BIBLE PROPHESY

A large part of the Bible is prophesy and the mentioned prophesies will get fulfilled (or are fulfiled already). Jesus' birthplace and his virgin birth f.i., were prophesied in the Old Testament, to get fulfilled during the stay on our earth of the Messiah (to the Christians).Jesus himself prophesied the fall and destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. His words came true in 70 AD., when the Roman legions stormed Jerusalem and burned and looted the “Holy of Holiest” and the Roman rulers renamed the Holy Land into “Palestine”. Many of the prophesies (up to 87%, some believe) have been fulfilled, according to many Bible scolars. What remains are mostly prophesies about the “End of Times”. These are long term/step by step prophesies. We find them in Jeremiah, Jesaja, Daniel and in the book of “Revelation”, the 66^th and last book of our common Bible.

These prophesies are converging (the Nostradamus-effect). Why, because we live in the period of the Apocalypse, the time before the 2^nd coming of Christ, zo many Christians believe, the time in which the final prophesies (Apocalypse) will be fulfilled. The words of Jesus, when he describes the period before his return as a “time of wars and rumors of war”. This perfectly fits our times. There is a war going on in Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq and Syria. These wars have world-wide effects and lead to tensions, between Israel and Iran, Turkey and Syria or Israel and Gaza and to a high alert of the Western countries and the United States. The Arab world is in total disorder and China and Japan have territorial issues, that could easily explode, like Russia versus Ukraine, North and South Korea and India and China/Pakistan.

I have always been a skeptic of (all kinds of) prophesy. When Jesus knew the old texts (and he did), he (or his entourage) could have organised that the prophesies were fulfilled. But prophesies about the end times, must be visible in our present global situation.

And they are!

The final stage of the battle between good and evil, is named in the book of “Revelation”. The name of the battleground is called “Armageddon”, meaning “Megiddo”, an old fortress (800 – 1000 BC.) north of Jerusalem. Napoleon visited the site and called it “the best battleground” he knew. According to the Bible millions of soldiers will assemble here, under the leadership of the “Antichrist”. Blood will flow like a river, before Jesus returns from Heaven and decides the battle and binds evil, for at least 1000 years.

Building up armies takes a lot of time, money, preparation and planning. Rumors say that “Kaiser Wilhelm II” of Germany, who drove Europe into WW1, wanted to stop his troops, only to hear from his Chief of Staff, that it was impossible. “The trains are already on the move.” World War I was on its way.

This is possibly happening in the area pf Megiddo right now. Armies from all over the world, including our own Dutch military, are gathering and a solution, to the whole conflict in this region, seems far away. Bible prophesy in the making? The same stands for the prophet Jesaja. He wrote down, that Egyptians will fight Egyptians and that the city of Damascus, the capital of Syria will be destroyed. “There will be no city left.” Jesaja's prophesy about Egypt seemed fulfilled and the future of Damascus is constantly threatented by a raging civil war in Syria. Destruction of Damascus is a real possibility, escalation of this local conflict can easily lead to yet another fulfilment of yet another Bible prophesy.

We have been close.

The USA wanted to bomb Damascus because of the attacks on civilians using poisonous gasses.

It would be a first. A democratically elected Congress and a dito president, Barack Obama, decide to use military force against Syria (Damascus) and, in this way being instrumental in fulfilling Bible prophesy. The final battle at Armageddon would be ignited and Jesus' return a big step closer.