CHRISTIAN LIFE & GROWTH

Spiritual Forces

Angels and the Occult

A lot of people think things like horoscopes and Tarot cards or Ouija boards are just harmless fun. Fortune telling is just a bit of a laugh. What possible harm could there be in just looking, or reading? And angels are good spirit guides that protect and lead us. Is it true? Let's find out what God says about it.

The Occult Way back in time, God warned his people against following the pagan traditions of other nations:

Let no one be found among you who...practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or cast spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things in detestable to the Lord. Deuteronomy 18:10-12

Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people. Leviticus 19:31

When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Isaiah 8:19

Keep on then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have laboured at since childhood...Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you...They cannot even save themselves...there is no-one that can save you. Isaiah 47:12-15

Why is the occult condemned in the Bible? The occult is a form of demonic entrapment and anyone who dabbles in it becomes defiled. It all comes down to sovereignty; who are you going to believe and put your trust in: Satan and his demons, or God and Christ Jesus? God can have nothing to do with evil, and the occult is evil. Some people scoff and say there is no such thing as demons, or evil, and that Satan is not real. This is the oldest trick in the book — once a person dismisses Satan as a non-entity, then he has won. Why did Jesus cast out so many of those demons from people who had become possessed? Read the account in Luke 11:14-26 where he cast out a demon from a man who was mute — did Jesus think demon possession was just a figment of an over-ripe imagination? No way! Jesus was at war against Satan and his demons. He still is. Peter warned us to:

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering. 1 Peter 5:8-9

Some people are drawn into the occult because of curiosity and desire for affirmation and power. Sometimes they are vulnerable and have low self-esteem. Oh, how the father of the lies loves to deceive and entrap such people! Christians know that God has a plan and a purpose for each and every one of us, and that God is sovereign. We can trust God because it is impossible for him to lie. We can have nothing to do with the darkness, because God has called us out of the darkness into the light. God warns us against having anything to do with the occult because, ultimately, he will destroy it and everything and everyone associated with it. You cannot have two masters. You must choose one or the other. Is it wrong to read and be interested in the occult, even though you don't practice it? Yes, because such an unhealthy interest suggests you don't put your faith and trust in God and it leaves you open to negative and dark influences. Please, don't go there.

Angels So what about angels? The Bible tells us that, in the past, God used angels to convey messages to humans. Angels delivered Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19). The angel Gabriel told Mary that she would become pregnant and give birth to the savior (Luke 1:26-38). Angels told the shepherds that the saviour had been born (Luke 2:8-14) and angels were used by God to inform Mary Magdalene that Jesus had risen from the tomb (Luke 24:11-10).

That doesn't mean we should try to speak with them now. Since the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost things have changed. The Comforter (the Holy Spirit) reveals to believers the truth of God's word, guides and directs us, and would have his way with us if we do not resist him. But the New Testament is very clear that evil spirits exist and they are out to deceive people and turn them away from the truth of God's word (1 Corinthians 11:14). As far back as the founding of the early Christian church, spirits were used by Satan to introduce a false gospel:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognise the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 1 John 4:1-3

Read also 1 John 2:18 and 22 and 2 John 4:7.

Galatians 1:8 gets right to the point: "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!" The Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Christ Jesus is the only Spirit that Christians should be listening to. "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit" (Galatians 5:24-25).

We also need to be wary of church teachers who are not led by the Holy Spirit. Satan uses false apostles to infiltrate the church:

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15

Spiritism is utterly condemned in the Bible. Revelation 22:15 tells us that "outside are the dogs, those who practise magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practises falsehood." The danger in trying to communicate with or believe what spirits say is that people are deceived and end up believing in a false gospel, to their eternal destruction.

Image Credit: voyancecam; untitled; Creative Commons

Tags: Biblical-Truth | Christian-Life | Satan-Demons

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Published on 4-18-16