Post by Daniel on Aug 3, 2015 7:29:07 GMT -5
The Best and Worst Time for Prophecy
August 3, 2015
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. —Charles Dickens: A Tale Of Two Cities (1859)
I have been a student of Bible prophecy for over 35 years, and I’ve seen many cycles where interest in last days events has risen and fallen. We are living in what I think is the most divergent point in all of prophetic history. End-time related events have never been so active, while at the same time—awareness has never been so lacking.
One of the clearest examples of how evil the world has gotten is the number of suicide bombings that take place in the world. This heinous method of mass murder started with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza around the year 2000. The practice quickly spread to other parts of the Middle East and Northern Africa. These bombings have become so routine, most attacks don’t even make the major news feeds.
I’ve gone back and looked at our traffic records and I can see how lethargy that has swept over the prophetic community. There were many times when a major event would trigger a doubling or tripling in our daily traffic. In recent years, the response has been very muted. When the Supreme Court voted to make Gay marriage legal in all states, the site’s daily traffic only increased by 7 percent.
Prophecy watchers have a long tradition of speculating a president’s connection to Bible prophecy. Numerous books were written about FDR, John Kennedy, Nixon, and Ronald Reagan as Antichrist candidates. In the 1994, I was at a Florida prophecy conference that had four speakers in a row hint about Bill Clinton being the devil’s handyman.
The speculation suddenly ended with our current president. Barack Hussein Obama is without a doubt the most lawless and immoral president America has ever had, and yet, there is very little chatter about him being the Beast. The Church has become so disconnected to prophecy, I’m not sure Obama could draw prophetic attention to himself even if he sprouted horns and grew a red tail.
Back in 1993, we had a prophetic drought as measured by The Rapture Index, where a whole series of categories went dormant or became downgraded by positive news events. Nevertheless, during that time, enthusiasm for prophecy remained stable.
Today, we need to have a constant flood of news that fails to keep the people’s attention. Over the past year, the traffic to most end-time sites has taken a swan dive. The smaller sites have been hit the hardest.
The book publishing world also shows the downturn in prophecy enthusiasm. The number of new books on prophecy is the lowest I’ve ever seen. During every decade, we have always had a prophecy related book with sales over the 10 million mark. Right now, there is no book anywhere close to this milestone.
Even though so much is going on, one possible explanation for why we are seeing a low in prophetic interest is because things have gotten so bad that people can’t stand to watch the news. I know the ratings for news networks is down. How can anyone with a rational mind not turn off the news when Obama comes on and says “I’m a pretty good president,” and “I think if I ran [for a third term], I could win.”
A lot of Christians have the idea that prophecy is like a treasure hunt: If you figure out the magic date, you’ll know when to expect the final day. In reality, prophecy is more like a dance marathon: As there are fewer people on the floor, the closer we are to the end. With apathy having become so rampant, we have a clear signal that the music is about to stop.
In the book of Matthew, Jesus told His disciples again and again that the hour of His return would be highlighted by a lack of awareness on the part of His followers. The Lord was so insistent about getting this point across, He repeated himself four times in the space of a few verses. He also included a story about the 10 virgins to illustrate the point of the surprise Rapture. We are the think not generation.
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matt. 24:36).
“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matt. 24:42).
“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 24:44).
“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 25:13).
--Todd
Posted with permission
www.raptureready.com/rap16.html
August 3, 2015
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. —Charles Dickens: A Tale Of Two Cities (1859)
I have been a student of Bible prophecy for over 35 years, and I’ve seen many cycles where interest in last days events has risen and fallen. We are living in what I think is the most divergent point in all of prophetic history. End-time related events have never been so active, while at the same time—awareness has never been so lacking.
One of the clearest examples of how evil the world has gotten is the number of suicide bombings that take place in the world. This heinous method of mass murder started with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza around the year 2000. The practice quickly spread to other parts of the Middle East and Northern Africa. These bombings have become so routine, most attacks don’t even make the major news feeds.
I’ve gone back and looked at our traffic records and I can see how lethargy that has swept over the prophetic community. There were many times when a major event would trigger a doubling or tripling in our daily traffic. In recent years, the response has been very muted. When the Supreme Court voted to make Gay marriage legal in all states, the site’s daily traffic only increased by 7 percent.
Prophecy watchers have a long tradition of speculating a president’s connection to Bible prophecy. Numerous books were written about FDR, John Kennedy, Nixon, and Ronald Reagan as Antichrist candidates. In the 1994, I was at a Florida prophecy conference that had four speakers in a row hint about Bill Clinton being the devil’s handyman.
The speculation suddenly ended with our current president. Barack Hussein Obama is without a doubt the most lawless and immoral president America has ever had, and yet, there is very little chatter about him being the Beast. The Church has become so disconnected to prophecy, I’m not sure Obama could draw prophetic attention to himself even if he sprouted horns and grew a red tail.
Back in 1993, we had a prophetic drought as measured by The Rapture Index, where a whole series of categories went dormant or became downgraded by positive news events. Nevertheless, during that time, enthusiasm for prophecy remained stable.
Today, we need to have a constant flood of news that fails to keep the people’s attention. Over the past year, the traffic to most end-time sites has taken a swan dive. The smaller sites have been hit the hardest.
The book publishing world also shows the downturn in prophecy enthusiasm. The number of new books on prophecy is the lowest I’ve ever seen. During every decade, we have always had a prophecy related book with sales over the 10 million mark. Right now, there is no book anywhere close to this milestone.
Even though so much is going on, one possible explanation for why we are seeing a low in prophetic interest is because things have gotten so bad that people can’t stand to watch the news. I know the ratings for news networks is down. How can anyone with a rational mind not turn off the news when Obama comes on and says “I’m a pretty good president,” and “I think if I ran [for a third term], I could win.”
A lot of Christians have the idea that prophecy is like a treasure hunt: If you figure out the magic date, you’ll know when to expect the final day. In reality, prophecy is more like a dance marathon: As there are fewer people on the floor, the closer we are to the end. With apathy having become so rampant, we have a clear signal that the music is about to stop.
In the book of Matthew, Jesus told His disciples again and again that the hour of His return would be highlighted by a lack of awareness on the part of His followers. The Lord was so insistent about getting this point across, He repeated himself four times in the space of a few verses. He also included a story about the 10 virgins to illustrate the point of the surprise Rapture. We are the think not generation.
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matt. 24:36).
“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matt. 24:42).
“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 24:44).
“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 25:13).
--Todd
Posted with permission
www.raptureready.com/rap16.html