact that Israel’s existence stands as an unassailable proof of the supernatural design of the Bible and the proof of God’s existence.<\/p>\n

Oddly\u2014disturbingly\u2014much of the line of attack on Bible prophecy is coming from the very heart of the “conservative” Christian community in America: evangelical leadership.<\/p>\n

It usually goes something like this: William Miller, Harold Camping and the other usual suspects…boy, they were\/are nuts, right? Those who have predicted specific dates for Christ’s Return (and this is the main topic of discussion among the critics, ranging from such diverse folks as Gary DeMar, Stephen Sizer, and others) were always going to be wrong. Isn’t that enough? Must their bizarre and spectacular failings be left there? Why do the critics then effectively tar all prophecy teaching as goofy, flawed, and worse, irrelevant?<\/p>\n

Look, the Bible is marinating in predictions that the Jews would be restored as a people in their own homeland…in the last days. Period. Read it for yourself. When you do, you’ll notice that Harold Camping is not once mentioned in the Bible. Neither is there discussion of more mainstream prophecy teachers’ regrettable failed predictions.<\/p>\n

To repeat: the failed predictions about the end of the world have zero to do with Scripture. Think about that very carefully.<\/p>\n

If Scripture authenticates itself (and fulfilled prophecy is a huge indicator of that reality), then everything else is irrelevant.<\/p>\n

At the moment, international pressure on Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the nation’s recognition of Jerusalem as its eternal capitol is intense and becoming more intense with every passing month.<\/p>\n

I believe the scriptural case can be made that Israel is the very key to end-times talk. In fact, it is obviously obvious. Remember this! <\/p>\n

One day, I believe relatively soon, various end-times events will cascade and, among other things, the Messiah will enter Golden Gate, located on the eastern face of the Temple Mount (Ezekiel 44:2).<\/p>\n

On that day, it won’t matter what Harold Camping said about anything. The critics will be silenced.<\/p>\n

The only thing that will matter will be what you thought about all this.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Much is being made of the “predictably” (pun intended) failed Mayan doomsday…thing. What bothers me is that credible Bible prophecy teaching is also suffering as a result. Weekly, people ask me to name the one, overwhelming piece of evidence that we are living in the last days: Earthquakes? Wars and rumors of wars? Sadly, extra-biblical…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":392,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nProphecy Still Matters - Is it the End of the World?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/isittheendoftheworld\/2012\/12\/prophecy-still-matters.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prophecy Still Matters - Is it the End of the World?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Much is being made of the “predictably” (pun intended) failed Mayan doomsday…thing. 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