Five Reasons to Study Bible Prophecy
And
Seven Dangers Facing the Church of Jesus Christ (Our Church)

Dr. Roger G. Ford, Ph.D., P.E.
October 14, 2018

Bible study covers many different issues if one studies topically instead of just reading the Bible through book by book. There is a potential difficulty with studying the Bible topically, and that is the loss of context and continuity – both critical in understanding completely the true meaning of God’s message to us. We can study topically if we also maintain a regular reading discipline that reads entire books, even the whole Bible, chronologically.

Prophecy is a topic that is near and dear to my heart since I have made its study a major concentration over the last 45 years. But, unfortunately, most churches choose to ignore Bible prophecy even though almost a third of the Bible was and is prophetic, both Old and New Testaments.

There are very strong and important reasons for individuals and churches not to skip prophetic portions of Scripture or even the topic of prophecy as many do. It is not scary; it is not upsetting; in fact, it is essential to know God fully and to appreciate God’s true nature and His plan for His Church.

First, Jesus Himself taught prophecy. He used Old Testament prophecy to verify himself as the Messiah. Jesus used prophecy to answer His disciples’ questions about what was to come, the end times, and His second Coming. Shouldn’t we want to do as Jesus did?

Second, leaving out the teaching or even the reading of the parts of the Bible that are prophetic means that major portions of the Word of God are being ignored, skipped, or deemed irrelevant. I don’t think God will be pleased with those of us that involve ourselves in such ill-advised practices. We are supposed to be living balanced lives giving the Word of God its proper significance in this life. Leaving out part of the Word does not contribute to balance.

Third, ignoring fulfilled prophecy is to ignore God’s stamp of authenticity, or, in other words, proof that what He says will happen actually happens. God’s Word is Truth, the true Truth, the only Truth. Why would we not want, even desire the authenticity that fulfilled prophecy provides? God thinks that prophecy is very serious. How serious? Deuteronomy 18:22 tells us that if prophecy does not 100% come true, then the person who provided the prophecy must die! If God is passionate about absolute true prophecy, shouldn’t we be?

Fourth, knowing the future and what God has planned for His creation is a great tool for evangelism. It is not to be used to impress or to scare, but to let the curious know that God’s people have a future and that God will punish the wicked. Both of these outcomes can be strong evidence for leading people to faith in Christ.

And fifth, prophecy is a motivator to a righteous way of living. How? Knowing the future makes us live our lives with an eternal perspective, always aware that what we do on a daily basis matters in the eternal sense, that Jesus could call for us at any time, and we do not want to do anything that would not be pleasing to God.

Skipping over prophecy in the Bible prevents blessing, limits our lives, spoils evangelism, ignores Jesus, and defeats the Great Commission.

And, if not fulfilling the Great Commission is a problem, there are seven other problems, even dangers facing the Church of Jesus Christ, and especially our church. And these dangers come direct from prophecy in the book of Revelation, Chapters 2 and 3. The seven churches of Asia Minor were typical churches of the first century in need of examination and change and blessing. Those churches also can be seen as typical of churches today also in need of examination and change and blessing. Each church was doing some good, but five of the seven were in need of God’s warning so that they could reverse dangers before they resulted in destruction.

1. False teaching of false doctrines is a constant danger, especially with the bombardment of seriously wrong so-called preachers on cable television. Even true Christians can be led astray by appealing but errant ideas about wealth, healing, prosperity, or a myriad of other worldly enticements from people one believes are Christians. There are also preachers in churches that have no business being there since they do not use Scripture in their messages or misuse Scripture though improper interpretation.

2. Avoiding life’s persecutions by either compromising our convictions or avoiding confrontations can be a mistake since God uses the suffering in life to refine us on our journey of sanctification towards glorification. Rely on God for protection and blessing while defending the faith.

3. Being reluctant to stand up for our beliefs, not speaking up when our faith is challenged can lead to a weak witness or no witness at all. If you don’t stand up for the Gospel, there is no witness.

4. Our society demands that we be tolerant of others’ definitions of what is right and acceptable. In many instances, we are expected to tolerate sin because we are to love our neighbor. Of course we are to love our neighbor, but not addressing sin as sin is also sin. Be bold in the Lord, address sin, and do it with love.

5. Can we be too concerned about our reputation, what people think of us, and not be obedient to Christ? Do we put name recognition above the gospel?

6. Comparing our church to others, worrying about growth, about numbers, about not offending by revealing sin, then we take God for granted because He looks at the heart, not the superficial.

7. Is our church anything like the world? Do we rely on our ingenuity, our resourcefulness, our wealth, our ideas and not need God? Do we turn to him first, or is He an afterthought?

We are all weak in many ways. We are part of this world but not of this world. We have a mighty Savior who loves us and understands the things we are going through. But He has already defeated Satan and death and provides the answers to all the dangers the Church faces. All we have to do is confess our sins, seek His will, pray for direction, and we will receive Grace and Mercy and divine help to meet our needs.