Synopsis: Many
Charismatic “leaders” seek new revelation into God’s “mysteries” from occult
and mystical sources.
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Zodiac - Wikipedia.org |
Having booted sound scriptural
exegesis out of their midst, the self-anointed "leaders" of the
Charismatic Movement engage in astrological forecasting, numerology,
calendrical prognostications, and other forms of divination forbidden in Scripture.
But why even worry about Scripture when you can decode God’s "hidden" messages and “mysteries”
from the Hebrew year number or the monthly cycles of the moon?
What next? Charismatic Liver-reading?
Where in the New Testament does
anyone find Jesus or Paul calculating the "spiritual" significance of
a year number or coordinating prophetic events with the annual feasts of the
Hebrew calendar? Charismatic “seers” seek omens from God in natural events -
lunar and solar eclipses, the appearance of a comet, an extraordinarily large
migration of butterflies, even in unusual cloud formations.
This is shamanism, not the
biblical faith. Divination is alive and well within Charismatic Christianity! When
pronouncing the downfall of ancient Babylon, the prophet Isaiah chided her for
reliance on the dark arts:
(Isaiah 47:1-13) - “Down — and
sit in the dust, O virgin Daughter of Babylon, Sit on the ground — throneless
Daughter of the Chaldeans; For thou shalt no more be called Tender and Dainty…Take
thy stand, I pray thee, With thy spells. And with the throng of thine
incantations wherein thou hast wearied thyself from thy youth — Peradventure
thou mayest be able to profit, Peradventure thou mayest strike me with terror. Thou
hast worn thyself out with the mass of thy consultations — Let them take their
stand I pray thee that they may save thee — The dividers of the heavens
— The gazers at the stars, They who make known by new moons,
Somewhat of the things which shall come upon thee.” - (The Emphasized Bible)
The term rendered “make known
by new moons” or “monthly prognosticator” is comprised of the words for
“moon” and “know” (chodesh, yada‘). It refers to soothsayers who
(supposedly) divined the future from lunar phases, especially the new moon that
marked the start of each month in both the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars.
The “dividers of heaven”
translates a term and concept derived from Mesopotamian astrology - the
practice of dividing night sky into what became the zodiacal constellations.
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Tree of Life |
In contrast to many popular
preachers today, the Apostle Paul warned that reverting to calendrical
observations was regression and enslavement to “elemental spirits”
("You narrowly-observe days and months and seasons and years. I am
afraid of you, lest by any means I have bestowed labor upon you in vain” [Galatians
4:9-11]). For that matter, Charismatic visionaries and
"contemplatives" may be interacting with “angels,” but of what sort?
The Charisma Magazine of
today promotes astrology. One article describes how “…the stars of the
constellation Gemini (the united) will be directly overhead at the zenith point
in the Southern U.S. Gemini is one of the zodiacal constellations and is the
10th chapter of the Star Bible….The bright stars of Gemini, Castor and Pollux,
are also part of the prophetic calendar that produces signs in the sun, moon
and stars surrounding both appearances of Christ….” (Heavenly Sign Reveals Prophetic
Countdown).
How tragic! A once great renewal movement resorts to mystical and occult practices in its fevered pursuit of a supposedly timeless and immaterial “spirit realm.” The occult is repackaged with "Christian" window dressing and peddled to unsuspecting church members with nary a peep of protest from pastors and elders! Paul claimed the risen Christ gave his church apostles, prophets, teachers, and pastors to shepherd it to the fullness of the faith. To his list, we now add “seers,” “life coaches,” and dream interpreters.
“Christian” songs promote the
mystical adage, “As above, so below; As below, so above,”
a mantra borrowed directly from Hermeticism and its so-called “Principle of
Correspondence,” an old occult philosophy linked to the Egyptian god, Thoth.
With minor modifications, this has been adopted as its mantra by the Bethel
Church of Redding, California, along with the philosophy’s “Principle of
Vibrations,” the belief that all things are in motion and vibrate in synch with
God or whatever force runs the universe. Apparently, for good
"spiritual" health, Christians must learn to vibrate on God's
frequency.
Charismatic “leaders” seek new
revelation into God’s “mysteries” from extra-biblical mystical sources,
including the Kabbalah, 1 Enoch, the book of Jasher,
and the Zohar. Never mind the New Testament claim that all God's
mysteries have been revealed in Jesus! As the saints in Thyatira were warned, a
day is coming when we will discover that such things do not constitute
revelation but, instead, they are the “deep things of Satan.” Judgment
must begin with God's House! (Revelation 2:18-24).
The replacement of Scripture by
divination and mysticism is no surprise. The Apostle Paul warned of a
proliferation of “doctrines of demons” that would cause “some to fall
away from the faith.” “Evil men and sorcerers (goétes) will wax
worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy
3:13).
Paul uses “sorcerers” in
the same context in which he compared deceivers with the Egyptian soothsayers
who withstood Moses. "Jannes and Jambres." Having “itching
ears," too many Christians now "heap up to themselves teachers
after their own lusts. They will turn away their ears from the truth and turn
aside to fables.”
Additionally, Paul warned not
to heed rumors about the nearness of the Day of the Lord. Two events must
precede it: the “apostasy” and the unveiling of the “man of
lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4). The first condition is upon us
already. Can the “man of lawlessness” be far behind?
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