Hey! Where’s My Flying Car?

Thoughts on the Sabbath School Lesson for 3.3.12

There are a whole bunch of crazy predictions and prophecies out there. People are always trying to predict what’s going to happen in the future.

Here are a few I found that you might find interesting:

"Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further developments." —Roman engineer Julius Sextus Frontinus, A.D. 100"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon." —John Eric Ericksen, surgeon to Queen Victoria, 1873"Law will be simplified [over the next century]. Lawyers will have diminished, and their fees will have been vastly curtailed." —journalist Junius Henri Browne, 1893"It doesn't matter what he does, he will never amount to anything." —Albert Einstein's teacher to Einstein's father, 1895"It would appear we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology." —computer scientist John von Neumann, 1949"The Japanese don't make anything the people in the U.S. would want." —Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, 1954"Nuclear powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within ten years." —Alex Lewyt, president of the Lewyt Vacuum Cleaner Company, quoted in The New York Times, June 10, 1955"Before man reaches the moon, your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail." —Arthur Summerfield, U.S. Postmaster General under Eisenhower, 1959"By the turn of the century, we will live in a paperless society." —Roger Smith, chairman of General Motors, 1986"I predict the Internet . . . will go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse." —Bob Metcalfe, InfoWorld, 1995[1]

Wow, all of those predictions are spectacularly wrong! The truth is, almost all of the predictions that men make are just as wrong, and yet, we keep making them. 

We hate not knowing what’s coming next so much that almost everybody I know stays up a little later than he or she should to catch the final weather report on the news in order to have a jump on deciding what to wear in the morning. And how often is the weather forecast wrong?

How do we decide which predictions to believe and which to forget? I guess we keep an running tally, and if a certain source is right more often than it’s wrong, we tend to trust that source. We also trust individuals who seem to have some expertise in an area and people who are in authority. No, really, psychologists have actually done studies about who people trust. They did study where, as the volunteers came through the door, they were randomly and blindly assigned to be either “questioners” or “answerers.” The questioners were given a set of cards with general information types of questions and answers on them that they then asked the answerers. After 20 or 30 minutes, the questioning stopped and the volunteers were interviewed individually. In almost every case, the answerers said that they believed that the questioners were much smarter and had more education than they themselves had. 

This was absolutely not true because the roles were assigned randomly and blindly. When I first read that I thought, “How silly. Who would assume someone was smarter just because he or she was asking questions?” But then, I thought, who hasn’t, at some time or another, thought of Alex Trebek as a really, really smart man? People consider him so smart and trustworthy that he even does life insurance commercials.

Even Alex Trebek is wrong sometimes, right? As are horoscopes, palm readers, weathermen (and women), seers and most prophets, even the Farmer’s Almanac gets it wrong from time to time. No human is ever 100% accurate with his or her predictions.

So, where can we turn to relieve our uncertainty about the future? You know the answer … God is never wrong!  And His prophecies, when correctly interpreted, have never been wrong.

Want proof? Let’s look at Daniel 2:32-34 (NKJV):

“This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”

In those few verses, through Daniel, God laid out a prophecy that covers thousands of years? And when we use the rest of the Bible to interpret those verses, we can see that every prediction has been complete correct…except the last one and that one hasn’t happened yet. Based on just those verses and their accuracy, what do you think are the chances of that last bit (“a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. …”) happening? Well, I don’t have any doubt at all that the rest of the prophecy will happen just like God said.

If you’re still not sure, consider that every prophecy about Jesus’ birth, life and death were absolutely spot on, right down to how the Roman soldiers would decide who got His robe.

God is trustworthy; His words are always true. He has given us the guideposts to look for so that we don’t need to feel uncertain about what’s going to happen next. 

“The Bible was designed to be a guide to all who wish to become acquainted with the will of their Maker. God gave to men the sure word of prophecy; angels and even Christ Himself came to make known to Daniel and John the things that must shortly come to pass. Those important matters that concern our salvation were not left involved in mystery. They were not revealed in such a way as to perplex and mislead the honest seeker after truth. Said the Lord by the prophet Habakkuk: ‘Write the vision, and make it plain, ... that he may run that readeth it.’ Habakkuk 2:2. The word of God is plain to all who study it with a prayerful heart. Every truly honest soul will come to the light of truth. ‘Light is sown for the righteous.’ Psalm 97:11. And no church can advance in holiness unless its members are earnestly seeking for truth as for hid treasure.”[2]

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[1] The Futurist, (September/October, 2000), p. 20-25

[2] E.G. White, Darkness before Dawn, p. 7

Fool Me Twice…

Have you ever thought about what you would have done?  From here it looks so easy!  I mean, how could the Jews of Jesus’ time have missed it?  They had all the prophecies, like 450 of them, pointing straight to Jesus as the Messiah, right?   So, how could they have made such a huge mistake?  I mean, not only did they not recognize Jesus as the Messiah; they killed Him for saying so.

We like to look back and feel kind of smug.  We would have picked up on the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies right away, right?  I did a little research this week to see if I could find out what things might have looked like to the Jews of Jesus’ day, to see if maybe I could figure out what was going on in their minds that made things a bit foggier for them than for us with our 20/20 hindsight.  Because I don’t know if you’ve heard or not, but Jesus is coming again and I’d really hate to miss Him!  Amen?

