What Has Many Doors But Only One Exit?
The Supernatural: Trespassers Beware
It was a quaint, narrow street in the West Village, lined with brightly painted row houses, decorated boutiques, and miniature gardens. On my left, written in a bright red arc, the words “Reader and Advisor” stared at me from the store front window.
Five years earlier I would probably have gone in, not merely to hear the reading but to learn some tricks of the trade. I practiced palmistry, telling card fortunes, handwriting analysis, numerology, and using a Ouija board, beginning with palmistry around age eleven.
Though I claimed to have no special power in this realm, I knew that something was making these readings applicable, something not explainable in ordinary terms. How could a person’s life or character possibly be set forth by the formation of his palm? Yet the readings brought favorable responses, so I did them. I did not question how I was able at times to depict certain aspects of people’s characters or previous lives with what they said was surprising accuracy.
At the same time I found it difficult to be natural and free with other people. Even though externally, almost anything I wanted was open to me, internally I was bound—I did not know why. I did quit yoga meditation when I sensed that the lack of movement imposed during these sessions was taking hold of me as a general characteristic. But for the most part I remained in not-so-blissful ignorance of what I was dealing with in my occult practices.
The ignorance is quite prevalent among people who are dabbling in the supernatural realm. At their own peril they neglect to take those precautions which are only common sense in the natural realm. Most individuals would not eat a plant they saw growing along the roadside without knowing what it was. They know that some plants are beneficial to man, and some are harmful, so that they could be nourished by one plant, but possibly killed by another.
In the supernatural realm, however, many are not so discriminating, taking in any supernatural experience that comes their way without questioning what is behind it, or what effect it will have on them. Ignorant dabbling in the supernatural is no safer than eating mushrooms indiscriminately.
Most individuals would not eat a plant they saw growing along the roadside without knowing what it was…. In the supernatural realm, however, many are not so discriminating….
To understand the nature of the occult, it is necessary to understand the basic elements of the supernatural realm as it is revealed in the Bible. The Bible teaches that “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24), which is acknowledged by many people. What is not nearly so well understood, however, is the Bible’s teaching that there are also spirit beings called angels (Hebrews 12:22) and demons (Mark 6:13)
Angels, unlike man, are spiritual rather than natural creatures. They are not subject to the material order, though they can work in it at will. They have personality and intelligence. These they use in the service of God, and are called “His ministers” (Psalm 104:4). Some angels followed Satan in rebellion against God, however, and became evil spirits, or demons, totally committed to evil.
Most primitive peoples know by long experience the malign operations of evil spirits, and their religious rites are designed to propitiate them. This contrasts sharply with the attitude of the Christian, who is directed to “resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
Though many Americans ignore or reject the Bible’s description of the supernatural, their doing so does not in any way exempt them from evil supernatural influences. If I decide that I will not believe in germs because I have never seen any when in contact with sick people, this will not prevent me from getting sick. Likewise, if an individual’s natural defenses against evil spirits are broken down by disobedience to God’s Word or by a severe trauma, evil spirits may enter and gain a measure of control over him, whether or not he realizes what is happening.
When evil spirits have gained access, what was once voluntary becomes compulsive, leaving the individual to pick up the pieces and wonder, “What came over me?” or “What got into me?” Evil spirits can attack the mind, causing loss of memory, poor judgment, distractibility, loss of mental balance, and even insanity. Their work is to twist, to warp, and to destroy human capacities and soundness.
Many people who trudge the endless round to the psychiatrist’s office actually have a problem which is of such a besetting nature. The psychiatrist may teach them to live with it, but only the power of God can set someone entirely free.
When Jesus was upon the earth, He frequently cast out demons from troubled people (Matthew 8:16). He gave His disciples power to cast out demons in His name. “Exorcism” as conducted by Jesus was authoritative and effective, quite different from the chaotic, terror-inspiring scenes of the movie The Exorcist. There are Christians today who continue to exercise authority over evil spirits in the name of Jesus.
Two of today’s best-known figures in the deliverance ministry, the casting out of demons, are Derek Prince, formerly a professor of ancient and modern philosophy at Cambridge University, England, and Rev. H. A. Maxwell Whyte, a minister of the United Apostolic Faith Church in Ontario, Canada. After years of experience with people beset by physical, mental, or emotional problems, both issue strong warnings against occult involvement.
