Divination in the Church?
At a speaking engagement in country church in South Australia I had been invited to share about my journey of having come out of family and personal involvement in the occult. I made reference to water dowsing, or water witching. I further described the use of the wedding ring of a pregnant woman suspended by a thread as a pendulum either over her palm or her tummy, to predict the gender of her forth-coming child! After the meeting, a man literally ran to me, explaining that while his wife was absent, this was done to her by the Pastor’s wife in a large Pentecostal church they attended!
I responded that I was not overly surprised, rather that it confirmed that there has been a progressive lack of discernment in the body of Christ, the Church.
Sharing this later with a Pastor with over 35 years’ experience, he asked in amazement how this was done. I explained that the source was “divination”, an occult practice forbidden in Deuteronomy 18:9 aligned with water dowsing. His response amazed me! “But that is the way that Abraham located his well sites”, he responded seriously. I asked for a scriptural reference, but of course there is none.
Many have justified their belief in this occult practice by claiming a respected Godly relative practiced it, and "therefore it must be Ok!"
The practice is of a forbidden psychic origin! Others claim it is simply picking up the “geo-magnetic meridians in the earth”! My response is if this were true, how is it possible to use a pendulum or divining rod over a map of someone’s property and achieve similar results?
Some evangelicals embrace the belief that sins and practices engaged in prior to receiving Christ are covered or ignored by God’s grace. The sins of divination, playing with Ouija boards, Divining Rods and use of a pendulum' attending séances, pursuing horoscopes, Eastern Mysticism, Freemasonry, all New Age, cult and occultic practices (and other specific sins), need to be confessed, repented of, and renounced, and any generational impact broken. Failure to address this can open the person to oppression, and their children to psychic legacies.
Covered Under the Blood of Messiah?
It cannot be presumed that our issues are “under the Blood” because it was done in ignorance, or was done prior to coming to Christ!
At conversion, we confess our sinfulness (missing the mark). Sanctification is both immediate and progressive as the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sins, leading to confession and repentance. Spiritual doorways may have been opened by either our own actions or those of our forebears. Only confession and repentance will free us, break off the legacy and close the spiritual opening bringing freedom. Break the road traffic code while interstate or overseas and try pleading immunity from the penalty either through ignorance, or “but I am a Christian now!” and see how much leniency is dispensed!
It is necessary to destroy by fire (or smash) all artifacts and objects (e.g. books, DVDs, tarot cards,idols, regardless of value) connected with the occult as the Ephesians did.
"And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks who lived at Ephesus, and fear fell on all of them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. Also many of those practicing the curious arts, bringing together the books, burned them before all. And they counted the prices of them and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver." Acts 19:17-19
What follows is an occult check list to consider:
∏ Aboriginal artifacts (masks, weapons, spears, etc.)
∏ Acupuncture, acupressure, auric therapy, reflexology
∏ Amulets, Talismans, good luck charms, etc.
∏ Ancestor worship where spirits of deceased ancestors are invoked by Oriental priests as spirit guides for children
∏ Animism: the belief that souls inhabit all or most objects
∏ Ankh (Egyptian fertility symbol worn as jewelry)
∏ Apparitions, ghosts, spirit manifestation of the dead
∏ Astral Projection, soul travel (is not cognitive distortion)
∏ Astrology, consulting the zodiac or star signs
∏ Auras, energy eminence used in massage, cleansing
∏ Automatic writing, automatic drawing
∏ Avatars (ascended spirit masters, adepts, St Germain)
∏ Birth stones, gem stones worn as jewelry
∏ Black magic, black arts, witches & warlocks, hexes
∏ Black mass (blasphemous parody of the Mass)
∏ Blood pacts, covenants (mixing bloods with oaths)
∏ Blood products, (black pudding, bratwurst, etc)
∏ Bloody Mary (Staring and chanting into a mirror)
∏ Bowen therapy, pressure points
∏ Buddhism: worship & study Gautama the enlightened
∏ Cartomancy (reading tarot or playing cards)
∏ Chain letters (compulsive need to forward them)
∏ Chakra cleansing: Taoist alignment of 7 spiritual centres
∏ Charming (as in casting spells, hypnotism)
∏ Charms (including amulets, birthstones, NZ Tikis, zodiac symbols, talismans, etc. to bring good luck / ward off evil)
∏ Chinese astrology Year of dog, monkey, rat, etc.
