Christian psychic???? There seems to be a new breed of christian or s0-called christian who thinks that its perfectly acceptable to mix the occult with christianity.These people firmly believe that information from psychics is information from God. This is completely wrong and of the devil.People like Sylvia Brown,who speak to the dead and talk about God are of the devil.Ms.brown has stated that God is a God of love,not wrath. This completely contradicts scripture as well her behavior goes against scripture. There are many denominational/religious churches who have the belief that .'the devil doesnt bother me and I dont bother the devil'.....THAT'S BECAUSE THE DEVIL DOESNT BOTHER WITH WHAT HE ALREADY OWNS......HEEEEELLLLOOO. ________________________________________________________________ Majik is very real and its very dangerous....ufos,ghosts,,shadow people,crop circles,ouija boards,tarot cards,runes,pendulums,chrystal balls,wicca...ect...are all demonic.The resurection of ancient religion is nothing more than the spirit of the anti-christ. I question the salvation of anyone who claims to be christian and dabbles in playground of the devil. These people have obviously never picked up a bible or they dont believe that the bible is the word of God.The bible forbids speaking to the dead,in fact the only thing the bible says is that a soul either goes to heaven or to hell,there is no mention of people wandering about after death,so in actual fact mediums are speaking to demons or 'familiar spirits' who are copying that person. ___________________________________________________________________ Deuteronomy 18:9-14 - Every aspect of the occult is here mentioned specifically. It is all an 'abomination' and is forbidden. Specifically forbidden are: one who practices 'witchcraft' and a 'sorcerer' and 'one who conjures spells' and a 'spiritist.' _____________________________________________________________________ Leviticus 19:31 - Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God. ______________________________________________________________________ Leviticus 20:6 - The person who turns after mediums and familiar spirits, God says He would set His face against that person and cut him off from his people. _______________________________________________________________________ Leviticus 20:27 - A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death { spiritual death in hell} __________________________________________________________________ . Revelation 21:8 - But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. ________________________________________________________________________ Revelation 22:15 - But outside [heaven] are sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie ____________________________________________________________________ . Acts 13:8-10 - Paul rebuked Elymas the sorcerer, saying: 'O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?' ________________________________________________________________________ Hence, the Bible does not distinguish whether the witchcraft is intended to achieve a goal which is good or one which does harm. It is all inherently wrong because it is an appeal to a forbidden source of power. [2 Chron. 33:6; 2 Kings 9:22; Ex. 22:18; 1 Sam. 15:23; Mic. 5:12; Nah. 3:4; Jer. 27:9; Mal. 3:5; Isa. 2:6; 2 Kings. 21:6; 23:24; Isa. 19:3] Specific powers of witchcraft and sorcery are named and condemned. ______________________________________________________________________ Exodus 7:11,22; 8:7 - When Moses & Aaron brought plagues on Egypt, Pharaoh's magicians attempted to duplicate the miracles by their 'enchantments. ______________________________________________________________________' 'Enchantments' refers to the ceremonies and rituals used by sorcerers and magicians to accomplish their ends - incantations, spells, and magic words ('hocus-pocus'), wearing of charms (amulets). Deuteronomy 18:10 mentions various of these 'enchantments' as part of that which is forbidden. ______________________________________________________________________ Isaiah 8:19,20 - And when they say to you, 'Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,' should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. 'Whisper and mutter' refers to the incantations and spells of magicians. These words are supposed to give the user control over the spirit beings that accomplish the desired result. If you know the words, you control the spirit to do your bidding. _______________________________________________________________ Galatians 5:20,21 - Those who will not inherit the kingdom of God include those who practice 'sorcery' ('witchcraft' - KJV). This includes the occult in general, but refers especially to the use of drugs and potions brewed by witches in their cauldrons, etc. (Movies and books often refer to the witches' book of spells, and recipes for potions, etc.) God condemns, not just the whole practice of the occult, but also the specific methods, rituals, and mumbo-jumbo words used. _______________________________________________________________________ [Lev. 19:26; 2 Kings 17:17; Isa. 47:9,12; Jer. 27:9; 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chron. 33:6; Isa. 3:20; Rev. 9:21] Witches & sorcerers cannot duplicate the powers & miracles God did through inspired men. _____________________________________________________________________ The Bible often warns about the danger of being deceived by lying wonders [2 Thess. 