|
The
Validity of Prophecy
2
Let us not
forget the Master's advice regarding scripture
interpretation.
UB p. 1768
The Scriptures are sacred because they present the thoughts
and actions of men who were searching
for God . . . they contain
much that is true, very much, . .
. but these writings also contain
much that is misrepresentative of the
Father in heaven, the loving
Father I have come to reveal to all
the worlds. (Jesus)
UB p. 1768
Nathaniel, never permit yourself for one moment to believe
the
Scripture records which tell you that
the God of love directed your
forefathers to go forth in battle to
slay all their enemies . . . Such
records are the work of men, not very
holy men, and they are not
the word of God. The scriptures
always have, and always will
reflect the intellectual, moral, and
spiritual status of those who
create them. . . Many earnest seekers
after the truth have been, and
will continue to be, confused and
disheartened by these doctrines
of the perfection of Scripture
(Jesus).
UB p. 1768
The authority of truth is the very spirit that
indwells . . .The
revelations of divine truth are not
sealed except by human
ignorance, bigotry, and narrow minded
intolerance.
UB p. 1770
Jesus did not hesitate to appropriate the better half
of a
Scripture while he repudiated the
lesser portion.
Now, with
the rudder set straight, let’s define and further consider
the prophet himself. Consider the following quotes from
The Prophets, by Abraham Heschel, 1962:
To a person endowed with prophetic
insight, everyone else appears blind. (pg.16)
To be a prophet is both a distinction
and an affliction. . .
The prophet bears scorn and reproach (Jer.
15:15). He is
stigmatized as a madman. . . he is a
lonely man. He alienates
the wicked as well as the pious. (p.
18)
Ezekiel was told not to entertain any
illusions. . . ‘I (God) send you
to them. . . whether they hear or
refuse to hear.’ Ezekiel 2&3 (p.19)
The prophet claims to be far more than
a messenger. He is a
person who stands in the presence of
God (Jer. 15:9). (p. 21).
The gift he is blessed with is not a
skill, but rather the gift of
being guided and restrained. (p. 22).
He not only conveys but reveals. (p.
22).
The fundamental experience of the
prophet is a fellowship with
the feelings of God, a sympathy with
the divine pathos. (p. 26).
Now
consider the distinction between a false and a true prophet
from Josh McDowell’s Evidence That Demands a Verdict,
1972:
False prophets were usually paid staff
under the king. . . They
"prophesied" what the king wanted to
hear. . . he preaches of peace. . .
They steal the name of the Lord, use
their own authority in His name and
claim their own self-exalted status. .
. They lead the people with false
assurance. (p. 269).
True prophets. . .do not begin with a message of
peace because god-like
peace comes only through holiness,
righteousness and repentance. The
theme of the true prophet has been set
by Moses, which is the theme of
God’s law. The true prophet is
commissioned by God and speaks in His
name, with His authority. . . He
challenges his hearers head on to examine
themselves. (p. 270).
Now lets
move on to the accuracy of prophecy. Science always asks,
what does the data say? What is the prior success record? As
with all searches for truth, we must come to each question
with an open mind, aware of the biases we inevitably have.
This is particularly hard to do with prophecy because we
have all been inculcated with the same unexamined "modern"
suppositions and assumptions regarding reality. We are like
fish swimming in a sea of suppositions, and fish are
always the last to know about water, because it pervades
their universe, and its absence is never
experienced/realized. After all, is it really so hard to
believe that our Father would want to warn, teach, and
prepare His children regarding events to come? Most modern,
"popular," scholars think something like this: "Miracles
are not possible and so they can not exist. And miracles
cannot exist because they are impossible. Now we have
proved it." Notice anything funny? Perhaps, this is an
example of how our "arrogance outruns our reason," as per
the Urantia Book. Next, having
"proved" the impossibility of prophecy, our most popular
scholars must now invent any possible scheme they can to
"prove" that the accurate prophecy was in fact
written after the event had occurred. Thus the case
is closed, irrefutable to anyone with a "modicum of sense."
