All humanity is rapidly moving toward adopting one of two basic beliefs regarding the human condition:1) Theism – the belief in a single god as creator and ruler of the universe. Of the world’s great religions, only Islam, Judaism, and Christianity hold this view. 2) Divination – foretelling future events or finding paranormal/occult knowledge outside the five, physical senses. Hinduism and Buddhism are classic examples of this. If one considers the New Age a “religion” it is also a religion of divination.
I am purposely leaving out atheism. Empiricists believe in nothing they can’t reduce to rationalism. Their numbers may be growing in the West, but in terms of a competing worldview they are still a relatively small portion of individuals. In simple terms the competing beliefs of theism and divination can be reduced to the following:
- Theism worships a deity who having created all that exists, including human beings, is now transcendent, apart from His creation and is a personal moral judge of the soul’s destination after death.
- Divination is the search for meaning in a predictable source of knowledge that is known only to those who follow its system, such as astrology, palmistry, Bazi (Four Pillars of Destiny), Shamanism, geomancy (divination by the lines of geographical features), feng shui, tarot, runes, etc. Divination’s view of the afterlife is generally based on reincarnation, spiritualism, karma, or some form of the soul’s survival beyond death with no ultimate destination of a heaven or a hell.
The Bible is clear about the demonic inspiration of divination. Deuteronomy 18:10 pronounces judgment on all those who “interpret omens.” Isaiah 47:13 mocks astrology and all prognosticators as being unable to avoid judgment for sin. In fact, all divination is lumped into a single biblical category: witchcraft, a capital crime in ancient Israel.
To all those who willfully or ignorantly reject Christ by indulging in crystals, reiki, enneagrams, yoga, I Ching, dream catchers, mediumship, mindful meditation, fire walking, etc. ad nauseum, the choice is simple. Place your trust in a personal deity who is omnipresent and omnipotent, who has personally revealed himself through the incarnation of Christ; or embark on the endless search of the religious buffet of divination. Deity or divination, God or the devil. Which will it be?