In a New York Times article entitled, “Controversy on Exorcism Grows as Practice Spreads” (November 29, 1974), Derek Prince is quoted as saying, “All people who have ben seriously involved with the occult almost invariably need deliverance.” He adds, “And we have a tremendous number of young people who have deliberately cultivated the occult and Satan worship and theirs is frequently an agonizing experience. They have to break any contact with the occult.”
Many occult practices seem harmless enough on the surface. So what if a person pulls a certain set of cards from a deck? If no supernatural forces were involved, the result would be meaningless. However, at times supernatural forces are involved, and the experienced fortuneteller may weave a whole story around cards, lines in the hand, tea leaves, features of the handwriting, etc., which may surprise the listener by its supposed applicability, even though the fortuneteller knows almost nothing about the listener. The reader does not get this knowledge from the various devices she uses, however. They serve as a front.
Though the fortuneteller may go by a few basic rules, the bulk of her story is fabricated at that moment, at times through the “inspiration” of evil spirits, who know plenty about the listener, including what he will be willing to accept as true.
“I’m a medium,” explained one card reader quoted in a New York Times article published January 31, 1975. “I don’t need the cards, but for a lot of people, if you don’t lay the cards, they think they’re not getting a reading.”
Careers have been chosen, marriages made or broken, as a result of words spoken by fortunetellers. It is an excellent way to get the devil’s counsel for one’s life. People for whom accidents or early death are predicted may become tortured with apprehension. In his book Deliver Us from Evil, Rev. Don Basham, who is active in deliverance ministry, tells of a woman who was so affected through consulting fortunetellers. “It was a hobby of mine,” she admitted, “until about three years ago when a palmreader told me that I would not live beyond the age of fifty. I’m fifty-two now, and the last two years have been a nightmare. Every time I become even slightly ill, I’m sure I’m dying.”
“A palmreader told me that I would not live beyond the age of 50. I’m 52 now, and the last two years have been a nightmare. Every time I become even slightly ill, I’m sure I’m dying.”
Fortunetelling is known in the Bible as divination. It belongs to a realm which God has strictly forbidden men to enter because it is harmful to them. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord….(Deuteronomy 18:10-12)
An observer of times is a person who consults horoscopes. A charmer uses charms for protection. A necromancer seeks advice and counsel from the dead, as in a séance. If he does contact spirits, however, they are not spirits of the dead but evil spirits posing as the dead. In all of these practices a person puts his reliance for guidance and help, not on the living God, but upon devils or dumb things. Derek Prince says, “The one to whom you seek for supernatural help and revelation and power is your god….”
“Witchcraft,” says Derek Prince, “is the attempt to control people and make them do what you want by a power other than the Holy Spirit. And, if you have a power in your life that you can use, it isn’t the Holy Spirit, because no one uses the Holy Spirit, He’s God.” Clearly, witchcraft is far more common than steaming cauldrons and incantations.
Even casual involvement in the occult may be highly dangerous, says Dennis Bennett, an Episcopalian writer: It’s like “counting the tiger’s teeth ‘just for a joke.’”
Even casual involvement in the occult may be highly dangerous; it’s like “counting the tiger’s teeth ‘just for a joke.’”
A person can go on in the occult for a time, not realizing that it is having any effects upon him. When he realizes this, if he does, it may be too late for him to break out of it. Even if he discontinues certain practices, he has opened his being to evil spirits through his activity in this realm, and demons are tenants not easily evicted. They can cause torment, fear, loneliness, isolation—any number of severe emotional, mental, or even physical maladies. Different people experience these effects in varying degrees.
Thank God deliverance is possible. A person can be set free by the power of God. But it is so much easier never to get tangled up in the occult in the first place. Most people have enough difficulties without getting some more from a supernatural source.
So, the next time you have an opportunity to read a horoscope, get your palm read, have your handwriting analyzed, be forewarned. A person who gets his kicks from the occult is playing with fire. The devil and his demons, as revealed in the Bible, are not noted for their mercy on individuals who place themselves in their realm.
The Exit
Better still, come to know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. The occult supernatural is cheap and shoddy when compared to the miracle of new life in Christ. When we are born, “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God,” (John 1:13), we have a relationship with Him and can partake of His supernatural—vastly greater and more wonderful than anything devised by the devil.