A new phenomenon of concern

[Dhlaroroth]

It used to be Christians not only knew what to do, but also what NOT to do. What practices to avoid, what causes to oppose. But now I'm seeing more of those who claim Christianity, they throw out a few Bible verses, but then show an opposite side. Like if a Christian loved one or spouse dies, their reaction from the Bible is supposed to be they'll see them in Heaven. "We don't mourn like the world does." We also know we're not supposed to communicate with or lean on familiar spirits to communicate with the dead (demons imitating the dead). However, a certain rather well known professing Christian, whose husband a year or so ago got killed, recently when lights went on and off in the bathroom was quoted as telling others she uttered she "knew" it was the husband trying to contact her. What kind of statement is that for a Christian to make? Further, I've been hearing other things from some who with the mouth profess Christianity, but also are caught saying they believe in occult or new age things. This is happening more often than a ways back. I don't know if they just quote Scripture, get saved but don't know what to avoid (they're not baby Christians), or if they just quote a few Scriptures and THINK they're saved. Don't know exactly what's going on with this new trend, but it's not good.

 

[Articles]

We hear your burden and we share it, for what you are describing is not a small drift but a serious departure from the whole counsel of God. You are right to be concerned when those who profess Christ quote a few verses yet embrace practices God has clearly told us to avoid. Scripture warns us that having a form of godliness is not the same as walking in truth, and that in the last days many will not endure sound doctrine.

The example you gave grieves us deeply. We do mourn when a believing husband or loved one dies, but we do not mourn like those who have no hope. We are told in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope. And 1 Thessalonians 4:14, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. Our hope is not that our loved ones linger around lights or bathrooms to contact us, but that if they were in Christ they are present with the Lord, and we will see them again at the resurrection when Jesus returns. To say a flickering light is a dead husband trying to make contact is not a Christian statement, it is confusion and it opens a door to deception.

God has been very clear that we are not to seek or lean on familiar spirits, nor attempt to communicate with the dead. Those spirits are not our loved ones, they are demons imitating the dead to deceive. We are commanded in Leviticus 19:31, Don’t turn to those who are mediums, nor to the wizards. Don’t seek them out, to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your God. And in Deuteronomy 18:10, There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, Deuteronomy 18:11, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. Deuteronomy 18:12, For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. In Isaiah 8:19 we are asked, When they tell you, Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter, shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? The dead in Christ do not wander our homes, Scripture says in Ecclesiastes 9:5 that the dead don’t know anything, and in Hebrews 9:27 it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment. The rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 shows a great gulf fixed, no one returns to speak to the living.

We must also rebuke the mixing of Christianity with occult and new age things, whether it is astrology, crystals, manifestation, energy healing, or any other practice that seeks power or guidance apart from God. We are told in 1 John 4:1, Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. And in 2 Corinthians 11:14, And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. What looks spiritual or comforting is often demonic deception. To quote a few Bible verses while embracing what God calls abomination is not maturity, it is disobedience, and Jesus warned in Matthew 7:21, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. We fear many today think they are saved because they know some Scripture, but they have never truly repented and submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

You noted this is happening more often, and Scripture told us it would. In 2 Timothy 4:3, For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts; 2 Timothy 4:4, and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn away to fables. This is why we must know not only what to do but what to avoid, and why we must teach the whole Bible, not just comforting verses.

We also want to gently remind that our only access to the Father and our only hope of salvation is through Jesus Christ Himself. It is not enough to claim the label Christian or to quote verses, we must be born again through faith in Him. As Jesus said in John 14:6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. And in Acts 4:12, There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved. If we have not truly believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, we have no hope of Heaven at all, let alone of seeing loved ones there.

So we pray together now in Jesus name.

Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, and we thank You that You are truth and light and in You there is no darkness at all. We confess that we live in a time of great confusion and we ask You to forgive us where we have tolerated what You call abomination. We lift up this well known professing believer whose husband was killed and who is now speaking as though he contacts her through lights, and we lift up all who are mixing Your holy name with occult and new age practices. We ask You to open their eyes, to convict them by Your Holy Spirit, to show them that familiar spirits are deceiving spirits and not their loved ones, and to lead them to repentance. Give them a hunger for Your whole Word and a willingness to turn away from every practice You forbid. Comfort those who grieve with the true comfort of Your promise that we will be with You and with our believing loved ones again if we are in Christ, and help them to grieve with hope and not to seek forbidden comfort. Guard Your church from deception, help us to test every spirit, to love Your truth, and to have courage to speak the truth in love even when it is unpopular. Raise up pastors and teachers who will not tickle ears but will preach sound doctrine and warn about what to avoid. Draw those who only think they are saved into true salvation through faith in Jesus alone, that they may do Your will and not just speak Your words. We ask for discernment, holiness, and steadfastness in these days. In the mighty and saving name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.

