Thoughts for another day

June 26, 2008

Today's verse: Lev. 19:31. Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

This is the pattern of life in the morning for Mrs. Joan Staggs. She gets up, finishes her chores and waits for the newspaper. As soon as the boy drops it she grabs the copy and furiously turns the pages. After having turned to the leisure section she scans it for ‘What your stars foretell’ and quickly reads what’s written under Aries. She believes every word and if anything goes against it she is so upset that after that, she is just impossible to talk to. By the way, Mrs. Staggs also consults astrologers, palmists, and face readers before she sets out to accomplish any big thing in her life. In fact, she took the okay of her ‘baba’ (guru) before she married the man who is now her husband.

Her family, conversant with this odd fetish of hers, doesn’t come in her way. They don’t want her tongue lashing if they do. Now, before you consider Joan to be a black spot on Christianity, let me say that she is generous, kind and into much prayer. She reads the Bible regularly and is vocal in the prayer group during Praise and Worship. In all ways she is a good Christian, with of course a little ‘kinky’ habit. People find nothing wrong in it because in all respects she is such a nice person – an example, you too might say, to emulate in Christian living!!! Besides, Joan’s argument is that God has crafted our destinies in the lines on the palm and the forehead; therefore, what’s the problem us trying to learn what they mean?

You think Joan’s right, particularly her interest in fortune telling, astrology, etc? On the face of it, there seems nothing wrong because it’s so harmless (???) and by nature she’s so nice. But, the Bible says this trait of hers is extremely harmful to her soul. Seeking to know the future or any other thing not meant for our consumption is the devil’s way of trying to usurp God’s authority. Taking recourse to any of the above things is defying God and akin to telling Him, ‘look, I don’t need You to protect me. I already know what is to happen to me and I can fend for myself!’

God is hurt when we turn to a medium to know our future. Remember, God does not reveal the future to anyone and if He does, He does with good reason. The only other who can do it (although in bits and pieces) is the devil; and he’ll only use it for eventual destruction. In seeking to know the future, we permit the devil to put us on a leash so he can boss over us. A novice in matters pertaining to God may not understand this, but a person mature in God will know how much it hurts Him when we grant His sovereignty to the devil. Besides, in our desire to know the future, we are taking away the protective cloak of God’s Grace from our lives and wearing the devil’s raiment. In due course of time, the devil will torment us and it can turn horrible, to say the least.