FOLLOW THE LEADERProphets have an ability to see into the immediate or distant future, and
then communicate that futuristic vision to the present population. Through
their visionary insight, they cause the future to intersect the present – usually
resulting in a radical change of direction for many people. When the
prophetic vision has been successfully communicated, it usually brings
about a radical shift in people’s worldview – which is the way they view
life. It is only prophetic insight that changes people’s sight. Understandably,
most people view their present condition through the lenses of their
past experiences. It is only the prophetic voice that impacts a person’s
present worldview with the future rather than the past. Whereas
historians are past oriented, visionaries are future oriented.
People with a historic perspective view the present through the past. As the
turn-of-the-century philosopher George Santayana wrote in The Life of
Reason: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Visionaries, on the other hand, view the present through the future. Their
maxim would be: “He who does not see the future will live only for the present,
and thereby forfeit their future.”
There are many kinds of prophets in the world: social prophets, economic
prophets, business prophets, educational prophets, political prophets, scientific
prophets, environmental prophets, entertainment prophets, religious prophets.
Both history and contemporary experience painfully remind us that
there are also many false prophets in all of these realms! Whether well
intentioned or willfully deceitful, many of these so-called “prophets” –
along with their “prophetic insights about the future” – prove to be totally
wrong. As a result, they are discredited, while many of their followers
are deceived.
It is because of the prevalence of these many kinds of visionaries...
seers...soothsayers...prophets, that futurology has become a very popular
and growing “science.” Since the dawn of human history, mankind has
always tried to devise ways to see beyond the veil of the present and peer
into the future. Most of these futuristic methods were either superstitious
or satanic in origin and nature.
Today, more and more educated and enlightened people are trying to move