I recently had foot surgery and have spent time watching some TV. I have been seeing an ad for fortunetelling from a company in California and it will only cost you a dollar a minute to speak to a psychic. I am an avid Christian and know that these types of things are wrong in God’s eyes. There are consequences to those who provide the service as well as consequences for those who use the services.
In the Old Testament , God had rules that were set for His people to follow Him. The verses in the Bible that I am going to use are both from the Old Testament and the New Testament; Making it clear that the Old Testament ways were under the old covenant and that after Jesus was born, it was understood, especially in Hebrews, that He came to create a New Covenant because the Old did not work. That being said, He also says in Hebrews that the Old Covenant is used to make way for the New to come about. We use the Old Covenant as a learning tool for our lives and then we live by the New Testament. The Old has valuable information that also follows through into the New Testament.
Fortunetelling is the practice of letting people know what is going to happen in their future. I am going to use the terms medium, psychic, necromancers, and perhaps a couple others. First I am going to let you know what a medium is. A medium is said to be a substance like light or water or anything of that nature to connect energy from one thing to the next. A psychic is a person that portrays information by way of a false nature to another person in predicting future events. Necromancers are those individuals who practice black magic or just magic and tell people by way of using dead people what is going to happen to them in their future. Have you ever watched Ghost with Patrick Swayze? We know by way of the Bible verses of the rich man and Lazarus that there is no communication between the living and the dead.
There are so many people that are sucked into believing that people like these fortunetellers and psychics can predict what’s going to happen to them in their future. This was not an unknown practice even in the Old Testament days of the Bible. God forewarned His people in Leviticus 20:6 when He said, “I will condemn people who turn to mediums and psychics and chase after them as they were prostitutes. I will exclude them from the people.” The people were God’s chosen people He brought out of Egypt out of slavery through way of Moses. He said in Exodus 22:18 that sorcerers should not be allowed to live.
God demands our attention and faith in Him. They were using these people to tell them what was going to happen in their future instead of believing and trusting in God Himself. He so much said in verse 27 of Leviticus 20 that every man or woman who is a psychic or medium should be put to death and by death he meant stoned to death. He despised these types of people who were liars. And in truth, God is above all and deserves everyone’s respect and honor.
Also in Leviticus 19:31, He says, “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out; as so make yourselves unclean by them; I am the Lord your God.” Everyone needs to understand that those who are not pure in heart and do not love the Lord will not go to Heaven. It is sad that many do not believe in Him and do not believe in Heaven. Revelation 21:8 says that for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable , as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. This is an eternal thing not just a one time happening. Burning forever. We will all die from this earth as we know it, but understand that the second death is either you going to Heaven or going to hell eternally.
In Galatians 5:19–21 it says that the works of the flesh are evident and that includes sorcery. It lists sorcery as one of the works of the flesh. He warns that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. We all understand that in 2 Timothy 3:16 – 17 it says, “All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. If we understand this verse correctly, we will understand stand that this scripture will keep us safe from the sorcerers and evildoers.
Deuteronomy 18:10–13 says that whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. These things that they were doing included psychics, mediums, and these necromancers. God despised these people because they were liars and they believed in false sources. In 1 Chronicles 10:13 – 14, Saul did evil in God’s eyes because he consulted a medium seeking guidance instead of the Lord’s guidance and he died for it. In 2 Kings 21:6 Manasseh, king of Judah, burned his son as an offering and used fortunetelling and omens and dealt with medians and with necromancers. He did evil and he provoked the Lord to anger.
God warns us in His Word that there are false christs and prophets that will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible even the elect. Think about that today. We are not immune to what is going on in our world today. There is a war between good and evil going on and we all know it. This verse is found in the New Testament that we live by today in Matthew 24:24. Times have passed from the Leviticus days to the Matthew days, yet it still applies for us.
I heard the other day someone talking about Mary showing up in this phantom some thing. I am drawn to the verse in 2 Corinthians 1:14–15 that says, “No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” No where in scripture does it say that Mary, Jesus‘s mother, or anyone else can come back from the dead. Searching answers from the dead is not acceptable to God! This is what He means by searching the Scriptures and the Timothy verse where all scripture is breathed by God and it’s good for learning and reproof. We need to understand that if the Bible does not say it is so, then it is not. He is very clear in that first chapter of Galatians and in the last few verses of Revelation that whoever adds to or changes His Word is eternally condemned.
When I heard that advertisement on TV, it really bothered me because people are so willing to believe in what is false. They are being led astray. In Deuteronomy 4:19 it says to beware less you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, that you be drawn away and serve them. How many astronomers and astrologist out there do we have that are willing to tell us what our lives are going to turn out to be? How many get up every morning to read their predictions for the day. This is wrong and God’s eyes period!
There were some who understood and believed in the Lord and they did what was right by Him. In 2 Kings 23:24, Joshua put a stop to these necromancers and medians so that he could establish the law of the Lord once again. Those who were once sinners and practiced this medium, necromancing, psychics, and astrology heard God‘s word and change their ways in Acts 19:18–20. Those who are now believers confessed their sins and confessed that Jesus was Christ and they quit their practicing such evil. Many of them brought their magical books and burnt them in front of everyone so everyone could see that they had changed their ways. And it says that the value of those books was about 50,000 silver pieces.
We all know that there are so many unbelievers in this world but there is hope, just like those who changed their ways and burnt their magician books, that many can change their ways and see the truth and believe in our Lord Jesus Christ before it is too late. The people in the Old Testament did not have the knowledge of the Bible clearly as we do today to learn from, but we do! What a blessing that is! They searched the Scriptures daily as in Acts when Jesus even quoted Scripture, but to have the complete knowledge and history written for us and standing firm from the beginning till now is a blessing. Yet, some still do not believe nor have faith in Christ.
Why is that? Perhaps 2Thessalonians 2:9–12 can help explain this. It says, “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who do not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” It is that choice that some make on their own that causes their own demise. They choose not to believe and fight against truth. When they hear the Word and can’t believe Scripture for what He says, they choose the unrighteousness above righteousness and in that stubbornness, God allows them to go on their way to destruction. No one else can claim responsibility other than the individual making that choice to rebel.
So, God says that mediums, necromancers, psychics, fortunetellers, astronomers, and such are an abomination to Him. I pray that those who perform these acts and for those who participate by paying for their service understand exactly what they are doing to their souls. These things will keep you from His grace and Heaven.