Tag: Joseph Smith

Biblical Prophecy

Carl Pollard

Prophecy is one of the boldest claims any religious text can make: that a transcendent God reveals specific future events, sometimes centuries or millennia in advance, through human spokesmen. The Bible contains roughly 2,500 prophecies, of which most have already been fulfilled with 100 percent accuracy! The remaining prophecy are yet to come with the return of Christ. This track record is unique among world religions and texts. 

Deuteronomy 18:21–22 gives us the standard: “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken.” A single verifiable failure disqualifies a prophet. By this biblical standard,  Muhammad, Joseph Smith, Nostradamus, and every modern “psychic” are eliminated. No biblical prophet ever fails when the prophecy is testable.

Biblical prophecy is extremely detailed, not the vague horoscope-style language used by many today. For example: 

  1. Micah 5:2 (700 BC) names Bethlehem Ephrathah as the Messiah’s birthplace, out of hundreds of Judean villages.
  2. Isaiah 44:28–45:1 (700 BC) names Cyrus as the Persian king who would release the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem, 150 years before Cyrus was born.
  3. Psalm 22 (1000 BC) describes crucifixion, nails in hands and feet, garments divided by lots, centuries before Rome invented the practice.
  4. Zechariah 11:12–13 foretells the betrayal price of thirty pieces of silver, cast to the potter in the temple, fulfilled to the letter in Judas Iscariot (Matthew 27:3–10).

Mathematician Peter Stoner calculated the odds of one man fulfilling just eight messianic prophecies at 1 in 10¹⁷ (one followed by seventeen zeros). For forty-eight prophecies, the probability drops to 1 in 10¹⁵⁷ a number so large that if you filled the state of Texas two feet deep with silver dollars, marked one, and asked a blindfolded person to pick it on the first try, those are the odds.

Skeptics dismiss prophecy as “after-the-fact interpretation” or “self-fulfilling.” Yet many predictions (the fall of Tyre in Ezekiel 26; the precise sequence of empires in Daniel 2 and 7; the desolation of Edom in Obadiah, Jeremiah 49) were fulfilled centuries later in ways no human could manipulate.

Biblical prophecy is not fortune-telling; it is history written in advance by the only Being who stands outside time. Its perfect record remains the strongest external evidence that the Bible is exactly what it claims to be: the word of the living God! 

The Light Of The World

Thursday’s Column: Captain’s Blog

Carl Pollard

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’” (John 8:12).

In the first century, the word “light” carried with it a deeper meaning. Light often described knowledge from the spiritual realm. Light meant true knowledge, in contrast with the darkness of ignorance. Knowing this gives more power to Jesus’s statement here. By saying these words Jesus is claiming to be the one who brings the true knowledge of God from heaven. 

Jesus isn’t just saying “I am a light” but that He is the light! The only way to know God is to recognize that Jesus is the ONLY light. Not Joseph Smith, or Buddha, but Christ alone is the light. 

Christ illuminates knowledge for this dark world. Jesus gives us real answers to the fundamental questions of life. Who am I? Where did I come from? What is my purpose? Where am I going?Questions that billions have struggled with are all answered by Jesus. Without Jesus, these questions will never be answered. Life following Jesus is a clear and wonderful life, a life where we have a purpose. We know who we are, and where we are going? 

Do you want to know why most people have nightlights in their homes? Because some guy was tired of hitting household objects when he got up in the middle of the night. We’ve all experienced it, perhaps the worst pain you can ever feel. Stubbing your pinky toe on a table or dresser at night. Think about a world without the true light. It’s futile. It’s a life spent stumbling and tripping in the dark. Living a life contrary to Christ’s teachings is “to walk in darkness.” The world is filled with people who live in darkness. 

They stumble through this world with no purpose or direction, groping around like people in a dark room. Picture Velma from Scooby-Doo. She was useless without her glasses, and when she dropped them she got on her knees and had to feel around and hope for the best. John makes it very clear that those who live in darkness have no fellowship with God, because God is light (1 Jn. 1:5). Why do people live in darkness? Some have never heard of Jesus while others reject Jesus because of their love for the darkness of sin. 

John 3:19 says, “‘And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.’” On the other hand, those who have chosen to follow Jesus, “come to the light,” and are walking in the light (1 John 1:9). These people have a clear direction in life. They know what pleases God, and they make the right changes. 

These are the Christians that have true joy. These are the Christians that experience the blessing of having their sins continually cleansed by the perfect blood of Christ. 

Which one am I? Have I accepted Jesus as the light of the world? Does Jesus give me my direction and purpose? Darkness or light are the two paths, and we must choose where to walk.