Has Bible Prophecy Failed?

Has Bible Prophecy or its interpreters failed?  It is one or the other. Based on successes and failures, either the Bible is unreliable or the end-time prognosticators are off-base (or worse).

     In light of the End-Time Prophecy Industry’s track record, the question is legitimate. One can easily assemble a list of the Industry’s failed predictions going back decades. But try to find one it got right. Now that is a challenge!

     I am talking about specifics.  Today’s shrewder interpreters have learned to employ three tactics:  ambiguity, the subjunctive mood, and fancy footwork. News headlines do not go as expected? Start dancing! Distract ‘em with new and frightening predictions. Start swimming fast or your “ministry” will sink!

     It is all well and good to “predict” that Mount Rainier will erupt one day. Any geologist worth his or her salt can tell us that. It is another matter to say exactly when.  How many times have they redefined a “biblical generation” since 1988? Remember: the Soviet Union was to become “Gog and Magog” and invade Israel from the north. Well, at least until the (FORMER) Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight. How many of the “experts” saw that one coming? But the lessons have been learned. Specific predictions are validated or invalidated by events. Ambiguity is your friend.

     There is something fundamentally wrong with how the Prophecy Industry interprets prophecy. It is time to reexamine scriptural passages to see what they really say, to take their words at face value. When events deviate from the party line, inserting a “time gap” where the numbers do not add up or sledge-hammering another loophole into the words of Jesus is not a solution. Whether the “experts” are dishonest, ignorant, deceived, or just plain incompetent, their record demonstrates that at best they are guessing.

     Peter warned of future “scoffers” who will scoff, saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” Well, in all fairness, have we have not over the last hundred years or so provided the critics with more than an adequate supply of ammunition?

David R Maas, Kirkland, Washington (https://www.endtime-insights.org)