Having
booted sound scriptural exegesis out of their midst, today's self-anointed
"leaders" of what remains of the Charismatic Movement engage in
astrological forecasting, numerology, calendrical calculations, and other forms
of divination forbidden in the Bible.
Why
consult Scripture or expend energy on research when you can decode God’s
"hidden" messages and "mysteries" from the Hebrew year
number or the monthly cycles of the moon? What next? Liver-reading?
Where in the New Testament do we 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! The Prophet Isaiah warned
ancient Israel not to practice the darker arts:
“Let
them take their stand, the dividers of the heavens, the star-gazers, the
monthly prognosticators, of the things which shall come upon you…” (Isaiah
47:13).
Isaiah’s term rendered “monthly
prognosticator” is comprised of the words for “moon” and “know” (chodesh,
yada‘). It refers to soothsayers that divined the future from lunar phases,
in particular, from the new moon that marked the start of each month. The “dividers
of heaven” translates a term and concept derived from Babylonian astrology,
the practice of dividing night sky into what became zodiacal constellations.
In contrast, 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]). 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 PropheticCountdown).
How tragic! A once great renewal movement
resorts to mystical practices in its fevered pursuit of a supposedly timeless
and immaterial "spirit realm." The occult is repackaged with
Christian-sounding 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 lifted
directly from Hermeticism with its so-called “Principle of Correspondence,” an
old occult philosophy linked to the Egyptian god, Thoth. 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. 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 “the deep things of Satan” (Revelation 2:18-24). Judgment
must begin with God's House!
The replacement of Scripture by divination
and mystical experiences 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.”
Paul warned also 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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