Prophecy Expert

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on November 30, 2011

Prophecy Expert is an interesting concept; it's a free Bible study program with a desktop interface that imports Web-based content, including many commentaries and references as well as social networking and other interactive features. It's provided by Minister Fortson, aka Dante Fortson, whose Web site claims to offer "a Christian perspective on angels, aliens, demons, giants, nephilim, and other supernatural phenomena." Say what you will (and who doesn't?) the Minister correctly points out that many Bible study programs are expensive rip-offs that charge for access to free Web-based resources. Prophecy Expert certainly enables users to access Internet scholarship and resources.

Prophecy Expert basically creates an interactive frame around a browser window, though it doesn't use your browser but opens in its own window. The toolbar let us change the theme to "American," "Christmas," and others (we chose Christmas) as well as contact the Minister via Facebook, Twitter, and other means as well as buy his books at Amazon.com. Small windows run up and down either edge; we could access everything from Strong's Search and Bible Atlas entries to Commentaries and Wikipedia searches from them. The main window opened blank but quickly filled with a start page that included links as well as messages, social networking links, and other Web-based content. Some of the features and references require Flash Player. We started with Biblos, which presented very well inside Prophecy Expert. Keyword searches were handled by BibleResources.org. Prophecy Expert has many interesting and unexpected extras, such as a World Watch menu that included a World News entry offering links that cover a lot of bases: Al Jazeera, BBC News, the Jerusalem Post, and MSNBC. We could also track World Weather, World Currency, World Religion, Science and Technology, and other topics. The interface also offers links to other researchers, including actor-turned-evangelist Hal Lindsay. Some of the titles listed under Books will almost certainly raise eyebrows ("Shadow Government" and "NWO and The Eugenics Wars," for example) but then the primary object of Prophecy Expert is to read the Bible; enough said.

Prophecy Expert isn't the only freeware that enables desktop access to Web-based biblical scholarship and resources. Since it's free, you have nothing to lose by trying Prophecy Expert. Who can say what you'll gain?