Connecting the Dots: A Handbook of Bible Prophecy Ron Graff and Lambert Dolphin Revised and updated from the popular Internet book, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done… The Prayer Offered Most Often Is About To Be Answered!

Part I – Are These the End Times? Chapter 1 What In The World Is Happening? An Overview of Things to Come

Approximately one-third of the Bible contains prophecies. The book of Revelation is devoted entirely to the subject. It is amazing that so little attention is paid to the great prophetic passages in the Bible from many of the pulpits of the land. The aim of the prophets is to enlighten, to awaken hope, and to turn people from their destructive ways so God may bless them. Knowledge of what the future holds is the best way to prepare us to be ready. Because of all the problems that threaten the world today, there is intense interest in this subject. A new poll from the Pew Research Center indicated that 41% of Americans expect Christ to return by the year 2050. 1 What an amazing fact! Undoubtedly the influence of the “Left Behind” series a few years ago can take some credit for this high percentage. The subject of biblical prophecy is very interesting to most people for a number of reasons. The Bible has been shown to be the only book in history to predict the future with one hundred percent accuracy. In a world full of wrong answers and laughable predictions on every side, an accurate, reliable source of infallible information should be welcome news. Undoubtedly, there is also interest in prophecy because of the constant barrage of bad news that this generation has suffered. Here is a short list of the troubling issues of our time. First, there is the breakdown of family values. This has led to divorce, fatherless families, poor discipline, homosexuality, promiscuity, and other family problems. Then there is apostasy and deception in the Church. This is a “falling away” of believers from a close relationship with The Lord and from a vital life-changing faith that draws other people to Christ and sets a high moral standard for society. Corruption in government and greed in big business has caused the worst recession since the Great Depression, and has raised questions about how the country’s mushrooming debt can ever be repaid. By some calculations, nearly 20% of the workforce is unemployed, resulting in unprecedented bankruptcies, foreclosures, and other financial calamities. These conditions make the concept of a world government more desirable to some people. Shrinking borders, immigration problems, loss of national sovereignty, the apparent need for a world police force, common trade areas, and international banks and currency all push us toward a socialistic globalism. Ignorance about the ideals of our Founding Fathers is causing many to wonder if our freedoms and Christian beliefs will soon be lost. Our history has been rewritten for school textbooks to downplay the importance of Christianity in our nation. Unprecedented disasters, like the tsunami in 2004, the AIDS epidemic, drug-resistant superbugs, massive storms like Hurricane Katrina, and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico remind us of our inability to cope with the natural and man-made catastrophes. And, of greatest concern, is what Jesus’ foretold about “wars and rumors of wars” in the End Times. The threat of major wars, even world wars is greater now because of the existence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

The 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington D.C. literally changed the way we see our world because of the new threat of Islamic terrorism. This growing ugly reality seems to have no means of control. Furthermore, the fountainhead of terrorism is the festering tensions in the Middle East. The whole world hopes for peace in that region so that there might be peace in the rest of the world. There have been many years of negotiations, and numerous different peace plans and promoters, trying to bring peace to Israel and her neighbors. But tensions have just continued to grow, and now Iran is on the brink of deploying nuclear weapons. That country’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wants to destroy Israel and bring about the Islamic version of the Apocalypse in order to prepare the way for their messiah, the Twelfth Imam. We will discuss this issue more fully later in the light of Bible prophecies about the rebirth of Israel, the rapture of the Church, and the coming Tribulation. There is a peculiar development in our generation. In spite of the interest in prophecy by the public, there is a lack of teaching about prophecy in the pulpits. This may be caused in part by disappointments in the past. After becoming excited about Jesus’ soon coming, many have reacted to the fact that he hasn’t come yet. For other pastors this lack of end-times interest may be a result of false teaching that the Church has replaced Israel. But more likely, it is part of the reluctance by today’s pastors to engage in any controversial subject, whether it is a moral issue or a difficult passage of Scripture. We fear for the average pastor of our age when he faces his Lord and has to explain why he did not teach the whole Bible! (Acts 20:26-27) In his farewell address, “The Whole Counsel of God,” evangelist C.G. Finney said, But see the unfaithful minister in the Day of Judgment, he comes on to his trial, but he cannot look up. Those who sat under his ministry have caught sight of him, and they say to each other that is our minister; you remember his pretty tastes, his dazzling oratory, his graceful amblings, and his captivating blandishments; you remember about his pretty sermons, and you recollect how afraid he was to say hell, or let us know there was such a place; you recollect how he trimmed and truckled, how opposed to this thing and that thing, because it was not genteel, and was against all reform or progress in religion–do you remember all that: well that was our minister; see him looking down: he is speaking, what does he say? What does he say? See the eye of the judge looking through and through that unfaithful minister, that man who pretended to preach the gospel, and dealt deceitfully with souls. How much guilt there is upon him! What an awful thing that must be! How dreadful his position