Let's Work A Puzzle!

In my first book, “Dismantling Doctrines of Demons: Disclosing the Darkness” (Volume One), I talk about Biblical prophecy being played out similar to working a picture puzzle. To start with, I believe prophecy, in general, is dispensational. That theological term holds a number of ideas for different Bible students, but I apply it from the simple perspective that

little by little, as time passes by, the prophetic elements of Scripture are more clearly revealed. Think of it in terms of a bottle of hand soap sitting by your sink. You don’t pour the whole bottle of soap onto your hands in one washing but pump the actuator on top of the bottle to dispense a small amount into your palm each time you wash your hands.

With that idea in mind, consider a picture puzzle. First of all, we know what the finished puzzle looks like because the picture is on the front of the box. Similarly, we know where God’s prophetic program is going because Scripture provides the final eternal scene, the New Heavens and the New Earth. When most people work a picture puzzle, they prop the box up so that the final picture can be referenced at all times as the puzzle is completed. In the same way, we maintain our focus on the realization of our faith & hope in God’s Heaven. That is where all prophecy points and the “signs of the times” Scripture reveals guide our progression toward that eternal promise.

I’ll bet most of you work a picture puzzle similar to the way we did growing up. The first task is dumping and categorizing all the 1,000 or so pieces. We made sure all the border pieces were identified first because we started by building that basic framework. When deciphering the many pieces of Biblical prophecy, it is always best to keep them within the framework of understanding provided to us through the Old Testament patriarchs & prophets, as well as those given by Jesus and the inspired writers of the New Testament.

We would also categorize the pieces of the puzzle based on the general features of the finished picture. We would keep the pieces together on the table that were obviously the sky, then another area for the water, and another for the mountains and trees. Usually, there was some little cabin in the woods or a boat dock on the shore, so we kept those pieces together. The prophetic program of God is complex and very confusing if we don’t keep associated pieces of the puzzle together in context. Some pieces have a historical fulfillment, while others are futuristic, and some are both. Some have to do with the rapture of the church, while others relate to Christ’s second coming. Some fit into the tribulation period, while others assemble into the time of Christ’s millennial reign. Completing the puzzle is greatly helped by keeping the various pieces together by association.

Then the nitty gritty work of pouring over those hundreds of tiny shapes begins. We study them, moving them around, trying them here and there, patiently & strategically fitting one piece to another. As we go, we might discover that a piece we thought was part of the sky is actually part of the water. Biblical prophecy can be overwhelming to understand at times because of the complexities and symbolisms often involved, yet patient and diligent study provides a clearer understanding of God’s purpose and plan through it all.

Now watch how the dispensational element plays into the process. Working the picture puzzle at first is slow and can be quite boring, in fact. But as each piece is correctly put into place, a natural and noticeable condition emerges – the more of the puzzle that is completed, the fewer pieces remain on the table, and the pace with which the puzzle is worked picks up. By the time you are down to the last few dozen pieces, it becomes noticeably obvious where those pieces fit, and moving them strategically into place is very fast and easy as you finish the puzzle.

Some Bible students in modern times have come to refer to this dispensational movement as “prophetic acceleration.” As we move closer and closer to the sound of the trumpet and the voice of the archangel beckoning the saints into the presence of Christ in the air, the prophetic manifestations of Scripture unfold at a faster pace and with greater clarity. It will be remarkable how some elements of Biblical prophecy, before shrouded in symbolism or obscurity, will suddenly emerge with crystal-clear understanding of where & how they fit perfectly into place.

At the same time, satanic activity and the permeation of evil across the national & international landscape will pick up with a similar frequency and intensity, as revealed by Christ – “lawlessness will increase” (Matthew 24:12) and the Apostle Paul – “evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse” (II Timothy 3:13). John’s Revelation vision presents Satan and his demonic forces as “deceiving the whole world” (Revelation 12:9), “accusing the saints” (12:10), and “making war” with the followers of Jesus (12:17). The accelerated pace in which he works is revealed by John in the statement – “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” (Revelation 12:12).

It doesn’t take a doctorate degree in theology to see clear manifestations in our nation and world that the prophetic puzzle is gaining fewer & fewer pieces on the table and nearing very close to completion. How could we be so faithful in proclaiming these Biblical truths for over 2,000 years and not realize that days would inevitably come when the pieces would start falling quickly and perfectly into place?

As do many saints, I believe we are there. It is part of the inspiration behind the “Dismantling Doctrines of Demons” series. There is a reason radical evil, as we have never seen it manifested before, has quickly developed. Satan is running out of time! But the clock that is ticking down on his day of eternal torment is the same clock ticking down on our day of eternal redemption.

In the meantime, we have a gospel to proclaim and a spiritual war to fight. The battlefields rage in our nation’s government & politics. Weapons of evil are targeting our children with the kind of diabolical evil that amounts to nothing short of cultural insanity. God’s divine institution of marriage has been legislatively redefined & reformed into a federally protected bed of deviation & perversion. Just as God proclaimed through the prophet Isaiah, good is being insanely reformed into evil, while evil is being radically reformed into good at an alarming rate!

All these fast-paced developments are feeding directly into the New World Order of the Tribulation Antichrist. The switch into warp drive happened in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic and “the Great Reset” that followed by world leaders in convocation with the World Economic Forum, packaged lavishly in a deceptive dangling carrot called the “Green New Deal” (much more on that in Volume 3 of my book series).

The greatest threat I see looming on this unsettling horizon is the complacency of the church. Too many Christians are AWOL from the battlefields of spiritual warfare, resting comfortably in the safe walls of their fancy church sanctuaries, while Satan and his demonic forces play havoc in our world, pillaging our people with destitution, destruction, and death. The church has been deployed, and we must take up and put on our spiritual armor and fight for God and righteousness.

Yes, we see the picture on the front of the puzzle box, and we know we win, but that doesn’t exempt us from engagement on the battlefield. The landscape has never been tattered with the kind of casualties we see today, and never before have the campaigns of spiritual warfare needed all God’s soldiers in the fight. As sister Clara would pray in her war room, “Raise ‘em up, Lord!”

Rick M. Smith

Pastor, Author & Speaker