OK, so why did so many people miss the signs of the first coming of Jesus?  Well, one of the reasons seems to be that most of the folks were just living.  They were going to work and coming home, raising their kids, going to school, getting married, all that kind of day-to-day stuff that just happens.  Well, we don’t have any problems with that, because we’re focused!  We know what’s going to happen so we won’t forget to look for it.

Another thing that seems to have confused a lot of people was that there were tons of interpretations of the prophecies, not to mention lots of branch off prophecies from questionable sources.  There were even some folks that said that it was all made up and there were no prophecies to interpret!  Another puzzle was that there were disagreements about exactly what kind of Messiah they were looking for.  Some said He would be a King, some said a prophet and some said a priest…hmmm.  Some folks felt the prophecies pointed to an immortal and some said it would be a mortal man.  So, who were the Jews looking for—did they know?

Well that’s no problem for us, right?  We know exactly who we’re looking for don’t we? Plus, we know exactly how He’s coming.  There isn’t any disagreement for people today about how Jesus will come back this time, is there?  Not like the Jews who couldn’t agree on how the Messiah would arrive.

And then there were the guys who claimed they were the Messiah, but weren’t.  That never happens these days does it?  We won’t have any problem at all with that part.

Think about this, what if some new inspiration tells us that we’ve been looking at this thing the all wrong.  Would we have the courage to stand out and admit that we had misinterpreted the signs?  Or would our pride hold us back—keep us from telling people about the additional truth we had found?  I think that was a big problem with the priests, the Sadducees and the Pharisees of Jesus’ time.  The Messiah didn’t make the impression they had hoped for and so they held onto their misinterpretations rather than admit the truth.

There was also the issue of political/ religious power.  One sect of Judaism quit preaching about the coming Messiah altogether, because they wanted people to believe that the prophecies were pointing to them, as kind of a master race. 

Unfortunately, when we compare the Jews of Jesus’ time with ourselves here at the end of time, we see all the same issues that plagued them.  We’re distracted by everyday life; we don’t always agree on what the prophecies are telling us; there are lots of prophecies floating around that have nothing to do with the truth (but look pretty convincing); there are folks who say it’s all made up (and can supposedly prove it); there’s the secret rapture, post-pre-mid tribulation theories, the earth will become heaven theories…

HOW DO WE KEEP FROM BEING FOOLED?

Excellent question!  Well, I did some more research, in sources I trust more than anonymous internet sites and came up with some helpful information.

First of all, the Bible:

“And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. …And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”  (Luk 21:7-11,27-28 KJVR)

Then, I checked out Mrs. White.  Of course she has lots of details on what to watch out for and what the deceptions might look like when they come.  She also has some practical information about who the most likely to be deceived will be.  For example,

“Those who can so easily be led by a false spirit show that they have been following the wrong captain form some time,--so long that they do not discern that they are departing from the faith, or that they are not building upon the true foundation.  We need to urge all to put on their spiritual eye-glasses, to have their eyes anointed that they may see clearly and discern the tru pillars of the faith.  Then they will know that ‘the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.’” The Southern Watchman/April 5, 1904 “Present Truth”

I love that – “spiritual eye-glasses” – wouldn’t it be great if we could buy those at Wal-Mart?

“So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures.  By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested. … and the few who are aithful to God’s requirements are the only ones who can ever withstand him,… ” Last Day Events, Chapter 11—“Satan’s Last Day Deceptions” p.170

“The only safe position for any of us to take is to consider ourselves sinners, daily needing divine grace.  Mercy through the atoning blood of Christ is our only plea.  “…But [Satan] presents before men not the meekness and humily of the Christian religion, but their own good deeds and wonderful impressions.  We can meet his specious temptations only with the word of God.  Those who have the truth as it is revealed in that holy word, must stand fast on the platform, relying on, ‘It is written.’” The Signs of the Times/Feb.26,1885 “Sanctification—The True and the False”

Internal Consistency

“Internal consistency is the extent to which tests or procedures assess the same characteristic, skill or quality.”

“How well each item relates independently to the rest of the items on the scale and how they related overall.”

In the world of psychology, we would say that the Bible has excellent internal consistency – 100%, in fact.  Even if one person wrote it over a reasonable amount of time (20 to 50 years, maybe?), you couldn’t expect that kind of accuracy.  But the Bible was written over a period of about 1300 by nearly 40 authors and it has perfect internal consistency.  That, by itself, should, repeat should, convince everyone that it is inspired by God.

In case that’s not enough to convince you, an article called “Fulfilled Prophecy: Evidence of the Reliability of the Bible” by Hugh Ross, Ph.D. might help.  Dr. Ross states that there are about 2500 prophecies throughout the Bible and about 2000 of them have already been fulfilled…without even one mistake.  Do you know any psychics who can claim anything near that?  Check out Nostradamus.  He made literally thousands of predictions, but from what I could find, nobody is willing to come up with a percentage of right/wrong ones.  The ones that do seem to be right tend to be out and out hoaxes that someone wrote after the fact, or are counted as right because he used such vague language.  According to one writer, Barbara Mikkelson:

“A prediction that can only be interpreted after the events it supposedly foresees have occurred is not a 'prediction' at all. If I could spew out a thousand vague 'prophecies' and not have to explain what they meant until after the events they supposedly predicted had occurred, I'm sure I could manage a pretty impressive record for accuracy too.”

