Wino? Why, No...

WINO? WHY, NO...

Should we be drinking alcoholic beverages at all?   Is there something wrong with popping a top and having a beer, or having only one martini, or drinking one shot of hard liquor?   I think most of us know getting smashed on booze is obviously not cool, and it's actually proven in a lot of cases to have pretty bad consequences. Women end up pregnant in some cases, and the men need not laugh, because they get stuck with the child support!   But really, we need to look in the bible and let the Spirit guide us when we think on this subject. I haven't had an alcoholic drink in quite some time, myself, but let's see what it says, because the first person recorded to have been drunk starts in Genesis...

Suprisingly enough, the talk of the first of drinking in the bible is by Jesus in the Gospel.   He doesn't specifically say of alcoholic drinks, but most scholars agree that's what He meant; "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matt. 24:37 - 39)

Shortly after the flood subsided, Noah himself became the first recorded to be drunk from the effects of wine: "And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.  And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.  And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.  And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.  And he said, 'Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.'" (Gen. 9:20 - 25)  Here I want to point out that we should be noting not that Ham was sinful while his father was drunk passed out naked, but rather that the effects of the drinking made him vulnerable and unable to protect himself.  Ham could have come in with a knife and slit his throat while he was out just as easily as come back out and make sport of his father's condition with his brothers.

There are plenty of places in the Old Testament concerning strong drink; the first says this: "And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, 'Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses." (Lev. 10:8 - 11)  So from this we can gather that being inebriated is less than holy and an unclean condition of the body, and who of you would go to a church where the priest or pastor is wobbling around the altar in a drunken state?  How can he be in charge of what he is saying or doing?  Look at what happened to Aaron's sons: "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.  And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD." (Lev. 10:1 - 2)  For them, being drunk and making a mistake caused their death!

"He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried." (Num. 6:3)  This is the vow of a Nazarite, one who has separated himself to God.  Basically put, it means a Nazarite was separated to God and did not drink any booze, period.  There is a nonalcoholic wine, but even non-alcoholic beer yet has a little alcohol in it.  The most reknowned Nazarite in the bible was Samson.  Here is what was said even to his mother, instructions while she was pregnant: "Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:" (Judges 13:4)

Now somebody is eventually going to find this and say it shows it to be okay to drink once in awhile; "And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household," (Deut. 14:26)  "And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.  Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God." (Deut. 29:5 - 6)  So here the Israelites went 40 years without wine or strong drink while in the wilderness.  They had not the opportunity afforded them to taste wine or strong drink.

Do you want a reputation of being wise, or foolish?  Christians should all know this verse in their bibles: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." (Prov. 20:1)  When someone drinks even one drink, their perception is impaired according to their body weight. A 300 pounder may be less impaired than a 99 pound stripling, but nevertheless, they are impaired!  Nobody with wisdom of their own has ever said that they knew a wise drunk.

1 Sam. has this story; "And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth.  Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.  And Eli said unto her, 'How long wilt thou be drunken?  Put away thy wine from thee.'  And Hannah answered and said, 'No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.  Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.'  Then Eli answered and said, 'Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him.'" (1 Sam. 1:12 - 17)  Note what these two are saying.  Being drunk is being worthless, and note how Eli, too, sees drunkenness as a negative condition to be in.

Drinking makes us vulnerable.  Consider Ammon, who defiled his sister Tamar.  His brother Absalom thought to kill him, but wanted it to be easy, so he looked for the moment his brother had been drinking!  "Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, 'Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you?  Be courageous, and be valiant.'" (2 Sam. 13:28)

Proverbs also has to say about wine; "He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich." (Prov. 21:17)  Who wants a drunkard to work for them?  While drunk they think they have excuse for stealing and whatever other manner of wrongdoing that they may commit, but the end is the same: the employer will fire them!

"Who hath woe?  Who hath sorrow?  Who hath contentions?  Who hath babbling?  Who hath wounds without cause?  Who hath redness of eyes?  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.  Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.  Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.  They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake?  I will seek it yet again." (Prov. 23:29 - 35) Describes an alcoholic pretty well, don't you think?  A drunk's friends will play mean tricks on them while they are vulnerable, and in their foolishness will still be their friends, even after sobering up.  A very ugly woman's friend is sometimes a bottle of booze; it helps her get married, and he who is drunk no more is in shock!

"Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." (1 Tim. 5:23)  Here Paul is advising Timothy to drink a little wine for a stomach ailment.  Not enough to be drunk, mind you, but to help with a medical affliction.

