UNDERSTANDING BIBLICAL PROPHECY TODAY

 

For the next few postings I am going to briefly review current world events and where they may be leading us in relation to Biblical prophecy. There are many opinions on this subject as every prophecy teacher has their own interpretation of what is happening and what is going to happen. I’ve spent many hours in study, prayer, and seeking the Lord on His-story. One thing the Lord has made clear to me is that history counts. Everything that has happened in Biblical history and world history is moving toward a definite end.

 

I have always enjoyed history and have asked the Lord throughout the years to be able to understand past history through His eyes and understanding. Everything has meaning. We see in a finite manner, He sees infinitely. A thousand years is but a day in His sight. If we keep man’s history according to the Hebrew calendar we are currently in the year 5777.

 

This year 5777 is derived by counting from Adam through all generations listed in the Bible to our present day. Therefore, since Adam’s creation, 5777 years have passed. The six days of creation prior to Adam were on God’s infinite time--they could be billions of years. We are only counting from Adam until our present age.

 

This is key to understanding Biblical prophecy. We are not concerned about “time” including the six days of creation. We only are concerned with time since Adam’s creation. This method of counting time is from the ancient Jewish sages and is the oldest written record of man since his creation. This written Biblical record precedes the Egyptians and their recorded history. Adam’s creation is the beginning of man’s written history! It is recorded along with his descendants. The Jewish scriptures are man’s history in written form--it starts from the beginning!

 

If you are reading this blog I assume you are a believer in God, Yeshua, and the Bible. If you aren’t you may still find this information quite interesting and useful. I just want you all to understand how I am arriving at conclusions. I believe the written word of God. Therefore I read the Bible as His-story.

 

I take the Bible as the true story and try to allow it (and God) to interpret itself. All the keys are hidden within the scriptures. We must not allow ourselves to twist the word to meet our agenda or pet theories. We cannot allow ourselves to make it fit into our own ideas. We need to allow it to interpret itself. If we don’t understand we cannot reach a conclusion on that issue--we must wait for God to reveal it to us.

 

This is not always an easy thing to do. It is important that we try. Seeking the truth is difficult. Especially when it challenges our previous set of beliefs. It takes time to digest the truth. Jesus spoke boldly and said many things that went against what people in His day thought. Most times Jesus did not explain to them what He was saying. He let them go home very disturbed and upset. He let them go home to wrestle with it and to seek the word.

 

I’ll give you an example: “Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.…” John 6.52-54

 

Yeshua didn’t bother to explain that to them. In the Torah it says the life is in the blood. It says you do not drink blood or eat the flesh of animals killed by accident or strangled. He was telling them to receive eternal life they had to eat his flesh and drink his blood. They were beside themselves! Yeshua let them go away very upset without explaining this saying to them.

 

He was talking to them about a spiritual concept. He was telling them they had to follow him and take on His sacrificial, take up your cross lifestyle, upon themselves. They took it literally. He let them wrestle with it. Many turned away at that time.

When we search the scriptures we need to allow them to explain themselves and allow God to instruct us. This is going to take time. We all want answers NOW! I will try to explain with these concepts as the basis of understanding.

 

In the next postings I am going to share what is going on in the world from a historical point of view. Once we begin to understand the history we will begin to understand on a prophetical basis. When I first began studying the Bible the Lord told me to understand it with an historical understanding. I’m still seeking to understand the Old Testament in that way. However, once I began to understand this, many Biblical passages began to make sense that I did not understand before. I had to understand them with a Hebrew mindset.

 

The Lord told me to understand from an historical viewpoint first. Then I would begin to understand from a prophetical viewpoint. Once I would understand those two points, then I would be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together as to how this all relates to our present time, in my personal life, and in world events. Can this work for you?

 

I don’t have all the answers and I don’t understand all that is happening prophetically. I don’t have a need to know. I just want to understand what the Lord desires me to understand. It is an un-going process. We are dependant on Him and only need to know what He deems we need to know.

 

We know we are heading into a new world order. If we understand that new world order we can seek God and get His direction for our lives. Each of us has our own personal relationship with the Father and Yeshua. Now is the time to develop that relationship. In the meantime, if we have a grasp of what is happening in this world, it will help us to navigate through the coming hard times.

 

In the next few postings I will briefly discuss these topics: Vladimir Putin, Russia, the Middle East Islamic nations, China, Germany, and Israel, and how they will affect the world in the next thirty to fifty years. They will all play a huge part in the coming new world order. We need to understand why the changes that are coming will happen. God is moving toward a definite end.

 

VLADIMIR PUTIN AND RUSSIA

 

Vladimir Putin has been described as a ruthless bully, and to some degree that is true, but there is much more to this man than the west wishes to believe. Mr. Putin is a shrewd ex-KGB operative who has a vision for his country. The Bible says: Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he (Poverbs 29.18).