And if the evidence is too strong to refute, then the
authorities of politically correct thought step in to
downplay, ignore, or obfuscate such evidence. This club
sees no evil, hears no evil, and does no evil.
There are many, many well-documented examples of
detailed prophecies that have come true to the exact
details. We must realize that mans simplistic notions of
time, space, and causality have already been destroyed by a
new and enlarged perspective largely forced on us by
the evidences of quantum theory, chaos theory, Bell’s
theorem, and Godel’s
incompleteness proof. There is already a sound
human basis for a philosophy that embraces both
reason and intuition, matter and spirit, logic
and faith.
The
materialistic, reductionistic,
mechanistic universe paradigm has been forever shattered.
Yet the majority of conventional scientists cling to their
old ideas of certainty and predictability. This is because
there is a religion about science that scientists are
not willing to admit to, just as stubbornly as any other
religionist has, from time to time been. This religion is
unexamined and lurks in the darkness of unrecognized
assumptions, prejudices, and biases about the world and
the way we want it to be rather than the way it really
is. If we want to be "top dog" and in control of everything
then we cannot also allow ourselves to believe in God. A
belief in God would logically bring our self-sovereignty
into question. Since we are too weak and prideful to allow
for the existence of spiritual realities we must find
the Universe to be strictly materialistic, strictly
mechanistic, and strictly under our control. But
then these religious beliefs of our conventional
scientists, and many others, are masqueraded as
prooved scientific certainties
to the untrained eye. Let it be known that a logical,
rational, and intelligent person can examine
phenomena outside of our present paradigm and make logical
judgments regarding the unknown. The belief in God is
neither irrational or unfounded. In fact we will see that a
belief in a purposeful God is far more rational than a
belief in an unending series of infinitely improbable
"accidents." The scientific method is a good approach to
all types of questions and always asks what does the
evidence show. Even if there is only one well-documented
case of a detailed and accurate prophecy, our assumptions
about reality must be adjusted to allow for this.
Instead, what happens is that uncomfortable facts are
quickly swept under the rug to keep up appearances. Most
people, including scientists, do not love truth.
Therefore, the truth is crucified and sacrificed day after
day in the halls of cowardice, laziness, and
self-centeredness.
Now lets
look at the evidence about the past predictive accuracy of
prophecy. If the past evidence of accuracy is good, then we
can confidently use prophecy to look into our future.
I have
selected several prophecies that will be well known and
therefore easy to evaluate by the individual reader. First,
some material from an informative letter written by Preston
Thomas to Larry Watkins, 1992, about prophecy. Both
individuals are Urantia Book
students.
Letter Jeremiah lived in the time before the
fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar
P.Thomas (of Babylon). He
prophesied for twenty years before it happened…and
for
this he was put in prison. I (Preston
Thomas) am attracted to Jeremiah
because he (like us today) lived in a
time before a great crisis – the fall of
all Jerusalem and Judah to
Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah’s ministry began
around 625 B.C. and ended sometime
after 580 B.C. In 586 B.C., after an
extended siege, Nebuchadnezzar
leveled the city and the temple, and took
most of the remaining residents of
Judea into captivity (in Babylon). The
first twenty chapters of Jeremiah
record this prophecy of Judea many
Jeremiah’s prophecy is very
specific and right on the money. For example,
Jer 20:4,
"I (the Lord) will give Judea into the hand of the King of
Babylon, he shall carry you captive
to Babylon."…By the way, this
prophecy is confirmed by the
Urantia Book (1067D), "it was
considered
blasphemous treason when during the
siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah said;
‘And now have I (the Lord) given
these lands into the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon,
my servant.’ And when
Jeremiah counseled the surrender of
the city, the priests and civil rulers
cast him into a miry pit of dismal
dungeon…" (Preston Thomas)
Other
examples of the positive portrayal of prophecy (in the
Urantia Book) include the
following:
Ever and anon true prophets and
teachers arose to denounce and
expose Shamanism. (UB p. 988).
