The Moral Purpose of Prophecy - Book

Author: Louis F. Were

113 pages The harmony between Christian experience and prophetic interpretation. Christian Realities revealed in the prophetic pictures of the apocalypse. Chapters:

1. The Scriptures Were Given to Reveal Jesus
2. The Jews Failed to Study the Scriptures in the light of God's Moral Purpose. A Solemn Warning for Today
3. History Repeats Itself
4. Futurism's Fundamental Fallacy
5. Further Futuristic Fallacies
6. Futurism and the Book of Revelation
7. Pentecost Brought Light on the Moral Purpose of Prophecy
8. Jesus is Reigning Now!
9. All Scriptures Are Vibrant Moral Messages from a Living Saviour
10. The Individual Application of History and Prophecy
11. Applying the Principle in Connection with the Study of "Armageddon"
12. The Moral Purpose of the Prophecies of Daniel
13. Christian Realities Revealed in the Prophetic Pictures of the Apocalypse
14. "Christ in You" - the Assurance of Victory

Futurism is the most popular school of interpretation for the book of Revelation.  Its roots go back to the Jesuit scholar Francisco Ribera, but has recently been popularized through the Left Behind novels of Timothy LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Publishing several books and pamphlets on biblical prophecy, Louis F. Were published a concise response to Futurism - The Moral Purpose of Prophecy.

In this book, Were demonstrates, through numerous examples, how the New Testament draws spiritual significance from Old Testament imagery. To use biblical prophecy simply to forecast secular battles while neglecting the spiritual conflict behind human history undermines the moral focus of prophecy.

As Revelation 1:1 indicates, God employed "signs, "or symbols," to present events impacting the church.  "...so important are the truths the Lord presents in the Apocalypse," wrote Were, "that he throws living, symbolic pictures on the screen of prophecy to arrest and grip the attention." The biggest deficiency of Futurism is its neglect of the moral relevance of prophecy through literalism that is unlike the interpretation of Old Testament prophecies in the Gospels and the writings of Paul. Were lamented: "Attempts to apply literally dramatic symbolical representations spoil the picture the inspired word-artist has painted and create absurdities, which not only hide the truth portrayed by the symbol, but which at times lead to superstition and error." "Old Testament prophecies concerning the Lord reigning in Zion, and the victory of His people, are not to be understood as being separate from the story of salvation from sin, for salvation from sin is the moral purpose for which they were written."