There is a glorious source of truth that's available to every person in this world. That remarkable source not only contains the truth; it is ultimate truth, it is final truth, it is the Bible, the Word of God.

When you begin to look into the pages of the Bible, you discover that it paints a vivid picture of the realities that formed our past, analyzes the meaning of events in the present, and reveals the amazing details of our future. There is no way whatsoever to know the future outside of understanding the Word of God, particularly that part we call the Prophetic Word.

Probably 30 percent of the entire content of the Bible is what we call "prophecy." These are verses in which God takes the time to tell us what is going to happen in the days to come. Apart from that, the Bible says, "Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth," Proverbs 27:1.

Therefore, in that the Bible is so valuable, and the Prophetic Word is so precious, you and I surely will agree that we ought to take time to study it, in order to find out what it really says. Listen to the words of the Apostle Peter:

"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God, the Father, honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount," 2 Peter 1:16-18.

Peter said, "Jesus Christ is real to me. And I heard God the Father speaking to Him." How could anyone be more certain, than to have their faith validated by God? Yet while he was still on this same subject he said:

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy, unto which ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts," 2 Peter 1:19

In other words, Peter said that the Bible contains immensely valuable and precious knowledge about the future, a "sure word of prophecy" that was even more certain than what he had just seen.

People who don't pay attention to the Bible spend their lives careening along out of control, bouncing against the walls, wondering what it's all about. They give themselves to debilitating habits, even committing suicide in the vain attempt to avoid the threat of the future.

But to know from the Prophetic Word what the future will bring - this is indeed a crucial form of knowledge. It is a knowledge that can show us how to prepare for the events which are yet to come.

So how can we begin to correctly understand Bible prophecy? Some have said, "I've thought about prophecy for a long time, but somehow I just can't seem to put it together." Well, the only way it will ever make sense is if you study it with a very serious set of ideas in mind. Let's begin by looking at five keys to understanding prophecy.

First you must be sure that you study - really study. There are millions of people in this world who think they really study something, but they give it a look and a promise, a very superficial amount of attention, and it amounts to nothing. Alexander Pope said, "A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or touch not the Pyrrhean spring, for shallow drafts intoxicate the brain, but drinking deeply sobers one again." A lot of people have never learned how to studty. But the Bible says:

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth," 2 Timothy 2:15.

The word translated "study" literally means, "give diligence; pay attention, apply yourself." You'll never succeed at anything that matters in life apart from the ability to do it diligently. That is especially true about the Word of God, and particularly, the Prophetic Word. Take some time every day to read what the Bible has to say. Then compare Scripture with Scripture, because the Bible explains itself. It's not that mysterious, when you take the time to really consider the message that it gives to us.

Be sure to take every opportunity to think and meditate upon these things. Give yourself wholly to them, the Bible says. Take the time during the day, and then, when you are trying to sleep at night, take the time to think again about what the Bible says. The kind of mental involvement that diligently pays attention to the teaching of the Word of God will produce immense profit in your life.

Individual, personal competence in interpreting the Bible is the greatest need in the Church, and the greatest need in the world today. Know it for yourself. Never believe the person who, when asked a question about the Bible, says, "Just a moment, I'll call my pastor, and then I'll tell you what we believe." That's tragic! Know it for yourself, because you have diligently studied what the Bible has to say.

The first thing you've got to do to study the Bible is to read it. A lot of people argue about things someone told them were in the Bible, which really can't be found there anywhere. What an amazing waste of time! Know what the Bible says; know what it means; compare Scripture with Scripture; and do it diligently.

The second earnest suggestion for becoming an expert on the Prophetic Word is to take what you read seriously. These are not cunningly devised fables. This is not some fairy tale that someone has cooked up. There really is a world to live in. There really is a Heaven to gain. There really is a Hell to shun. The world really is deteriorating. One day, it will end up in a period of time called the Tribulation, about which Christ spoke, and said:

"And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. . .," Matthew 24:22.

You are dealing with real things when you look into the Word of God, and you have to take it seriously. With most other elements of thought in this world - philosophy, engineering, science, or anything else - you are dealing primarily with theory. You can take it, or you can leave it alone.