Guatama was a real prophet. (UB
p. 1035)
Our Father did indeed speak through
Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Amos, and
Hosea. (UB p. 1731) But true
prophetic vision is a superpsychologic
presentiment. Such visitations are
not hallucinations, neither are they
trancelike
ecstasies. (UB 1000) (Preston Thomas, letter 1992)
Preston
Thomas continues. Another excellent example is found in
Isaiah 53…(Written over 600 years before Jesus.)
Isaiah
53 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of
sorrows,
KJV and acquainted with grief; and as one
from whom men hide their faces he
was despised, and we esteemed him
not.
Surely he has borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten
by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our
transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that
made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own
way;
and the LORD has laid on him the
iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like
a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its
shearers is dumb,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was
taken away;
and as for his generation,
who considered that he was cut off of
the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my
people?
And they made his grave with the
wicked and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence, and
there was no deceit in his mouth.
(Preston Thomas)
Preston Thomas points out…Notice how many "hits" this
prophecy contains:
. He was despised and rejected by men
. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief
. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not
. He has born our
griefs and carried our sorrows
. He was wounded for our
transgressions
. He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth
. Like a lamb that is led to the
slaughter
. By oppression and judgment he was
taken away
. And they made his grave with the
wicked, and with a rich
man in his death, although he had
done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his
mouth.
(Preston Thomas, letter 1992)
I think you
must admit that this is an excellent and specific,
description of Jesus’ life here on earth.
Having
heard from Preston Thomas, let’s consider some research from
Grant Jeffrey, a well-known Christian prophecy interpreter.
EZEKIEL’S VISION
OF THE REBIRTH OF ISRAEL IN 1948
The prophet
Ezekiel, like Daniel, was carried off to Babylon as a
captive.
He prophesied
there for about 20 years. Also he, like Daniel, was aware
from the prophecies of Jeremiah that the captivity in
Babylon would last
only 70 years. Here is what he prophesied: Ezekiel
4:3-6, "this shall be a
sign to the house of Israel. Lie thou also upon thy left
side, and lay the
iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: upon it
thou shalt bear their iniquity.
For I (the Lord) have laid upon thee the years of
their iniquity, according to
the number of the days, three hundred and ninety
days: so shalt thou bear
the iniquity on thy right side, and thou
shalt bear the iniquity of the
house of
Judah forty days: I (the Lord) have
appointed each day for a year." (Grant Jeffrey)
In this prophecy
we are given a clear message that Israel (the Northern
tribes would be punished for 390 days of years plus an
additional 40 days
of year for Judah’s (Southern Tribes)
transgressions—which is a total of 430
years. From the Second Captivity they only served 70
years and then were
freed by king Cyrus. So it
appears that we have a conflict since 430 years
minus 70 years = 360 years left for future punishment.
(Grant Jeffrey)
Lev.26: I
tell them the rules, and Verse 18 tells them that if they
still
disobey God that their punishment will be seven times
more severe. If
you continue this chapter you will see that God warns the
Israelites more
than once that if they didn’t repent of their sins
that the previously specified
judgments would be multiplied by seven
(the number of completion). (GrantJeffrey)
So now we have a
new duration of punishment, remember we had 360
years of unfulfilled punishment, and the Jews had not
only not repented of
their sins but they crucified the very one who could
redeem them. So, the
360 years remaining period of punishment is multiplied
by 7 which equals
2,520 Biblical years. A biblical year is 360
days (Grant Jeffrey)
The end of the
Babylonian captivity is well documented historically as
536 B.C., so 2,520
years from 536 B.C. equals May
14, 1948—THE VERY
DAY THAT ISRAEL BECAME A NATION. (Grant
Jeffrey)
The Lord in
this example is like the strict parent who lays out the
rules and penalties in advance and sticks to his word. He
is strict, but always fair, and always trying to give his
children the benefit of any doubt. The Lord’s time horizon,
2500 years, is a little longer than our own. Nevertheless,
2500 years earns a lot of respect.
