INTRODUCTION

Many people believe that God gives gifts of clairvoyance, fortunetelling, and contact with the spirit world to some people. They believe it is related to the spiritual gifts mentioned in Scripture (1 Corinthians 14:1, Romans 12:6). This page is devoted to revealing what the Bible says about these matters. And please remember: Test all teachings with Scripture.

BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION

To begin with, the Bible states that God never gives us bad gifts nor try us with sinful actions (Luke 11:11-13, James 1:13).

On that note, we can also see that the Bible repeatedly tells us we are not to use fortunetelling, clairvoyance, magic spells, omens, spirit mediums, sorcerers, diviners, or those who speak with the dead (Leviticus 19:26, 31, Deuteronomy 18:10-12, Acts 19:19, Revelation 22:15). Reading through these Scriptures, one can see that those who do such things are detestable to God.

These Scriptures list a broad spectrum of related activities that we see people involved with today. Particular activities we should avoid include: Tarot card reading, Ouija boards, crystal balls, horoscopes, numerology, palmistry, séances, voodoo, shamans, sorcerers, conjurers, and all other similar things. Since God doesn't give us evil, as stated in the above Scriptures, it stands to reason that He won't give the gift of fortunetelling and sorcery. However, we must understand that fortunetelling is different from the gift of prophecy.

God tells us in the Bible that he doesn't resort to fortunetellers to convey information. He will send a prophet from amongst His people if He wants to inform us of something (Deuteronomy 18:14-16). So, what if someone is a seer who claims to be a prophet of God? Then we need to use our powers of reason with the Bible.

It is also worth noting that many of the psychics in the world also claim they communicate with the dead. As we saw in the Scriptures above, such activity is condemned by God (Deuteronomy 18:12). Therefore, even if most of their words do ring true, they are still participating in ungodly activities. God would not give us a gift that He condemns (Luke 11:9-13). These psychics may sincerely believe their gifts are from God anyway because of all the good that can be done with them. However, it is worthy to remember that Satan would prefer us to think this way, as he disguises his unwholesome activities as "light" in order to mislead us (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Not all who claim to perform signs and omens in God's name are really from God (Matthew 7:21-23). We must take great care to heed the words in the Bible.

The Bible also shows that those who became true believers turned away from their magic practicing and soothsaying (Acts 19:18-20).

The Bible also shows the error of following a supposed prophet or psychic that attempts to lead us away from true worship (Deuteronomy 13:1-5).

SATANIC TRICKERY

The practice of spiritism, magic, and psychic powers are all designed by Satan to detract from our personal relationship withGod. We say this because those activities lead us to search for guidance and answers from humans or other sources, not God Himself. Remember, the Bible instructs us to not put our trust in mortal men (Psalms 118:8-9, Psalms 146:3, Jeremiah 17:5), and that we are to cling to God instead (Psalms 9:10, Proverbs 3:5, Isaiah 26:4, Jeremiah 17:7). Men will be found in error, though God will always be found true. Therefore, we need to remove ourselves from Satan's trap of this kind of trickery, and rely solely on God for our guidance.

CONCLUSION

Although it can be tempting at times to get immediate answers through fortunetelling and spiritism, the Bible makes it clear that such practices must be avoided. These things are nothing more than Satanic tricks designed to lure us away from a relationship with God and His Christ. Let us not fall into these traps, and guard our hearts closely.