But you had better take the Bible seriously, because what you read in the Scriptures is a matter of life and death. A lot of people speak sweetly about Jesus Christ, and say, "He taught some wonderful things" which, of course, He did. But as the Son of God, He finished His teaching by saying, "If you believe this, you will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Refuse to believe this and one day you will stand before the King of the universe in devastating judgment."

And God will say:

". . .Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," Matthew 25:41.

That is serious talk. Your knowledge of what God says about today and tomorrow is a matter of life and death, not only for you, but for those around you. You must take it seriouly.

My third earnest recommendation is that you remember the dispensations. Yes, believe it or not, there are such things as dispensations. What do we mean by that? We mean that God has dealt with mankind differently in different periods of time. It's best suggested that there are seven specific periods of time that are taught in the Word of God. In each of those periods of time, God has dealt with man in a unique specific fashion.

For instance, Adam and Eve were creted in total innocence. Therefore, in their dispensation of innocence, everything was permissible for them except one thing: to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But when they sinned, they lost their innocence, and became subject to a thing called a conscience. So the second way that God dealt with man, after he gained the knowledge of good and evil, was in terms of his conscience.

The next dispensation was after the flood, when God gave man the right to control himself through an established government. God began to use government to deal with mankind, because man's consience had become hardened. We call that the dispensation of human government.

Then on Mt. Sinai, God called a people, and gave them the law by which to live. The dispensation of the law is specifically described in Scripture in the pages of the Old Testament. It included what Israel was required to do to be part of the Divine Kingdom.

Innocence, conscience, human government, and then law - but even law was supplanted one day, because under the law the world committed the unspeakable sin of crucifying Jesus Christ. So God made to the world an astonishing offer, one which nobody to this day can figure out as to why in His kindness He should do it. That was the marvelous message of salvation by grace. This is the dispensation of grace, In this dispensation, the only way to be saved is to believe a message: Jesus Christ died on the cross, He rose again, and as the Son of God, He offers you everlasting life. Believe that, and you are instantly and eternally saved. From that very moment on, you have eternal life.

But the day of grace is going to come to an end one day, and it will be followed by a dispensation that is called the Tribulation. The Tribulation is a seven-year period that is yet to come in the history of the world, in which God in effect will say to man, "All right, have it your way. You say that you can run the world; do it." It will be a terrible time indeed.

Then, following the days of Tribulation will be a marvelous dispensation called the Millennial Kingdom. Christ shall reign as Ruler of this world-wide Kingdom for 1,000 years. It will be a time of peace and prosperity more wonderful than man has ever, ever known.

Now, if you keep those things in mind, particularly the difference between the Kingdom Age and the Church Age, it will be a great help in studying the Prophetic Word. We sing the little chorus that says, "Every promise in the book is mine; every chapter, every verse, every line." It's a nice little chorus; we've sung it many times. But the only problem with that little chorus is it's not exactly true. God spoke to Abraham and said:

". . .I will make of thee a great nation. . .and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed," Genesis 12:2-3.

But He didn't say that to you, and He didn't say that to me. That is indigenous to that dispensation. So God deals with different people at different times in different ways, all perfectly consistent with the overarching message of His will. You see, you cannot really understand the Word of God unless you are willing to look at it from a dispensational point of view.

When Christ spke to the rich young ruler, who wanted to know how he could have eternal life, He said:

". . .go and sell what thou hast, and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me," Matthew 19:21.

Does He say that to us today as a basis of our salvation? No. Why? Because the key to eternal life was to enter the Kingdom in the days of the earthly ministry of Christ. The key to eternal life in our day is simply to believe in the finished work of Christ on Calvary's cross.

Remember the dispensations. But also watch the times in the midst of which we live. When Christ talked about the things that would happen as we moved toward the end of time, He said there would be signs in the heavens above and in the earth beneath (Matthew 24-25). Christ spoke to the Pharisees and said:

". . .O ye hypocrates, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" Matthew 16:3.

My recommendation: read the Bible, but also take a look at the newspaper every now and then. Ask the question, "Are there similarities between events I see in the newspaper, and what the Bible predicts will happen?" The answer to that question increasingly will be, "Yes." The signs of the times point more than ever to the soon Return of Jesus Christ.

For instance, the Bible says Israel would be dispersed, and would be regathered into the land. That's a political miracle on an international scale. How did it happen? Well, God did it, and it has happened in our time. The rebirth of Israel is a great sign.