∏ Chiromancy, divination through laying on of hands, the forerunner (Palmer school) of the science of chiropractic
∏ Clair audience (hear familiar spirit predictive voices)
∏ Clairsentience (extrasensory perception)
∏ Clairvoyance (see events predicatively)
∏ Colour therapy: divination based on colour preferences
∏ Conjuration (summon demonic spirits by incantation)
∏ Course in Miracles. A (channelled book by H Shucman)
∏ Coven (involvement or participation groups, 13 or more)
∏ Crystal ball: divination, a means of prediction, foretelling
∏ Crystals (fascination to collect & possess)
∏ Curse (invoke evil or misfortune on another)
∏ Death magic (spells placed in coffin or grave)
∏ Déjà vu: false sense of being somewhere before
∏ Demon worship or invoking demons to do evil
∏ Divination with rod, forked branch or pendulum is better described as dowsing or witching. (Divination is not to imply it is of God of the Universe, but to foresee or foretell)
∏ Dowsing (divination) for water, oil, minerals, treasure, or lost objects; gender of unborn child, animal or birds using wire, rod, forked branch or pendulum
∏ Dream interpretation (e.g. Edgar Cayce, Yung)
∏ Drugs (psychotropic producing hallucinogenic effects, e.g. Acid, Ice, marijuana, coke, speed, heroin, LSD, etc)
∏ Dungeons & Dragons; WarCraft; Diabalo and other fantasy role-play games involving occult & violent themes
∏ Eastern Mysticism incl. Yoga, TM, Mantras, visiting overseas shrines, temples, sacred sites & removing shoes
∏ ESP (Extra sensory perception) paranormal knowledge
∏ Exorcism (an occultic attempt to evict demonic spirits)
∏ Feng Shui (divination in home & building design)
∏ Fortune telling (palmistry, tea leaf reading, etc)
∏ Freemasonry, the Lodge, Illuminati, secret societies
∏ Goddess Worship: Gaia, Sophia, Diana, Hecate, Artemis
∏ Goths, gothic Emo's, rock music etc.
∏ Gnosticism - claims of secret or hidden knowledge
∏ Gurus; Lord Maitreya; Sai Baba: Yogis; Swamis, etc.
∏ Gypsies (curses, spells, objects)
∏ Handwriting analysis for occult prediction
∏ Heavy metal music Alice Cooper, Kiss, AC/DC, Metallica, Marilyn Manson, etc. The lyrics sung establish covenant and contract over the human soul by the powers of darkness.
∏ Hexes invoked against a real or perceived enemy
∏ Hexagram, pentagram, broken cross worn as jewellery
∏ Homeopathy: extreme dilution of tinctures to remedy ills
∏ Horoscopes; daily, weekly, yearly prognostications
∏ Hydromancy, divination viewing in water (see scrying)
∏ Hypnosis, hypnotism using post hypnotic trance states
∏ Idols e.g. Buddha, Kali, Totems, statues of Mary, etc.
∏ Incantations; words sung or spoken invoking spirits
∏ Incubus & Succubus: male & female sexual demons
∏ Iridology (using the eye iris to diagnosis sickness)
∏ Jonathan Livingstone Seagull (reincarnation, Hinduism)
∏ Kabala, (Cabbala, Hermetic Qabalah,Jewish mysticism)
∏ Kinesiology (muscle testing to identify allergies)
∏ Kundalini, chakras, meditation, all Yoga practices
∏ Levitation (lifting objects using unseen spiritual forces)
∏ Lycanthropy (werewolf) high level witchcraft
∏ Magic or Magick (not sleight of hand but supernatural)
∏ Mantra: resonant sounding name of a Hindu deity (yoga)
∏ Martial Arts incl. Aikido, Karate, Kung Fu, Tae Kwan Do
∏ Mediums, psychics & channellers linking the spirit world
∏ Mental telepathy: psychic mental communications
∏ Mesmerism, animal magnetism (the root of hypnotism)
∏ Metaphysics (exploration of the spirit world)
∏ Mind Control (both overt and covert)
∏ Mind dynamics hypnosis, NLP, Visualization techniques
∏ Mind reading, mental telepathy using psychic alibility
∏ Mysticism: an attempt to find God through asceticism
∏ Necromancy (calling up spirits impersonating the dead)
∏ Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP): behaviour change using communications, linguistics and neurology
∏ Numerology (using number combinations predicatively)
∏ Occult & Horror movies, DVDs, computer games
∏ Occult jewelry (ankh pentagram hexagram, baphomet)
∏ Occult literature (the 6th & 7th Books of Moses, Egyptian book of the Dead, Edgar Cayce, Aleister Crowley, Jean Dixon, Arthur Ford, Dennis Wheatley, Helena Blavatsky, Harry Potter & Goosebumps series, books & teaching of Louise Hay, Shirley MacLaine, LaVey; Book of Mormon, +)
∏ Ouija Boards: the most dangerous of all occult devices
∏ Paganism (fertility rites re Pan & Dianna, Gaia, nature)
∏ Pagan idols, fetishes, masks, totems, weapons (incl. spears, boomerangs, didgeridoo, nulla nulla, etc)
∏ Pagan religious artefacts, relics, prayer beads, icons, etc
∏ Pagan rites (Voodoo, sing sings, corroborees, fire walking, or on broken glass, body piercing, shamanism, blood letting, umbanda, macumba, santeria, etc.)
