Food for Thought Dovecot Evangelical Church January 2017 Can we know the future? Food for Thought Dovecot Evangelical Church January 2017

Clairvoyance ‘The supposed faculty of perceiving things or events in the future or beyond normal sensory contact’ Online dictionary

Clairvoyance… Mansfield Town cancel clairvoyant due to 'unforeseen circumstances' and the internet finds it hilarious The Stags were due to host 'Trisha' in the Kevin Bird suite at their Field Mill stadium, but she apparently didn't foresee what might happen… Daily Mirror 14/9/2016

Astrology and Horoscopes… ‘A forecast of a person's future, typically including a delineation of character and circumstances, based on the relative positions of the stars and planets at the time of that person's birth’ Online dictionary R.H. Naylor did the first horoscope in the Sunday Express in August 1930. Since then it has grown into a multimillion dollar industry

Astrology and Horoscopes… Approximately 90% of the countries newspapers carry horoscopes and over 20% of the population consult them every day (70m of the USA alone) In 1988 Americans spent $35M to have astrology readings…

Astrology and horoscopes - scientific evidence lacking... There’s very little scientific proof that astrology is an accurate predictor of personality traits, future destinies, love lives, or anything else that mass-market astrology claims to know. In 1985 study published in the journal Nature, Dr. Shawn Carlson of University of California, Physics department found that astrologers were unable to match individual’s star chart with the results of a personality test any better than random chance; in a second test, individuals were unable to choose their own star charts, detailing their astrologically divined personality and character traits, any better than chance. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-are-horoscopes-still-thing-180957701/#gGW1ItZpL6MMRMr7.99

Can we know the future? -what does the Bible say ‘The secret things belong to the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law’ Deuteronomy 29:29 There are secret (hidden) things There are revealed (uncovered) things We should obey God’s word

‘The secret things belong to the Lord…’ God does not tell us everything Does a parent tell the child everything? Some knowledge is not good for us and forbidden Tree of knowledge (Genesis 3) The occult ‘ There shall not be found among you anyone who … practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD…”    Deuteronomy 18:9-12

‘The secret things belong to the Lord…’ Only God knows why .. Only God knows the future ... He tells us what will happen in His Word ‘For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God ... I Thessalonians 4:17

‘… those things which are revealed belong to us’ God’s word (the Bible) tells us how we got here… ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ Genesis 1:1 God’s word tells us what has gone wrong... ‘Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?’ Genesis 3:11 God’s word tells us what is man’s destiny... ‘And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal’ Matthew 25:46

‘… that we may do all the words of this law’ God commands all to turn from our sins ‘ Repent and believe the Gospel…’ Mark 1:15 God forgives all who trust in Jesus Christ ‘…through this man (Jesus Christ) is preached to you the forgiveness of sins’ Acts 13:38 Jesus receives all who come to Him Jesus said: ‘He who comes to me I will by no means cast out’ John 6:37 God justifies (makes righteous) all who believe ‘Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ Romans 5:1