19. Is North Korea mentioned in Bible prophecy?

The very short answer:
Maybe, with qualifications.

Is the word "Korea" in the Bible? : Most definitely not! Not explicitly, and not even implicitly.

Ten years ago, no one would even consider that North Korea might be a factor in the last days. But answer this: Is the word "China" mentioned in the Bible? Most definitely not! But most authors of books on prophecy consider that the nation of China -- more specifically the army of China -- appears near the final days of the end times.

It can be seen in the following passage in Revelation 9:13-16 which says:
13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard their number.

Another passage in Revelation 16:12 speaks of what most consider to be the same event and time: 12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.

This number of people (if the figure is to be taken literally) has been possible only since perhaps 1970, and almost all writers take this to be the Chinese army. However, there are other possibilities. The Revelation 9 passage does not tell where they are coming from, but the Revelation 16 passage says they are "the kings from the east". East often means "Orient", and the Orient includes such nations as China, Japan, and Korea. So this could be an all-out assault from the Orient countries.

Another view, which might exclude Korea, is that the Muslim nations also are generally to the east of the Holy Land, which is where all the nations are heading at the time of these two passages. This could be an all-out assault from the Muslim countries.

So the evidence is inconclusive and not as easy to interpret compared to whether Iran is mentioned in Bible prophecy, but thought-provoking just the same. For sure, we'll be looking at this issue again.

18. Is Iran mentioned in Bible prophecy?

The very short answer:
Definitely, with qualifications.

Is the word "Iran" in the Bible? : Most definitely not! Not explicitly. But that does not mean that it is not implied in the Bible.

While "Iran" is not mentioned, if we look at maps of Biblical nations at various times in ancient history, we find that the area that Iran now occupies has been occupied by Persia off and on for around 2500 years. Present day Iran sits just to the east of present day Iraq, which was known best in ancient Biblical times as first, Assyria, and then, Babylonia. In those nations prime years (800 BC to 540 BC), two other nations were rising to their east, called Media and Persia. Those nations (as Medo-Persia) temporarily united to conquer Babylonia in 539 BC.

Media soon fell to Persia, which predominated in that area (Iran/Iraq area) until conquered by Alexander the Great in 330-331 BC. Within seven years, Alexander died, and eventually Persia ascended to again become the regional power (although weakened) in the Iraq/Iran area.

Since then, Persia and the Persians (who are not Arabs), have either remained in or returned to that general area, conquering, and being conquered (the Persian land fell to the Muslims [mostly Arabians] in 641 AD). See Iran and Persia in an encyclopedia for more information. Eventually Iran was reestablished in much of the area formerly known as Persia.

And so, when we find the nation Persia in a Bible verse, we can consider that the land is now usually called Iran (with some border variations).

In Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, there is a great war against Israel that is considered to be a very important prophetic passage by almost all, and also considered as not yet having occured by most. In this war, the major power is the nation to the far north of Israel (called Magog, Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal in Ezekiel's day). More about that nation in a later post (but you might check it out with a current map). But the list of other nations that unite with that major power against Israel is interesting: In Ezekiel 38:5, it states that "Persia, Ethiopia (possibly Sudan --aka 'Cush'), and Libya (aka 'Put') are with them".

So, yes, with the qualification of a name change, we can say that Iran is mentioned in Bible prophecy as Persia, and there will be much more about this coming war against Israel in future posts.

3. What shall we trust for our future history?

In late 1972, as a new believer, I bought the edition of the National Enquirer's annual prophecy issue, where seers, prophets, fortune tellers, and the like, predicted what was going to happen in 1973.

My plan was to squirrel the issue away until the end of 1973, to see how they did -- particularly in comparison to the Bible.

It turned out to be not much of a contest. It has been widely pointed out that there are approximately 150 prophecies (some say even more) about the first coming of Jesus Christ in the Bible, most of them written 500-1100 years before he was born. And they were all 100% fulfilled. (One such list is in the back of Tim Lahaye's Prophecy Bible, where it lists each old testament prophecy and how it was fulfilled)

How did today's prophets in the National Enquirer do in comparison? They listed 68 prophecies for 1973, and I gave them a score of one and a half correct. Let's see. That would be 2.2% correct. What ones did they get right? One was about Elvis's comeback continuing, and the half one was a prediction that Edward Kennedy would get a divorce in 1973. Actually, he and his wife separated in that year, so I gave that prediction a half-right vote.

So what about the many Biblical prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled? In Future History posts we'll be looking at those prophecies, among other things.

1. To tweet or not to tweet, that is the question

Many of you are now using twitter, as I have been for a while. You probably know you can use up to 140 characters in a single message -- but no more than 140. I've decided that sometimes I need 141 characters -- or 1410, or 14,100 to say what I want to say (hopefully not 141,000). So, I'll continue to use twitter, and when I need to expand, I'll link over to here.

As I begin posting, I'm going to start with my early tweets (a single message on twitter), and expand on them.

Down below, I've listed a number of labels that will be themes throughout the posts.

Hope to hear from you soon.