Jeremiah 29:11-13 NKJV — For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
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Fortune cookies, we’ve seen them before, we crack them open and read the messages inside, “A fresh start will put you on your way,” or how about, “A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something,” we chuckle and show others the message and go on with our dinner and lives not giving the so called, “fortune” a second thought. For many the “fortunes” we read from the cookies or horoscope websites are not taken seriously but for others it’s as serious as it could be.
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There was a time when anyone took a drive to a city’s red light district you would see a neon sign like the one pictured above. Now, in the new millennium, psychics, palm readers and fortune-tellers can be found online, in quiet neighborhoods and almost anywhere including churches, yes, Christian based churches. The question being asked is why is this happening? Even more surprising is where it is happening.
Atlanta, Georgia
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Matthew 24:4-5 NKJV — And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
Atlanta, Georgia, home of the 1996 Summer Olympics and in recent years it also has become the new Southeast home for Hollywood, attracting all kinds of people from all walks of life. With the influx of new residents in the metro Atlanta area many churches have opened their doors with outreach programs to recruit new members for their congregations. Outreach is very important for these churches. Ministering to the homeless, youth, low income families and those who are looking for hope in a world of trouble. Good programs for most but to what lengths are churches willing to take to attract new members? One church in SW Atlanta has taken a step that some would say is very questionable.
Vision Church – Atlanta, Georgia
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With a mission statement that proclaims, “…to equip the people of God to achieve their personal and corporate destiny.” Vision Church of Atlanta, Georgia has added a psychic medium to their staff. Lakara Foster, who claims she has the ability to talk with the dead, is now a licensed minister at the church. Foster is also the face of a YouTube series called “The Gift” and believes God has given her the “gift” of psychic abilities but the Bible says something different about where this so called “gift” comes from, still, Foster believes she has a compelling reason for a medium in the church.
“What a lot of people don’t know is I express an extraordinary gift. Now, I don’t call it anything, but some people may refer to it as a psychic or a medium,” she says in a YouTube video. Foster said she asked God why He gave her the ability to talk to the dead. She believes God gave her a clear answer, “God said, ‘I promise my people eternal life. How will they know if I kept my promise if the medium doesn’t demonstrate the gift?'” she claims. Foster holds a doctorate of ministry from the Interdenominational Theological Center. She wrote her thesis on what she believes is the biblical case for ministers who speak to the dead.
The Word of God has a different view than what Foster interprets, “I’ve been sent to the people that I’m supposed to connect with and give these readings to because really it’s about closure, healing, and peace….My doctoral work is based on James 1:17 which says, ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above.’ Meaning that all of our gifts are good and the universe is not going to be our moral compass for us to decide to use those gifts for good or for evil, you decide that,” she says. The problem with her interpretation of James 1:17 is that there is no mention of the universe or people deciding how to use the “gifts.” The verse clearly states, “Every good gift and every perfect gift” but also the book of James gives us a warning in verse 16;
James 1:16-17 NKJV — Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Lakara Foster also has an interest in African spiritualism and hopes to bring that to Christianity. She explained, “I really wanted to understand my gift from the intersections of Afrocentrism and Christianity, and why the church believes this gift should not be considered a spiritual gift among those listed in the Bible.”
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The Bible does not consider conjuring up spirits a spiritual gift. In fact, God warns the children of Israel in Deuteronomy not to get involved in the pagan practices of conjuring up the dead;
Deuteronomy 18:9-12 NKJV — “When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. “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, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.
In Leviticus, God issues a similar warning;
Leviticus 20:6 NKJV — ‘And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.
The Apostle Paul also had to deal with an annoyance and in Acts 16:16-19 it tells us of a woman who was a fortune-teller, but she could only do it because she was possessed by a demon. Whatever the leaders of the Vision Church in Atlanta have in mind is difficult to grasp when they are dealing with “gifts” that are clearly not of God.
The word “psychic” is derived from the Greek word psychikos (“of the mind” or “mental”), and refers in part to the human mind or psyche (ex. “psychic turmoil”). The Greek word also means “soul”. In Greek mythology, the maiden Psyche was the deification of the human soul. The word derivation of the Latin psȳchē is from the Greek psȳchḗ, literally “breath”, derivative of psȳ́chein, to breathe or to blow. Psychics have soulish impulses that come primarily from demon spirits. That’s where all this comes from. There are some people who have a natural psychic feeling, but a prophet is hearing from the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God touches the spirit of man, whereas demonic forces do not touch your spirit. What they do is touch your soul. Because of this, whatever or whomever the psychics, fortune-tellers and palm readers are feeling or listening to is not God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. God is very clear about the fate of people who dwell in this evil activity;
Leviticus 20:26-27 NKJV — ‘And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine. ‘A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.’ ”
We must be thankful that we live under grace because if we lived under the old testament law we would like a boat, without a paddle, heading over the waterfall but we must pay attention to the words of Jesus when He said, “Take heed that no one deceives you.” Powerful words from a powerful Saviour. No one can tell you what the future holds, only God knows and if we put our trust in Jesus then our future and fortune are safe and undoubtedly a sure thing.
John 14:1-4 NKJV — “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. “And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
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