Prominent among the many changes in society that have taken place in the modern world has been the increasing number of women taking on jobs that were previously the sole domain of men. There are women in most of the major professions; women doctors, lawyers and engineers. Women can be found in important positions in industry and commerce, and running large companies. Women are involved in politics, and a number of countries have a woman as their head of government. With this emphasis on equality of opportunity in so many spheres of life have come calls for the greater involvement of women in the religious world, specifically to take up a place alongside men as priests. This suggestion, though warmly welcomed in some quarters, has roused strong and passionate feelings. The adherents of widely differing views staunchly defend them by stating that theirs is the only position that can be tolerated. But this only serves to provide greater confusion. Who is right? Those who say it is wrong for women to act as priests, or those who say it is only prejudice that is keeping them out of these positions? What makes the problem even worse is that churchmen themselves cannot agree. They all claim to speak authoritatively, yet they cannot come to a common view, or even accept a common basis from which a position can be determined. If there is such disagreement in the ranks of churchmen, no wonder so many people feel perplexed and bewildered by the subject and become disillusioned with religion all together. Where can the real answer be found? Is there a voice of authority we can listen to?

A Source of Authority

The Bible deals with religious matters, …

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We talk about hope in everyday conversation. We say “I hope you feel better soon”, or “We hope to go abroad this year” or “I hope the weather will be better in a day or so”. We mean there is something in the future we should very much like to happen, and we feel cautiously optimistic that it will. Life without hope would be very grim. Even in the worst of circumstances, people look on the bright side. A poet wrote: “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” Hope can give men extraordinary tenacity of spirit. Miners trapped by a roof fall, or sailors drifting on a raft, will often fight death for days, convinced that their friends will come to the rescue before it is too late.

Sadly, of course, they are sometimes disappointed. It can happen that the rock fall is too deep to tunnel through, or no one knows the ship has foundered. In this case the chance to which they cling does not exist, and their hope is an illusion.

Hope with a Foundation

Hope is a topic that crops up frequently in the Bible. …

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The Middle East is in turmoil — civil wars, brutal insurgency, millions of refugees fleeing to Turkey, Jordan and Europe, bombings on the streets of Paris and Brussels, Palestinian statehood unresolved, Gaza rockets, the Intifada continuing with stabbings on the streets of Jerusalem. Russia warns that the Middle East is bringing the world to the brink of World War Three.

Why the Middle East?

But the Middle East has not always been so important. The modern history of the area can be divided into three phases:

1. The first phase began in the nineteenth century when Britain, France and Russia developed their imperialist ambitions. Whoever controlled the Middle East controlled the trade routes to India. What became known as the ‘Eastern Question’ was the policy of Britain to prop up Turkey as a buffer against Russian ambitions to obtain a Mediterranean sea port. The First World War saw the end of this phase, with Britain and France replacing Turkey as protectors of Palestine, Arabia, Mesopotamia and Syria.
2. The second phase occupied the period between World War One and World War Two. To understand what happened then we need to recognise the new factor which emerged towards the end of the nineteenth century — Zionism, the movement to create a homeland for the Jews in Palestine. In 1917 the Balfour Declaration committed the British Government to support the creation of a national home for the Jews in Palestine. The declaration also said that nothing should be done to infringe the rights of the Palestinians. Yet ancient conflicts reawakened as Arab as well as Jewish nationalism grew. Today many Arab organisations still consider the Balfour Declaration to be “a crime against the Palestinian people”.
3. The League of Nations after the First World War gave Britain the mandate over Palestine which she held until 1948. On May 14, 1948 Israel declared itself an independent state, and was formally recognised by the United Nations. So began the third phase and the bitter conflicts which have continued ever since. What made the Middle East so important globally over this period is that the world’s economies have been heavily dependent upon Middle East oil and gas.

Looking back over this history …

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Most people would accept that prayer is part of a religious life. Often those who have little to do with a church, who rarely pick up a Bible, who give scant attention to God, will, when faced with a crisis, turn to Him in prayer. Many helpless individuals, faced with the stark reality of death, have gone down on their knees in prayer. It sometimes comes as a surprise to discover that some of the most powerful of people in history have been people of prayer,

What is Prayer?

What then is prayer all about? Is it just an exercise to bring comforting thoughts into our minds? Is it a way of miraculously solving impossible situations? Is it simply a religious ritual by priests on behalf of their congregations? Is it the public recital of noble thoughts and ideals or the repetition of certain words and phrases?

