Article August 14, 2017 Issue

Forecasts—not the final word

Judith Hedrick

We may face all kinds of forecasts about our health, careers, and general well-being, as well as about the weather, economy, and government. But I’ve learned in Christian Science that instead of feeling bound by a forecast, we can seek in Christ “a more sure word of prophecy,” as a light shining in the dark places of human fear, to reveal God’s loving provision for all.

A forecast is material in origin and scope, based on knowledge gained from looking at the material picture rather than to God, Spirit, who is All. A forecaster compares current physical data with patterns in the past, determines a range of possible outcomes, and chooses what seems most likely. However scientific a forecast appears, the premise is fundamentally inaccurate, because material observation and laws don’t touch upon the spiritual facts of being.

A prophecy, however, is spiritual in origin and scope. It springs from fact, a revelation of divine Truth. In the epistle of Second Peter, we read: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: … For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (1:19, 21).

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