Prophecy

Clifford P. Smith

The people with whom the true idea of God originated believed in prophecy. The people among whom this idea developed from Moses to Christ Jesus believed that holy persons could receive and deliver authentic messages from God to men. As the prophet Amos said, "The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" (Amos 3:8.) Christ Jesus delivered prophecies, he spoke of himself as a prophet, and he appropriated the Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament as referring to himself. See John 5:39; Luke 24:25–27. Evidently, they strengthened him during crucial hours, particularly at the time of his final test.

Since prophecy is an actual possibility, it must have a scientific explanation. There is no mystery in Truth's universe. So, Mrs. Eddy has given this explanation as follows: "When sufficiently advanced in Science to be in harmony with the truth of being, men become seers and prophets involuntarily, controlled not by demons, spirits, or demigods, but by the one Spirit. It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind, and of thought which is in rapport with this Mind, to know the past, the present, and the future" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 84).

The Bible contains more than a few prophecies that have been completely fulfilled. They are instances of individual foreseeing by the power of infinite Mind that have been proved to be actual by future events or results. Hence, they furnish reasons for expecting that certain other prophecies in the New Testament—prophecies of Christian Science—are being fulfilled to-day and will be completely verified. One of the plainest is to be found in Revelation (8:2, 6; 10:1–11; 11:15); which passages culminate as follows: "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."

This prophecy applies exactly to Christian Science. A kingdom, in the nontechnical sense of this word, is any field or sphere of independent action or authority. The greatest "mystery" in human thought is dualism, and it is "finished" by Christian Science. Dualism, in theology, is the doctrine that the universe is divided between two opposing principles, those of good and evil. Christian Science, by rejecting every form of dualism, and by declaring the one Principle of all that is real, has at least begun to fulfill the foregoing prophecy. Thus, this teaching and its practice have inaugurated the complete and universal reign of the one God and of His Christ.

It is to be remembered further that the Master himself delivered a prophecy that can be fairly applied to Christian Science. It may be less explicit than the one just quoted; yet, his promise of the Comforter, when all he said is considered, points quite plainly to the renewal and development of his teaching and practice by Christian Science. See John 9:1–7; 14:12–17; 15:26; 16:7–15.

In these passages, Jesus foretold a night, a dark length of time, in which Christian healing, the distinctive sign of his teaching, would be suspended. This night ended with the beginning of Christian Science healing. He also declared that his followers would do the works that he did and even greater works. The Comforter he defined as the "Spirit of truth," but he did not choose the capital or small letters, and "spirit of Truth" is evidently the better printing. He used the same word here that he did when he handled the claim of dualism and spoke of healing by the Spirit, or spirit, of God. See Matthew 12:22–28. The Comforter, the spirit of Truth, said he, "proceedeth from the Father" (is imparted by the divine Mind), and it, he said, "shall testify of me." In short, the Master foresaw and foretold the coming to human consciousness from the divine Mind of a teaching and practice which would restore his teaching and resume his works.

It is to be remembered that Mrs. Eddy delivered a considerable number of prophecies. What may be regarded as her most important prophecy is the following statement from page 22 of her book "Pulpit and Press": "If the lives of Christian Scientists attest their fidelity to Truth, I predict that in the twentieth century every Christian church in our land, and a few in far-off lands, will approximate the understanding of Christian Science sufficiently to heal the sick in his name. Christ will give to Christianity his new name, and Christendom will be classified as Christian Scientists." The "if" in this prediction concerns the Christian Scientists of the present time, but the entire prophecy involves a result that should be of great interest to all mankind.

Clifford P. Smith

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