Next under consideration, The Secrets of the Dead
Sea Scrolls, by Randall Price, 1996, states: "This
fragmentary text, dated to about 100
B.C. is known as 4QaaronA (4Q541) because it
refers to a sagely and priestly figure. The translation of
the crucial fragments (9&24) are often considered together,
but are probably not related, read as follows:"
Jesus and the
Dead Sea Scrolls
DSC He will atone for all the children of his
generation, and he will
4Q541.9 be sent to all his children of his [pe]
ople. His word is like a
word of heaven, and his teaching is
in accordance with the will
of God. His eternal sun
will shine, and his light will be kindled in
all corners of the earth, and it will
shine on the darkness. Then the
darkness will pass away [fro]m
the earth, and thick darkness from
the dry land. (spiritual darkness) (my
parenthesis)
They will speak many words against
him, and they will invent
many [lies] and fictions against him
and speak shameful things
about him. Evil will overthrow his
generation […] His situation
will be one of lying and violence
[and] the people will go astray
in the days, and be confounded.
DSC
Do [not] grieve for [him] […] God will set many things right
4Q541.24 […] many revealed things […] Examine and seek
and know what
the dove (or: Jonah?) sought (?) and
do not afflict the weak by
wasting or hanging […] [Let]
not the nail approach him. So you
will establish for your father a name
of joy, and for your brothers
a proven foundation […] You will see
and rejoice in the eternal
light, and you will not be an enemy.
(dotted lines and parentheses
indicate missing original text)
The first
paragraph describes the Son of Man perfectly; his "eternal"
existence, "his word like a word of heaven," and his
"teaching in accordance with the will of God" could apply to
no other person. The first line of this first
paragraph refers to the concept of atonement. This
erroneous concept is an example of how revelation is shaped
by the cultural mindset into which it is given, just as a
cup gives shape to the coffee poured into it. We must
distinguish between the facts described and the
prophet’s interpretation of those facts; i.e. the
same level separation that the Urantia
Book teaches: fact, meaning, value. The events can still be
accurate even if the prophet’s assumptions and
interpretations of these is incomplete or inaccurate; i.e.
the coffee tastes the same no matter which cup you choose to
put it in. The method of level separation taught in the
Urantia Book is a very powerful
tool for the understanding of all phenomena, as well as this
specific phenomenon, prophecy interpretation.
The second paragraph of 4Q541.9 describes the corrupt
social and political scene found at the time of Jesus’
death, near the end of an age in 70 AD (Roman war). This
corrupted socio-political scene
of lying, violence and confusion can refer to any end of an
age time period, as it is the same for all ends of ages:
i.e. the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple in
587 B.C., the destruction of
Jerusalem and the Second Temple A.D.
70, and today; the end of the dispensation of the
"gentiles/Christians" (as well as the end of the larger age
of the Adamic default and the
temporary Sovereignty of Man). Human ages end because the
weeds eventually overgrow the good seed. This happens
because there is no one to pluck up the weeds along the way.
Only a divine leadership can have the authority and wisdom
to do this consistently and effectively over long periods of
time. Not only man, but even most lower orders of divine
beings are incapable of self-governance as is discussed in
The Urantia Book.
UB p. 766
Without help from superhuman sources the strain of society
breaks down upon reaching certain
limits, and these very
influences of social mobilization
–hunger, love, vanity and
fear – conspire to plunge mankind into
war and bloodshed.
Melchizedek surely understands
this and just as surely would have provided a solution for
it in his "comprehensive plan" for rehabilitation of the
planet. I wonder if he is challenged by any impatience as he
waits for harvest time and the beginning of a new
dispensation for his estranged children, to whom he has
devoted so much, for so long.
The third paragraph of the Dead Sea Scroll text
5Q541 under consideration, again describes Jesus’ situation
accurately and specifically, this time crucifixion is
alluded to, i.e. "do not afflict the weak by wasting or
hanging […] [let] not the nail approach him."
