Prophecies may be said to be the glue of faith since faith is defined as "Now faith is the assurance of things we hope for, the certainty of things we cannot see. " (ISV, Heb 11:1)  They give us the assurance that God's promises come true, the certainty that all things must take place as promised.

Very briefly, this is what to expect in the near future.  The promise is that Babylon the Great, the great harlot which represents all organized religion in the world, shall be destroyed.  This will take place due to serious economical problems plaguing the world.  At the time it is destroyed, some of the large cities in various nations shall fall (not be destroyed by atomic warfare) or be emptied of people; they shall fail to function totally economically and therefore their hospitals, police, road building, electricity, water - all the services we have come to regard as natural functions of a city will fail in many such around the world.  (Personal interpretation of scripture: " the cities of the nations fell." This cannot refer to being destroyed since Armageddon isn't about to come for a few years.)

The destruction of BtG will be accomplished by means of an 'eight king', a super-political system created to help the nations with their global economic problem.  It is therefore either the UN, or something like it.  These things cannot be stated with more accuracy, but this is plenty.  The Bible tells us that this eighth king died and came back to life again.  This fits the UN since it ceased to exist during WWII but was brought to life again thereafter.

One year after this global extermination of organized religion, war shall break out.  The extent of this is unknown, but could be everywhere sporadic or big time between the superpowers.  If I understand things correctly, Russia will embark on a successful campaign bringing it all the way down to the Mediterranean and secure the various oil and other treasures for itself that it may lay hold on.  Among the problems assailing the world during this time shall be what the four horsemen depict, war, hunger, pestilence, and death from a combination of all these.

Old prophecies

#1 Genesis the sacrificial lamb, the seed

Where to begin is always a problem.  Another problem is that what many people consider fact others consider fiction.

Genesis gives us the first prophecy.  It mentions that the woman's seed, identified by Paul and others as Christ, would be bruised in the heel while it itself would crush the head of the serpent.  This serpent much maligned by non-believers refers not to an animal; rather, it has its identity clearly specified as the Original Serpent, or Dragon, Satan the Devil.

It is clear from the prophecy that a battle is waged between God's messiah, Christ, and the Devil.  As prophecied by the symbol of the Passover lamb, the seed of the woman, Christ, would have to die a sacrificial death, hanging on wood no less.   And he did die as promised, when promised.

Isaiah chapter 53 clearly shows the above to be true, and is in itself another repeated prophecy about Christ that just restates things in a clearer manner.

The Jews expected this Messiah to arrive when he did.  When he didn't bring an earthly realm that ousted the Romans with him, he was rejected.

#2 Jesus' death and Jerusalem's destruction

Daniel prophesied explicitly about this and its timing.  Jesus quoted a scripture from Daniel's book in Matt 24:15.  This quote came from Daniel 11:31.  Obviously, Jesus had read Daniel which meant it pre-existed Jesus.

This Daniel told us exactly when Jesus would appear; namely, in 30 CE and that he would be killed after 3.5 years.

Jesus expounded on Daniel 11:31.  He said that there would come a time when Jerusalem would be surrounded by the thing Daniel mentioned, "the disgusting thing causing desolation." 

This happened in 66 when the Roman armies came under Legate and General Cestius Gallus.  For no known reason he left and gave obedient Christians trapped in Jerusalem the chance to flee.  When General Titus came back in 70, a massacre ensued.  The great masses who ignored Jesus' warning and remained in the city and its vicinity perished.

At this link, not related to me in any manner, Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History (III, V, 3) may be seen to collaborate the events and the prophetic fulfilment whose warning those obedient to the word heeded and thereby saved themselves. (Link to: New Advent  , See chapter five, paragraph 3)

Jesus' prophecy was clear and not ambiguous in any way.  It permitted the believers to save themselves.  The historical accounts by Eusebius and Epiphanius demonstrate that Christians fled Jerusalem prior to its destruction.  In determining the usual cause and effect here, we see that for them to flee they must have been warned by Jesus as claimed.  That Jerusalem's temple also was totally destroyed as Jesus promised are assurances for the veracity of these accounts.  Here is a link that goes into some scholarly discussion about Pella: Did Jerusalem Christians flee . . .?

