Dear Associates, Students and Friends:
This month’s article deals with prophecy and is titled “New Prophetic Discoveries Concerning the End-Time.” Dr. Martin takes you step-by-step through the sequence of events just before and during the time of Christ’s Second Advent — and your own resurrection. Most of you will find this information new and surprising. I recommend you verify every Bible passage, which will reward you with still further understanding. Also carefully follow the accompanying maps which will help you relate the geography to the prophetic events.
I hope you find this article as exciting as I did when I reviewed it for re-publication. While the front portion of the article deals with material Dr. Martin returned to often in later studies, the bulk of this article contains research that he never covered in the same way again since its original 1981 publication. His later research on prophecy and chronology clearly shows his building on earlier foundational biblical research. In particular, the aspects of repetition, circularity, and types/antitypes in Bible prophecies are developed more extensively in later articles. 1
Now is the time for you to seriously study this material. Verify its accuracy from your own Bible and historical materials. 2 Dr. Martin always acknowledged that his understanding was never the final word on any particular subject he researched, but that it was his “latest and best” appreciation up to that moment.
How then should we act during this present and future time as we approach Christ’s Second Coming? Paul tells us explicitly in Romans, written when he still felt the return of Christ would be within his lifetime:
“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering [promiscuity] and wantonness [sensuality], not in strife and envying. But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”
Romans 13:11–14
Peter also wrote about a time approaching in our future:
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.’”
2 Peter 3:3-4
Material such as this month’s article cannot be found anywhere else, so far as I have discovered. The legacy of Dr. Martin’s biblical and historical research is presented to benefit not just you, but people around the world. It benefits people who need this information so they can resist the non-biblical junk that comes from so-called Christian orthodoxy that expends much effort avoiding the Bible like the plague, substituting “feel-good” religion and non-biblical teachings. There is much yet to do, as Dr. Martin wrote in editorial comments originally accompanying this month’s article:
“A time is coming when there will be a famine in the hearing of the word of God (Amos 8:11). The Antichrist system will emerge on earth that will completely deceive the world (Revelation 13:3, 7–8). It is now the time for us to get out the essential biblical teachings while it is possible to do so. Again, we wish to thank you for helping us to do our part in this. Collectively, all of us can accomplish a great deal for the good of mankind.”
Dr. Martin then thanked his audience and supporters with expressions that we also endorse:
“We are not God’s prophets — nor do we claim to be personal representatives of God or His son Jesus Christ — but we do have a love for people and a deep desire to understand (and to publish) the teachings of the prophets of God. We are thankful to God for the opportunities He allows us to have in regard to this quest. We also thank all of you who have been behind our efforts in getting out this much needed biblical knowledge.”
Thank you for supporting ASK and helping us produce this excellent material that you can check from your own Bibles — whether you have one Bible translation or a dozen; whether you understand biblical languages or read only English; whether you have all the Bible helps or just the Bible itself; whether you have a grade school education or higher.
You have the distinct high privilege of reading some of the best biblical and historical information ever produced outside of the Bible itself. I know that it is a gift many of you value highly, because you have told us so. I also know that it brings comfort to your lives to understand the mind of your Father and Creator. This is because the purpose of Dr. Martin’s life-long work — and the continuing purpose of ASK — has been to make the Bible clear to everyone who reads the Word of God, so that the message of the salvation that all humanity shares (and will all experience) can be known as widely as possible. Thank you so much.
David W. Sielaff
David@askelm.com
1 The following articles will be particularly useful and enlightening if they are read in the original publication order. In this way Dr. Martin’s methodology and development of thought on these prophetic subjects will become clearer. All are available on the ASK website. The original publication dates are in bold:
This month’s article was originally written in May/June 1981.
“Signs of the Times in the First Century” at http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p040701.htm (from July 2004) was originally transcribed from a tape produced in 1982.
“Dislocation of Time in Prophecy” at http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p031201.htm (from December 2003) was originally published in 1983.
“New Discoveries in Prophecy and Chronology” at http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p021102.htm (from November 2002) was originally transcribed from a tape produced in 1989.
“Chronology – The Key to Prophetic Understanding – Part 1” at http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p900901.htm was originally published in September 1990.
“Chronology – The Key to Prophetic Understanding – Part 2” at http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p900902.htm was also originally published in September 1990.
“The Past as Guide to the Future” at http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p930801.htm was originally published in August 1993.
“Keys to Understanding Modern Prophecy” at http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p011201.htm was Dr. Martin’s last “finished” article published in December 2001.
The last article that Dr. Martin prepared was in draft form at the time of his death in January 2002. It was “The ‘Great Generation’ and Modern Prophecy” at http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p021201.htm (published in December 2002).
Reading these articles in conjunction with the other prophecy articles at http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/index.htm and the archived prophecy articles at http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/archives.htm, which have topics where date order is not significant, will give you a comprehensive biblical understanding of chronology and prophecy presented in a no-nonsense manner. As a result, your understanding concerning future events in the Middle East, Israel, and Jerusalem will be greatly enhanced. DWS
2 As always we are willing to be corrected, but please provide us with biblical or historical evidence as part of your correction. Do not just give your opinion or feelings on where you think we are wrong. DWS
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