God said there would be a revival of the Roman Empire, and the leader of that Empire would be the Antichrist. Is the old Roman Empire being revived again? Yes, it is. That's a sign to keep an eye on.

Plus He said, there would be wonders in the heavens above and in the earth beneath, "signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars" (Luke 21:25). We've had men launched from earth walking around on the moon. Does that mean anything? Well, it's never happened before, but it's a sign: something that's never happened before with reference to the moon.

When you look at the signs of the times, and keep the other elements of the Prophetic Word in mind, you will be progressively astonished at the days in the midst of which we live.

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth," 2 Timothy 2:15

If you are too busy to spend some time every day reading the Word of God, and finding out what it means, you are busier than God ever intended you to be! It means that some of what you are doing is nugatory activity, and you have replace something of utmost importance with something that in the final analysis will amount to very little. Profit comes when we know the Word. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, and told him:

"Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all," 1 Timothy 4:15.

Profit in knowing the Word, and particularly the Prophetic Word. Now, what else shall we keep in mind as keys to the study of Bible prophecy?

Allow the Word of God, and particularly the Prophetic Word, to motivate you. What does that mean? Well, the Bible talks about the return of Christ, and then it says:

"And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure," 1 John 3:3.

That's taking the Word of God seriously. If I believe that Jesus Christ is coming again, which I do; if I believe that He could come again for His church at any moment, which I do; what am I going to do with my life? Am I going to run aroumd, dissipating the precious, irreplaceable energies of life in other things? Am I going to give myself to low living when a high purpose is about to be fulfilled by the eternal God? Of course not.

Instead, I watch where I go, what I belive, anything I say or do. . .anything that I would be ashamed to present to Jesus Christ when He comes again. That's the simple meaning of "every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself."

Why doesn't the Bible tell us precisely the day and the hour that Christ is coming again? The answer is, that we are supposed to be prepared every day and every hour for His return. When you begin to take the Prophetic Word of God seriously, it will motivate you to a pure life, lived for His glory.

It motivates you to a lot of other things as well. For instance, when Christ comes back, I know that a lot of my unsaved loved ones will be left behind. They will be lost when the world comes to an end. I know that there is a Heaven to gain and a Hell to shun. Now if I really believe that, what am I going to do? I am going to be a witness for Christ. And that's exactly what the Bible says I should do. "Ye shall be witnesses unto me" (Acts 1:8), the Bible says. And these are the words of Christ: "Occupy till I come" (Luke 19:13)

So, am I going to keep quiet about the great hope that I have in the Lord? No. I'm going to give time, talent, energy, and whatever else I have that others may know of Christ and His power to save.

We are motivated to live a pure life. We are motivated to reach others for Christ as effective witnesses for Him. I do hope that that is your motivation. I pray that we do not become people for whom knowledge is short-circuited within us. If we take in knowledge, but don't do something about it, then pretty soon we get sour and cynical. But if we pass it out, and give it to others, we'll develop an increasing hunger for knowledge that will fill our lives with joy.

The old Burma Shave sign said, "First men buy it, then apply it, then advise their friends to try it." Well, men don't "buy" the Gospel, but they apply it, and they advise their friends to try it. If you like a product, you will pass it on to others, with the advice that they give you it a try as well. So it must be with your Christian faith!

I think also that we'll be motivated towards another thing: bright application. I know that Christ is coming again. I know that when He does, I will be taken into His presence, where the Bible says "fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Psalm 16:11).

Now if I believe this, I can handle the disappointments of this present time, can I not? Yes, life has problems. Yes, there are painful things to face. "In the world ye shall have tribulation" (John 16:33). But we can handle that, because we know it's not permanent, that one day the problems of life will come to an end. They are used as our training program, and then we'll be taken into the wonderful presence of Jesus Christ.

That's why the Apostle Paul talked about this present life, and said,

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal," 1 Corinthians 4:17-18

How do I know that? I know that because the Prophetic Word says so. What does it produce in my life? It produces a smiling, casual, non-anxious relationship with most of the things of this world.

Suppose someone tells you you are going to die? What is your answer? "Oh, why do these things happen to me?" No. You can't scare me with heaven! Death does not mean the end of everything. . .it means the beginning of everything! There's a whole new motivation to live with bright anticipation when you believe that Jesus is coming again.

