by Elder Peter Lim

Ever since I was a small child, one of my favorite movies to watch has been “The Sound of Music” starring Julie Andrews. Without going into a detailed description of the story, one of the songs has the words “Nothing comes from nothing / nothing ever could / Somewhere in my youth or childhood / I must’ve done something good.” This song is sung in the context that since something good is happening to Fraulein Maria now, she must have done something good in her past. She is a candidate to be a Catholic nun, but this kind of logic is more in line with the oriental idea of Karma, that something should happen because of something that happened in the past. On the other hand, maybe something bad might happen since something good happened in the past as in the idea that yin and yang must balance itself out in order to have peace and harmony in the universe. This idea is even propagated in science fiction stories such as Star Wars as the “chosen one” will bring “balance” to the force. Some people who would consider themselves to be Christians no doubt believe in this and other pseudo-religious ideas of how the world works to a some degree without thinking twice about how they may conflict with Biblical truths. I wanted to examine ourselves to see if we are possibly in danger of mixing and injecting non-Christian ideas into our everyday lives, usually without even realizing it.

Many people minimize the dangers associated with unbiblical thinking. Some examples of this include: superstitions (black cats, broken mirrors, knocking on wood, good luck charms), wishing upon a star, wishing wells, or even something as innocuous as making a wish while blowing out the candles on a birthday cake or having fun with fortune cookies or a Magic 8-Ball. It sounds a lot worse if we are talking about Ouija® Boards, astrology, voodoo dolls, or casting spells. Pastor Patrick wrote an excellent article a few weeks ago regarding the Chinese Astrological roots to certain websites that claim to be able to foretell a baby’s gender. Most people who look at that stuff claim that it’s just entertainment, but almost in the same breath they would claim that it has a high success rate. Well which is it? Is it purely for entertainment or are you dabbling in the occult? Let’s not forget that demonic activity and spiritual warfare are for real. The more “accurate” something like that is (that’s not based on real science), the more you should stay away from it. We should not be surprised when divination produces accurate results. (Acts 16:16)

Deut. 18:9-14 says:

When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.
There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,
or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.
For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.
You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.
For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.

As they are about to enter the promised land, the children of Israel are warned not be like the heathen. It is no accident that people have always relied on things such as astrology to “guide” their decision making because the enemy will use anything that prevents people from relying on God and the values taught in His Word. All Satan has to do is give a little bit of credibility to any other system and people are willing to put their faith in something other than God. We Christians must not dabble in these detestable things which usurp God’s authority and guidance. Instead, we are to put our faith in the firm foundation of His Word which He has given to us. There are things that have been revealed to us and things that are kept secret. We need to learn to place our faith in God and trust that He will reveal things in His time.

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law. (Deut. 29:29)