"Jesus saith unto them, "Fill the waterpots with water.'  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He saith unto them, 'Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast.'  And they bare it.  When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, 'Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.'" (John 2:7 - 10)  Now there is nonalcoholic wine, and there is alcoholic wine; but the scripture does not indicate that there is a difference.  Is it wine like Noah drank, or is it nonalcoholic?

Now the two next passages to give one last piece of support to not drinking at all.  "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.  Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.  Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more" (Prov. 31:4 - 7)  A king's mother speaks this wisdom to her son who is king, but how is this related to a reason for us to stay away from a drink here or there?  Are we princes?  Are there women who are princesses among us?
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." (Matt. 5:9)  Do any of us work for peace, as God calls us to?  If we are children of God, and of Jesus, as He is God, are we not then children of the king, as we know Jesus to be king of heaven and that He has a kingdom and so His children are therefore heirs to the kingdom, and therefore princes and princesses?  "And the disciples were astonished at His words.  But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, 'Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!'" (Mark 10:24)  See here how He called His disciples children, and called heaven His kingdom?  "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together." (Rom. 8:15 - 17)

So here we have completed the rest of what I have spoken using Scripture.  As children of God, heirs to the kingdom, with Christ as King, we are children of the King, royalty, and as the king's mother said to Lemuel, it is not for us to drink wine or strong drink!

En Garde! Defending The Perfection Of The Bible And Your Faith

EN GARDE! DEFENDING THE PERFECTION OF THE BIBLE AND YOUR FAITH

You know, it's one thing to be born and raised in a Christian setting of any sort, but your parents should start teaching you young, and if they don't know enough themselves, they need to send you to a really good bible school so that you can defend your faith. If you don't know what your bible says and means and you cannot interpret passages of scripture, there are people out there who will have you for lunch! They don't have to come to your door anymore, they can find and confuse you on social media like Facebook! I would like to start at my beginning...

Mom vs. False Doctrine Doorknockers - My Dad was bedridden when I was 4 with Multiple Sclerosis, and it wasn't long that he had to be taken care of in a V.A. hospital, so Mom had to watch out for us on her own early. When they came to the door - you know the ones; the Mormons, the Jehovah Witnesses - Mom would tell us; "Don't make a sound, and whatever you do, don't open the door! Wait till they leave!" I figured out she didn't read our bible well enough to have a clue how to defend our faith, such as it was, because she was too tied up working and being a mother all at once, and besides, even our Catholic bible wouldn't say the same thing we were taught with catechisms, because they wouldn't match, so the best she could do was to play "not at home". This gives you two precepts. If you're going to believe in your religion, you'd better read your bible and learn it and understand it ("This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." (Josh. 1:8)) And the second precept is something similar: "Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children." Deut. 4:1-10. That's right; we need to teach our children! Well, after I changed denominations, I realized I needed to be very different from Mom...

Me vs. False Doctrine Doorknockers - "Come into my parlor, said the spider to the flies" would be my motto for any number of stiffnecked doorknockers who would perchance come to my door with false doctrine, and not want to hear true doctrine from me! I have worked long and hard and studied my bible diligently and learned from my pastor and preachers and I now feel VERY able to defend my doctrine, unlike how my Mom demonstrated when I was a child. While the "Come into my parlor" motto is not the correct attitude immediately concerning false teachers, it often is the attitude you may have to take when they don't accept the truth as you show it in Scripture. "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." (2 John 1:10 - 11)  I never bid them godspeed, and when they say they want to talk about Jesus, perhaps you need to ask them what kind of church they belong to, because sometimes you can't tell by their clothing.  "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Tim. 3:13 - 17)

Ready In All Seasons - "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2 Tim. 4:2 - 4) It is so true what I wrote at the beginning of this study concerning what Joshua 1:8 commands! Witnessing and preaching to people who need something from the bible for their everyday life problems, and not being knowledgeable of what is written therein is like going to a gunfight with an unloaded weapon. In order to be ready to do what Paul wrote in his 2nd letter to Timothy, one must be constantly studying the bible cover to cover, and not just once, but we need to make it a lifelong obligation. How can we correct false or corrupt doctrine if we know not what it says ourselves? Also, it is not profitable to go to churches where they preach what you want to hear, and not what we need to correct our own behavior, that we might walk uprightly in the sight of God. We don't need a story teller in church, we need a preacher who tells the truth from Scripture, and one who goes all over the bible and on all sorts of subjects that we live by!

