The Minor Prophets are a group of twelve small books at the end of the Old Testament. Despite being labelled 'minor', what they say has parable-based significance. Like the very long books written by the Major Prophets, all the books are relevant to current events. The Minor Prophets' books are listed below and some of them are discussed in this article.

Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micha
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

Haggai

This book starts in chapter 1 by talking about the Temple. 1:2: "These people say that it is not the right time to rebuild the temple." In other words, many modern Christians think it is not the right time for the second coming of Jesus. 1:5-6: "Don't you see what is happening? You have sown much corn, but have harvested very little. You have food to eat but not enough to make you full. You have wine to drink, but not enough to get drunk on! You have clothing, but not enough to keep you warm. And a worker cannot earn enough to live on. Can't you see why this has happened? Now go up into the hills, get timber, and rebuild the Temple; then I will be pleased and worshipped as I should be." As described in the letters entitled "Luke 21:21" and "City Planning: New Jerusalem", the "hills" refer to the mountain range on which we should build New Jerusalem (the "Temple"). The passage also refers to a lot of corn sown (lots of people going to church) but a small harvest (because people follow Paul).

1:9: "You hoped for large harvests, but they turned out to be small. And when you brought the harvest home, I blew it away. Why did I do that? Because my temple lies in ruins while every one of you is working on your own house." – Jesus' temple is New Jerusalem and the ideologies in favour of following Jesus that this city supports. Jesus' temple is left in ruins (it hasn't ever been built) while people in Western countries rejoice and sing in churches. 1:10: "That is why there is no rain and nothing can grow." – because no one has advocated following Jesus (rain represents true teaching about Jesus). 2:6-9: "Before long I will shake heaven, earth, land and sea. I will overthrow all the nations, and their treasure will be brought here, and the Temple will be filled with wealth. All the silver and gold of the world will be mine. The new Temple will be more splendid than the old one, and there I will give my people prosperity and peace." – the wealth from the rich nations should be used to help the poor ones.

2:13-14: "Then Haggai asked, 'Suppose someone is defiled because he has touched a dead body. If he then touches any of these foods, will that make them defiled too?' The priests answered, 'Yes.' Then Haggai said, 'The Lord says that the same thing applies to the people of this nation, and to everything they produce; and so everything they offer on the altar is defiled.'" Jesus refers to dead people as being those who do not follow him (e.g. "let the dead bury their own dead" – Matthew 8:22). Priests are 'dead' people and anyone who listens to their teachings becomes 'defiled'. They also defile the spiritual food of Jesus.

Hosea

This book is about a prophet who has an unfaithful wife. The unfaithfulness is compared with the idolatry of Israel. 4:1-3: 1 The Lord has an accusation to bring against the people who live in this land. Listen, Israel, to what he says: "There is no faithfulness or love in the land, and the people do not acknowledge me as God. 2 They make promises and break them; they lie, murder, steal, and commit adultery. Crimes increase, and there is one murder after another. 3 And so the land will dry up, and everything that lives on it will die. All the animals and birds, and even the fish, will die."

In 4:4-8, the idolatry is blamed on the priests: "My complaint is against you priests. Night and day you blunder on, and the prophets do no better than you. I am going to destroy Israel, your mother......You grow rich from the sins of my people, and so you want them to sin more and more."

4:11: "Wine old and new is robbing people of their senses!" – this may refer to the misinterpretation of the Old and New testaments, and possibly this book. 5:1: "Listen you priests! Pay attention people of Israel! Listen you that belong to the Royal Family! You are supposed to judge with justice."

5:6: "They take their sheep and cattle to offer as sacrifices to the Lord, but it does them no good. They cannot find him because he has left them." Giving to the church collection on Sunday goes to pay the Minister's wage, the upkeep of the church building, the insurance and the bills. This does not help the poor.

5:8-15 talks about the start of a war, representing a war against poverty and the ideologies that are in opposition to following Jesus. 5:8: "Into battle, men of Benjamin!" – the tribe of Benjamin represents us. 5:10: The "punishment" will be poured out "like a flood", relating to the plagues. 5:15: "I will abandon my people until they have suffered enough for their sins and come looking for me. Perhaps in their suffering they will try to find me." 7:13: "I wanted to save them but their worship of me was false."

9:7: "The time for punishment has come, the time when people will get what they deserve. When this happens, Israel will know it! 'This prophet', you say, 'is a fool. This inspired man is insane.' You people hate me so much because your sin is so great."

Joel

The book of Joel describes a devastating drought and plagues of locusts. Then there is a call for repentance and a sacred meeting for everyone on Mount Zion (2:15) – this reflects us going to build Zion (New Jerusalem). Then the fertility of the land was restored, and in 2:23 there was "the right amount of autumn rain," representing true teachings about Jesus. 2:28-32 describes the events of the "Day of the Lord":

"Afterwards, I will pour my Spirit out on everyone: your sons and daughters will proclaim my message; your old people will have dreams, and your young people will see visions. At that time I will pour out my Spirit even on servants, both men and women. I will give warnings of that day in the sky and on the earth; there will be bloodshed, fire and clouds of smoke. The sun will be darkened, and the moon will turn as red as blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. But all who ask the Lord for help will be saved. As the Lord has said, 'Some in Jerusalem will escape; those whom I choose will survive.'"

