Ok, prophecy buffs, let's start here.  At Lakeside Family Church we use a literal method of Bible interpretation.  I think the official title is "literal hermeneutic."  But who cares?  The point is, we, like many others believe that the Bible should be interpreted LITERALLY unless it is obvious that it is intended by the author to be taken figuratively.  This is the way I and just about everybody else I know has been taught how to interpret the Bible.  

By the way, figurative speech is not bad.  It illustrates truth and makes reading/listening more interesting and colorful.  However, there are those who want to make just about everything literal.  When we do this we can come up with all kinds of crazy stuff and never really know what mean what.  Therefore, as we begin to look at what the Bible has to say (about prophecy or anything else for that matter) we will take it literally.  The reason why this is so important should become more clear with future posts.

I would be happy to supply you with examples of figurative vs. literal speech if I get requests to do so.  I suggest digging in and trying to find examples on your own.  It's a little something we like to call Bible study.