Capturing Context - A muslim I somewhat befriended was trying with all his might, and even the help of his muslim friends, to attempt to stump me in the bible, to prove it corrupt, and try to sway me toward Islam. Fat chance. I complimented him on how well read he was in the bible, but he was so handicapped when it came to understanding even one certain verse in so many places. One of his greatest shortcomings in grasping the glory of the bible and it's perfection was his lack of capturing context. Let me illustrate. He was calling Paul a blasphemer and accused him of calling God stupid. He cited this one verse of Scripture to prove his point: "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (1 Cor. 1:25) He railed, "Is God foolish? Is God stupid? This is blasphemy!" I gave him the full section of Scripture needed to understand what Paul was saying to prove him wrong, as I had before in times past, and had instructed him to read above and below verses to understand: "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:" (1 Cor. 1:22 - 26) Now here we find the true understanding of what Paul was saying. He was saying that the Greeks, with their many gods, believed our one almighty God foolishness, and the Jews were unable to understand how could Jesus be God and yet so weak that He was able to be hung and killed on a cross by mankind. What he was saying was that only those called by God; those whose eyes were opened, were able to see Jesus and God for the wisdom and power over all sin by what transpired at the cross. my muslim friend still doesn't accept Christ, with all that he learned from me. To his hurt for now, but many seeds have been planted.

Disproving False Doctrine - Another reason for total and constant immersion in Scripture as a lifelong commitment is that it gives you the ability to nail false doctrine as soon as you see or hear it. One common false doctrine tidbit you hear is that Mary was ever-virgin, never "knew" man. I have read the bible so much, I always am able to correct this false teaching from this part of the gospel, and mind you, it is even in their own version of the bible! "Is not this the carpenter's Son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us?" (Matt. 13:55 - 56) Another church of false doctrine peddles door to door that there are three Gods, not one. Really? And then why does the KJV, which they accept, say this: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:" (Deut. 6:4) And also this in the Gospel: " I and My Father are one." (John 10:30)

Knowing Your Bible By Interpretation - One might read throughout Scripture how wine and strong drink (in the Old Testament) were a part of the Israelites' and Jews' lifestyle, but that is not to take for interpretation that it is okay to drink all the time, not especially for anyone whose family has a history of drinking problems. Yes, the people drank wine chiefly, and strong drink, some, but are we interpreting that the bible means for us to keep a bottle under the shelf for whatever occasion? And did you know that the wineries of the Golan Heights these days have casks of nonalcoholic wine? "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted." (Prov. 31:4 - 5) These are the wise words of the mother of king Lemuel. Oh, and there is more; "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more." (Prov. 31:6 - 7) While these mother's words in Proverbs seem to be wise instruction to her son the king, is she saying in the latter part condemnation to the alcoholic and their alcoholism, or is she speaking of the medicinal use of alcohol in those days? If you have a study bible, you know the correct interpretation given by the doctor of theology that wrote it, and yet there are some who will tell you the PhD in their title stands for "permanent head damage". May God guide you in every reading what you should believe, because there is only one true doctrine, and it needs be interpreted correctly!

PROPHECY

PROPHECY

I have been explaining the Christian faith at length to a Moroccan muslim, and I was surprised how much he knew about what our bible says, but he had many misinterpretations and misrepresentations given him, and so it is easy to understand why he would not believe in a religion that seemed to have flaws. As Christians we find there are many flaws to Islam.  Some things also mystified him. He asked me about prophecy, and I thought it would be a good subject to cover here; first, let's define it. A prophecy is a prediction, or the inspired utterance of a prophet, according to the American Heritage Dictionary. There are three kinds of prophecies: short range, long range, and Messianic. Let me elaborate.

MESSIANIC: Gen. 3:15 has the very first Messianic prophecy, written by Moses: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." (Gen. 3:15) This verse prophesies Christ in that it means the woman's seed, Christ, will bruise Satan's head by going to the cross, while Satan will bruise Christ's heel in causing Him to need suffer. There are well over 100 Messianic prophecies. The last Old Testament Messianic prophecy is this one: " Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Mal. 4:5 - 6 ) Now one might wonder how this is relevent to the Messiah, and you have to go to the Gospel to get further explanation, and from Christ Himself, no less! "And Jesus answered and said unto them, 'Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.'" (Matt. 17:11 - 12) Here we have the rest of the cryptic prophecy of Christ. Christ explains that Elijah has come again in the person of John the Baptist, and was killed, and He prophecies His own death in this same passage. Now just as the Messianic prophecies are uttered in the Old Testament, so their fulfillment is written of in the New Testament. Remember how Jesus said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." (Matt. 5:17) Destroying the prophets would be failing to fulfill their prophecies. Since God would not allow His own word to be destroyed, of course Jesus was on mission to fulfill every jot and tittle of what is written in the bible, that there should be no flaw found in it. Remeber that Gen. 3:15 prophecy I gave you at the beginning? Its fulfillment is written in Gal. 4:4. The prophecies of Christ are often cryptic in nature, yet describe some characteristic of Him or His life yet to come in the Gospels. Seed of a woman, of Abraham, of Jacob, of David, for example. A prophet like Moses, a priest like Melchizedek, meek and mild, the right arm of God, glorious Messiah, Messiah as king. The Psalms and Isaiah have the lion's share of Messianic prophecies, but there are other prophecies in the bible that are not Messianic in nature, yet they served important purpose throughout the bible, and some still do, as they are yet to be fulfilled!