By now, I'm sure you will agree that one of the most profitable enterprises we could ever be involved in is a study of the Word of God, producing knowledge that's of great value in life. Especially profitable is the study of the Prophetic Word, because it's the only way we can really know the future.

However, the Prophetic Word is in many places so provocative, that it is very good to sound a warning. We must take the time to think about some of the pitfalls that we may face when looking into the Prophetic Word.

In all kinds of study, we must watch out for one kind of extreme or another. We must watch out for false interpretations that finally could be a spiritual liability to us.

We can Avoid Prophetic Pitfalls by first of all considering the whole counsel of God. When we think about Bible prophecy, we must not think of it as being some kind of isolated, disconnected, or maybe even magical thing that we find in the Bible. But rather, a study of the days to come is inextricably connected with everything else that he Bible teaches.

For instance, when the Bible talks about the communion service, it says by partaking of communion, "ye do show the Lord's death till he come" (1 Corinthians 11:26).

When Christ advised competence on the part of Christians in conducting their lives, He said, "Occupy till I come" (Luke 19:13).

Paul congratulated the church at Thessalonica, because they were doing so many good things. The Thessalonians sent the Gospel out all over Asia, and they did this because they were waiting "for his Son from heaven" (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

So, Bible prophecy is intrinsically involved with every other part of the Bible. And the whole counsel of God - all that the Bible says - is of immense value. I'm sure that if you ever took a class in how to study the Bible, yoy learned that you first needed to consider the text, and then the context, and then the greater context. The greater context is the whole counsel of God.

I'm always stirred by the Apostle Paul's speech that he made to the elders of the church of the Ephesians when he said goodbye. He said something that never fails to touch my heart:

"Wherefore, I testify unto you this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men; For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God," Acts 20:26-27.

In fact, you'll recall what the Apostle Paul did in Ephesus.

"But when some were hardened, and believed not, but spoke evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one, Tyrannus. And this continued for the space of two years. . .," Acts 19:9-10.

The Apostle Paul was concerned that these people have a fundamental understanding of the Word of God. And so he invited a crowd to talk to him, and he did it every day for two years in the city of Ephesus. That, by the way, should be reborn as a great emphasis in the Church of our time. The Church should function as the place where believers get answers to questions pressed upon them by the world. Then, armed with those answers, all Christians should go out and contend vigorously for the faith, becoming effective witnesses for Him.

But remember, we're talking about "all the counsel of God." If you read something in the Prophetic Word that appears ridiculous by comparison to what the Bible says elsewhere, hold that thought in abeyance. You may not be understanding it correctly! Pray that God would give you an understanding of it, and then search the Scriptures to find "all the counsel of God." I guarantee, you'll find that there is no conflict, and what seemed difficult before, actually sheds light on the rest of the picture.

For instance, Daniel tells us that all of history will be encompassed by the hegemony of four great empires: Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and then Rome. Rome would be the last great kingdom of the world. So as you look at other events that the Bible prophecies will happen think of them in terms of these four great empires. That will give you a context by which you can better understand the other prophecies.

So, let's avoid pitfalls by remembering the entire picture of what the Bible teaches. This will keep us from making mistakes.

That leads automatically into my second earnest suggestion for Avoiding Prophetic Pitfalls: remember the dangers of fanaticism! It's possible to get to be a fanatic about anything. We may say that we are advocates of something, and that's good. But when we become a fanatic, that's bad. To become a fanatic takes what we believe and pushes it all the way to the lunatic fringe. And the lunatic fringe is not the place to be.

This has happened, as you may know, many times. For instance, in the middle of the 1800's, there was a group called the Millerites. They decided that they knew the very day, the very hour, the very moment, when Christ was going to return. They went out, sold everything they had, put on robes, and waited in the fields for the return of Christ.

He didn't come that day, and so they adjusted their calculations and waited until the next day. Still He didn't come. Finally, in humiliation, they had to go back to the town where they came from, embarrassed and questioning their faith.

What was the problem? They became fanatics. The Bible does not say to go out and stand in a field, and wait for the Lord to come. Instead it says that while we watch, and wait, we are to invest our lives in faithful service to Him. "Occupy till I come" (Luke 19:13). We should not be those who push ourselves to the fanatical fringe. That can be a great problem.

