divination

contemporary music, divination, false, roma downey

(Updated) Unity is over-inflated. Let’s have more division, please. A report on the CCM free concert "We Will Stand"

Posted on January 22, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

UPDATED. Read the link at the end to see what true unity is.

A live-streamed event is occurring online tonight (and in a real life place venue located in Brentwood, Tennessee) which has the potential to reach 40 million people. It is being billed as a Christian event, but we’ll see more about that in a moment. The event is titled “We Will Stand: An Online Concert” and is promoted as “the greatest night in the history of contemporary Christian music.”

Well. The promoters are not without hubris, to be sure. But first, here is a bit of background on charitable single songs or concerts by super-groups–

Over thirty years ago, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” a song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, was sung by a quickly put-together supergroup. It was written and recorded in reaction to television reports of the 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia. It was sung by a supergroup consisting mainly of the biggest British and Irish musical acts at the time. It was a huge success and raised a lot of money.

In America the next year, We Are the World was sung as a charity single for African relief. It was recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World. Do They Know It’s Christmas, sung by Band-Aid, was a direct inspiration for the single We Are the World. We are the World was very successful. (source)

Cut to thirty years later, and today we have the Contemporary Christian Musician’s attempt at a Do They Know It’s Christmas and We Are the World hit, replicated in “We Will Stand” but minus the charity. According to this article, “Stan Moser, Christian music industry veteran and founder of CCM United, he is seeking to create a “We Are The World” type of moment — but one that ultimately has its greatest impact on the world for Christ.” Yet in an interview about the event, he stated his first goal is to be “part of a historic moment.”

Details about exactly what the group stands united around are not clear, neither in that article or on their website. After reading the lengthy article published on 94 The FIsh radio station’s site, and every page on their own website, I’m still not sure as to what is the message they’ll be bringing, except that they will be “Glorifying God with One Voice and One Mind.” – Romans 15:6 HCSB” and their slogan is, CCM UNITED, ONE MESSAGE. MANY VOICES. (source)

Christian Contemporary Music is not typically known for having a strongly doctrinal Christian message. It’s saturated with sentimentalism, laced with emotion, and has an emphasis on experience. In fact, the organizer of this two-hour concert event happening tonight said the genesis for it was a conversation with God and a mystically intuited moment, sans the bible.

In its pursuit of mysticism and experience, CCM usually repeats one line many times until its choruses become mantra and mindlessness is achieved. Its emphasis is usually on our response to worshiping God rather than God’s attributes and how He expects us to worship Him. CCM artists and music producers have not shown the best discernment regarding handling Christian doctrines in song. Nor have they shown the best discernment in who they partner with.

In addition to all that is the problematic nature of Christianity in general these days. Satan always attempts to re-define commonly understood words, until its original meaning has been twisted away from the biblical original meaning. At issue these days is the issue of Unity.

The bible urges unity within the body in many different verses. Here are just three: Philippians 2:2, 1 Peter 3:8, and 1 Corinthians 1:10. The bible urges the brethren to mark those who cause divisions among us. (Romans 16:17). Originally, Paul meant for the brethren to mark those who are teaching contrary to the doctrines which have been delivered, because confusion divides. However, today it has come to mean mark the brethren that dare to exercise discernment and dividing them. The false teachers aren’t marked out as divisive anymore, that is said to be unloving. Rather, the brethren pointing them out are said to be the divisive ones. What happens is that the false teachers are being protected and the true brethren are marked and shunned as dangerous. Nowadays, unity at the expense of doctrine is sought and seen as desirable, as long as “we agree on the basics.”

The irony is, everyone is divided on just what the basics are, and so everyone gets past any whiff of disagreement by welcoming anyone and everyone as a brother. Unity around nothing is no unity.

Today’s ‘unity’ has also come to mean, unite with Catholics.

CCM’s lack of discernment as revealed repeatedly in their songs is on full display tonight. In addition to the contemporary Christian music they will be playing, appearances will be made by Roma Downey throughout the event. Ms Downey may be remembered for her role in the long-running television series Touched by an Angel, in which she appeared as a female angel. She and her husband Mark Burnett also produced a miniseries several years ago called The Bible, or as the more conservative, doctrinal, discerning Christians like to think of it, as “The-Missing-the-Mark Bible” series due to the fact that Downey and her team re-wrote or twisted many of the biblical events they portrayed in the show. The duo also produced and Downey acted in a theatrical release called Son of God, in which the life of Jesus was portrayed, with Downey playing Jesus’ mother Mary.

Worse still, Ms Downey is a mystic, a Catholic, and a demonic summoner (divination) in which on live television she used a medium to contact and speak with her dead mother.

