BIBLE PROPHECIES: Are They Reliable?
How reliable are Bible prophecies? Will they hold up under close examination?
The Book of Revelation.
While in temporary exile on the isle of Patmos, John wrote the Book of Revelation which we now have in greatly abridged and distorted form. This Book contains the surviving fragments of a great revelation. Subsequent to John's writing, large portions were lost and other portions were removed. It is preserved in only fragmentary and adulterated form. [UB 139:4:14]
Therefore, any attempt to arrive at accurate interpretations of prophecies in the Book of Revelation is mostly an exercise in futility. [However, a small amount of true information did manage to slip through the cracks.]
Supplementary Information:
[A] I learned from celestial sources that Osama bin Laden is the AntiChrist, the False Prophet, and the Beast described in the Book of Revelation.
[B] On Osama's Day of Armageddon, more than
six billion persons will perish.
[C] Jesus has elevated Elijah, the Old Testament prophet, to the position of World Ruler.
Following are examples of Bible prophecies that illustrate their unreliability. [Some prophecies are discussed in my paper "Unraveling the Book of Revelation."]
[1] And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. . . . And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he shall rule the nations with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. [Revelation 19:11-16] [2] The following places do not exist: [3] All mid-east countries, including Israel, will vanish from the earth on the Day of Armageddon.
THEREFORE:
Comments:
Jesus does not make war. Never will Jesus smite the nations with a sharp sword; he will never make war; he will never rule the nations with a rod of iron. Such actions would be totally contradictory to his divine nature. Jesus will never judge mortals: Judging mortals is the responsibility of certain groups of celestial personalities.
Throughout the Bible are statements that refer to the wrath of God and his cup of indignation. God has
never been fierce, wrathful, angry, or jealous.
Revelation 11:15: And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD ARE BECOME THE KINGDOMS of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
According to a footnote for Rev.11:15, the seventh trumpet results in the establishment of the millennial kingdom of Christ. According to this footnote, Jesus will appear immediately following the years of Tribulation at which time he will completely overthrow the kingdoms of this world. Jesus will then reign for ever and ever.
If I understand correctly the passages in the Book of Revelation and the Book of Daniel, mortals worldwide will first endure the years of Tribulation. Immediately following the years of Tribulation, the Day of Armageddon occurs. On the Day of Armageddon all kingdoms of earth are destroyed. Jesus then returns to establish his thousand-year reign.
However, according to Paul, as I understand his statements, Christians who meet certain qualifications will not suffer during the years of Tribulation. They supposedly will be caught up in the air with Jesus at his second coming.
I confess I find the prophecies in the Books of Revelation and Daniel quite confusing. However, keep in mind that the Book of Revelation is both fragmented and distorted. Theologians have gone to great lengths to reconcile the information in the Old Testament regarding the End Times with the information in the Book of Revelation.
Their conclusions are in error because their "intelligence" is faulty. Jesus will not return to establish a thousand-year reign. He is the Sole Sovereign of our local universe of Nebadon which presently contains more than three million inhabited planets. Jesus has elevated Elijah to the position of World Ruler. It is Elijah who will establish the kingdom of God on earth. It is Elijah who will reign for a thousand years and for many thousands of years in the future.
[A] Hell. Jesus does not have the fictitious keys to a fictitious hell
. . . [Revelation 1:18] [UB 86:4:7] [UB 89:2:4] [UB 95:2:9 ~ 6:6]
[B] A lake which burneth eternally with fire and brimstone.
[Revelation 20:10 ~ 21:8]
[C] An everlasting fire
. . . [At Matthew 25:41 appears a statement erroneously attributed to Jesus:
. . . Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire . . .]
[D] A bottomless pit. [ Revelation 9:1-3]
[B] The Jews are in error when they declare that God gave them the land of Israel as an everlasting possession. [Genesis 13:15 ~ 17:8 and other places] The nation of Israel will vanish from the earth on the Day of Armageddon.
[C] There is no bottomless pit. Thus, Satan will not be bound and cast into a fictitious bottomless pit for a thousand years,
. . . [Revelation 20:1-4]
[D] All nations will not be gathered against Jerusalem in a battle to retake the city
. . . [Zechariah 14:1-9]
[E] The beast will not ascend out of a bottomless pit, and Satan will not raise up the Antichrist as his false messiah and give him worldwide authority during the Years of Tribulation. Satan is now held on a prison world in the capital [Jerusem] of our local system . [Revelation 17:8] [UB 53:9:4]
[F] And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. [Revelation 9:16 ~ 16:16]
If "two hundred thousand thousand" equals 200,000,000, would it be possible to assemble that many soldiers in Palestine for the biblical battle of Armageddon? It would be necessary to assemble this huge number of soldiers in Palestine
before the Day of Armageddon. Therefore, we must conclude that this is an erroneous prophecy.
