Sunday Afternoon Tea - Why Bible Prophecy Helps us Overcome Fear

I won't give up on this race
Broken but I still have faith
That this old life is all part of a plan
And I can feel it in my soul...

My husband and I were watching the K-Love Music Awards yesterday when Toby Mac sang the above song.  The official title is Promised Land and this is but one part of a verse but for some reason, it touched me even more than the others. The entire song is quite wonderful.

I continue to ponder how I can run to all that is lovely.  Especially as this world has become unbelievably dark.  Television has become a mind field of wickedness.  I think only five major companies own most of the channels now, which is why one can be watching a family friendly TV show like The Zoo (Bronx Zoo) or The Secret Life of the Zoo (Columbus Zoo) and cringe at the X-rated commercials.

I was recently watching about a half an hour of a favorite movie on a channel I rarely watch and was so disgusted by the commercials that I turned the channel.  Even though it was a movie I liked, I didn't want the filth of the commercials to enter my mind.

People scoffed at David Wilkerson's book called The Vision.  He believed God had given him a vision of what the world would become like in the near future and many were unthinkable at that time.  Many in the church were so upset with him that invitations for him to speak at churches other than his own (Time Square Church in New York) almost stopped.

Now, I understand why some people are uncomfortable with the concept of visions.  Even though the subject comes up all the way through the Bible, if you were raised in a denomination that never brought up the subject, then you most likely would be uncertain.  However, the people that were upset with Wilkerson was because of the content of the visions and not the concept.

I have a copy of The Vision and I need to reread it soon but so much of what he wrote has happened.  Those things which people told him were impossible to occur, especially in Christian America.  One of them was that television would offer p*rn channels for pay and then all channels would become so bad that some Christians would decide they can no longer watch television at all.

The book was published in the 1970s and people said that could never happen.  A television show about that time was cancelled because the couple were living together and not married.  So many people complained to the network that it was taken off the air.  That is hard to believe these days but I remember the show and the complaints.

I don't use the term prophet lightly.  It seems we read of Prophet this guy and Prophet that guy all the time now.  David Wilkerson never called himself a prophet but he certainly heard from God and tried to warn people what was coming. That by any definition could be called a prophet.  Although, what I would call a prophet today is different than the Old Testament prophets who held what I would call the office of a prophet. 

I have two of Wilkerson's books on my desk at all times, both paperbacks are well worn with yellowed pages but I like to go back and check what he said compared to what is going on in the world that we find so shocking now.  These past two years have certainly filled in a lot of the blanks.

Wilkerson preached to his congregation as well as in the newsletters he sent out that we were living in the days that were predicted in the Bible for millennia.  Even in the 1970s, he was teaching that God's people needed to be students of the Word and to not be distracted by everything the world has to offer.  No wonder so many people did not want to read his materials or listen to his teaching.

I am so glad that my early Bible teachers believed the teaching of Bible prophecy was important, even if not everyone believes the exact same thing.  As a young Christian, it seemed everyone was talking about Bible prophecy and then things slowly changed.  Eventually, it was not taught in many churches, anymore.

We need to give each other a lot of grace when it comes to eschatology.  As we get closer to the return of Christ, the lens are becoming clearer than they were even twenty years ago, much less when the subject became more popular in the 60's and 70's.  How and when everything happens should never bring a separation of fellowship among friends.  

I have heard one prophecy teacher who believes in a pre-tribulation rapture say that he gets hate mail that he is sending people to Hell because of what he teaches.  If you know someone who thinks like that... run away from their teaching.  The events leading up to the return of Jesus are not something people have to agree upon for their salvation.  Anyone who would teach that cannot be trusted in any of their other teachings.  

I think it is possible that there are events in these years that will not be clear until we get up to the days they occur, perhaps not even until after they have happened.  Think about how many people did not understand fully the events leading up to the first coming of Jesus.  We can look back and see it all so clearly now.

Most teachers agreed that Romans 1 and Matthew 24 were important in describing what life would be like before His return.  Of course, there are the general prophecies in the Old Testament and Revelation that offer a macro view but it is the micro view of Romans 1 and Matthew 24 that I have been coming back to a lot in the past few years.

So, why does the study of Bible Prophecy help me overcome fear when so many teachers today refuse to teach it because they say it will stir up fear?  Because Bible Prophecy is like looking at a map and once in awhile, a "You Are Here" sign pops up.  You know, the kind of sign they have in malls to show you where the stores are located from the perspective of the map. 

Taught by a really good teacher, it can give us understanding of this crazy world.  It can show us an estimate of where we are in relation to God's ultimate plan for our world.  That being the return of Jesus.  If I had not had good teachers in the past, I would be clueless as to why the world seems to be falling apart. 

I do start feeling fear creeping in when I look around at the world today.  It is easy to speculate on the years ahead if we do not "take every thought captive" as I have shared before. Even if we trust God's Word and we understand all of this means that Jesus is coming again soon.

We cannot help but think of the "what ifs"...  Will I suffer?  Will my children suffer?  Will there be enough to eat in the future?  What will we do if there are extended power outages?  What if the prices continue to go up?  What if we go to war?  Etc.

There is not only the talk of WWIII but now there is talk of world wide famine and yet another pandemic on the horizon.  All of which we would have laughed at just over two years ago but all are now a possibility.  

Although, I have read what Billy Graham wrote during the Cold War and I think I agree.  He believes a nuclear war event has to be a Tribulation-Wrath of God event because of the destruction.  The Word says that He shortens that time so that all of mankind will not be wiped out.  

What Bible Prophecy reminds me is this, God knew what was going to happen a very long time ago.  Before time began.  He has provided enough information through those who held the office of Prophet and those whom he uses today to show what is going to happen.

I can look at the "You Are Here" signs as they pop up now and then and know that yes, God is truly in control.  Is Putin the ultimate person in control?  No.  Is Biden in the ultimate control?  I certainly hope not.  What about Iran and Iraq and Saudi Arabia?  Not even those powerful countries with a lot of oil are in control.

The Bible tells me that God knows what is happening.  He knows who is behind this worldwide chess board.  "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood."  You and I are in the midst of a universal battle of good and evil and those of us who believe the Bible is true as well as Truth have something the rest of the world does not... we know who wins the war, even if through the lens of the world and the media it seems as if God is losing the battles.

I don't know the timing of the years ahead, my friends.  I don't know what we will go through or precisely when Jesus will come.  But I can look back at my life and know that He always brought me out of every trial and that I can trust Him with the years ahead. 

I have chosen to look past all the possibilities and look forward to the promises I know are coming.  A perfect body with no pain or suffering.  A perfect world and then a new Earth that has never known the consequences of the Fall.  The Marriage Supper of the Lamb.  Seeing loved ones who have gone on before me.  Seeing Heaven and the streets of gold.  Having a Heavenly home.  The best of all... seeing God face to face.

Whatever is ahead, what follows is worth it all.  The Bible calls our sufferings here "light, momentary afflictions".  We can have great trust that God will never leave us or forsake us and because of Bible prophecy, we know that there is an end to all of the suffering the world has known.

We do not depend on our strength (which is frail), we depend on His strength.  It will never fail.

Lyrics: Promised Land  Written by: Adam Agee and Toby McKeehan

Promised Land video on YouTube... here.

Image: Hubby and I on our honeymoon, I had just turned 20 a few weeks before and he was 27.  It is good that we did not know everything that was ahead of us, both that which was good and that which was... not.  However, God led us through all of it just as He will lead us through the years ahead.