The bible says of divination, an activity hated by God and expressly forbidden:

When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. (Deuteronomy 18:9-1)

You can read more about the doctrinal problems with the faith that Ms Downey claims to have, which is no faith, here.

And lest one believes that God’s hate for divination is just Old Testament wrath and not relevant to today’s loving Jesus, Paul wrote to the Galatians that anyone practicing sorcery will not gain heaven. (Galatians 5:20)

Now when I say that the CCM artists participating in this event show lack of discernment, there it is in full display.

Worse, also participating in this event is Travis Cottrell, Beth Moore’s band leader. Participating also is LifeWay Christian booksellers- they are donating the live-streaming for it.

If the concert event is donating the proceeds to some sort of charitable organization I’ve missed it. All I’ve been able to determine from quotes like the one above where the organizer said they want to be part of an historic moment, and this quote, that “CCM United was created to deliver the music, the ministry, and the life-changing message of many of the greatest CCM artists of today” and that it is a celebration of 40 years of contemporary Christian music, therefore all I can gather is that the event is just simply a celebration of themselves.

And this would make sense, because much of CCM is about celebrating ourselves. “God look at us worshiping you.” “God look at us singing to you.” “God see how we really, really love you.” Why wouldn’t 30 CCM artists get together and celebrate themselves?

I’m sad that they have partnered with Roma Downey. If they are attempting to get “one message” out, it is this:

Doctrine is not necessary, our version of love is; and mysticism, Catholicism, and divination are hunky dory. No wonder the organizer said five times in the interview that “We Are the World” was his inspiration and catalyst. They definitely are the world. They definitely are.

As for their event, “We Will Stand” I only have scripture to share:

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17)

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The Way of Baalam

Posted on December 20, 2014 by elizabethprata

The bible warns us several times about not going the ‘way of Balaam’. You might remember the incident, where Balaam was a false prophet who was hired by King Balak of Moab to curse Israel. When Balaam’s donkey refused to go any further, and Balaam was beating on it, the donkey spoke! It chided Balaam for not seeing the angel in the road blocking the way.

Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, (2 Peter 2:15)

But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. (Revelation 2:14)

Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. (Jude 1:11)

Micah reminds the People that the Lord defeated King Balak and defeated the sorceries of Balaam. (Micah 6:5)

The Graphics Fairy

We are also reminded of how Balaam came to his end–

They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. (Numbers 31:8).

Because we are reminded so often in scripture about Balaam, we should remember. Balaam was a diviner, who charged fees for divination. (Numbers 22:5,7). Of course Balaam would say what the buyer wanted said, especially if he was the highest bidder.

What he did was seduce the people of Israel into immorality and idolatry. Balaam then represents two things, the covetousness of the false teacher who loves money and the apostate who influences others to sin. (source)

For all those people who refuse to admit that there are false teachers who need calling out, beware. We call them out because they cause divisions. (Romans 16:17). We need to mark and avoid them because they seduce people into immorality and into idolatry. (Revelation 2:14). Immorality and idolatry are sins, and the wages of sin is death. Therefore we say, false teachers kill.

The Graphics Fairy

Pulpit Commentary-

But I have a few things against thee. They are few in comparison with the things commended; but they are very serious; and there must be a sad want of care in the Church at Pergamum to allow such things. These corrupt teachers are alluded to in 2 Peter 2:15 and Jude 1:11. Like Balaam, they debased spiritual gifts to the vilest purposes, and thus became a snare or stumbling block, to others.

The bible is clear- Jesus tolerates neither those who teach falsely, nor those who tolerate false teachers. Both are sin.

demon possession, divination, ouija

"Three American friends hospitalised after becoming ‘possessed’ following Ouija board game in Mexican village" Updated

Posted on June 23, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Updated to include new Answers in Genesis link at bottom

UK Daily Mail reporting today

Three American friends have been taken to hospital after reportedly becoming ‘possessed’ by evil spirits while playing with a Ouija board. Alexandra Huerta, 22, was playing the game with her brother Sergio, 23, and 18-year-old cousin Fernando Cuevas at a house in the village of San Juan Tlacotenco in south-west Mexico. But minutes into it, she apparently started ‘growling’ and thrashing around in a ‘trance-like’ state. Meanwhile, Sergio and Fernando also reportedly started showing signs of ‘possession’, including feelings of blindness, deafness and hallucinations. Paramedics were called to the house and took the trio to hospital, according to Alexandra’s parents.

‘They had involuntary movements and it was difficult to transfer them to the nearest hospital because they were so erratic. ‘It appeared as if they were in a trance-like state, apparently after playing with the Ouija board. ‘They spoke of feeling numbness, double vision, blindness, deafness, hallucinations, muscle spasm and difficulty swallowing.’

Alexandra’s parents said they had called paramedics after a local Catholic priest refused to perform an exorcism on the three because they were not regular churchgoers.

