And should men say to you, 'Consult ghosts
and wizards that whisper and mutter'
by all means a people must consult its gods
and on behalf of the living, consult the dead.
To obtain a revelation and a testimony,
without doubt this is how they will talk
since there is no dawn for them. - Isaiah 8:19-20 -
Thrown down - you will speak from the ground,
your words will come muffled by dust.
Your voice will rise from the earth like a ghost's,
you will speak from the dust in a whisper. - Is. 29:4 -
Spiritism. - The word for spiritist always appears with witch. The root of the word in Hebrew is the verb 'to know'. In modern English wizard means someone very wise or inventive, a very clever or skillful person. In the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, it is always a forbidden thing, a kind of black magic. This is why most modern versions translate the word as spiritist, fortune-teller, sorcerer, astrology or in pleasing definition but God's forbids this practices.
But the legacy for cowards, for those who break their word or worship obscenities and fornicators, and for fortune-tellers, idolaters or any other sort of liars, is the second death in the burning lake of sulphur. - Rev. 21:8 -
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Happy are those who will have washed their robes clean, so that they will have the right to feed on the tree of life and can come through the gates into the city. These others must stay outside: dogs, fortune-tellers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and everyone of false speech and false life. - Rev. 22:13-15 -
Magic. - The Hebrew word translated as magic appears in connection with Egyptian Babylonian magicians. The first cluster of verses relates to Joseph in Egypt - Gen. 41:8-24 - the second appears in connection with the plagues - Ex. 7:11 to 9:11 - and the third deals with Daniel, the prophet and the various government supported magicians of Babylon.
The king Nebuchadnezzar coversed with them and among all the boys found none to equal Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So they became members of the king's court, and on whatever point of wisdom or information he might question them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom. - Daniel 1:19-21 -
In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, he had a series of dreams; his mind was troubled, sleep deserted him. The king then had magicians and enchanters, sorcerers and Chaldaeans summoned to tell the king what his dreams meant....... The question the king asks is difficult and no one can find the king an answer to it, except the gods whose dwelling is not with creatures of flesh. At this the king flew into a rage and ordered all the Babylonians sages killed, search was made for Daniel and his companions to have them put to death...and Daniel went off to ask the king for a stay of execution to give him the opportunity of revealing his interpretation to the king. Daniel then went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah what had happened, urging them to beg the God of heaven to show his mercy in this mysterious affair, so that Daniel and his friends might be spared the fate of the other Babylonian sages. The mystery was then revealed to Daniel in a night-vision and Daniel blessed the God of heaven............The great God has shown the king what is to take place. The dream is true, the interpretation exact.
At this, king Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel; he gave orders for Daniel to be offered an oblation and a fragrant sacrifices. The king said to Daniel, 'Your god must be the God of gods, the master of kings, and the Revealer of Mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery'. - Daniel 2:1-47 - 5:10-12 -
This term is never used in connection with the nation of Israel, so apparently it was not a threat or a temptation. In all Old Testament contexts the effectiveness of magicians is underscored.
Magic actually comes from a Greek word which appears several times in the New Testament. Simon the sorcerer is one example and Elymas the sorcerer is another.
Now a man called Simon had already practiced magic arts in the town and astounded the Samaritan people. He had given it out that he was someone momentous and everyone believed what he said; eminent citizens and ordinary people alike had declared, 'He is the divine power that is called 'Great'. They had only been won over to him because of the long time he had spent working on them with his magic. But when they believed Philip's preaching of the Good News about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women, and even Simon himself became a believer. After baptism Simon who went round constantly with Philip, was astonished when he saw wonders and great miracles that took place.
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, and they went down there, and prayed for the Samaritians to receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet he had not come down on any of them: they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the imposition of hands by the apostles, he offered them some money. 'Give me the same power' he said, 'so that anyone I lay hands on will receive the Holy Spirit'. Peter answered, 'May your silver be lost forever and you with it, for thinking that money could buy what God has given for nothing! You have no share, no rights in this: God can see how your heart is wraped. Repent of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord; you may still be forgiven for thinking as you did; it is plain to me that you are trapped in the bitterness of gall and the chains of sin'. 'Pray to the Lord for me yourselves' Simon replied, so that none of the things you have spoken about may happen to me. - Acts 8:9-24 -
They travelled the whole length of the island and at Paphos they came in contact with a Jewish magician called Bar-jesus. This false prophet was one of the attendants of the proconsul Sergius Paulus who was an extremely intelligent man. The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul/Paul and asked to hear the word of God, but Elymas Magos - as he was called in Greek - tried to stop them so as to prevent the proconsul's conversion to the faith. Then Saul, whose other name is Paul, looked at him full in the face and said, 'You utter fraud, you impostor, you son of the devil, you enemy of all true religion, why don't you stop twisting the straight-forward ways of the Lord? Now watch how the hand of the Lord will strike you: you will be blind and for a time you will not see the sun. That instant, everything went misty and dark for him and he groped about to find someone to lead him by the hand. The proconsul who had watched everything became a believer, being astonished by what he had learnt about the Lord. - Acts 13:6-12 -
They may have been something like the 'itinerant Jewish exorcists' also mentioned in the Book of Acts who attempted to drive evil spirits out of people in the name of Jesus.
But some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried pronouncing the name of the Lord Jesus over people who were possessed by evil spirits; they used to say, 'I command you by the Jesus whose spokesman is Paul'. Among those who did this were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest. The evil spirit replied, 'Jesus I recognise and I know who Paul is but who are you?' and the man with the evil spirit hurled himself at them and overpowered first one and then another and handled them so violently that they fled from that house naked and badly mauled. Everybody in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, heard about this episode; they were all greatly impressed and the name of the Lord Jesus came to be held in great honour.
Some believers, too, came forward to admit in detail how they had used spells and a number of them who had practiced magic collected their books and made a bonfire of them in public. The value of these was calculated to be fifty thousand silver pieces. - Acts 19:13-19 -
Page 2
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
No comments:
Post a Comment