But, I still wanted to know what was going to happen. Interestingly enough, shortly after we moved into a house in Sarasota, a flyer arrived in the mailbox advertising a series of lectures on prophecy. Well, we weren’t even settled in yet, so we forgot about it.
Hadrians Gate (130 A.D.), Antalya, Turkey
The next year, about the same time, another flyer lands in the mailbox advertising, you guessed it, a series of prophecy lectures. They were free, so this time we decided to check it out.
We found the address on opening night, and it was obviously a church, but we had no idea what denomination and, quite frankly, it wouldn’t have made any difference. They were all the same, so far as I was concerned.
Well, I was definitely wrong about that!
I am not going to attempt to tell you all that they covered. Nor am I going to try to convince you of anything.
The speakers first went to lengths to prove that the writings in the Bible were not produced by a small group of conspirators. On the contrary, it was written over a period of about 2,000 years by many different people. It isn’t one book at all, but a compilation of many histories, eye-witness accounts, and letters.
Then they went on to demonstrate that the all the historical information the Bible was correct. In fact, the Bible has never been proven to be wrong when it comes to history.
Then, they covered scientific facts that are not believed to have been known at the time of writing. The fact that all humans have essentially the same blood, no matter the race. And, certain astronomical information relating to the constellations of Pleiades and Orion.
After all that, they got into the prophecies. First, they went through those dealing with historical events that have already occurred. They demonstrated that they were relatively easy to understand (the naming of Cyrus as the one who would conquer Babylon over 100 years before he was born, for instance), and that every single one of the hundreds in the Bible have come true. 100% accuracy! There is no other body of predictive writings with that kind of record!
The prophecies as yet unfulfilled – those dealing with the final events – were clearly explained. Every prophecy in the Bible has come true except for the relatively few left for the final days.
Throughout all this, I began to understand that far from creating the earth, giving it a kick, and wandering off to do something else, God was intimately and personally involved with everything that has happened and will happen to the people of this planet. I learned of God’s unconditional love for every single created being.
And, I learned why God does not put a stop to this horrible experiment with evil going on here. Basically, it is because God gave all created beings the power to make choices, even wrong ones. And, a lot of the latter have been made, that’s for sure!
I learned the as bad as things are, they will have to continue until God can bring everything to an end in such a way that no created being ever again will choose to rebel against the perfect law of God. I learned how this will be accomplished, and why God had to come to earth in the form of the human we know as Jesus Christ to accomplish this plan.