Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. (Rev. 21:1-4)
“The most pressing spiritual question of our time is this: Who gets to narrate the world?” — Robert Webber.
Since influential figures like Jones, Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus, and Tiger captured the public’s imagination, journalists, commentators, and former tour players have been predicting who the “next great” player would be.
Year after year, we heard that so-and-so was the “next Jack.” Despite Johnny Miller, Hal Sutton, and Ben Crenshaw achieving great things, none was Jack’s “heir apparent.”
Predictably, discussions about the “next Tiger” have already begun, focusing on Scottie. Of course, before that, it was Rory, Jordan, or… Turns out, predicting the future is no easy task.
Personally, I enjoy listening to Brandel Chamblee predict, after deep dives into the data, a wide range of outcomes. His arguments are usually convincing but often wrong.
The range of prognosticators, both inside and outside golf, predicting the future is as disturbing as it is entertaining.
‘Sister Fortuna’ invites you into her parlor for a palm reading, while sophisticated intellectuals extrapolate from various scientific data to predict likely outcomes. Meanwhile, “End-Time-Gurus” decipher the “signs of the times,” claiming they know who the antichrist is; these self-appointed prophets should walk back their predictions.
Fascination with the “End Times” is a constant phenomenon among gullible readers. Popular authors get it wrong, then backtrack, revise their predictions about dates and events, slap a new title on their spurious forecasts, and the cycle repeats.
For non-Christians, the idea that Jesus will return in regal majesty, bringing all evil to a decisive end by establishing his kingdom in perfect and eternal righteousness, is nothing more than a foolish superstition.
Yet, every worldview, whether secular or religious, claims to know the end of all things.
Agnostics claim that all worldviews are simply “guessing games” in a futile attempt to find personal meaning in a universe that elite intellectuals view as meaningless. Ironically, their own perspective is also an act of faith that cannot be proven.
Any atheist claiming there is ‘no God’ would essentially have to be God to support that claim. He would need to be infinite and all-knowing, capable of observing the entire Cosmos—visible and invisible—to know that. A ‘universal negative’ like this is impossible to prove. As we say, “that ain’t happening.”
When a Hedonist like Hugh Hefner writes, “I happen not to believe in an afterlife…I believe this is the only life we have, and we should live it to the fullest,” we should be ready to show everyone how utterly foolish this idea is.
When a Postmodernist, like Jean-François Lyotard, says “…I define postmodern as incredulity toward meta-narratives,” (i.e., there is no overarching, objective story that is true for everyone), we should point out that this view is self-defeating. It should be obvious that this view is itself a worldview.
When Marxists reason that death ends individual existence, we should press them for the evidence to support their seriously flawed assumption.
When Islamists instruct their followers that dying as a martyr in the cause of jihad (holy wars) is rewarded with virgins in paradise, we should pray for the opportunity to persuade them to abandon that false claim.
But, when John the Apostle writes about the future saying, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,” we should trust him because Jesus the Messiah, the very one who died, rose again, and entered that future, is the one making it known.
When all worldviews are considered regarding humanity’s future, we can be sure that no psychic, fortune teller, astrophysicist, philosopher, or religious guru has the ability to predict it.
Only Jesus, the final and ultimate prophet, knows the future. Trust him!
Prayer: Father, as Paul prayed, “may we know the hope to which we have been called.”