There shall not be found among you anyone who ....

..... makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. (Deuteronomy 18:10, 11). The bit about children passing through fire is a referee to child sacrifice, to literally burning them alive as an offering to the god Molech (see 2 Kings 23:10). What all these practices have in common, is that they are putting trust in something that is not of the Lord. In other words it is idolatry, prostituting oneself to the spirit world (Leviticus 20:6). These things are an abomination to the Lord (18:12), and this is the principle we need to take from these verses. In other words, the list is not complete and, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, the list needs to include such things as ouija boards, white witches, spirit guides, horoscopes, tarot cards, signs of the zodiac, reiki etc., etc.

Scripture is not saying that there is not a reality behind these things. I mean “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14, see also 1 Samuel 28:7-19). But the Scripture admonishes us “Do not believe every spirit, but test them to see if they are of of God” (1 John 4:1). It's about acknowledging that Jesus is the Christ, that the God-man Christ Jesus has come in the flesh (1 John 2:23), and it's that what is being presented, is the pure gospel of salvation (Galatians 1:6-9). Concerning these things of the spirit realm, Paul talks about the “spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1–2). Kris Vollotton comments on this verse that “in other words, before we knew Jesus, we were literally the puppets of demonic spirits.”

In the West we tend to believe that the spirit world is something of a fary tale or something harmless that can amuse us. Not so in Africa. Before I was a Christian I dabbled in the ouija board. It predicted the date of my father's death and it put the fear of God in me. C. S. Lewis contends that Satan has two major strategies, firstly to persuade us he does not exist, or secondly to fascinate us with his power. Either position is equally satisfying to him, since it suits his agenda well. So how are we to respond to all this? With ourselves we need to be ruthless in rooting out any and all of these things. With those who are caught up in such things, we need to be gentle and to show them love, not condemnation. Our approach needs to be that there are much better things than these.

Father I was so very aware this morning, as I spent time online with my brother, that Your presence eclipses everything that tries to capture our attention and our wills. Thank You Lord for this gift of time, and this time. Help us to redeem it Lord, for the days are evil. Hide me now Lord under Your wings and I will soar above the storm in Jesus Name Amen