The "nail" and "hanging" are specific to ancient
descriptions of crucifixion. No one knows for sure, but my
intuition tells me that the Qumran
leader, the Teacher of Righteousness, is addressing his
community in this paragraph and is warning them not to have
any part in the upcoming, near future crucifixion of the Son
of Man, so that they and their families will stay on the
side of righteousness. Very likely then,
Melchizedek has already
"collaborated" with the Teacher of Righteousness in a
revelatory process that has included
revelaton of Jesus and his crucifixion. The Teacher
of Righteousness is God’s servant and prophet for that time
period, 100 years before the birth of Jesus. The
Qumran community is then a
faithful Jewish remnant of that time who have elected to
follow God's will, and who have chosen self-exile
(isolation) from the corruption and lawlessness of their
times. By the evidence of this accurate and important
prophecy about Jesus, we can postulate that other prophetic
material in the Dead Sea Scrolls may also be highly accurate
and important. Since the Teacher’s prophecies clearly
focused on a future Messianic time period, when all is set
right in the world, this body of prophecy is likely to be
very important to our situation today at the close of The
Age, just before the arrival of the Messiah,
Melchizedek. What a
"coincidence" that these Scrolls have just been recently
found and brought to our attention today, the very day of
its relevance. We will return to the Scrolls at various
points later on.
Now, continuing to explore the accuracy of past
prophecy, lets look at an Old Testament prophecy regarding
ancient Moab-Ammon. The
following is an extended excerpt from Josh McDowell’s,
Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Vol. 1, copyright 1972.
Moab-Ammon
Two small
kingdoms, Moab, positioned east
of the Dead Sea, and Ammon,
north of Moab, were also objects
of God’s judgment.
Scripture and
Dating:
Ezek 25:3 …And say to the
sons of Ammon, "hear the word of
the Lord God!
Thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you
said, "Aha!" against My
sanctuary when it was profaned, and
against the house of Judah when
they went into exile, and against the
land of Israel when it was made desolate,
Ezek 25:4 Therefore,
behold, I (the Lord) am going to give you to the sons of the
east for a
possession, and they will set their
encampments among you and make their
dwellings among you; they will eat
your fruit and drink your milk.
Jer
48:47 Yet I will restore the fortunes of
Moab in the latter days,
declares the Lord.
Thus for the judgment on
Moab.
Jer 49:6 But afterward I
will restore the fortunes of the sons of
Ammon, declares the Lord.
Predictions:
Ezek 25:4 Will be taken by
easterners who will live off the fruits of the land
Ezek
25:4 "Men of the east" will make
Ammon a site for their palaces
Jer
48:47
49:6 People of Old Moab
and Ammon will
reinhabit their land
History:
With this in mind, we will study the background and
history of these lands. Howard Vos
writes: "A study of the topography of the area demonstrates
the impregnable nature of mountain strongholds, and an
indication of the military prowess is seen in the fact that
Baasha, the Ammonite, sent
10,000 troops to Quargar in 354
B.C. to do battle with
Shalmanesser of
Assyria. So rich and powerful
was the nation (Ammon)when
Jeremiah wrote, "Rabbah [Ammon]
shall be a desolate heap that it seemed very unlikely that
such a catastrophe would ever occur." (Josh McDowell,
Evidence that Demands a Verdict)
The first and second predictions have been fulfilled as
predicted, according to Howard Vos:
"The Emir Abdullah of the East, ruler of
Transjordania, built his palace
there, fulfilling another prophecy that the men of the East
shall possess Rabbah and set
dwellings and palaces in her. In recent days the Emir has
distinguished himself as director of the Arab Legion, which
has taken such an active part in the fighting with the Jews
in Palestine. Today the City of Ammon
has a population of over 20,000, is a stopping place of the
Damascus-Hejaz Railway, and has
officials of other nations numbered among its population.
