I began this blog in late 2013 and only wrote once a month in the beginning - now weekly. Since I acquire new readers along the way, occasionally I will reintroduce myself and the purpose of this blog. I contrast the modern viewpoint of the end-time doctrine to the historical viewpoint of end-time doctrine. This is the only subject of this blog.
When I was the owner of a Christian bookstore, I had at my disposal all of the books written about the modern end-time doctrine, which I read voraciously. In the beginning I believed everything thing these authors predicted about the future, thinking, "Wow...how do these people predict the future - they are so gifted!" I was in awe of their ability to interpret Bible prophecy. After all, these authors were degreed scholars, why wouldn't I believe them?
But, at the same time, I also voraciously read and studied the Bible, which eventually created a contradiction to what the scholarly authors told me the scriptures said. Now questions nagged me to the point that I really needed answers.
So in 1975 I began my research, not only in the Bible, but also biblical history already documented by credible historians. The main thrust of my research has been to define the riddles, enigmas, metaphorical language, idioms, and esoteric imagery of Revelation. I believed that the message of Revelation was locked up in the symbolism - define the symbolism and we unlock the message - no interpretation needed.
Jesus focused His teaching to His apostles on the purpose of His miraculous birth and why He must die on a cruel Roman cross for the sins of mankind - and be raised from the dead. Jesus did not have time to explain the depths of this Divine intervention into the affairs of men on the earth. But in my research I finally realized the real purpose of the Revelation.
Jesus appeared in the visions to give the details of what had taken place while He was on the earth. He knew His apostles still did not understand how everything that happens on the earth is influenced by the invisible spiritual realm - by God or by Satan and his demons. The visions revealed the past, present and future - but educating His church was a primary purpose. He also had a dire warning for the religious leaders of Israel of their impending doom, giving them time to repent.
As I began to analyze everything I was reading about the Revelation, I realized that most of the visions have already been fulfilled, documented by historians with names, dates, and places. Martin Luther experienced the fulfillment of the seventh of the beast in Revelation 13 & 17, documenting his findings as the Holy Roman Empire. Prophecy is understand in its fulfillment.
The message in these visions was coded by symbolism, so His church would understand the message and warning, but their persecutors, such as Nero and the Sanhedrin, would think the words of the visions were gobbledegook, and dismiss the Christians as madmen.
In order to evaluate your own personal life, will you find more accuracy when you look back at the events that already have taken place, or will you find more accuracy by looking into your future - events that have not come to pass as yet?
In the last fifty years, the market has been flooded with books and movies interpreting the visions of Revelation with scary images of monsters, or human beings with large numbers stamped on their foreheads and forearms - 666. More recently a chip the size of a grain of rice is being purported by the Christian church as the mark of the beast - if you take it you will go to Hell.
These end-time scholars believe that most of Revelation has not been fulfilled, so they are interpreting Bible prophecy with their intellectual shrewdness. This means in their published books and movies they are interpreting the future for the whole church - events that have not come to pass as yet. How accurate will they be?
They will be as accurate as you will be if you try to predict the events in your own future. This seems like a common sense deduction to me, but apparently for all of the Bible scholars on television and radio today this is not the case. Speculating on the future of the Church seems like risky business. Although, the prophetic parables of Jesus Christ include future events, but are written in clear language, so that we can spiritually prepare ourselves for His return and Judgment Day.
Finding out through my research that the modern end-time doctrine of all mainline churches is barely a hundred years old, confirmed my nagging doubts. Cyrus Scofield published his study Bible in 1909, who soon became the darling of eschatology with his findings adopted into the curriculum of all Bible schools in the country. Anyone who became a Christian during this hundred years has been taught only this doctrine - but is it the truth as defined by the symbolism?
This blog will concentrate on defining the metaphorical language of Revelation, unraveling the riddles so that we can understand the message. By doing so we will find out when, where, how, and by whom many of the visions were fulfilled. Looking back is a lot more fun, because we have evidence, undeniable historical documentation, to prove the fulfillment of the visions, rather than the risky interpretation - guessing - of future events, where there is absolutely no proof - only fanciful speculation.
Starting with Part 1 - to present time, this blog has already solved the riddle of the two-horned beast; the seven-headed beast; the real mark of the beast; robe of righteousness; Judgment Day and outer darkness with historical documentation. Who are the 144,000? Stay tuned...
God's sheep question the doctrines of men...sheeple follow without question...
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