Francis Smith Jr.

Swept Away! God's Retribution "Day" Francis Smith Jr.

The ancient prophets were a different breed. Though embedded in the midst of the people, administering and serving in much the same capacity as their counterparts, an inner longing to know set them apart. It was not enough to be a minister of the Lord; they wanted to know the intent of the one for whom they ministered. For them the morning sunrise was the beginning of another day's inquiry, an inner desire to belie life on a rock eternal. It is through them the Creator finds voice, as the prophet scans the world's panorama with spiritual eyes, ever longing that all people would see what they see and understand what is heard. It is the cry Moses had for Israel, that all would be prophets. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21 NIV). The Bible is both history and a prelude of history with an impeccable purpose. It does not deviate in dealing with three objectives: the fall of humanity, its redemption, and final liberation. As a world's best seller, it is faulted for removing the mystique, updating and critiquing future events only as those events occur. Until the Bible deliberates, the archives of world history are mere fillers of rampant human instinct. But its final resolution is here, with immense biblical documentation, with the promise to be understood by all people. Keeping in mind that God's intent remains to redeem and liberate, even to the very door of human extinction.