Article November 21, 1983 Issue

Prophetic insight heals

JEANNE STEELY LAITNER

A succession of great prophets appears in the Bible. Individuals such as Elijah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah prophetically saw through what the material senses present, to eternal spiritual facts. Such prophetic insight comforted and healed individuals and helped uplift the Hebrew nation.

The Random House Dictionary defines the word "prophet" as "a person who speaks for God ... or by divine inspiration." Mrs. Eddy defines the word scientifically in the Glossary of Science and Health: "A spiritual seer; disappearance of material sense before the conscious facts of spiritual Truth."^{Science and Health, p. 593.}

Each of us can exercise God's gift of prophecy, the ability to see spiritually, to speak with holy authority, to be divinely inspired. Many think of a prophet as one who looks into the future and predicts coming events. But, according to Christian Science, a prophet is one who distinguishes between spiritual truth and mortal error and therefore is not confused by the evidence of the material senses. What happens when one exercises his native capacity of spiritual seeing? Discordant material sense testimony yields to spiritual fact, and healing results.

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