[G] The dispersed of Judah will not be gathered together from the four corners of the earth to dwell in Israel. [Isaiah 11:11,12]
[H] The glory of Israel will never be restored so that she will be "a name and a praise among all people on the earth,
. . ." [Zephaniah 3:20]
When the Jews broke the covenant Abraham had made with the Most High and crucified Jesus, they forfeited their mission of being "a name and a praise among all the people on the earth."
[4]
The Second Death. Large numbers of young children will be resurrected in heaven. They will be personalized as of their exact physical status at the time of death except for reproductive potential. These young children, at age sixteen, or in some instances, before age sixteen, can choose or reject the Paradise ascension plan. If they reject the Paradise ascension plan, then when their material life has run its course, death automatically terminates their probationary careers. This is the second death.
According to information in The Urantia Book, any person who has been resurrected in heaven, but who has not fused with his/her Thought Adjuster, can reject the Paradise ascension plan. It appears that this second death would be a spiritual death, not a physical death. [ Revelation 20:14,15. ~ 21:8] [UB 47:2:1-8]
[5] The 144,000 Israelites. This is a fictitious number. As there have never been twelve tribes of Israelites, 144,000 Israelites from the twelve tribes cannot be "sealed." [UB 97:9] [Revelation 7:3-8 ~ 14:1-5]
[6] The Lucifer Rebellion. The passages at Revelation 12:3,4,7-9 refer to the Lucifer Rebellion that occurred about 200,000 years ago. The dragon was the symbol of Lucifer, Satan, and the apostate princes. Our Planetary Prince, Caligastia, ably advocated the cause of Lucifer on our planet. [UB 53:5:6] [The Urantia Book, Papers 53, 54, 66, and 67]
[7]
The Twelve Apostles. At Matthew 19:28 and Luke 22:30 Jesus is erroneously quoted as saying the twelve Apostles will eat and drink at his table in his kingdom, and sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
As explained above, there were never twelve tribes of Israel; also, Jesus does not judge his created creatures.
The twelve Apostles will never sit with Jesus upon twelve thrones and judge the fictitious twelve tribes of Israel. [Recall that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and then committed suicide. This left only eleven Apostles.]
[8] The number 666. And he [the beast] causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six. [Revelation 13:16-18]
Mortals already bear the mark of the beast because we are descended from fighting animals. Many mortals are barely above the animal level as measured by their spiritual development. However, as we progress spiritually, we gradually overcome our animalistic tendencies so that in the distant future it can be said we have overcome the mark of the beast.
I quote from The Urantia Book:
John the Revelator saw a vision of the arrival of a class of advancing mortals from the seventh mansion world to their first heaven, the glories of Jerusem. He recorded: And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and those who had gained the victory over the beast that was originally in them and over the image that persisted through the mansion worlds and finally over the last mark and trace, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, and singing the song of deliverance from mortal fear and death. (Perfected space communication is to be had on all these worlds; and your anywhere reception of such communications is made possible by carrying the “harp of God,” a morontia contrivance compensating for the inability to directly adjust the immature morontia sensory mechanism to the reception of space communications.) [UB 47:10:2] [Revelation 15:2]
Paul also had a view of the ascendant-citizen corps of perfecting mortals on Jerusem, for he wrote: But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the grand assembly of Michael, and to the spirits of just men being made perfect. [UB 47:10:3] [Hebrews 12:22,23]
[9] God's Two Witnesses. Some of the attributes attributed to these two witnesses who supposedly will be sent to Jerusalem are so phenomenal as to defy belief:
. . . they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
. . . And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
. . . They have power to shut heaven, that it not rain in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. The beast will overcome them and kill them. Their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city [Jerusalem]. And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet;
. . . And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. [Revelation 11:3-12]
Who are these two witnesses? If there are two witnesses, is it plausible to suggest that Elijah might be one of the witnesses?
If Elijah is one of the witnesses, we do not know exactly when he will appear: Will he arrive before or after the Day of Armageddon? If he is to appear in Jerusalem, he must arrive before the Day of Armageddon. According to Malachi 4:5, Elijah will appear before the Day of Armageddon.
[10]
False Religions and False Prophets. Christians are warned repeatedly to beware false prophets and false religions that will arise in the End Times. We can observe that there are indeed many false prophets and false religions that have arisen around the world. But Christians have contributed their share of false prophets and false religions. For hundreds of years Christians have taught a religion that contains many erroneous beliefs.