Amos

This book was written at a time when religious worship was insincere; it is particularly relevant for the present time. It was written two years before an earthquake. 2:8: "And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god." The wine relates to Holy Communion and the teachings of Paul.

2:11: "I chose some of your sons to be prophets and some of your young men to be Nazerites." Jesus came from Nazareth, which sounds like 'Nazerite'; in addition, Nazerites were particularly dedicated to God, indicating that the same is true of followers of Jesus. 3:7: "The Sovereign Lord never does anything without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets." 5:21-24: "The Lord says, 'I hate your religious festivals! I cannot stand them!'....'Stop your noisy songs; I do not want to listen to your harps. Instead, let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.'" 6:5: "You like to compose songs like David did, and play them on harps. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest perfumes, but you do not mourn over the ruin of Israel."

In chapter 7, the Old Testament god considers destroying his people three times, once by locusts, once by fire and the third time by using a plumb line to show his people how far out of line they are. He changed his mind the first two times, but the third time he decided to go ahead. The result of the plumb line (judgement by true standards) is this website.

Jonah

Jonah is a prophet who was told to warn the city of Nineveh to repent or be prepared to be destroyed. Instead, he ran away to Spain, so god sent a storm to the ship he was using to escape. The storm was so bad that the sailors had to throw Jonah off the boat (because they found out what he had done). The storm calmed immediately, but Jonah got swallowed by a whale and was inside it for three days, until he was spat back out again. Then he went to Nineveh and warned the inhabitants that god would destroy it in forty days (which is also the length of the rain in the story of Noah). They repented and god did not destroy it. This story gives hope to regions of the world that do repent (they may be less affected by the plagues).

This is a complicated parable involving many concepts. Jonah sounds a lot like 'John' (the Baptist) who is associated with myself as described in "Life After Death". Jonah was in the whale for three days, which relates to me having taken 'three days' (approximately 2000 years) to be resurrected – into a society whose identity is defined by consumerism and capitalism, driven mostly by the USA (the whale – see below). North America also has the picture of the whore of Babylon drawn onto it; the story of Jonah therefore suggests that Mary Magdalene (my previous life) followed Paul ('ran away to Spain') instead of following Jesus and teaching others to do the same ('warning Nineveh'). The links between the whore of Babylon, myself and the teachings of Paul are described here. You can see the whale that swallowed Jonah on a map:

The outline of the USA is shaped like a whale, with the Great Salt Lake as the eye. This whale incorporates everything that is opposed to following Jesus.

Nahum

You might be thinking from the story of Jonah that everything will be fine, because Nineveh did not get destroyed. Unfortunately, Nineveh got destroyed a bit later on in the book of Nahum. Nineveh was perceived to be cruel, arrogant and full of wealth. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, an enemy of Israel. In modern terms, the people of Israel represent those who Jesus came to teach about (they are mostly in Africa), and their 'enemies' (through the worship of Pauline theology and consumerism) are mostly in developed Western countries.

Habakkuk

This book starts with the prophet Habakkuk complaining to the Old Testament god for allowing the injustices that he sees. In particular, he refers to the Babylonians in 1:15: "The Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch! They even worship the nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them with the best of everything." As described in the letter on "Luke 21:21", Babylon (Baby London) represents the cities of the USA, especially the East Coast. The catching of fish is a reference to a phrase used by Jesus that means teaching people to follow him. Unfortunately, people are not taught to follow Jesus, and the nets that are worshipped are the church traditions that "provide them the best of everything" (money). 1:17: "Are they going to use their swords for ever and keep on destroying nations without mercy?" This may refer to US foreign policy.

Micah

The author's name sounds like Michael (the Archangel who fights Satan in Revelation). Chapter 2 talks about the fate of those who oppress the poor. 2:5-7: "So then, when the time comes for the land to be given back to the Lord's people, there will be no share for any of you. The people preach at me and say, 'Don't preach at us. Don't preach about all that. God is not going to disgrace us. Do you think the people of Israel are under a curse? Has the Lord lost his patience? Would he really do such things? Doesn't he speak kindly to those who do right?'"

Zephaniah

This book starts off with an ultimatum in 1:2: "The Lord said, 'I am going to destroy everything on earth, all human beings and animals and birds and fish. I will bring the downfall of the wicked. I will destroy the whole human race and no survivors will be left. I, the Lord have spoken.'" 1:15-16: "It will be a day of fury, a day of trouble and distress, a day of ruin and destruction, a day of darkness and gloom, a black and cloudy day, a day filled with the sounds of war trumpets and the battle cry of soldiers attacking fortified cities and high towers." 1:18: "He will put an end – a sudden end – to everyone who lives on earth." 3:4: "The prophets are irresponsible and treacherous; the priests defile what is sacred, and twist the law of God to their own advantage." Traditionally, a priest has a large house provided in addition to a wage.