SHORT-RANGE PROPHECIES: These are predictions with a short time until fulfillment. Short-range prophecies are those fulfilled in the lifetime of the prophet who utters them, or shortly after their death. While Joseph was never called a prophet, yet he foretold by way of dreams predictions of the future: "And he said unto them, 'Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.' And his brethren said to him, 'Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?' And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words." (Gen. 37:6 - 8) Though a dream, his short-range prediction reached fruition in his lifetime, and they indeed were at his mercy during a famine that came while Joseph was second only to Pharaoh himself! 1 Kings 13:11 - 32 tells the story of two prophets, and one has been instructed by the Lord not to turn back from where he is going. An old prophet sought him out on his way, and lied to him, to entice him to come to his house. As the old prophet sat with him while he ate and drank in disobedience to the Lord, the old prophet suddenly cried out. "And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, 'Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, "Eat no bread, and drink no water"; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.'" (1 Kings 13:21 - 22) And so when the prophet went on his way, the prophecy of the old prophet came to pass, because a lion killed the other prophet, and he ended up indeed not buried in his family sepulchre! There are many of these type of prophecies in scripture just like there are many of the Messianic type. But there are also many long-range prophecies, some which have as yet to reach fulfillment, but they were made in both the Old and New Testament, and these 2,000 years after Jesus crucifixion, they have yet to transpire, and yet, some have only recently done so!

LONG-RANGE PROPHECIES: These are predictions with a long passage of time before they will be fulfilled. For the Christian, the most exciting ones are the ones that have only recently transpired, and those that have not, but there is evidence in the signs of the times they are ready to happen! One long-range prophecy is from Isaiah, who made many prophecies in his day; "Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. 'Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?' saith the LORD: 'Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb?' saith thy God." (Isa. 66:7 - 9) Indeed, Israel was declared a nation in 1948. From the Old Testament, a long-range prophecy came to fruition over 2,500 years from the day it was uttered. and there are many more! "So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land." (Joel 3:17 - 19) This has partially fulfilled, as Israel is indeed prospering on the production of non-alcoholic wine, and the fruitfulness of the land of the Jews is indeed coming to pass. The Golan Heights is literaly dripping with sweet wine, just as prophecied! Another long-range prophecy is from the book of Amos: "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by My name, saith the LORD that doeth this." (Amos 9:11 - 12) This prophecy has yet to be fulfilled, but Christians are awaiting this day! Israel at one time was denuded of its forestry, but Isaiah prophecied the planting of a forest wilderness by God, and it is today so! "I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it." (Isa. 41:19 - 20) What other religion has a holy book with so many prophecies that have come true, appear to be on the verge of reality, and because of the ones that have transpired, incite excitement at the prospect of the yet unfulfilled to take place? Okay, one last long-range prophecy that has taken place, and Jesus is He who said it: "Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not: 'Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.'" (Matt. 11:20 - 24) Sodom today indeed is better off than the other 3 cities which Jesus pronounced woe upon. Today, the 3 are desolate, and unihabited, while Sodom today is a place of chemical industry, which is better than desolation, truly! Okay, one last tidbit of long-range prophecy, yet unfulfilled. Everyone who has read the book of Revelation knows it has the prophecies of the antiChrist, and of the tribulation, and of Jesus' millenial reign, but when was the book of Revelation written? About 90 - 96 A.D.!

So in review we now see that there are three types of prophecy, and we know many of transpired, and many have as yet to come. And isn't it fascinating that so many should read this book who belong to other religions, and yet, despite not having a book in their religion with so many proofs in the fruition of so many prophecies, yet they remain blind in the false religions fo their choice? May our almighty true God remove their blindness, and cause them to realize the one true faith can only be Christianity, wherein our bible has so many proofs of it's validity!