Douglas Connelly - The Ultimate Guide to Bible Prophecy and End Times

The Ultimate Guide to Bible Prophecy and End Times

ISBN-10: 0-8249-3212-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-8249-3212-1

Published by Guideposts, 16 East 34th Street, New York, New York 10016
Guideposts.org

Copyright 2013 by GRQ, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Ultimate Guide to Bible Prophecy and End Times was formerly titled The Indispensable Guide to Practically Everything: Bible Prophecy and End Times.

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Acknowledgments: Every attempt has been made to credit the sources of copyrighted material used in this book. If any such acknowledgment has been inadvertently omitted or miscredited, receipt of such information would be appreciated.

Scripture quotations marked CEV are from the Contemporary English Version, copyright 1995 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible, Holman CSB, and HCSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189.
All rights reserved.

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Prepare for Gods arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
Matthew 3:3 MSG

Only the supernatural mind can have prior knowledge to the natural mind.
If then the Bible has foreknowledge, historical and scientific,
beyond the permutation of chance it truly then bears the fingerprint of God.
G. B. Hardy

[The Bible] tells me that the future is in Gods hands, and the best is yet to come.

Adrian Rogers

E veryone wants to know the future. Think about your own lifeyour job, your marriage, your friends, your grades, your kids, your investments. You could have fabulous success and avoid most of lifes problems if you could just get a glimpse of what the future holds.

The Bible has a lot to say about the future, but the problem is that prophecy seems to be a confusing mix of different views, strange charts, mysterious visions, and weird symbols. It is just too far-out for most people!

This book is written to help you sort things out with respect to Gods plan for the future. It starts with the basics and builds from there. You may feel like a rookie when it comes to prophecy, but you wont stay at that level for long.

The simple premise of this book is that God knows the future. You will be exploring exactly what God has said about future events. Some of what he says is scary; some is fabulous. Some elements in the future are clearly explained; some you will have to piece together from a few hints. But its all fascinating! The focus will always be on the Bible and what the Bible teaches. This is not an exercise in speculation or daydreaming; its an exploration of biblical teaching and biblical truth.

If you have never studied prophecy and you get confused sometimes by all the jargon Christians throw around, this book will help you figure it all out. Maybe you feel that you know a lot about prophecy, but youve only been exposed to one view about how future events will unfold. This book will take a fair and honest look at all the major approaches to interpreting end-times events.

Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

R EVELATION 22:17 NIV

You may not believe any of this prophecy stuff and you just picked up this book out of curiosity. Its okay if you are not convinced yet! Just approach what is here with an open mind. You may find your life changed by what you read. A fascinating journey lies just ahead!

WHAT OTHERS SAY

Never before has fascination with Bible prophecy been more acute than it is today. Part of that interest is due to the uncertainty of our times . People living in these turbulent times want answers, and many are turning to the Bible to get them.

T IM L A H AYE AND E D H INDSON

For prophecy to be biblical, it must also be practical. God gave His prophetic truth not just to fill our heads, but also to change our hearts.

C HARLES S WINDOLL

I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning.

Isaiah 46:910 NKJV

God, who knows the end from the beginning, has chosen to reveal an amazing amount of information about the futurethe worlds future and every persons future.

Prophecy is what God says about the future. He is the only person who knows with absolute certainty what will happenand he knows it all. Christians trust what God has said in the Biblehis Wordabout future events. The Bible doesnt just contain the naive predictions of aspiring fortune-tellers; the Bible records what God knows will happen and what he has planned to happen. God spoke the truth to the Bibles original writers, and he still speaks today through their writings.

Y ou will be amazed at how much of the Bible refers to the future. References to the future are more than just a few obscure verses or a chapter here and there. Prophecy is spread all through the Bible. One respected Bible scholar has calculated that 27 percent of the Bible is prophecy! Prophecy is no minor theme in the Bible. If God put that much in his book, its clear that he wants his people to understand it and to live in the light of it.