INTRODUCTION

         BIBLE PROPHECY Your Key To The Future Seminar is a 16 lesson workbook.  Its purpose is to verify the existence of GOD and His eternal love for us.  We will study and compare our shared hope for justice, mercy and love with GOD’S righteous principles and see how they are in perfect agreement.  Through our study of this agreement we will also see how GOD promises to meet each and every desire we have ever cherished.  In the end we will see that His “free gift” of salvation is our full & lasting deliverance from a world that imposes injustice & affliction on every living thing. 

            To accomplish salvation for His children, GOD could only redeem what man is by becoming what man is in order to bring man to Him where He is.  This was the purpose of Jesus Christ.  We will focus our study on how the One we call Jesus has always been and will ever be our Creator, Companion, Servant and Friend.  He took it upon Himself to become as one of His children to see us through the turmoil of life and bring us to the place of eternal safety.  Everything we desire in life and need to understand in this present world is addressed by Jesus Christ, as He promised: “Behold, I have foretold you all things.” Mk.13:23.  He has also given His assurance that our desire for utopian life will one day be granted.  GOD has provided ample evidence to encourage us to believe this promise: through history, science, common sense, human aspiration, and the Book we will use in our investigation, the King James Version Bible.  

            Our study begins with the simple reality that the people of earth are on a collision course.  Both the Bible and common sense verify that mankind is destroying the balance of nature.  This is evident by man’s extreme opposition to the laws of nature that preserve the security of life.  The Bible calls this sin.  In essence, man has failed miserably as stewards over the life of earth and the Bible has given prophecy on what should be obvious to all: that man is paving the way to his own destruction; but we, as the children of GOD do not have to perish “as others who have no hope.” I Thess.4:13.  Our Creator, Who became “the Christ,” has made a way of escape!  And just how this is accomplished will be explored logically, ethically, and Biblically.  

         Our Seminar will also address the unethical practices employed by today's Christian institutions that historically have stood defiant to GOD'S character and purposes revealed in Scripture.  Our moral compass as we study the Bible’s prophecies will be the foundation on that which the Protestant reformation was based: GOD’S call to divorce from the sins of Rome.  GOD’S Word testifies that His prophecies are the roadmap for our future safety because the entire source of life’s suffering centers in men sinning against The Ten Commandments.  Christ calls us to “walk even as He walked:” “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life.” I Jn.2:6; Phil.2:15,16.  And through Christ living in the heart we can “overcome” “the sin which doth so easily beset us.” Heb.12:1.  As daily physical exercise brings strength to the body, so godly exercise brings spiritual strength to our character.

            To provide the student of this seminar with a thorough knowledge of how many churches continually disobey Christ’s Word and how sin is being evangelized as part of the Gospel, certain verses of the Bible will be studied to answer a broad range of questions concerning the spiritual perils facing the churches.  By contrasting the Law of GOD to the laws of man, the life of Jesus Christ vs. the lives of self-serving men, the student of this seminar will obtain a sufficient “understanding” to withstand every temptation to violate the only Law whereby we are safe in one another's care: GOD’S “law of liberty:” His Emblem of Love and Freedom: the Ten Commandments.

The Heart of the Gospel

            At the very heart of GOD’S Law and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the grand lesson of salvation: GOD’S message identifying and contrasting the two forms of government contending for our hearts and minds.  These opposing value systems were perfectly illustrated in the conversation between Jesus and His Apostle Peter.  In this conversation Jesus defines the true meaning of love.  Two different words for love were used in the original Greek text of this passage.  Jesus used the word, agape to define GOD'S love, while Peter used the word phileo to represent man's version of love.  When we examine the meaning of these two very contrasting words (in light of the deeds of Christ vs. the deeds of Peter) we become fully aware of the precious lesson that all people deserve to know.

            “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me [with unselfish love] more than these [the other disciples]?  He saith unto Him [with his head lowered], Yea, LORD; Thou knowest that I love thee [with a limited, selfish love].  He saith unto him, Feed My lambs.  He saith unto him the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me [with a love that will seek the other's well-being regardless of the cost to yourself]?  He saith unto Him, Yea, LORD; Thou knowest that I love Thee [only with a futile love that exerts in vain].  He saith unto him, Feed My sheep.  He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me [with merely a limited, selfish love]?  Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me [with a failing love]?  And he said unto Him, LORD, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee [with the only love I am capable of].  Jesus saith unto him, Feed My sheep." John 21:15-17.  

            A short time after this conversation came the day of Pentecost.  On this great day for the human race the Apostles of Christ received “the Holy Ghost;” and with His Presence came the gift of agape love.  This free gift is offered to all.  Said Jesus, “If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.” Luke 11:13.  Therefore, you and I, the weakest of the weak can demonstrate the same Love to our fellow man that drew God Himself to redeem a fallen race.  It is this Love that man despises because it is not a love that we naturally possess.  This love must come from above.  This innate hatred includes most professing Christians because agape calls for the believer to refrain from sin.  But freedom to sin is more important to them than Christ’s deliverance from sin through His Sacrifice on Calvary.  This is the reality of today’s Christianity that dominates the churches of the world.

            Until Jesus “cometh with clouds” “in the resurrection at the last day” every Christian is called to uphold the Words of Jesus Christ by demonstrating GOD’S justice, mercy and love toward “all men.”  With Christ’s Presence in the Believer’s life this privilege is achieved, as Jesus calls to us in gentle admonition: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt.11:28-30.