Prophecy is defined as a prediction made under divine influence.  Because prophecy is divinely generated, divinely-supplied knowledge is necessary in order to utter a prophetic message.  A good example of such divine intervention in human mental function is found in Matthew 16:13-17.  Here we find Jesus asking His disciples who they say He is.  Peter replied: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  Jesus responded by saying: “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, BUT MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN (revealed it to you).”  Though this example does not involve prophecy, it does involve the fact that God spoke to and through a man.  He still does.  I have heard the silent voice of God on many occasions.  There have been many self-proclaimed prophets who have “heard God’s voice” and have predicted numerous things, including the return of Jesus Christ.  Recall that on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D. Peter proclaimed that day as the beginning of the last days of the age, and that the Prophet Joel had prophesied the coming of that day.  He had foretold that during the last days God’s non-ministry people would PROPHESY (Acts 2:16-18)–foretell the future through divine input.  As the Apostle Paul noted in 1 Corinthians chapters 13,14, anyone in God’s church can prophesy if moved upon by His Spirit to do so.  That does not make the speaker a prophet.  A prophet is one whom God has chosen to prophesy on a regular basis as part of a larger ministry which includes preaching, healing, deliverance and performing other miraculous acts.  The Old Testament is filled with such pronouncements by God’s prophets when”holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Spirit of God” (2 Pet. 1:21).

Approximately one-third of the Bible is prophecy, yet one can spend decades in church and never hear a message on prophecy.  There are reasons why church leaders avoid the subject.  The primary reason ministers avoid speaking on prophecy is that they have not been converted, are not part of the Body of Christ and therefore do not have the Holy Spirit through which prophecy is received from God.  It is through His Holy Spirit that God speaks to and through man.  This is not to say that God does not at times use the unconverted to speak what He wants spoken and to get done what He wants done.  For example, Christ used the disciples to preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, etc. before they were converted.  See Matthew 18:3 and Luke 22:32.  He is the Lord; He does not change.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  I know He uses the ungodly because He used me many times PRIOR TO MY CONVERSION to preach, heal the sick, cast out demons and to know things that I had no human way of knowing.  Another reason prophecy is avoided within religious circles is because everyone  in “the church” is supposedly saved, born again and rapture-ready.  Being “in need of nothing” (Rev. 3:14-20), they are not concerned about the future.  God is going to whisk them up to heaven before the  bad times begin.

They are wrong, as God tells us in His Word.  This ministry shines a light on the lies with which Satan has deceived the world (Rev. 12:9), specifically the church world.  In this series we will examine a future projection given by Jesus Christ just prior to His death.  It is called the Olivet prophecy because He gave it while on the Mount of Olives which is located just outside of Jerusalem.  I have stood on that mountain and looked into the city where Christ will establish His Father’s eternal kingdom from which He and His saints will one day rule–first the world, then the universe.  See God’s Very Elect: Future Caretakers of the Universe.  Bear in mind that Jesus was a man, and as a man was totally dependent on His Father for information concerning the future.  See Jesus of Nazareth: God, Man or God-man?  Let us return now to that time and place.

“And as Jesus sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? and what will be the SIGN OF YOUR COMING AND THE END OF THE WORLD?’  Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘Take heed that NO MAN DECEIVE YOU, for many will come in My name, saying (that) I am Christ, and will deceive many'” (Mat. 24:3-5).  The Olivet prophecy is also recorded in Mark 13 and Luke 21.  Notice that the very first thing Jesus spoke, even before answering the disciples’ question, was a warning about false religion and false prophets.  The singular focus of this ministry is to warn Catholics and Protestants that they are involved in false religion and that they are being led by false prophets.

In order that His true followers would know the difference between God’s pure gospel and Satan’s perverted gospel (Gal. 1:6-9), Jesus issued another prophetic warning: “And this GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM will be preached in all the world as a witness unto all nations, then the end (of the era) will come” (vs 14).   The gospel of the Kingdom of God is THE ONLY gospel preached by Jesus–His gospel (Mat. 4:33; 9:25), and THE ONLY gospel He commanded His apostles to preach, then and now.  Yet His gospel is not preached in the churches.  Instead, one hears a gospel about the person of Jesus (along with a great deal of heathen theology).  Jesus’ message is ignored because people are not spiritually equipped to deal with it.  Without true Bible-based conversion and the infilling of the Holy Spirit one can neither understand nor obey Christ’s gospel.

Salvation is not available to those who are not converted, do not have the Holy Spirit and do not obey the gospel of the Kingdom of God (Mat. 10:22).  To the contrary,  Satan has convinced the church that all one needs to be saved, and saved now, is faith in Jesus.  Biblical faith is not simply believing IN Jesus.  True faith is BELIEVING Him (Rom. 10:19), meaning His Words, which He received from His Father (Jn. 12:47-50).  He declared that He Himself would not judge mankind, but the WORDS HE SPOKE, which He received from the Father, would judge mankind.  Judgment will be based on one’s obedience to His Words.  All people will be judged by their “deeds,” their “works”–their obedience to the commandments of God (Rom. 2:6/ Mat. 5:16).

Because church people are ignorant of Christ’s Words they do not know that what they are being taught is not of God.  Their false prophets have “deceived many” (Mat. 24:4,5).  The fact that the churches have “church doctrines” proves that they do not believe the totality of God’s Word.  His Word–the Holy Bible in its entirety–is the only true doctrine.  His Word is Truth–the ONLY spiritual Truth (Jn. 17:17).  Therefore there is no need for church doctrine.  The Introduction to this website reveals some church doctrines that are, as stated, “doctrines of devils.”  Yet they are foundational doctrines upon which the modern church rests.

Another aspect of the Olivet prophecy concerns the subject of this series–THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION.  “When you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet (12:11), standing in the holy place ….” (Mat. 24:15).  The questions we will be answering henceforth concern what or who is the abomination of desolation (destruction, death and enslavement)? where is the holy place? what will transpire as a result of the abomination’s presence? and when will it appear?  The answers to these questions will directly affect every human being on the face of the earth. L.J.

I have a list of this website’s series titles available for anyone who wants one.  If you would like one leave a message in the MESSAGES section at the bottom of any posting.  To download a series, type a key word in the title in the box labeled SEARCH THE SITE located above the Ten Commandments on the title page.  Then hit “enter.”