Matthew 24:4,5,23,24. Jesus is quoted as saying: Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets who shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Jesus did warn his Apostles that false Christs and false prophets would arise. However, he did not say that these false prophets would show great signs and wonders.
Christians have a yardstick by which they determine whether a prophet is a true prophet or a false prophet. For example:
1John 4:1: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1John, Chapter 4 lists several ways by which to judge whether a teacher is a true teacher or a false teacher.
Apparently, if statements made by a prophet or other persons disagree with the teachings in the Bible, then the speaker is a false prophet. Therefore, we can be virtually certain that Christian fundamentalists and literalists will condemn as a false religion the gospel of Jesus as presented in Part IV of
The Urantia Book. Persons who believe and spread the word of this epochal revelation of the life and teachings of Jesus will be branded as false prophets or worse.
Jesus knew that some prophecies contained in the Old Testament contained erroneous information. He many times quoted from the books of prophecy in the Old Testament. But he was always careful to omit any part of the prophecy that was in error.
[11]
The Rapture. There is some dissension among Bible scholars as to when in the stream of End Times events the supposed Rapture will occur. One prevalent belief is that Jesus will appear in great glory in the clouds before the beginning of the dreaded events in the seven-year Tribulation to rescue those Christians who qualify.
Paul explains:
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. [1Thessalonians 4:14-17]
In a footnote for 4:17 there appear the following statements: Although the word
Rapture does not occur in the English Bible, the idea is expressed in the words "caught up." The Rapture is the first phase of Christ's return, involving every Christian alive at that time. These Christians will be caught up to meet Him in the clouds, instantaneously receiving glorified bodies. All those who have died "in Christ" will be resurrected; those who are alive and saved at the time of the Rapture will be caught up with Christ before the start of the "Seventieth Week of Daniel," that is, the Great Tribulation. There are many reasons to believe that the Rapture precedes the Tribulation, but fundamentally this view is consistent with a historical-grammatical interpretation of the Scriptures.
Millions of Christians accept the concept of the Rapture as infallible. They firmly believe that they will be caught up in the clouds at the second coming of Jesus and thus will not suffer during the years of Tribulation. Unfortunately, there will be no Rapture. Whether Jesus will appear in the clouds I do not know.
If he does appear in the clouds, it will not be for the purpose of catching Christians up with him in the air.
Some Bible scholars are of the opinion that passages supposedly supporting the belief in a Rapture should be interpreted metaphorically or symbolically, not literally.
Bible passages cited to support a belief in the Rapture of the church include those found at 1Thessalonians: 4:13-17; Jude 14; Revelation 4:1,2.
Millions of survivors will wish for death to end their suffering. Said John the Revelator: And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. [Revelation 9:6]
Mortals will wish for death both before and after the Day of Armageddon.
It seems reasonable to conjecture that many people may find death by committing suicide. Large numbers of mortals may sink into insanity. How many parents will kill their children rather than watch them starve to death day by day? There will indeed be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [Matthew 22:13 and other passages]
[12] Consequences of Ignoring Warnings of the approaching Years of Tribulation and the Forthcoming Day of Armageddon. Christians will be told, repeatedly, by ministers and priests that warnings about the coming Years of Tribulation and the Day of Armageddon can safely be ignored as it does not apply to them. Many Christians will rely on the advice of their religious leaders with the result that most Christians will perish during the events of the End Times.
Christians are not the only group who will ignore the warnings about the forthcoming horrendous years of tribulation and the Day of Armageddon. We can expect that mortals worldwide will ignore the warnings.
Disbelief of persons worldwide explains why only "a few men" will survive the Day of Armageddon.
Even most devout believers in
The Urantia Book will believe that the warnings are inconsequential and can be ignored. Many of them will reason as follows: We believe that the information in the Bible is highly unreliable; The Book of Revelation is both fragmented and distorted.
The Urantia Book says nothing about a coming seven-year period of horrendous suffering and the Day of Armageddon. Therefore, we feel justified in ignoring the warnings.
Conclusion: The Bible contains many true prophecies. But it also contains numerous erroneous prophecies in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The coming Years of Tribulation and the Day of Armageddon will demonstrate that the Bible contains many prophecies that were not inspired by God.
SOURCE:
The Urantia Book;
The King James Study Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville.
Booklets published by the United Church of God, P.O. Box 541027, Cincinnati, OH 45254-1027. info@ucg.org.
Note: Numerous statements in this paper were quoted verbatim from the source.
Revised September 10 2008