About Probable
Futures and the All-important Variable of Agency
Just because prophecy points to certain events happening, does not mean that event is
fixed in how it will unfold. The number of variables that can effect the actual
outcome are large.
The most important variable is repentance, where a people
change their behavior or beliefs in a way that enables heaven to alter the consequences
that would have otherwise come. This is why the warning of pending events is so
important, for it can stir in mankind the necessary broken heart and contrite spirit to
prevail upon God to both turn away the otherwise inevitable results and to bestow upon the
people a new heart so that they might move beyond the tendency to repeat the pattern.
The event does not necessarily have to unfold in order for people to learn the
lesson that needs to be learned. The most notable example of this phenomenon is with
Jonah and Nineveh. The best prophecies are those whose predictions do not come about
because the people choose the path of repentance.
Timing is another variable. Impending calamity can be accelerated
or postponed,
besides just being increased or diminished.
I am of the belief that the severity of destruction that could have awaited this people
has been significantly diminished because of the Lord's magnificent righteousness manifest
in a good number of people who have stepped forward to influence the world for better.
The Ghandis and Mother Theresas of the world, seen and unseen, impart a divine
leavening. The mighty intercessory prayers of the humble on behalf of others do not
go unheeded.
So while some prophecies are sure, such as the coming forth of a new heaven and a new
earth, and the punishment of those who refuse to repent, how these actually come about is
up to us. Like a woman going through labor to bring forth a child, so is the coming
forth of the kingdom of God. The unprepared, fearful mother intensifies the pain of
birth manifold, while the woman who is in good physical health, having taken reverent care
of the temple of her body, whose emotional and spiritual well-being are also in a state of
wholeness, can actually bring forth a child in a labor with minimal pain and maximal
rejoicing.
May it be so with us. This is my prayer, which I submit to the throne of God in
the name and with faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, who would have it be so, to which I
bear solemn witness. Amen.
by Sterling D. Allan; March 7, 1998
