Wanting to verify Peter’s grousing about John’s grasp of Jesus’ parable ‘the wheat and tares’, I grabbed my Bible to look at the Gospel of Matthew…BUT IT BLEW UP IN MY FACE! – metaphorically, that is.

I’d opened it many times before without that ever happening. Had someone sneaked into the house overnight, cut and scooped out the inside of my thick tome and put a pressure-sensitive stick of spiritual dynamite inside?? Or, had some clever being, the Holy Spirit even, already known when I’d be checking on a topic that’s churning around within my mind – a specific simile on the Kingdom of God – and arranged for me to be zapped at that precise instant?

This time upon opening it, however, a supernatural flash exploded within my mind. It didn’t go >>BANG<<  but EXCITEMENT EXPLODED within my spirit as I heard,

“THIS  IS  ALL  ABOUT  TO  BE  FULFILLED!”

That unforgettable, formative event had its origin in 2008’s controversial ‘outpouring’ led by Todd Bentley at Lakeland, Florida. We’d known of him from a few years earlier and had attended an inspiring conference in Dudley where he’d taught in depth on the Holy Spirit as he energetically motored through the Bible for over 10 hours daily!  However, in 2008 he allowed personal sin to overtake him and thus stumbled from grace; but ‘good Samaritan’ Rick Joyner came alongside to direct and assist in his restoration. A part of the problem was Todd’s failure to be accountable, despite the efforts of his Canadian church’s leadership.

At that time Peter Horrobin, director of Ellel Ministries, was staunchly opposed to what was happening and the ‘lassez-faire’ (my term) attitude of N. American churches’  top leaders. John Arnott of Toronto was of the opinion the Lord would deal with it, as may be inferred from the parable of the wheat and tares – but Peter firmly disagreed with such a flimsy handle on an important part of pastoral and spiritual oversight.

On top of that controversy I’d been noticing since the attack eight years earlier on the twin towers in New York a few things happening that were biblically related. So, after my inner explosion I began taking those things more seriously and realised the need for more Christians to become aware of the prophetical implications of scripture.

Therefore on 28th February 2009, 10 years ago today, I emailed friends and the church leaders whom I knew personally, as follows:

THE ENDGAME IS NOW IN PLAY

‘Dear Friends – further to Rev’d Bill Smith’s recent request re Christian Freedom, may I offer some observations upon our times and, in another message, suggest a way forward?

‘Last year, I encountered two conflicting claims about Jesus’ explanation of the parable on the end-time harvest of wheat and tares (Matt13:36). So I went to check scripture but upon opening my Bible a deep excitement exploded within as I heard, “This is ALL about to be fulfilled” – WOW!!

THUS, began my calling to write on the relevance of Bible and contemporary prophecy to current events, and the next month’s double-email Not Many People Know referred to the EU’s 666 connection!

This was soon followed by a confirmation whilst attending a school on prophecy on 21st May 2009 at Winchester Vineyard church and led by internationally renowned teacher Isabel Allum.

Isabel was led to prophesy for individuals in the audience. Walking straight up to the two of us, she discerned for me, “An impartation like Daniel had is going to come into you and you will start understanding the ‘riddles’ of the Lord in a different way – the gift of interpretation itself as Daniel and Joseph had is going to come to you and God is going to open up your understanding to hear from heaven.”

As my writing started soon after Barack Obama’s inauguration as President of the USA, many of my emails would cover his involvement in the Middle-East (see Obama’s Cairo Speech…Europe and Two Daniels…).

Therefore, I was encouraged to continue writing a couple or so emails a month until, by mid-2011, I was getting distinct ‘digs in the ribs’ to circulate to a far wider audience. The dream of seeing and realising the Kingdom is being set up in Britain, as told here, made me determined to deliver on those ‘nudges’ by launching this blog with some trepidation on 21st November 2011.

What had, however, had first piqued my curiosity in Bible prophecy and End-times as an anti-Christian was my reading a secular book in mid-1980s about the convergence of Jewish, Christian and Islamic calendars with historical events in the Holy Land and Jerusalem.  ‘Coincidentally’, what was showing on TV of elite units of Iranian and Iraqi armies rehearsing the liberation of Jerusalem (despite their being at war!!) plugged straight into what I noticed whilst I was flicking through The Invisible Hand.

Since starting this blog time I’ve noted the increasing incidence of those ‘Gog-Magog’ events, even an impediment over the blog’s second anniversary to writing about Iran! To read about Bible-related current events see Bible Updates tag (note: not exhaustive).

TODAY’S RELEVANCE OF THE BIBLE

In addition to the increasing prophetical focus this year on the wheat and tares parable, as in the previous post, we’re now, 10 years after my having that revelation, watching the direct relevance of the Bible’s predictions in everybody’s everyday life!  It predicts precisely what happens today when – of all things – people go shopping!

That is, the Holy Bible states in writing that, instead of handing over cash to buy goods, people will be waving their hands, or some indicative marking they’re got in or on their hands!  In other words, contactless payments – the cashless society!

Check it for yourself in the Book of Revelation: ‘no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark of the beast on their right hand’ (Rev 13:17).

However, as the main part of that book after the first three chapters is highly symbolical then we’re not necessarily talking about a specific sign on a person’s hand or forehead. To consider this further you may like to read whether the ‘mark of the beast’ is a spiritual sign, as claimed in RFID, Technology and The Mark. (NB. End-Times Prophecy is 7th Day Adventist website which I’ve yet to check in any depth.)