Bible Word of the Day
Divination and Magic (Magic, Spirit World, Divining the Future)
Meaning
Divination, magic and communication with the spirit world is nothing new. It was a common practice throughout the Biblical period, especially in Old Testament times. And many of the Old Testament practices were carried over into New Testament times by people groups who did not know God. So it was fairly common in the Mediterranean basin along with the worship of idols and ancestors. And it not only continues today, but is making a comeback in various forms. The word divination encompasses a whole assortment of magic and supernatural practices. Including spells, magic, practices to tell the future as well as techniques to communicate with the spirit world or the dead. As well as getting in touch with natural forces, we believe, are just part of nature. And in our modern culture, it includes things like monsters, vampires, werewolves and zombies.
In general, it includes all types of practices to obtain information or abilities via supernatural means that otherwise would be unavailable to us by human nature. This also includes things like curses and spells meant to control external forces, events or people. And this would also include things like substituting God with nature, idols and other gods. This also includes replacing God with humanism, such as we see in atheism. We can also see this creeping into the churches in the form of “prophetic readings” and “spiritual readings.”
What’s important for us to understand is we do not live in a purely physical world. The “real world” around us operates on both a physical and spiritual plane. The Bible goes so far as to tell us that the real battles we face are not the conflicts of flesh and blood, but rather the spiritual battles which occur in heavenly places. In other words the real power and influence which drives the actions of mankind first take place in the spiritual realm. They occur there before they are ever carried out in the physical realm. This is such an important concept for us to understand. Because this means that everything else other than God and Christ is demonic. It’s that simple there is no gray area and there is no neutral ground. Either we are with God, which means we accept Christ or we are not. This is why God in His word expressly prohibits contact and involvement in the spiritual realm. This includes things we think are benign such as contacting dead relatives, cultural ancestor worship or getting in touch with “mother nature.”
“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ‘or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord.” (Book of Deuteronomy 18:10-12)
“I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. ‘And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. ‘But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ ‘And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” (Book of Deuteronomy 18:18-22)
“But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great. And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money ‘You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.” (Book of Acts 8:9,11, 14-21)