Recently, as you know, books came out predicting the day and the hour of the rapture of the Church in 1988, 1989, etc., and I guarantee that there are those who predict that the Rapture of the Church will take place on a given date this very year. What does the Bible say?

". . .in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh," Matthew 24:44.

Be ready, but don't be a fanatic. A fanatic can be a terror to himself, while destroying his credibility with others. Don't be part of the lunatic fringe.

Then let me suggest that we must beware of prophetic gimmicks. Now I'm quite aware that the Bible gives us fascinating details about many things in the Prophetic Word. For instance, it talks about the Antichrist and says:

". . .Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six," Revelation 13:18.

So the Bible does say, think about the number of the Antichrist. His number is 666. And I guarantee you, there will come a time, maybe soon, when the meaning of that number will be so plain, that nobody will miss it.

But in the meantime, as you well know, there are many people going around who keep that number 666 in mind. Whenever they see it - in fact, sometimes when they don't see it, but when they see just a diagram of something - they will say, "Aha, there is evidence of the coming of the Antichrist."

I quite confess that you may have private ideas as to who the Antichrist is and as how that number works. I have. I have ideas about many things prophetically that I dare not mention in public, because I have not yet proven them to myself. I am sure that is true of all of us.

If you get caught up in gimmicks, and consider a number as something it doesn't mean, it will get you into trouble. For instance, speaking about the Tribulation, one of the Gospels says:

"Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house," Matthew 24:17.

Well, I heard of a preacher who took that verse, and wanted to preach against the way ladies wore their hair. He didn't like a knot at the top of their heads; he wanted them, rather, to have their hair combed out plainly. So he used that verse, and particularly the words "top," "not," and "come down."

I hadn't thought of that in years, but that's a gimmick - making the Bible teach something that it doesn't teach. The Bible says nothing that I know of about the top knots of ladies' hair. To take a segment of a verse, and turn it into a gimmick, rather than the true teaching of the Word of God, is very dangerous. It is one of the Prophetic Pitfalls that you really must avoid.

Also, beware of anything that sounds too bizarre.

Now I realize tha fire coming down from heaven, monstrous animals riding forth - that all sounds quite bizarre. Think about them, but be careful about saying more than the Bible says about them. Try to keep in mind the overarching principle that the prophecy is talking about, and remember to study it in light of the full counsel of God's Word. This will help you keep from turning the teaching of God's Word into a gimmick.

Another pitfall to avoid in the Prophetic Word is carefully presented in Scripture. Above everything else, let God be God. God wrote the Bible. I didn't. You didn't. God gave us His Word, and we are to be thoughtful about His Word. But in the last analysis, we must let God do what He will do.

Let me illustrate. You will recall that God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, and to tell those people that in 40 days, Nineveh would be destroyed. Jonah did. He went there by a circuitous route, as we well know, but he did finally conduct that faithful ministry for 40 days, warning: "You people are going to be destroyed."

When the 40th day came, he went outside the city and in effect said, "Lord, let them have it. I've spread your message of judgment to this evil city." Well, nothing happened, and Jonah got angry with God. God then used a large plant to tell Jonah something that Jonah hadn't quite understood. What He wanted to tell Jonah was, that His first desire, God's first will, was not the destruction of Ninevah; it was the salvation of Nineveh. But Jonah was so preoccupied with the message of judgment - and rightly so, in many ways - that he lost sight of the fact that the first will of God was that Nineveh be converted. He didn't let God be God. Instead, he had made a god out of his own certainties.

Be careful about any doctrine. . .about anything that you think gives you the right to say exactly what God will do. "God will always answer this prayer exactly," or "God will always produce this miracle," or "God will always respond in this fashion." Rather, the thing to do is let God be God. The correct attitude is to be quite humble when dealing with God.

In the 3rd Chapter of 2 Peter, you have the implication that people are saying "Where is the promise of his coming?" (2 Peter 3:4) Why doesn't the coming of Christ happen like the Bible says it will? God gave His answer.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.," 2 Peter 3:9

God sometimes appears to be delaying His coming, but my, how this demonstrates His compassion! God continues to give sinners the opportunity to come to know Christ as personal Savior. The events of prophecy are inevitable. Nothing can make them less inevitable. Still, God can move them along His time line in order to accomodate those inevitabilities to His first principle, the salvation of mankind.

