Prophecy Speaks (E.A.Rowell).pdf

2. CHALLENGE TO A PROPHECY CONTEST
IF DAVID DARE sensed the antagonism of the audience, he gave no evidence of it.
He spoke calmly, but with the emphasis of sincere conviction.
“Prophecy, you say, is either vague or tricky or just a shrewd guess. I grant you it is
sometimes hard to understand, and I remember when I found it distressingly vague.
But why do you apply to the Bible a method of investigation that you would be
ashamed to use with any other book? When you open a geometry text for the first time, and
glance at the section on solids, in your perplexity and despair you might defend your lack of
understanding by claiming geometry to be vague. Yet it is the most crystal clear of all
sciences in the world.”
Mr. Emerson rose again. Mr. Dare paused and motioned for him to speak.
“Do you mean to imply that prophecy is as rigidly demonstrable as geometry?” he
asked incredulously.
“Yes, I mean just that.”
“You are making things unnecessarily hard for yourself. No one would think of
setting such a task for you.” Mr. Emerson’s tone hinted jubilation combined with sympathy.
“It is not a task but a pleasure,” responded the lecturer, smiling. “Let us return to
geometry. If you start with the simple problems at the beginning, you will later understand
perfectly what you now confidently proclaim to be obscure.
“So it is with prophecy. Some prophecies naturally precede others. There are some
predictions in the Book of Revelation that would be impossible to understand without Daniel.
“If prophecy is so easy to disprove, how is it that among all the thousands of books
written by infidels there is not one in all the world devoted to showing specifically how Bible
prophecies have failed? If these predictions could be so easily proved to be the result of a
clever or lucky guess, or if the fulfillment be merely the twisting of facts to fit the prediction,
or if the prophecy were written after the events took place and made to fit into them, how is it
that facile sceptics, who are so alert for arguments against the Bible, universally overlooked
the one demonstrable method of proving the Bible to be false?
“Why has not some Tom Paine, some Robert Ingersoll, or some Mr. Emerson, for that
matter, shown how utterly absurd, false, and contrary to fact are the prophecies of Moses
concerning the Jews, of Isaiah about Babylon, of Ezekiel telling of the fate of Tyre and
Sidon, of Jeremiah concerning Egypt and Palestine, of Daniel, with his amazing predictions
about Rome and the nations into which Rome was to be divided, of Jesus concerning the
growth of His kingdom and the spread of this very Bible to every nation, kindred, tongue, and
people?”
Mr. Emerson shot up eagerly. David Dare smiled his welcome. Lucile turned
twinkling eyes to her brother.
“Anyway, the man’s a good sport,” she whispered.
“He seems to welcome these interruptions,” admitted George.
“No one has replied to Bible predictions,” said Emerson, in a strong, clear voice, “for
the same reason that no one has replied to the Delphic oracle prognostications — it’s not
worth the trouble. Herodotus relates the story of Croesus consulting the famous Delphic
oracle as to whether he should fight the Persians. He was told that ‘by crossing Halys,
Croesus will destroy a mighty power.’ He did — his own! And when Pyrrhus sought advice
on a similar errand of war, he received this cryptic reply: ‘I declare thee, O Pyrrhus, the
Roman to be able to conquer.’ Thus, no matter which way the battle went, the augury would
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