I don't really pay much attention to Steyn.
I try and take Scriptures at face value, more literally more often than not.
I collect a LOT of puzzle pieces from a wide diversity of sources. I wait to see what God confirms in a variety of ways, especially by fulfillment.
I also have my own impressions and track record to factor in about future events.
And, there's various intensities of impressions from myself and people known to me to be mostly reliable. There's various diversities of disconnected sources that can be impressive when most say the same thing without contact.
Of course, there's Scripture. But it tends to be fairly cryptic and not overly specific much of the time.
Anyway--I think the MAIN issue is to seek God; seek His Face; LISTEN TO CHRIST'S SPIRIT AS HE DIRECTED WHEN NOTING THAT "MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE;" WALK CLOSE TO GOD; PRAY EARNESTLY . . . work while there is light.
THOSE ARE THE MAIN POINTS of Scripture and prophecy, it seems to me. Certainly Scripture also instructs us to BE PREPARED in whatever ways God directs individuals to be prepared.
I also read the Bible in literal, historical, and grammartical way as well, and I accept the fulfillment of a lot of prophetic events beyond most people's comprehension in the future. However, I believe all possible explanations must be grounded on truthful data and senible analysis as well. We can't go on and prattle fantatic "sign of the times" discovery based on MSM reportings only to discover they are cooked up information.
This is the reason I took note of good commentators like Mark Steyn, Victor Davis Hanson, (Hong Kong's) Tao Kit. Christian commentators on current affairs tend to lack the ability of looking at various facets of data and adopt a critical look at them.