Why are persons taken with the future to the degree that they will listen to fortune tellers, read horoscopes, or turn to oddities that will conjure ideas about the future, especially for near future years? Some of these prognosticators are persons, well-educated and experienced. Some are so detailed in their predilections that on fulfillment of any of them they seem to be geniuses. One is impressed by the predictions of Nostradamus, Mother Shipton, Douglas Cayce, and others. Cayce, an American medical doctor, possessed a unique ability to assist people by his analysis of personal medical situations. There is evidence that his trances gained unexplained insights. He was sought after, and ultimately agreed to one or two daily readings. He lived by voluntary gifts of money, never charging for his services, living modestly, usually over the objections of his family. The gratuities given were modest. He was most active for years during the first quarter of the twentieth century. His work took a personal physical toll on him. He seemed to be reticent in his preoccupation. He tended to be reclusive, and that created some difficulty for him.
At the end of the Revolutionary War in America there arose various schools of thought about the future. It was predicted that there would be vehicles powered without horses, and the flying machines of Michaelangelo would cross the heavens. To these were added other miracles that would become part of everyday life. Practical persons often put down the predictions on the basis that life was good as it is so that there is no need for new inventions. They thought that horses had been bred to high degree, providing adequate transport. Why would anyone want something else? Some of the stories tax credulity, and some wonder. How do Christians respond to predictions? Christians hold that Scripture, and its context of meaning are all that is needed for effective Christian faith, life, culture, and world context. There is enough of the unusual in human experience to suggest extra-natural meaning. For example, there are numerous accounts of remission from the most deadly diseases. There is expectation for earthquakes or storms to occur, but they do not or, unexpected, they do. Nearly all predictions of culture are that the earth will end in catastrophe. The better of these do not give a date. Normalcy is protected. Some do give dates, and they are not convincing because of the innate feeling that God, or whatever powers there be, will not inflict impending sorrow on the last generation. Our next concern, according to one view, was for 2012 AD. Before that date arrived there appeared considerable discussion about the matter. Where is safety to be found? It became something like the year 2000 when enormous wealth was invested in protecting society from the calamity of computer failure across the world. Computers were not designed to allow for millennial change, so great effort was put into protection from the coming catastrophe. The world got through January 1, 2000 without a glitch. We also got through 2012 in similar relief. Prediction now is that some meteor may strike, or some eruption blackens the skies, or some world plague that rages and kills, or, that Christ fulfills his promise to return again and make all things right. If Christ appears, it will be coincidental to man’s predictions. Mankind seems uneasy about God ordaining the courses of the universe. We are not to live in fear, but always in a quality (readiness) of life that cannot be lost. God will protect that which is of value to him. At the same time we ought to be at ease, as the Apostle John noted in Revelation 22:11. The day and the hour of any cataclysmic change are in the mind of God – unknown to man. (At this editing in 2015, we have survived several more recent end-time predictions about earth’s catastrophe. Some months ago a meteor struck in Russia causing considerable damage. No one predicted it. We rightly live without fear believing a loving God is in control.) *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020