What would it be worth to you to know the future?
If I claimed to accurately prognosticate what was coming up for you, could I convince you to part with some of your wealth or common sense to trust me?
My maternal grandmother was born in 1900. She lived a few months short of her 100th birthday. In her century on earth, grandma witnessed the proliferation of the electric light bulb, horseless carriages, microwaves, audio cassettes, television, and putting a man on the moon. Her younger brother, often talked of, as a boy, seeing the Wright Brothers assembling their flying machine in Akron, Ohio, before taking it to Kitty Hawk for its test flight.
But the future is always a two edged sword. It also held World War I, polio, the Spanish Flu epidemic, the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
For those who can predict the future accurately, it can be profitable. I was born just before the second half of the Twentieth Century. In High School, the most advanced calculating tools were the manual adding machines and our brains. To do the complex formulas for algebra, geometry, calculus, and later radio engineering, I mastered the latest in technological gadgets--the slide rule.
(See the attached picture for younger readers.)
I recently read of a government attempt in 1958 to bring together 10 of the top academic economists in the country to project what the future would be like by the 2000. These weren’t random soothsayers . . . they were “experts.”
The government then started formulating it policy on the 50 predictions of what the world would be like
at the turn of the century. Unfortunately, only 10-of-the-50 predictions came true--government policy was based on 80% speculation.
Another independent business study was done in 1967 by Kueffel and Esser. As leader in high tech instruments, they wanted to see what the future would bring. The results of this expensive commission predicted we would soon be living in domed cities and watching three-dimensional television.
What the commission missed was what Keuffel and Esser was in the business of making . . . and the little error cost company their fortune. Within three years a new gadget exploded on the market. More than one billion pocket calculators would sold in the next five years. Kueffel and Esser -- you see -- were the world’s largest manufacturers of slide rules.
It is human nature to want to know what lies ahead of us. At times we dread the circumstances we are living and are looking for someone to tell us the future promises a positive change. Thus the ploy of the psychic who teases us with wealth and happiness . . . for the price of a reading.
Other times, boredom with the status quo is the backdrop for our seduction in to the soothsayers web.
I have found fellow Christ-followers, and myself, pulled toward promises of future insight. For
several years, I worked with a Christian ministry, whose biggest yearly event was their Prophetic Conference. Attended by thousands, people came from around the world to hear the “latest evidence” as to the timing of the Second Coming of Christ.
I’m not claiming to know all of attendees motives. I did, however, observe how often the speakers, these prophecy scholars, spent time defending their interpretations of prophetic passages and their theological position on eschatology (the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind).
Many local churches hold “prophetic conferences.” Here, people who claim to have the “gift of prophecy,” speak over the attendees giving them information about the future.
The Word of God is cautionary about an unhealthy thirst for know the future. He was specific in his ban on gaining information from psychic sources. In Micah 5:12
“I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no soothsayers.” (New King James Version)
King Saul in the Old Testament was the poster-boy for impatience and paranoia. He saw threats to his authority everywhere--sacrificed all of his family relationships in pathetic attempts to save his public face. In a final, desperate attempt to find a fragment of hope in his homicidal dementia, he went to a psychic to contact a former dead friend/prophet.
That turned out badly for both Saul and the psychic. Samuel was called back, but his message for the King was he had crossed the line with God -- his kingdomand life was forfeit.
ABC Television has been airing a program called “FlashForward.” It’s characters have experienced a glimpse into the future during a worldwide blackout. Following this event, people are obsessed with either, attempting to change the events they’ve seen, or resigning themselves to the inevitable, regardless of obvious opportunities to having a positive impact on the lives around them.
There are some things God delights in not revealing--not because He is ignoring us--but out of love. Proverbs 25:2 says
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;...” (New International Version)
Our interest...concern...fascination...fear...hope of the future is really suppose to be a matter of faith, if we claim to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. He has made the bold claim to be ...
“... the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8)
Having a number of cats and dogs at our home proves to be a constant reminder of my heavenly Master’s care. These fur-kids spend little time of their day worrying about their future or whether they are provided for. They seem pretty confident my wife and I will always return and provide shelter and care.
Jesus simply gave this advice long before the field of psychology researched stress levels and it’s correlation with worry over the future. He said,
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34
No comments:
Post a Comment