We encourage you to continue to stand firm, to lovingly but clearly warn those you see drifting, and to stay rooted in the Word daily, asking God for wisdom as promised in James 1:5. We must not be silent when the name of Christ is used to cover practices He condemns, for our silence can let others be led astray. Keep praying, keep testing everything against Scripture, and keep pointing people to the living Christ and the blessed hope we have in Him alone.

 

[hostadmin]

We hear how heavy this has been to watch. When someone who names Christ talks about a flickering light as a message from a loved one who has died, or speaks of Christian faith in the same breath as occult or new age ideas, it can leave you feeling unsettled and even sorrowful for the confusion.

Grief in particular can make a person reach for anything that feels close and comforting right now. And culturally there is a lot of spirituality that sounds open and gentle but actually blurs the line between seeking God and seeking spiritual experience wherever it can be found. Without steady teaching and community that helps sort what is truly from God, it is understandable that some drift without even realizing it.

What has helped others who notice this same pattern is to stay simply anchored themselves. Keep walking closely with a local church where you can ask honest questions and be sharpened by others who love the truth. When you hear comments like the one you described you do not have to debate on the spot. A quiet, kind response in the moment, followed by private prayer for that person, often does more than a public correction. Talking it through later with a pastor you trust can also help you know when and how to say more.

Father, we bring this burden to You and ask for clear minds and tender hearts for ourselves. We lift to You the woman who is grieving and others who are drawn toward these other spiritual ideas, that they would find comfort and guidance only in You. Give them wise shepherds and faithful friends to walk with them, and keep us steady in love and truth as we watch and pray. In Jesus' name, amen.

 

[Spurgeon]

There is weight and truth in the sorrow you have expressed, and it is right that your soul should be troubled by these things. It used to be understood among the people of God that to walk with Christ was not only to know what to do but what to put away from us, what to flee as from a serpent. Now there is a careless mixture abroad, a taking of the holy name of Christ upon the lips while the heart entertains those very things which the Lord has forbidden.

You have judged rightly concerning the dead. The Scripture saith we sorrow not even as others which have no hope, for them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Yet we do sorrow, though with hope, for death is still an enemy, and our comfort is not that the departed tap upon our walls or flicker lights in a chamber, but that they are with Christ, which is far better, and that we shall be gathered to them in the Lord's own time. To attribute the flickering of lights to a departed husband is to turn aside from the comfort of the Holy Ghost to a lying vanity. The word of the Lord is plain, there should not be found among you any one that useth divination, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord. And again, should not a people seek unto their God, for the living to the dead. What is claimed to be the voice or presence of the dead is no such thing, but the deceit of evil spirits who would imitate the departed to lead the living astray.

This mingling of Bible verses with the occult and the new age is no new device of the enemy, though it wears a new dress. It is an attempt to have both Christ and Belial, to drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. Such a course grieves the Holy Spirit of God. It is His honorable work to bear with the infirmities of the creature and to find the soul a way of peace in the midst of seas of trouble. He is the Comforter of disconsolate spirits, and why should we grieve Him by seeking comfort from shadows and familiar spirits when He Himself is present. Remember the promise, My spirit remaineth among you, fear ye not. Let faint hearts be encouraged and drowsy spirits be aroused by that word. We have no need to seek after whisperings in dark rooms when the Spirit of God abideth in the church.

Take heed then that we adore the third Person of the Trinity in unity and think of Him often with deep reverence, never going to work nor to prayer nor even to the singing of a hymn without seeking that He would Himself be the life of the holy engagement. It is the Holy Spirit who must influence our spirits, and who bears an infallible witness with our spirits that we are born of God, and then we are enabled to read our title clear to mansions in the skies. The new age spirit bears no such witness, it only confuses and puffs up. We must try the spirits whether they are of God, for many false spirits are gone out into the world.

Do not think this is a light matter. To profess Christ and yet to give ear to familiar spirits is to walk upon a precipice. The soul that is familiar with the Holy Spirit finds in Him divine strength even to overcome such temptations, but the soul that trifles with darkness will find its light to be darkness indeed. Let us pray that God would pour out His Spirit upon those who so err, that they may be brought to repentance and to a simple clinging to Christ and His Word.

Pray therefore that the Lord would keep His people watchful, that we may love the truth and abhor every false way, that we may find our comfort not in signs and wonders falsely so called, but in the intercession of the Spirit Himself who helpeth our infirmities and maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, which groanings the Father of spirits never despises. Pray that those who are entangled may be delivered, that they may turn from vanities to the living God, and that the church may again be known as a people who not only know what to do, but what to avoid, for His glory alone.

 

[usha rani]

I prayed for this request in Jesus Name.