That should be your first principle as well. When you think of the Prophetic Word, remember that behind it is God's desire not to judge the world, but to save the world.

Finally, when you study the Prophetic Word, rise above despair. There's a common expression that is pressed upon people who know something about Bible prophecy by a cynical world, and many times, by cynical Christians looking on. They say, "All that you people know about is gloom and doom."

Well, in part, we must agree that that is true. But I like to say, "We have doom, but no gloom." As far as the world is concerned, the Bible teaches that there is no hope! It uses those very words: "even as others who have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13). If you are not a Christian, you are doomed. If you are not a Christian, you are going to Hell. If you are not a Christian, life is going to be a kind of Hell on earth, as we move toward the end of the age. There is much to be very, very anxious about.

It is a terrible sin to preach positive thinking to a person who is not a Christian. He has no cause whatsoever to think positively. Unless he knows Jesus Christ as personal Savior, he is lost and he ought to be told so.

Those who preach the Word should dedicate themselves to producing despair in the minds of people who don't know Christ as personal Savior. If your house is burning down, you ought to be afraid enough to get out. It is cheap bravado to say that there is nothing to worry about. There is plenty to worry about if you are not saved.

However, we who know Christ as personal Savior have nothing to do with despair. Despair is a great sin. It is a greater sin than any other of the sins that lead up to it. Why do we not despair? The Bible says, "the world passeth away" (1 John 2:17), but we don't despair. The Bible says, "it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27), but we do not despair. The Bible teaches many things about the future that ought to bring discouragement to the world, but not to us! We who know Christ as personal Savior have the promise of the Bible, which says:

"Thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore," Psalm 16:11

What, then, is our attitude, we who look into the Prophetic Word? It is one of bright anticipation. It is one of great hope, the very word that is used in Scripture.

"And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure," 1 John 3:3

We who know God's Son as personal Savior, when we read what the Scripture says about the future, ought not to go home and hide under the bed. We ought not to say that there's nothing we can do. We ought not to despair. Instead, we should be filled with a bright hope. Please keep that in mind.

"According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death," Philippians 1:20.

What's going to happen to us in this life, according to the Prophetic Word? Well, Christ said, as we move toward the end of the age, the wheat and the tares are going to grow together (Matthew 13:24-30). We are going to face challenging problems standing side-by-side with great opportunity. Yes, the wheat will grow up. Yes, the tares will also, but we are the people of the wheat. And we shall see great things happen for God in this generation that have never happened before in all of the history of the Church.

Despite the problems of the world, we have been given great means to reach the ends of the earth with the Gospel of Christ. And more than that, we have been given a great message:

"And the world passeth away, and the lust of it; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever," (1 John 2:17).

We should be filled with anticipation as to the earthly possibilities that are now before us as we approach the moment of the Rapture of the Church. We should also be filled with great expectation about heaven. The Bible says:

". . .Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. . .," 1 Corinthians 2:9-10.

"That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus," Ephesians 2:7.

The Bible says in a thousand ways that Heaven is more wonderful than anything you could ever imagine. So, as you think about the Prophetic Word, remember the final promise of that Word: we are going to be with Jesus Christ one day, perhaps soon. That should fill us with bright anticipation.

The Prophetic Word tells us that everyone is invited to go to Heaven someday. That is you. That is me. We are invited to know Christ and have everlasting life. But the invitation alone won't get us in unless we first accept it. It's RSVP.

Have you accepted that invitation? I hope so. If not, I hope that even today, you are saying, "I want to be a Christian, and know Jesus as my Savior." If you would like to make that decision for Christ, receiving Him even now, pray this prayer, and trust the Lord to come and live within you.

"Heavenly Father, I know that Christ died for my sins on the cross and rose again, and can give everlasting life. I believe that, and I want to accept Him now into my life as my personal Savior. Please bring to my heart the assurance of salvation. I pray in Jesus' dear Name, Amen."

If you said that prayer and meant it, you've responded to God's invitation of salvation, and your reservation has been made in Heaven. It is written in indelible ink, and your eternal future is certain.

Now the Prophetic Word holds bright and exciting new meaning to you. Prophecy need not motivate you to despair any longer, but should fill you with hope at God's promises which are soon to be fulfilled.