Here is a good link about Jesus: The Historicity of Jesus

A little else

An inherent problem with this kind of proof is that much of it is so old that the veracity of the texts and the authenticity of the texts themselves may be questioned by many who disbelieve.  This is often the case with Daniel's prophecy and similarly important places wherein future prophecies were given that cannot be refuted otherwise.

So let us turn our attention to what has been said about our times.  Jesus and Paul told us things that frankly most believers would not have expected.  All of these things taken singularly may be brushed aside, but once the evidence is seen to pile up, a person disposed to listen to reason may see the light.

Since the Bible has been with us a long time which nobody disputes, isn't is surprising that Christ and Paul told us that there wouldn't be a unified true church, but instead there would be a great many churches all claiming incorrectly to have Christ?  Christ is here or Christ is there is what Jesus said would be claimed.  And so it is.

Matt 24:5,  For many shall come in my name, saying, *I* am the Christ, and they shall mislead many (Darby)

Matt 24:23,24, Then if any one say to you, Behold, here is the Christ, or here, believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall give great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.

Isn't this how we see it today?  Baptist, Catholics, Protestants, LDS's, Wt's, and so forth, all claim to have the truth and be where you can find Christ.  Every one of these churches may be demonstrated liars.  Indeed, we were well pre-warned.

Conclusion

Naturally many prophecies cannot be used to convince people who haven't come to believe.  Who believes the Bible, though hundreds witnessed the events, when it says that Jesus was resurrected as prophesied, or when he himself resurrected and healed many?

The fact that the Jewish writings of the day attribute these miracles to magic and do not deny they happened is usually overlooked.

Other areas of disbelief despite evidence

Isaiah prophesied by name that Cyrus would overthrow Babylon.  The exact manner of entry was also described ca 200 years before the event occurred and in this way demonstrating that God was able to manipulate things so that a king named Cyrus would do exactly as he had prophesied through Isaiah. (Isaiah 45:1, Jeremiah 50:35-38; 51:30-32)

A Greek historian Herodotus verifies that the events happened as stated in the Bible.  (Herodotus, Book I, sec. 1.191) (see also Xenophon Cyropaedia, VII, 5:7-34)  That these events took place as prophesied –  the very nature of disbelief, makes many reject them strenuously because all who do not believe cannot accept that such detailed prophecies could be written before the events took place.  Thus most opposers claim that these books are later writings and attribute them to fraud. 

This is where it becomes important first to understand that the things that cannot be denied in this fashion still are exact and can stand scrutiny.  Once a person sees that the Word of God is truthful, he realizes that all the previous material rejected by the non believing sceptic is also true.  Faith is based on truth, but it takes humility to find it and see it.

Daniel and Alexander the Great

Without entering this subject but at a tangent, we see that Daniel foretold the march of the nations, the Greek empire, and the Roman one, etc.  The sceptics naturally reject Daniel's book once more as things written after the fact.  In this way, the believer has evidence while his opponent has fiction. 

The Bible remains very much up to the individual.  Churches teach error and disgusting things such as, God is love and a God of love, who loves to burn his children eternally in hell.  He also has three heads and can die without dying.  He is omniscient but gives free will somehow though this is a paradox that cannot exists since one precludes the other.  He thus knew that Satan would do what he did, that we would have wars and evil as we do, and stil he is a God of love.  He created all knowing what each and everyone would do, thus being the origin of evil, and still he is a god of love.  He created the world in six literal days - though it says differently in the Bible. 

The churches teach a Babylon of dogma, confusion infinite; they truly are Babylon the Great.

What each must do is try to find a way to survive, even if that means temporary death for all die in old age or otherwise.  But through Christ we can gain access to God and to the promises of life.

Is the Bible true? are the prophecies true?  Most certainly they are.  But it takes research to find out, and to believe truly.  It takes courage to stand firm against the teachings of men.