REGARD NOT … NEITHER SEEK AFTER WIZARDS

There is amongst men today a growing interest in psychic phenomena and many of the other activities that are generally associated with the world of the occult. Despite what many may think, there is nothing new in such activities, as witnessed by the prohibitions contained in our reading today. Here are things displeasing to God, an ‘abomination’ in His sight, Deut. 18. 12, and that are defiling to men, Lev. 19. 31. These are sins that will reap divine judgement, Lev. 20. 6; for which the Canaanites were driven out from their land, Deut. 18. 12, King Saul was removed from the throne, 1 Chron. 10. 13, and the people of the northern kingdom of Israel were carried into captivity, 2 Kings 17. 16-18.

In Deuteronomy chapter 18, Moses is warning the children of Israel about practices that were rife in the land of Canaan, and most of them, if not all, are pursued in occult activities today. In verse 10, we find ritual abuse, ‘that maketh his son or his daugh­ter to pass through the fire’; diviners, ‘that useth divination’, who claimed to have power to discover future events; astrologers, ‘an observer of times’, who followed the movement and position of the planets and stars and from them predicted forthcoming events; an enchanter, engaged in the casting of spells and the reading of omens; a witch, involved in what today would be called white or black magic. Then, in verse 11, we meet a charmer, one who demonstrated his powers in the control of reptiles; familiar spirits, those who profess an ability to communicate with the spirit world; wizards, able to harness the powers of that unseen world and, finally, a necromancer, claiming power to speak with the dead. The whole list conveys an atmosphere of evil and is all part of Satan’s strategy to deceive and enslave men.

In contrast to the means Satan employed to speak to men, diviners and familiar spirits, the chapter also refers to those by whom God spake to men, priests, vv. 1-8, and prophets, vv. 15-22. We see a similar contrast in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 where Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit; ‘the Spirit speaketh expressly’, and then he refers to ‘seducing spirits’. Two very dif­ferent voices speaking to men today, but to which do we listen?