Leviticus 19:31
Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.
In the book of Leviticus Moses wrote down the holy laws of God. Many of the laws were given that the Israelites would be distinct from other nations, that they would not make themselves unclean. Other laws were written that God's people would honor His Lordship by doing what He says. Leviticus 19:31 is a law for all of God's people.
Christians are commanded by God not to seek out mediums or spiritists or to practice divination, the act of contacting spiritis or the dead. The LORD abhores witchcraft, and He has consigned those who practice the magic arts "to the fiery lake of burning sulfur" (Revelation 21:8). God says, "I will set My face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them" (Leviticus 20:6). Another command God gives His people is this, "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD" (Dueteronomy 18:10-12).
I bring all this up, because this is the time when people most seek out these dark acts. This is the time when Christians can suddenly become complacent with the ways of the wicked. We, as believers, should not be complacent with this stuff, no matter how unassuming it seems. One of the most unassuming things that leads people to follow spiritists or become mediums themselves is the ouija board.
What is a ouija board, if not a tool for summoning spirits and the dead? What's someone who uses that tool, if not a spiritist? I call out the ouija board specifically, because it is popular and it appears harmless. It is sold on store shelves next to other board games. The ouija board, though, is not like other board games. It represents something wicked; something that Christians should avoid.
It's not easy avoiding something like a ouija board, when the people next to you are playing with it. I know what it's like to be in a room (for me it was a graveyard) where everyone else is using that tool, and telling you to just join in with them. They might say, "Oh, it's harmless. It's just some fun." They might even get more serious and tell you, "Don't be an unbeliever. Just join us." It's tough when you, as a believer, are being peer pressured into doing something like that, something wicked that others endorse as simple fun. When we, as believers, are peer pressured like this, we need to remember the Israelites and how their fellow nations told them to seek out mediums in order to have greater knowledge. They experienced great peer pressure, but they were reminded by the prophet Isaiah, "When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?" (Isaiah 8:19). When you're being peer pressured into playing with something like a ouija board, and everyone's telling you it's just harmless fun, ask yourself, "If that board worked, would it still be harmless?"
What is a ouija board, if not a tool for summoning spirits and the dead? What's someone who uses that tool, if not a spiritist? I call out the ouija board specifically, because it is popular and it appears harmless. It is sold on store shelves next to other board games. The ouija board, though, is not like other board games. It represents something wicked; something that Christians should avoid.
It's not easy avoiding something like a ouija board, when the people next to you are playing with it. I know what it's like to be in a room (for me it was a graveyard) where everyone else is using that tool, and telling you to just join in with them. They might say, "Oh, it's harmless. It's just some fun." They might even get more serious and tell you, "Don't be an unbeliever. Just join us." It's tough when you, as a believer, are being peer pressured into doing something like that, something wicked that others endorse as simple fun. When we, as believers, are peer pressured like this, we need to remember the Israelites and how their fellow nations told them to seek out mediums in order to have greater knowledge. They experienced great peer pressure, but they were reminded by the prophet Isaiah, "When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?" (Isaiah 8:19). When you're being peer pressured into playing with something like a ouija board, and everyone's telling you it's just harmless fun, ask yourself, "If that board worked, would it still be harmless?"
The Christian answer to witches and mediums and sorcerers and charmers and necromancers and the users of omens and divination and ouija boards or anything like that...is not that such things are unreal or impossible...but that you should not, in any case, participate in them. They are evil.
- John Piper
Know this: it's not just harmless fun, because there are spirits out there and they want to contact you and destroy your life. John writes to his followers, "test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). The word John uses for "spirits" here is πνεύματι (pneumati). This is the same word used in Luke 4:33-37, where "there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit (πνεύματι)." Why would John write about testing spirits, if it was not possible for people to contact them and be contacted by them? John then also writes, "This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God" (1 John 4:2-3). What if someone just playing around with a ouija board did get contacted by an evil spirit not from God? What if they started listening to that spirit? It could wreck their life.
Playing with a ouija board is not a joke to God and it shouldn't be one to us believers. Christians shouldn't believe anyone who tells them that using a ouija board, divinating with tarot cards or practicing magic arts is harmless fun. Don't fool yourself. It is written, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness" (2 Timothy 2:19). Let's do as God says and avoid this junk.
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