Screen shot from Daily Mail video. Note her clenched hand
and severe restraints. She was alternately growling and laughing

As for the priest refusing to help, it reminded me of this,

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. … Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” (Luke 10:29-31; 36-37)

Demon possession was frequent in the day of Jesus’ incarnation. He cleansed the land by healing and performing miracles and by freeing people of demons. The people of that day knew demons were real and they were all around. (Matthew 4:24, Matthew 8:16, Matthew 15:22, Mark 1:23, Mark 5:16) & etc.).

Undoubtedly they were more frequent during that time because satan opposes Jesus and during the time of His incarnation they would want to oppose him strongly. They knew what was what. (Matthew 8:29).

But demons are real and so is the spirit world. In the Old Testament we read of the magicians who could match miracle for miracle the ones Moses did, to a point. (Exodus 7:9-13).

The very fact that demons can enter human or animal bodies shows they can pass through barriers that would restrict human beings. . . . Demons are not humans; neither are they God. But they are superhuman with superior intelligence and experience and powers. To deny the existence of demons is not skepticism; it only displays ignorance. To be unrealistic about their power is foolhardy. ~ Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology (Chicago: Moody, 1999), p. 186

In the New Testament we read of a demon possessed slave girl who could read fortunes and in so doing had made a lot of money for her masters. (Acts 16:16).

But there the demon possession stops. Right?

Not so fast.

It happened in the Old Testament. It happened in the New Testament. Does it actually happen today? It is my belief that it does. After reading the account of the legion of demons being sent into the pigs of Gadara, S. Lewis Johnson said in his sermon The Present Activity of the Great Dragon and His Demons

And this calls, I think, for a separate consideration of the question of the demons and demon possession. And so, tonight we are going to devote our time of study to the question of demons and demon possession. That such a thing exists is clear to all who accept the Bible. And I began tonight by reading these passages so that you would have no question in your mind but that the Bible speaks of demons and demon possession. Now, regardless of what we may think about it, we will have to agree that the Bible speaks of demons and it speaks of demon possession. And it speaks of demon possession as something different from insanity. It is not just an ancient way of referring to a modern phenomenon as some have attempted to say. It is a very real thing, apparently, and it is something different from insanity. So, the Bible speaks about demon possession.

Now, does it exist in modern times? Capitol D – In modern times. Now, there is no question but that some restraint exists over the activities of the demons outwardly in Christian lands. I would rather think that this is an expression of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2 in verse 7 in which the Apostle Paul refers to the fact that there is a “restrainer” in the present time who is restraining the manifestation of the man of sin. And so, there is restraint of sin today. And it is done, apparently, in order that the work of God may be carried out to its certain conclusion.

But, even though there is restraint, I personally feel that on the basis of the evidence that we possess that it can be said that demonic activity, demonic possession does exist today. It exists, often, as it is manifested in spiritualistic phenomena. We only have to think of Bishop Pike and his beliefs and practices with regard to the spirit world to see a manifestation of it, in my opinion.

I have the same opinion. I believe actual demon possession occurs today. I would venture to guess that because of Jesus’ triumph of the cross, and having made a spectacle of the demons and of satan, (Colossians 2:15) they are MORE intent than ever on grabbing as many souls as possible.

In the book “War on the Saints”, the authors speak of possession this way, as having three possibilities.

“The needed degree for ground given to an evil spirit in order to possess, cannot be clearly defined, but that there is-
1. sin without evil possession
2. sin which opens the door to possession
3. sin which is unmistakably the result of possession

The bible is extremely clear that active involvement of any of the supernatural divination such as fortune telling, seeking to speak with the dead, summoning spirits, spell casting, astrology, or any other type of such activity, is strictly banned. Do not do it.

Planchette from 1920s-1930s

Ouija (wee-gee) is a ‘game’; where people place their fingertips on a heart shaped piece called a planchette that hovers on short legs over a game board. The board has letters, numbers, a few words, like ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and also some symbols. The seekers prepare the space, say an incantation, and ask a question to the spirits, and supposedly the heart shaped piece moves of its own accord over each letter, spelling out an answer.

The practice of it has been going on for a long time. In Hosea 4:12 we read that the pagans and even the Israelites used to ask questions of a piece of wood, a divining rod as it were (much like today when supernatural people use a diving rod to find water. The rod is held over the land and the piece of wood supposedly leads them to water and then quivers over the spot when it finds it.) Divination simply means seeking knowledge or attempting to gain insight by asking it of the divine realms. Diviners are trying to gain knowledge that is purposely hidden,

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Attempting to gain information by going around God instead of to God is a disobedience of the highest order. In addition, everything He wants to be revealed to us is already revealed, in the bible.