 

Interestingly enough, this proverb applies to Putin in every sense. He has a long range vision for his country and believes in keeping the law as it applies to Russia and international politics. He has been the President of Russia since 7 May 2012. He previously served as President from 2000 to 2008, and as Prime Mister of Russia  from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. During his last term as Prime Minister, he was also the Chairman of United Russia, the ruling party.

 

He moved to Moscow from St. Petersburg, where he was born, in 1996 and joined President Boris Yeltsin 's administration where he rose quickly, becoming Acting President on 31 December 1999 when Yeltsin resigned unexpectedly. Putin won the subsequent 2000 presidential election and was re-elected in 2004.

 

He has never been pleased with the fall of the Soviet Empire and dreams of restoring Russian’s former glory on the world stage. He has been planning for many years to make Russia a major world player through the use of her natural resources.

 

Russia is blessed with a wealth of oil, natural gas, LNG (Liquid Natural Gas), coal, and uranium. In the communist days these natural resources were totally mismanaged by the ruling Communists. Putin has always believed that the key to Russian Empire is to develop the natural resources that the world hungers for. Since taking power in Russia Putin has been focused on this very thing. All of his energy has been devoted to developing Russia’s energy, no pun intended.

 

Mr. Putin was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1952. His hero when growing up was Peter the Great who began to take Russia into the modern world during the latter part of the 1600’s and early 1700’s. He grew up poor but through his grandfather, Spiridon Ivanovich Putin, he had contact with the Russian elites of the day.

 

His grandfather was trained as a chef and cooked for Rasputin, Lenin, and Stalin! He managed to avoid political contamination and outlived all his famous employers. Until his death, when Putin was 13 years old, he shared many insights with his grandson Vladimir.

 

Around the age of 12, while his grandfather was still alive, Putin started boxing and then moved on to judo, karate, and the Soviet martial art sambo. He would go on to become the citywide sambo champion. He loved the spiritual and physical demands these martial arts demanded of him. They also taught him be smart, cunning, and, above all, tightly disciplined.

 

In the ninth grade Putin actually went to the KGB to find out how to get a job with them. They told him he should go to law school which he did. When he graduated law school in 1975 the KGB recruited him. For the next 16 years he worked as an intelligence agent, was fluent in German, and was stationed in East Germany for five years in the 1980’s.

 

He resigned from the KGB in 1991 and returned to the Leningrad State University where he wrote his doctoral thesis on Russia’s economic resources being a key to Russian success and empire. After college, Putin entered politics in St. Petersburg, where he fostered a relationship with Dmitry Medvedev.

 

Later after entering politics Boris Yeltsin would name Putin as his successor after Putin put down the rebellion in Chechnya. To make a long story short, Putin was first elected President in 2000 and has shared this position with Dmitry Medvedev since then.

 

During Putin’s rule of Russia he has seized control of Russian energy companies which had been privatized during Yeltsin’s time in power. He has accomplished this by working “legally” through Russian law and by disposing the rich Oligarch’s who had bought these companies at pennies to the dollar when the Soviet Union fell in 1998.

 

These companies are now partly owned by government and shareholders. Putin has taken control and they are now not only profitable, but developing Russia’s natural resources at a fast pace. Russia supplies anywhere form 25% to 90% of many European nation’s gas and oil needs. Europe depends on Russian oil and gas to stay warm in winter. Putin can shut off the tap at any provocation. Think about how this affects American influence in the region!

 

Russia recently closed two 400 billion dollar energy deals with the Chinese. They trade with Iran, Turkey, India, Pakistan, and all the other “stans” in their geopolitical area. They are the energy power in Europe and Eurasia. Putin knows how to use this energy power to Russia’s advantage.

 

He also supplies Syria and other Muslim countries with oil and gas. He has made a deal with Israel to develop the gigantic gas deposits off the coast of Israel. Russian energy tentacles have hold on countries throughout the Mediterranean to Japan. They are truly becoming a powerful and wealthy nation through this industry.

 

As I’ve pointed out in previous postings a new world currency is on the horizon. Russian energy is being sold and traded in currencies other than the US dollar as I write. Putin’s plan is to use the Russian Ruble, gold, the Chinese Yuan, or any other national currency to conduct trade--to the exclusion of the US dollar.

 

Those countries that trade with Russia will be pleased to trade in their own currencies as it will be cheaper and easier for them to conduct trade without having to stock pile dollars. This is how the dollar is going to be dethroned from being the world’s reserve currency. This is Putin’s long range carefully planned strategy. This will have a huge effect on America’s ability to finance her debt.

 

In the United States politicians only worry about getting elected every four years by promising the voters handouts. In Russia they have a long range goal to become the world’s premier supplier of gas, oil, coal, and uranium. This will give them great leverage over the countries that depend on them for these resources. You can see where this is leading.

 

This is going to have a great impact on events in the Middle East that concern Biblical prophecy. Russia is going to be a major player in end time events that include Islam, Europe, and Israel. Keep this in mind as we continue this series.

 

Next: China's Vision of the New World Order