2:9; Matt. 24:24; Deut. 13:1-5]. The examples given in Scripture often involved confrontations between those who did true miracles from God and those who practiced forms of sorcery or magic: Exodus 7-9; read 8:18,19 - Pharaoh's magicians and sorcerers tried to duplicate the signs and plagues God caused through Moses and Aaron (7:11,22; 8:7,8,18; 9:11). For a while they seemed to achieve a limited succeed. But soon they failed and admitted Moses had the power of God. _______________________________________________________________ Daniel 1:20 - And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them [Daniel and his friends] ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers in all his realm. _________________________________________________________________ Daniel 2:1-13,27,28 - The king of Babylon sought magicians to tell him his dream and interpret it. None could. But by the power of God, Daniel interpreted the dream accurately [cf. 4:7,9]. Later he likewise interpreted the handwriting on the wall which predicted the downfall of Belshazzar (5:7,11). [Cf. Gen. 41:8,24] __________________________________________________________________ Acts 8:9-13 - Simon used sorcery to amaze the Samaritans. They believed he had the great power of God. But when Philip preached Jesus and did true miracles by the power of God, not only the people but also Simon himself believed [cf. v5-7]. Acts 13:6-11 - Elymas was a sorcerer, but he was powerless to resist the superior power God worked through Paul. _____________________________________________________________________ I do not know whether the power of sorcerers can be explained through trickery, which really can be explained by natural processes, or whether Satan really does possess some supernatural power. But what is sure is that Satan can never duplicate God's true miracles. By comparing modern sorcery to the miracles of the Bible, we can prove witchcraft is inferior, so we should not put our faith in it. _________________________________________________________________ Witchcraft, magic, etc., is the occult substitute for Bible miracles. Where God has done miracles for His people, believers in the occult seek their supernatural works by means of spells, incantations, etc. that appeal to their spirit powers. God forbids all such because it is an appeal to powers other than His power. God will never allow that which is false to duplicate the works of that which is true. _________________________________________________________________ [Isa. 47:9,12-14; 1 Kings 18; Acts 16:16; 19:13ff] II. Attempts to Obtain Supernatural Information One form of witchcraft and sorcery is 'divination.' Divination is an attempt to obtain, by supernatural means, information which cannot be obtained by natural processes of study and investigation. It appeals to spirit, supernatural powers to give information not obtainable by natural law. Especially, it seeks to foretell the future. Just as magic is the occult substitute for God's miracles, so divination is the occult substitute for God's prophecy. ______________________________________________________________________ Note the Bible teaching regarding various forms of divination: A. Divination in General Is Condemned. Deuteronomy 18:10,14 - 'Divination' (ASV, KJV; 'soothsayer' - NKJV) and 'diviners' are specifically listed among those aspects of the occult which were an abomination and were forbidden among God's people. A soothsayer is a fortune-teller - one who attempts to predict the future by occult methods. These things were practiced by the evil nations that God cast out of Canaan. 2 Kings 17:17,18 - God drove Israel into captivity because they practiced sins including 'divination' (ASV, KJV) or 'soothsaying' (NKJV). These terms may not be familiar to many of us, but the practices were well-known in Bible times and are becoming more prevalent today. The Bible plainly condemns them all. B. Augury (Interpretation of Omens) Is Condemned. Deuteronomy 18:10,14 - Listed among the occult practices that are an abomination to God is 'one who interprets omens.' This involved the belief that the activities of the gods could be predicted by observing events in nature (weather, animals, movement of stars), or by chance ritual ceremonies (casting lots, tossing arrows, etc.). Astrology is augury based on observing the stars. By observing such events, people attempt to predict the future. 2 Kings 21:6 - King Manasseh of Israel practiced such and did evil before God ('soothsaying' - NKJV; 'augury' - ASV). [2 Chron. 33:6] ____________________________________________________________________ C. Psychics & Fortune-tellers Are Condemned. This includes all those who attempt to predict the future by supernatural, spirit powers: fortune-tellers, crystal ball readers, palm readers, mind readers, reading tarot cards, reading tea leaves, or Ouija board. The Bible says: Only God can read the minds of men. 1 Corinthians 2:11 - For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. John 2:25 - Jesus had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man ________________________________________________________________________ 1 Kings 8:39 - Only God knows the hearts of man [Jer. 17:10]. Psychics and mind readers pretend to read men's minds, but only God has this power, and He no longer gives it to men (see 1 Cor. 13 below). For men to claim supernatural power to read the mind is a form of witchcraft and divination, condemned in the passages above. Only God can predict the future. James 4:14 - You do not know what will happen tomorrow. Proverbs 27:1 - Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Hence, natural law will not allow us to know the future. Any effort to predict the future must be based on supernatural powers. ____________________________________________________________________ Isaiah 41:21-23; 42:8,9 - God challenged the idols to prove they are gods by predicting the future. He rests His claim to Deity on His ability to predict the future. He clearly affirms that no one but the true God can predict the future. Hence, God says no power but His can really predict the future. Men who claim to be able to do it, are claiming the power of God (regardless of their intent). ___________________________________________________________________ 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 - God did miracles in the age when His written word was not complete. By God's supernatural power, men revealed His will and confirmed by miracles that it