Any confusion of thought on the subject of prophecy is dispelled in the teachings of Christian Science, which reveal and maintain the fundamental distinction, indicated by Christ Jesus, between Spirit and matter, between divine Mind and mortal mind, thus clarifying human thought and unveiling the great gulf fixed between mere foretelling from a material basis of mortal beliefs and true prophecy or scientific knowing.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, elucidates throughout her writings the distinction between the real and the unreal, defining God as divine Mind, the only Mind, who knows no evil, but who is conscious only of ever-present spiritual reality, forever unfolding good and good alone for all His children. On page 593 of her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy has defined "prophet" as, "A spiritual seer; disappearance of material sense before the conscious facts of spiritual Truth." According to this inspired interpretation, a true prophet discerns the ever-presence of ever-unfolding good emanating from God, divine Mind.
On the other hand, Christian Science shows that the carnal mind, designated by Mrs. Eddy as mortal mind, is the supposititious opposite of divine Mind, and is seemingly objectified in the dream of mortal existence, in material phenomena always associated with chance and change, with past and future, with beginnings and endings — conditions which are wholly unreal and unknown to divine Mind. False prophecy delivers the dictum of this so-called mind in the telling of a material past and the foretelling of a material future, seeing not even a glimmer of spiritual reality, the kingdom of heaven. Of such were the oracles of pagan mythology, and the necromancy and soothsaying of ancient times. Of such at the present day are fortune-telling, palmistry, teacup reading, clairvoyance, horoscopy, spiritualistic mediumship, prognostications of lucky or unlucky days, months, colors, and numbers. Such practices belong to the Stygian darkness of superstition, having no relation to the eternally harmonious realities of Life and being.
