“And it happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortunetelling….” (Acts 16:16)
Some culture writers and half-serious columnists do it for fun, giving forecasts on life in the future. Some, like meteorologists, work at it seriously to protect lives. It helps to know the hurricane in the Caribbean may be headed our way or that the tornado season is upon us.
But then, once in a while we come upon those strange individuals who believe they are endowed with supernatural gifts of prophecy and fortune-telling.
If you are one who believes you have such a gift, I have a word for you….
Give it back.
Newsweek of January 1, 2000, reported on a prediction from 98 years earlier. In the 1902 Atlantic Monthly, economist John Bates Clark wrote “Looking Back on the 20th Century” in which he projected himself into the year 2000. He concluded we would be seeing….
–strawberries the size of apples and oranges growing in Philadelphia.
–Moving sidewalks through pneumatic tubes in order to transport people
–No more slums
–War and poverty eliminated.
–A near “pot-hole free expressway of progress” for all of mankind
–Wealth evenly distributed
According to Mr. Clark, “Humanity has it made in the shade” by the start of the 21st century.
Well, he got the strawberries thing right. And airports have the moving sidewalks. However, far from being free of war, the 20th century gave us two of the worst conflicts in the history of mankind resulting in the deaths of perhaps hundreds of millions. (He also missed entirely any mention of air travel, being one year short of the Wright Brothers’ invention.)
War and poverty are alive and well in the year 2023, to our sadness and shame.
Here’s a question for those who would like to turn this into a parlor game. What did Mr. Clark miss? What did he overlook which made his predictions so much rosier than the reality?
What he missed is what counselors call “the elephant in the living room.”
He missed the sinful, selfish nature of man.
Core Dysfunctionality
The human heart is a mess.
Consider this little problem: Earth is covered with billions of humans, all of them more or less alike. By what process does one of them decide to dominate the others? And why would some conclude others should serve them hand and foot and that they should live as royalty, off the labor of others?
That’s what we mean by sin. At his core, man is capable of mind-staggering cruelty and injustices to others if it benefits him in some way.
That’s not to say mankind isn’t capable of some good. Thank God for that.
Mankind has such capabilities and potential. However, he is always hampered by a dysfunctionality about himself: he is his own worst enemy.
Take wars, for instance. During the late 1960s when the U.S. was deeply involved in war in Southeast Asia, at the funeral for one of our soldiers, I heard the preacher say, “We do not know where wars come from.” I wondered if he had never read God’s word.
What is the source of the wars and the fights among you? Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war (James 4:1-2).
Make a list of mankind’s ills and in one way or the other, they all go back to the lusts and cravings of the human heart. It wants what it wants and refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer. If using others to get what it wants is required, the human heart will find a way.
We were talking about the business of foretelling the future.
God’s people–particularly His preachers–must be careful not to get into the act. We know no more about the future than anyone else. We have not solved the prophecy riddle, sad to say, and a thousand certainties preached in past generations by prophetic know-it-alls have been proven false. To our shame, that does not seem to impede this generation of self-appointed experts on prophecy from announcing their findings.
I’m not saying we should not be teaching Ezekiel 38-39 or the books of Daniel or Revelation. Only that humility is called for when approaching teachings that have perplexed the Lord’s people from the beginning. And for those who insist that “If God put it there, He must have intended us to understand it” (that kind of simplistic interpretation is no friend to Scripture), I suggest you look at the end of Second Peter where the apostle says some of the teachings of Paul are hard to understand. He adds, which the unlearned and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16). Who does not get this?
The Apostle Peter then instructs us: You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:17-18).
Why do we not see this and apply it to our situation? Answer: It’s more fun playing with prophecies and preaching futuristic stuff since no one can refute it at the moment.
Such foolishness is unworthy of the servant of Christ.
A little historical perspective is always in order.
Take the matter of the Antichrist, for instance.
If past generations were mistaken about the identity of the Antichrist–Hitler, Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, the head of the European Common Market, Henry Kissinger, FDR, Guru Maharaj Ji, and Saddam Hussein have all received nominations!–it’s a lead-pipe certainty that you and I haven’t figured it out either.
I’m remembering that in the early 1990s when the United States invaded Iraq to throw Hussein out of Kuwait, more than one preacher announced this was the kickoff for Armageddon. So foolish.
More recently, the vaccinations for Covid were identified as “the mark of the beast” of Revelation13:16. Lord help us. Some people have lost their ever-loving minds.
In his final epistle to Timothy, the Apostle Paul said, “Reject foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they breed quarrels” (2 Timothy 2:23). And this: “The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness…” (2:24).
Humility is always in order. Gentleness in teaching may not provoke a chorus of ‘amens’ from the back pews and or get you invited to deliver that oration at the next conference of pulpiteers. Kindness in your manner will probably not drive your audience to their feet shouting their approval of that rousing sermon. But it will please your Father and it will instruct the humble. (And they’re the only ones who will receive instruction anyway.).
What it will not do is tickle the fancies of the sensual and carnal.
But you can live with that.
What it will do is stand the test of time.
“Preach the Word.”
Oh, and one more thing. Never hesitate to say “I don’t know” when asked questions outside your understanding.
This article originally appeared on JoeMcKeever.com and is reposted here by permission.