Psychic Predictions
Psychics
have “Prophetic Accuracy Quotients.” These are the percentages when
their hunches turn out right. Jeane Dixon, Daniel Logan, David Bubar, and
the others try to score high. But it is quite rare that they guess any
future event correctly.
The
predictions of prophets in the Bible were quite different. They were given
with certainty, the certainty of God backing them. Every prediction given
by a prophet always came true unless, because men repented of their sins
and returned to God—or because they decided to leave Him,—the
predicted outcome must be changed. If men will sincerely repent, God will
give them another opportunity. But, with this one exception, the
predictions of the prophet will always come to pass.
It
is in the Bible that we find the predictions of the prophets. Their
messages originate with God. In contrast, we find the predictions of the
psychics and astrologers in the newspaper tabloids. Their messages come
from spiritualism.
Prophets
reproved sin and exalted the
power of God; their writings lead men to Christ and warn them of coming
crises.
The
psychics derive their information from the dark world. They tell us that
their powers to predict come from crystal balls and “spirits of dead
men” who visit them.
And
what of their predictions?
Every
year there seems to be more psychics than the year before. And they are
predicting all kinds of events—engagements of movie starlets, political
results, TV star contracts, the births of new “messiahs,” next
year’s clothing fashions, spiritualistic phenomena, and airplane
crashes.
We
need information. But sources are important. We dare not go to the wrong
ones. Are the psychics and their fellow travelers (the astrologers,
clairvoyants, mediums, and satanists) safe? Are they reliable? There are
ways we can know.
Whereas
the prophets of God received visions from heaven, warning men to repent of
their sins and return to God; the psychics obtain their information from
contacts that are far different.
They
tell us that their powers to predict come from crystal balls, light bulbs,
electronic boxes, and
“spirits of dead men” who visit them; ouija boards and séances are
other means of information. And, as we shall find, guesswork is yet
another helpful source.
Oddly
enough, the events themselves seem generally to be focused on celebrities:
movie stars, singers, politicians, and so forth. More often than not, the
occurrence predicted will just be a marriage or some such affair.
But
not so with the ancient prophets sent to men with messages from Heaven.
They received their directions directly from God through visions and
dreams. And they warned men everywhere to flee from sin and return to the
Lord while there was still time. And they predicted judgments upon the
land.
They
clearly declared that these judgments would come because of disobedience
to the laws of God. And—unlike the psychics of our day,—their
predictions could be counted on to come true unless men repented of those
sins.
Edgar
Cayce was one of the leading psychics in the middle of the 20th century.
He gained prominence because of his astounding prophecies, not one of
which came true. Cayce predicted that the lands of Japan, America, and the
Arctic would be totally devastated sometime between 1958 and 1998. Within
a single generation after 1941 (25 years), He predicted that Los Angeles,
San Francisco, and New York City would be blotted out of existence. He
said that, by 1969, the mythical continent of Atlantis would rise up out
of the ocean. He also declared that a “pole shift” would cause
devastation throughout the entire world in the year 2001.
At the
beginning of 1978, Ralph Blodgett decided it was time to settle this
matter of “psychics.”
So
he did what other people had generally only thought of doing. He went from
one magazine vending counter to another, buying up the first-of-the-year
sensational and gossip tabloids. Then he took his loot home and carefully
compiled a list of 250 definite predictions for the year 1978.
As
the year passed, he kept close tab on the news stories as they broke—in
the newspapers, as well as the major news, science, gossip and sports
magazines—and kept watching for fulfillments of those 250 predictions.
Then
he sat down at the end of the year and put it all together. Out of 250
specific prognostications, by the thirty leading psychics of the world, less
than 3 percent (i.e., 6 out of 250) could be listed as
reasonably fulfilled. Ninety-seven percent missed the mark entirely. (The
six correct ones had been stated in such general terms that it was not
difficult to find someone or someplace that could fulfill them.)
“What
kind of predictions are we talking about? Here are a few for 1978 that
flopped: U.S. space shuttle disaster sets program back 10 years; another
major power failure to hit New York City in early 1978; a fire ravages the
White House; the price of gas to reach $1.50 a gallon in U.S.; Quebec to
split from rest of Canada; Carter to impose mandatory nationwide four-day
work week in January; Cuba to apply to become fifty-first state;
nationwide postal strike to halt all Christmas mail; Carter to reintroduce
the draft in September; discovery of a cancer cure; Red China and the
Soviet Union to go to war; CIA and FBI merge into a super spy agency; and
remains of Atlantis discovered in Mediterranean off Turkey.”—Ralph
Blodgett, “Supermarket Psychics Spin the Roulette Wheel Again,” These
Times, March, 1979.
Not
only predictions of major news events were included, but also many that
were little better than ridiculous: Five different pyschics predicted that
“Charlie’s Angels” TV show would be canceled. It was predicted that
Burt Reynolds would marry Sally Field; Lindsay Wagner would become a TV
superstar rage, replacing Farrah Fawcett-Majors; “Big-foot” would be
captured. (None of which came true.) Such are not the messages of God to
our world today.
In order
to test the validity of horoscopes, an advertisement was placed in a Paris
newspaper (Ici Paris) in 1979. A free, personal horoscope was
offered to anyone who would report back on how accurate it had been.
Of
the first 150 people who replied, 94 percent declared that it exactly fit
their circumstances, their personalities, and the events of their lives.
In addition, 90 percent of their friends and family agreed with this
assessment.
Later,
those who placed the ad revealed that everyone had been sent, not a
personalized horoscope, but the same one. And it was disclosed that it was
one prepared for a mass murderer.
In 1982,
an organization known as the Australian Skeptics compared
horoscopes found in 13 different newspapers for the same week. It was
discovered that they gave a wide range of differing predictions for the
same astrological sign. Checking them over carefully, they found that
about half predicted good fortune for the week while the other half
predicted disaster.
Seven
years later, in response to a $100,000 TV show challenge, a well-known
astrologer cast the charts of 12 people after being given their birth
information. After this, the psychic spoke at length on the show with each
of the twelve; and it was found that his charts did not match what
happened in each of their lives for the time periods horoscoped.
In 1994,
the Melbourne Sunday Age newspaper challenged six astrologers to
predict the winner of the forthcoming Melbourne Cup, a famous yacht race.
Every one of the six totally failed to predict the outcome.
The
well-known psychic, Gordon-Michael Scallion claims that his predictions
average nearly 90 percent accuracy. That sounds good, as long as you do
not check his track record. Out of 66 predictions made for 1995, only a
few came to pass; and all those were merely the continuation of an obvious
trend or worded so vaguely they could hardly fail (herbal sales will
increase, the number of witches will increase, there will be more UFO
sightings).
The
Bible says, “Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and
be not dismayed at the signs of heaven” (Jeremiah 10:2).
The
only reliable source of information is the Lord.
“And
when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits,
and unto wizards that peep and that mutter; should not a people seek unto
their God? [instead of] for the living to [seek guidance of] the dead? To
the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it
is because there is no light in them”—Isaiah
8:19-20.
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