was His word (Mk. 16:20; Acts 14:3; Heb. 2:3,4). Since the written word (that which is perfect - Jas. 1:25) has come, God no longer gives men the power of prophecy. ______________________________________________________________________ Hence, no one today can predict the future by the power of God. Anyone who claims to do it, is not doing it by God's power. If he claims to do it by some supernatural, spirit force, that power must not be God's power. It must be a form of occult divination, condemned by God. [Cf. Acts 8:14ff; 1:22; Jude 3; etc.] ________________________________________________________________________ A test for impostors is to see if their predictions ever fail. Deuteronomy 18:20-22 - After rebuking all forms of the occult (v9-14), God predicted the coming of the true prophet (Jesus) in whom people should trust (v15-19). Then He explained how people could recognize the false prophet. _____________________________________________________________________ A prophet is not from God if he claims to speak in the name of some other god or if his predictions of the future do not come true. Some examples: Jean Dixon: She became famous by predicting the death of President Kennedy. But one rarely hears about her predictions that failed. These include: * World War III would begin in 1958. (Did it?) * Russia would put the first man on the moon. (A good guess since they led the space race. But America was first; Russia still has not done it.) * Lyndon Johnson would be democratic candidate for president in 1968. (As president, he would have been the logical choice. But he refused to run.) * President Ford would resign and Rockefeller would replace him. (Ford never resigned; Rockefeller was never president.) * Reagan would be the Republican candidate for president in 1976. (Ford won the nomination instead). National Enquirer psychics: * 22 false predictions in 1975 (R. Harris, Contender, 1/76) * 14 misses in second half of 1977 (O'Neal, Searching the Scriptures, 6/78). * Of 58 predictions, only two were right, and these were easy guesses (Bob Craig, Gospel Anchor, 5/79). The track records of the psychics proves they are false teachers. We should not be afraid of them. ___________________________________________________________________ D. Spiritism & Necromancy Necromancy is the alleged power to communicate with the spirits of dead people ('ghosts'). In some translations of the Bible, this is called having a 'familiar spirit.' Today, they are called 'spiritists,' 'spiritualists,' or 'mediums.' Multiplied thousands of them exist in the USA and in South America. Many are members of the hundreds of spiritualist or spiritist churches. Many 'Christians' claim this is approved of God. What does the Bible say? Deuteronomy 18:11 - The occult practices which are an abomination to God includes mediums, spiritists, and those who call up the dead. ________________________________________________________________________ Leviticus 19:31; 20:6,27 - God's people must not seek out mediums or familiar spirits. If they do, they should be cut off. Those who are mediums or have a familiar spirit should be stoned. Ecclesiastes 9:6 - Those who are dead have no more portion in anything done under the sun forever. ____________________________________________________________________ Luke 16:27-31 - Abraham refused to let Lazarus go back from the dead to warn the rich man's brothers. Why? Because they already had sufficient evidence of what they should do revealed in the Scriptures. 1 Samuel 28:3-14 - Saul consulted a woman from Endor who had a familiar spirit, to get her to call up Samuel. Some think this proves the practice is valid. But note v12 - When the woman saw Samuel she cried out with a loud voice. Why? She had agreed to call him up. If she had expected him to come, why be surprised when he came?__________________________________ 1 Chronicles 10:13,14 - Saul died because he was unfaithful and because he consulted with this familiar spirit._______________________________ Note that God's word rebukes, not just the one who calls up the dead (the medium), but also those who consult the medium. [2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chron. 33:6; Isa. 8:19,20; 2 Kings 23:24; Isa. 19:3; 29:4] Conclusion_____________________________________________________________ Witchcraft and every aspect of the occult are plainly condemned by God. But why is God so opposed to it? Because it is a counterfeit substitute for the power of God. If people needed supernatural power in their lives, they should turn to God.________________________________________________________________ * God has done great miracles to prove His power. Magic is the occult substitute for miracles. It is an attempt to achieve supernatural events by spirit powers other than that of God._______________________________________________________________ * God has revealed His will and predicted the future in prophecy. Divination is the occult substitute for prophecy. It is an attempt to obtain supernatural knowledge by spirit powers other than the power of God. Colossians 2:8-10 - Now that the Scriptures are complete, we are complete in Christ. God has provided in the Scriptures all the supernatural knowledge which we need or can ever receive with His approval. We have the record of miracles to confirm that message. God meets our daily needs in answer to prayer. To turn to the occult is to belittle our completeness in Christ and to seek supernatural help somewhere other than in God. Acts 19:18-20 - When God's word prevails in the lives of people today, they renounce their involvement in magic. They remove and destroy all aspects of it in their lives.__________________________________________ The occult and the gospel of Christ cannot coexist in our lives. Either the occult will drive out our faithfulness to Christ, to our eternal condemnation, or else the gospel will drive out the occult to our salvation. Have you removed the occult from your life?