The size of the city is significant when one realizes it
numbered only a couple of hundred inhabitants in 1920."
Vos summarizes in a simple
manner and states that "men of the east do inherit her (Moab)
at the present…"
At present,
however, Moab and
Ammon are waking up. Keep in
mind the third prediction as this quote from Davis is
revealed. (Josh McDowell)
Both lands [Moab
and Ammon] are making rapid
strides forward
after their long sleep of centuries.
Ammon, the Capital of
Trans-Jordan,
is the Old
Rabbath of the Ammonites, that was captured by
Joab and the
Israelites acting under the direction
of King David. Only a dozen years
ago Ammon
was a mere village of two or three hundred people. Today
it is a flourishing city with a
population of 20,000 and is the residence of
the ruler of Trans-Jordan, the Emir
Abdellah. (George Davis,
Evidence
that Demands a Verdict, Josh
McDowell, pg. 287).
Possibly
the people inhabiting Moab and
Ammon are not the ancient
Moabites and Ammonites, but even
if this possibility were to be entertained, is it too much
of a stretch of the imagination to see it happening in the
future? (Josh McDowell)
The impact of this material has been
so great that a writer in a
purely secular encyclopedia with a
tremendous circulation has said:
‘But Israel remained a great power
while Moab disappeared. It is
true
that Moab
was continuously hard pressed by desert hordes; the exposed
condition of the land is emphasized by
the chains of ruined forts and
castles, which even the Romans, were
compelled to construct. But the
explanation is to be found within
Israel itself, and especially in the work
of the prophets. (Howard
Vos, Evidence that Demands A
Verdict, Josh
McDowell,
pg. 287)
Peter
Stoner evaluates the probability of this being fulfilled at
one thousand-to-one.
The estimates for the probable
fulfillment of these items [relating to]
the Moab-Ammon
prophecies were given as (1) 1 in 5 for the take-over
by men of the east; (2) 1 in 10 [for]
palaces in Ammon; (3) 1 in 10
[for
the] return of the
Moabites and Ammonites. This
gives an estimate in
the whole prophecy of 1 in 10(Josh
McDowell)
Another
excellent example of well-documented, accurate prophecies is
the book of Daniel. Daniel, chapter 11, accurately and in
great detail predicts over 400 years of history. (Discussed
in this book in the chapter - Daniel.) This startling
information has been buried in dust by the
naysayers, whose logic and
premises are quite flimsy but have nevertheless ruled the
day for so long. However, studies of the Dead Sea Scrolls
support strongly the thesis that Daniel was written long
before, and not after, the events prophesied.
These then, are but a small number of very
accurate prophecies in the Old Testament prophetic
scripture. I am no expert, by any means, but I know of no
well-documented Old Testament prophecies that have been
definitively shown to be inaccurate. The prophecies are
precise and detailed, and sometimes include precise time
frames for their fulfillment. Ultimately, prophecy is only
possible because human minds are capable of tuning in to
God’s mind. Only God can know the future. His mind
is omniscient and absolute. The quality and accuracy of any
given prophecy is determined by the intellectual capacity
and spiritual receptivity of the prophet’s mind.
`The more complete the prophet’s subordination is to
God’s will, the higher is the potential for safe and
accurate receptivity. Dreams and visions are sometimes
used, but the more common and mundane experiences are those
"suprapsychologic presentiments"
(UB) given through the intuitive mind. This represents the
same process as achieving close contact with the indwelling
thought adjuster that is described in full detail by The
Urantia Book and discussed in a
later chapter. And so, the cup of our understanding grows
and changes as we assimilate knowledge and concepts and grow
spiritually in our lives. Our ultimate capacity is limited
only by time, our will, and the biologic factors that
condition intelligence and spiritual receptivity. However,
no matter how large or small our cup may be, God will always
fill us up over the brim of our capacity. And when the
capacity of the material form is exhausted, another and
higher form is given. This process of increase never ends
because God never ends. |
◄