Even more modern psychics can only get about 60% accuracy, even with considerable fudging and vagueness.  God’s prophets have a stunning 100% accuracy record.  Amazing!

Dr. Ross states that

“the probability of any one of [the 2000 fulfilled prophecies] having been fulfilled by chance averages less than one in ten (figured very conservatively) and since the prophecies are or the most part independent of one another, the odds for all these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance without error is less than one in 10²⁰⁰⁰ (that is 1 with 2000 zeros written after it)”

Here are a few of the prophecies that Dr. Ross mentions as being the most spectacular – that is they are extremely specific, were predicted longest time before the event and/or have the most “supernatural” involvement.

Daniel predicted that the Messiah would begin his public ministry 483 years after the issue of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, as well as the crucifixion of Christ just before the 2^nd destruction of Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25-26).

Probability of chance fulfillment=1 in 10⁵.

Bethlehem named as the birthplace of the Messiah, 700 years before His birth (Micah 5:2).

Probability of chance fulfillment=1 in 10⁵

 Zechariah’s prediction that the Messiah would be betrayed for the price of a slave (30 pieces of silver) and that the money would be used to buy a burial ground for Jerusalem’s poor foreigners (Zechariah 11:12-13)

Probability of chance fulfillment=1 in 10¹¹.    

Both David and Zechariah describe Jesus’ death 400 years before crucifixion had been invented.  They also stated that His body would be pierced, but no bones would be broken (Psalm 22 and 34:20; Zechariah 12:10)

Probability of chance fulfillment=1 in 10¹³

 Isaiah named Cyrus as the destroyer of Babylon and the man who would release the Jews “150 years before Cyrus was born, 180 years before Cyrus performed any of these feats (and he did, eventually, perform them all), and 80 years before the Jews were taken into exile”

Probability of chance fulfillment=1 in 10¹⁵.

Dr. Ross ends by saying that the probability of just the prophecies he lists in his article (13 altogether) is about 1 in 10¹³⁸.  

“…this probability can be compared to the statistical chance that the second law of thermodynamics will be reversed in a given situation (for example, that a gasoline engine will refrigerate itself during its combustion cycle or that heat will flow from a cold body to a hot body) - that chance = 1 in 10⁸⁰.  …the Bible record may be said to be vastly more reliable than the second law of thermodynamics.”

By the way, my (or your) chances of winning the lottery are 1 in 10⁷.  Wow…maybe I should buy a ticket!  The odds are looking pretty good.  Ha!

Anyway, based on those statistics, I feel pretty comfortable in believing that the 500 prophecies that are left unfulfilled at this time, will be fulfilled with 100% accuracy.  What do you think?

If you’re interested, one website called Fulfilled Messianic Prophecies (http://members.citynet.net/morton/prophecies.htm) lists about 200 prophecies by text with the text that tells the fulfillment of that prophecy…check it out!

OK, so, how can anybody not see the truth here?  Isn’t it amazing that people still don’t believe that the Bible is inspired and true?

 

But you know those folks, right?  They will fight about absolutely everything!  If you say something is black he (or she) will say it’s white.  No matter what you say, he’ll say the opposite, just to argue.  My dad used to say that people like that would argue with a tree if they couldn’t find a live person to argue with.

 

Well, there are people who will refuse to be convinced of the truth and reliability of the Bible, no matter how often you or I show the proof: they won’t believe it.  Mrs. White talks about these guys.

“Some look at us gravely and say, ‘Don’t you think there might have been some mistake in the copyist or in the translators?’  This all probable, and the mind that is so narrow that it will hesitate and stumble over this possibility or probability would be just as ready to stumble over the mysteries of the Inspired Word, because their feeble minds cannot see through the purposes of God.  Yes, they would just as easily stumble over plain facts that the common mind will accept, and discern the Divine, and to which God’s utterance is plain and beautiful, full of marrow and fatness.  All the mistakes will not cause trouble to one soul, or cause any feet to stumble, that would not manufacture difficulties from the plainest revealed truth.”{Selected Messages, Vol. 1, p.16}

She goes on to remind us not to get all wrapped up in criticizing the Bible but to read it as it is.  If we start sorting through trying to figure out what’s inspired or not inspired then we “have stepped before Jesus to show Him a better way than He has led us.”{1SM17}

Well, I know I’m not qualified for that job!  Are you?  YIKES!

I think it all comes down to this:  The Bible is the only book that can lead you and me to Jesus and, through Him, salvation.  Is that something you’re willing to miss out on just to argue about who wrote what, who was inspired or not inspired, and where the punctuation ought to be?  I think we should follow Ellen White’s advice and “cling to your Bible, as it reads…obey the Word, and not one of you will be lost.”{1SM18}

AMEN!