Psychic Friends?
Isaiah 8:19-20 (TEV)
"But people will tell you to ask for messages from fortune-tellers
and mediums, who chirp and mutter. They will say, 'After all, people should
ask for messages from the spirits and consult the dead on behalf of the
living.' You are to answer them, 'Listen to what the LORD is teaching you!
Don't listen to mediums-what they tell you will do you no good.'"
Times past, people would seek out mediums to conjure up the dead
so that they could receive advice about issues of greatest concern to them
their lives. But today, this practice is giving way to calling psychic
hotlines. In recent years, some of us may have noticed the rise in popularity
of various psychic phone hotlines on television. These hotlines, formerly
relegated to air time in the very early hours of the morning, are now on
prime time. It seems that no matter what channel one turns to these days,
some actor is there along with apparently satisfied customers hailing the
benefits of talking to a "psychic". These advertisements encourage viewers
to call on the phone and seek guidance in areas
such as personal finance, romance, career choices, etc.
Even some professed Christians feel it is harmless to talk to psychic
hotlines. After all, do the advertisements not say that what they offer
is for entertainment value only? It is not just for fun? Well, the danger
of this "harmless fun" is that it turns people away from following God.
It can place one on a very slippery slope. First it is calling psychic
phone lines, then it is playing with Ouija boards, until one finds himself
more deeply involved in the occult than originally planned.
The Bible warns us all the dangers of dabbling in the dark activities
off the occult. Playing in the devil's playground places one's soul at
great risk. Why turn to unreliable guides who seek the money of the unwary
when God, who seeks only the best for His children, provides the answers
to life's most important questions freely? Why not make Jesus Christ the
Source we turn to so that we may
truly live the abundant life He promised to those who trust in Him
(John 10:10)?