There is only one way to seek supernatural knowledge safely, and that is to read the bible, where the only true information from the Divine and about the Divine comes from. Anyway, here is Hosea 4:12,

My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played the harlot, departing from their God.

And there is the main point- when one is involved in any of the above-forbidden activities such as divination, one is NOT seeking God, but seeking satan, the one who opposes God. You are making a choice to depart from God. Therefore, adhering to only the knowledge God gave us is mandatory. Entering the realms of the demons means a person will be deceived, or worse. The demons could possess.

John MacArthur preached on Demons and Magic. He spent a good deal of time laying out examples from the then-culture (1973), including the origins of the massively successful best seller Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach. Bach said many times that he was delivered the book by a force that took him over and whispered it to him. (Exactly like Sarah Young in Jesus Calling and Beth Moore in When Godly People Do Ungodly Things). MacArthur said,

Now, all of that I’m only saying so that you understand that this whole thing of the demonic activity is not something to laugh off, and it’s not something to poopah. It’s something very real, very active…Demons are active in what they’re communicating on paper. They’re active in what they’re doing through black magic, through white magic. They’re working in religion. They’re working everywhere. Why? Because in the universe, there’s a basic conflict. God is supernatural, but so is Satan. Satan is not as powerful as God, but he is nevertheless supernatural. He is beyond our senses, and he is doing everything he can to capture men, and if he can work supernatural wonders to hold men captive, he’ll do it.

Engaging in such a forbidden sin as divination is a sin that opens the door to possession. When one engages in it if they are not a Christian, things go from bad to worse pretty quickly.

The heart of every unconverted sinner is the devil’s palace, where he dwells, and where he rules. ~Matthew HenryReturn of an Unclean Spirit
“When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ “And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. “Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.” (Luke 11:24-26)

Salvation is the only protection from possession! Become the Lord Jesus Christ’s treasured possession today.

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; (Exodus 19:5)

We Christians are grafted in to that treasure held so dear by our God.

It breaks my heart to read of children and young adults such as the three Americans in Mexico overcome by such deep evil. It is a cold and dark and lonely place to be, drowning in the depths of sins, with no future ahead unless they become saved by the grace of Jesus. The salvation by the grace of Jesus IS the universe’s mightiest rescue!

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Update on fortune telling class

Posted on June 18, 2012 by elizabethprata

I wrote yesterday about a situation that we have become aware of at our local library. A two-part class aimed at teenagers ages 12-18 was to be held on the subject of interpreting dreams, palm reading, and fortune telling.

Praise the Lord, the Library cancelled the class! Thank YOU for your prayers and concern!! Children were protected. Jesus’ name was proclaimed in the secular arena. It is all good.

I can’t overstress how serious the sin of divination is. (Explanation on what divination is at above link). Attempting to obtain information about our destiny, or about the other side apart from God revealing it to us is a horrific rebellion that He hates. He has called it an abomination, and forbids it in many scriptures in the Old Testament and the New.

Remember when Saul was told by God to kill all the Amalekites and their goods and cattle, but Saul coveted the cattle. His pride in victory over the fierce Agag pushed Saul to let Agag live and Saul took the cattle too. God was angry. He immediately rejected Saul as King. God said,

“For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.” (1 Sam 15:23)

God likened Saul’s outright disobedience to divination. Of course, both of those sins, rebellion and divination, are both acts that people perpetrate outside of God’s bounds.

As for the fortune telling, I had had enough. I drew the line. As Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Captain of the Starship Enterprise famously said:

“I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We’ve made too many compromises already, too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther! And I will make them pay for what they’ve done!”

Of course God will punish, not me. One can only take a quote metaphor so far. But the line was drawn for me on this subject of fortune telling, palm reading, etc. No farther! We must protect our children. We must stand up for Jesus!

I listened to Stand up, Stand Up for Jesus today. I looked into the writing of that old hymn. Here is the story: Episcopalian Reverend Dudley A. Tyng (1825-1858) was a dynamic preacher known for taking strong stands against evil, no matter what the cost. His sermon regarding the evils of slavery in America is still in print today. This sermon resulted in him being removed from one of his pastorates. On Tuesday, March 30, 1858, Tyng preached a sermon on Exodus 10:11, “Go now ye that are men and serve the Lord”, at a YMCA noon mass meeting. Tyng delivered his message to 5,000 men that day. More than 1,000 of those men responded to the altar call, to receive Jesus as their Savior. Just over a week later, Tyng lay dying as a result of a tragic accident. His final statement, whispered to friends and family, was “Let us all stand up for Jesus.”

Now we just have to remain vigilant around here that the class doesn’t re-appear!

We all have our line in the sand. We make too many retreats. We make too many compromises. I will not sacrifice the children. I have nothing to fear wading into the battle, because Jesus is my Commander in Chief. And He has already won.