∏ Palmistry divination using the palm as a point of contact
∏ Parakineses (moving objects by mind and will power?)
∏ Parapsychology: (the study of paranormal activity e.g. haunting, demonic manifestations, etc.)
∏ Pendulum used as an alternative health diagnostic tool
∏ Phrenology (divination using bumps on the skull)
∏ Planchette (Ouija board used in divination)
∏ Poltergeist (German for noisy ghost)
∏ Precognition (occult foreknowledge of future events, with reference to death, accidents, etc.)
∏ Psychic abilities, ‘gifting’, through dabbling in, or ancestral occult legacies. Psyche = soul, the counterfeit of that which comes through the gifting of the Holy Spirit.
∏ Psychometry (divination by holding a personal object belonging to one seeking their fortune told)
∏ Pyramidology mystical power associated with pyramids
∏ Rebirthing: regression to the womb to heal birth trauma
∏ Reiki (spirit energy transference through hands)
∏ Reincarnation, (also past life regression by hypnosis)
∏ Runes (divination by casting occultly marked stones)
∏ Satanism: worship of Satan, Diabolo, or Lucifer by ritual
∏ Scrying (divination using reflections from mirrored or fluid surfaces e.g. oil, water, mercury, polished stone, etc)
∏ Séance: a medium circle to contact spirits of the dead
∏ Self hypnosis, self induced trance, passive shutdown
∏ Significant pagan or satanic days e.g. Solstices, etc.
∏ Silva Mind Control: mix of self hypnosis & psychology
∏ Sorcery: Use of black arts through witches or warlocks
∏ Spells: invocation from a witches’ ‘Book of Shadows’
∏ Spiritism, Spiritualism, Necromancy: contact with demon spirits impersonating the dead. See Duet. 18: 9 - 14
∏ Star signs: Astrological predictions based on the zodiac
∏ Stigmata (wounds that may or may not bleed)
∏ Superstition (fear based beliefs, often from family lore)
∏ Table tipping (often from séances)
∏ Taoism (oriental belief in the universal life force using Ki or Chi energy; and forces of yin and yang)
∏ Tarot: 22 picture cards used in divination and prediction
∏ Tattoos, body piercing, self mutilation Leviticus 19:28
∏ Tea-leaf reading: divination > tea leaves, coffee grounds
∏ Theosophy: teachings of Blavatsky, Leadbeater, Besant
∏ Third Eye: 6th chakra; masonry; aboriginal mysticism
∏ Telekinesis (TK) objects appear to move spontaneously
∏ Touch for Health: similar to kinesiology
∏ TM (Transcendental Meditation): sanitized Hinduism
∏ Trance mediums: submitting to demonic habitation
∏ Transmigration of the soul after death
∏ Trauma Based Mind Control (TBMC)
∏ UFOlogy: fixation on objects in outer space, etc.
∏ Urology / uropathy: practice of drinking one’s own urine
∏ Vampirism: requiring blood in diet (real not fantasy)
∏ Ventriloquism (belly talking)
∏ Wicca, neo-pagans, white witchcraft using white magic
∏ Yoga Hindu path to union with Brahma through exercise
∏ Zodiac (charms, time, date of birth and fortune)
Paul warns Timothy: "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" 1Timothy 4:1,
See also: Duet, 18: 9-13: Levit.19:31; 20:6; Isaiah 8:19-20; Isaiah 47:5-15: 2 Kings 21:3-9:1Sam 15:23 ff: Hosea 4:12 Matthew 6:7 Acts 19:13-19: Acts 23 ff: Acts 8:9- 24; Acts 16:16-18; Acts 20:28-32: 1John 2:21-23; 1John 4:1-3
If you have identified areas of involvement, confession, repentance, and renunciation is in order to our Heavenly Father in Jesus Name, and may require specific personal ministry for full release.