This booklet is concerned with Bible teaching on the subject. This is because …

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More than 100 years ago these lines were written (by an unknown author) to accompany a drawing of “His Satanic Majesty”:

"This is he, with horns and hoof,
The parsons call the devil;
They tell us he lives in a sultry place
Where ghosts and imps all revel.
They say that he wears a great long tail,
And carries a three pronged fork,
That he sometimes leaves his sultry home,
And through the earth doth walk.
They say he can assume with ease
The garb of an angel bright,
And then, for a change, he takes the form
Of a roaring lion at night:
That he's power to act and do as he likes,
Be in fifty places at once;
And that to fulfil his evil designs,
Can be wise as a sage, or a dunce."

Today most people no longer think of the devil like that. But there are still many people who believe the devil exists, that he wields immense power for evil (some say he is a fallen angel) and is constantly trying to destroy the work of God among men and women. They think it is the devil that secretly whispers in your ear and tempts you to evil.

Of course there are real difficulties about accepting such an idea. If the devil was a real angel to begin with, however did he come to revolt against God? And why does God allow a supernatural being to destroy His work in the earth? Where is the devil now, anyway? And how can he really work?

Where to Find Out?

One thing is clear: this is a religious question. So if we are to settle it, we must refer to the Bible, …

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The Bible

If we claim to follow Christ we should trust in the scriptures as confidently as Jesus and his apostles did;

Jesus:

“The scripture cannot be broken.” (John 10:35)

Paul:

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)

Peter:

“For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21)

Peter:

“The things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.” (1 Peter 1:12)

True faith must be founded on a fully inspired Bible.

Human Nature

If we claim to follow Christ …

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There is no escaping the reality of Death. When it comes suddenly, unexpectedly, as the result of an accident or heart attack, we are shaken; similarly when someone still “in the prime of life” dies of cancer or kidney failure. Such events are so common that we all experience them. We are overcome by the sense of our own helplessness; we cannot reverse what has happened. All human resources are powerless to restore a dead person to life. The grieving relative is not easily comforted.

How do people react to the fact of death? The young frankly do not treat the matter seriously. When they have the occasional shock — a friend is killed in a road accident, for example — it is just “bad luck”. The tragedy is soon forgotten. The middle-aged do not care to contemplate death. It is too far off yet to seem a real danger: “Better face it when it comes”. Older people become more aware that here is a reality they will not escape. Their friends and relations pass of the scene. Failing eyesight and hearing, growing physical ailments remind them that the human frame eventually perishes.

Survival?

Many people find some comfort …

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The story has been told of how the first Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, was instructed by Soviet premier Krushchev to watch out for angels when he went into space in April, 1961. On his return he reported that he had seen no angels. Krushchev is said to have replied, “Good, I knew you wouldn’t. There are no such things!”

It is all too easy to assume that what you do not see does not exist!

Do you believe in angels? Do you know who they are, or what they do? Are they just figments of the artist’s imagination in religious paintings down the centuries? Is there really something out there we ought to know about? Is it important to know if they exist?

Back to the Bible

Positive answers to such questions …

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The Bible is a most remarkable book. Its account of the origin of evil; its unparalleled record of God’s dealings with the nation of Israel; its searching message through their prophets; its “good news” proclaimed by Jesus Christ and his apostles; above all, its unerring analysis of the weaknesses of human nature and its contrasting portrayal of the holiness, the truth and the mercy of God, made especially plain in the person of His Son – all these are outstanding features found in no other book in the world. They prompted Henry Rogers over 100 years ago to declare: “The Bible is not such a book as man would have written if he would.” [1] In other words, God is needed to explain its existence.

In this short work we shall consider one of the Bible’s unique features: its prophecy. Now strictly prophecy is not just foretelling the future. A prophet was one who “spoke for” another, a spokesman; and prophecy was the message the prophet spoke on behalf of God. But since Bible prophecy contains quite a lot of “prediction”, or foretelling future events, for our purpose here we shall take the term in that sense.

Who has the Power of Prophecy?

But first we must settle …

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The Lord Jesus Christ is the central character of the New Testament scriptures. The opening words of the first gospel account, by Matthew, can be applied to the whole of the New Testament: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” (Matthew 1:1). The four gospels are followed by the account of the preaching of Christ’s apostles, and by the letters they wrote to believers in him throughout the Roman world in the first century AD.

But information about Jesus Christ is not confined to the New Testament. His coming was anticipated by men and women who lived before the New Testament books were written: “The people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not” (Luke 3:15).

A Divine Watermark

This simple statement conceals …

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