What would you think if I told you I can predict the future? Let me explain. Here’s my prediction for your future: Even if you just ate breakfast, you will be hungry within about 3 to 4 hours.
Don’t laugh. Prophecies almost as empty as this made a good living for Jeane Dixon (1904 –1997).
Jeane Dixon
Perhaps you remember her career as a psychic celebrity. Her predictions regularly appeared in the media. One biography about her life sold 3 million copies!
Yet she only guessed the future. Sometimes she guessed correctly, but often she was 100% wrong, such as in the following predictions quoted from the Jeane Dixon Wikipedia article:
“Many of Dixon’s predictions proved false, such as her claims that a dispute over the offshore Chinese islands of Quemoy and Matsu would trigger the start of World War III in 1958, that American labor leader Walter Reuther would run for President of the United States in the 1964 presidential election, that the second child of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his young wife Margaret would be a girl (it was a boy), and that the Russians would be the first to put men on the moon.”
How could she become famous by simply guessing the future and being wrong so much of the time?
Again from Wikipedia, “By emphasizing a few coincidentally correct predictions and ignoring those that were wrong, and supported by an uncritical following among the media, she acquired both fame and notoriety. The ability to persuade the public in this matter is known as the ‘Jeane Dixon effect.’”
Are there any genuine, verifiable future-tellers? Yes! In contrast to good guessers and frauds, we have the writings of the Bible where there are:
Hundreds of prophecies.
Which are specific and detailed.
All have been completely and specifically fulfilled, (except those regarding end times which are yet to come.)
There are no predictive prophecies in the writings of Buddha, Confucius, and Lao-tse. Mohammed in the Koran, predicts that he will return to Mecca, but that is like me predicting I will be hungry in 3-4 hours.
2 Peter 1:20-21 (TLB) says: “For no prophecy recorded in Scripture was ever thought up by the prophet himself. It was the Holy Spirit within these godly men who gave them true messages from God.”
For example, there are many amazingly fulfilled prophecies about kings and kingdoms in the Bible.
In chapter 36 of Ezekiel seven specific prophecies about the city of Tyre were recorded:
A King named Nebuchadnezzar would conquer the city of Tyre.
FULFILLMENT: This is a historical fact—he conquered the mainland city of Tyre. However, when he overcame the city he found the residents had fled to an island ½ mile off the coast. There they founded a new city of Tyre.Other nations would participate in taking the city.
FULFILLMENT: Alexander the Great conquered coastal cities in the area; then 241 years after Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of the original city he used their ships to conquer the island city of Tyre where the people had fled.The city would be made flat like the top of a rock.
FULFILLMENT: Alexander took the debris from the mainland city of Tyre and built a causeway to conquer the island city of Tyre.Tyre would become a place for spreading nets.
FULFILLMENT: We have pictures of fishermen spreading their nets on the flat remains of the original city.Its stones and timber would be laid into the sea.
FULFILLMENT: This was done to build the causeway used to conquer the island city of Tyre the citizens had fled to.Other cities would greatly fear at the fall of Tyre.
FULFILLMENT: Other cities were definitely frightened.The old city of Tyre would never be rebuilt.
FULFILLMENT: In over 2,500 years, to this day, the city of Tyre has not been rebuilt.
All these prophecies were precisely and amazingly fulfilled.
With the help of 700 students, Professor Peter Stoner of Pasadena City College and Westmont College tested the probability of the fulfillment of the 7 prophecies about Tyre. He concluded that there was one chance in 75 million of all being fulfilled! That is one chance in 75 million tries. In other words, impossible without a supernatural element – God!
You can read this in more detail in his book Science Speaks, available free online by clicking HERE.
Prophecies about Jesus
God gave many Messianic prophecies in the Bible to identify Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, and the One who would save the world. All were fulfilled by Jesus but written many centuries prior to His birth.
Examples:
His place of birth (Bethlehem)
His manner of death (crucifixion)
He would be preceded by a messenger (John the Baptist)
He would be resurrected
He would be betrayed by a friend (Judas) for 30 pieces of silver
Peter Stoner concludes that, “Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God is rejecting a fact proved perhaps more absolutely than any other fact in the world.”
What does all this mean for you and me?
We do not use blind faith to trust the Bible. It is a demonstrated supernatural revelation of God.We must heed its message: to trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior yet? Here’s HOW.