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Transcript 151B — Diviners, Mediums and False Prophets
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes. Brother Camping, I need to ask you a question. What is the New Testament position on divination?
HC: The New Testament position on divination is found in the Old Testament, simply because the New Testament insists that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. That's a New Testament verse. And in the Old Testament, it says in Deuteronomy 18 that one who divines is an abomination to God.
More than that, those who divine, who try to foretell the future, apart from what they read in the Bible, are believing that they are receiving a message from God. And in Revelation 22:18 God says, "If anyone adds to the words of this book, I will add to him the plagues written herein." In other words, it's impossible to actually receive information from God apart from the Bible, once the Bible was completed.
Therefore we can readily begin to see that anyone who claims to divine the future, to be able to know the future, apart from the Bible, is not being used of God. He is being used of some other source.
CALLER: Four weeks ago I met a pastor, a real pastor. And he told a group of us, Brother Camping, these words: "I am a trance medium. I can leave my body at will and visit other places. I have contact with the other side. My grandmother came to me and visited me, and we talked. And she promised me that I would get a car. And sure enough, the next morning I got the very car that my grandmother told me I would." Would you comment on that?
HC: Yes. Just because, first of all, someone is a pastor does not mean that he is of God. Jesus speaks, for example, in Matthew 24:24 of "false prophets and false christs, who will come with signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect." There are plenty of pastors around who are not of God. The only people who are of God are those who hold only to the Bible as the Word of God.
Now there is of course an occult world, composed of Satan and his evil spirits, the fallen angels. And Satan does give individuals insights into the future. Now he's not always right, because God can circumvent Satan. But apparently Satan does have some access or some way of looking into the future. And he is able to convey that information to individuals. But any kind of occult activity is listening to Satan rather than listening to God. And so we are to have nothing at all to do with that.
CALLER: All right. The final thing is, he said, well, he really has a going church. And he said, "I prayed for a new organ, and God spoke in an audible voice and said, 'Yes.'" And he got it, Brother Camping. He said, "I prayed for a new Steinway piano, and God answered 'Yes' audibly." And he got it. And the last thing he asked God for was a telephone. They didn't have a telephone, and the people said they couldn't afford it. And he asked God for a telephone and now he has three. And he said, "Brethren, if you don't believe it, you can come in the church and look at them. They're there." And many people will testify that he has actually stood up in his congregation and told them what was going to happen, and it happened. He has blessings, and a lot of people follow him.
HC: It may be that these things are happening, but that doesn't mean he is of God. Let me read to you from Deuteronomy 13, where God speaks about a very similar condition. Before I read this, let me emphasize that when we hold something to be the Word of God, and we want to be obedient to it, we are worshipping the God who has given that particular document. In other words, if I look at the Bible and I say, "That's the Word of God and I want to be obedient to it," effectively I am worshipping the God who has given it.
By the same token, if I receive a vision or hear a voice, or whatever, and I am convinced that it is from God, and I want to be obedient to what I saw in that vision, then I am worshipping the god who has given me this vision.
Now in Deuteronomy 13 God warns thusly, beginning in verse 1: "If a prophet arises among you." Okay, mow "a prophet arises among you" means that it's someone of your own people. And he claims to declare God's Word. That's what a prophet is. "If a prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams [notice the immediate focus there is on someone who holds to dreams] and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder which he tells you comes to pass [notice how legitimate he is], And if he says, 'Let us go after other gods which you have not known [in other words, let us listen to the voice of other sources of divine truth than the Bible, if you really want to put it in the language of today] and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him ant cleave to Him."
You see, God in these days is allowing this to happen, and through this God is testing congregations. Are they going to listen to the Bible, or are they going to listen to that which purports to be divine truth from other sources?
CALLER: Amen! Well, Brother Camping, are there prophets today?
HC: Yes. Every born again believer is a prophet. Now in the widest application a prophet is someone who declares God's Word. And whenever we witness to someone concerning the Word of God, we are acting in a prophetic capacity. Now a lot of times we think of a prophet as someone who can foretell the future. Now of course we can to some degree.
When we witness to someone and we tell him, "Judgment Day is coming," we are foretelling the future, aren't we, because that is a future event. It hasn't happened as yet. But we have received our information from the Bible.
CALLER: Amen. What is a trance medium? I've never found it in the dictionary.
HC: Well, I don't exactly know the meaning of any of those words because I have no interest in becoming involved in that kind of an activity. But from your description, he claims that he is able to speak with the dead. Now obviously he cannot speak with the dead, that is, dead people. Dead people go down to a place of silence, the Bible says. But he can talk to those who are spiritually dead angels, those who have rebelled against God and have become the helpers of Satan. And they will mimic dead people. They will deceive such individuals into thinking that they are speaking to dead loved ones. And in this way these individuals are bound more tightly than ever by Satan.
CALLER: What shall I do for this brother? He's serious. What is a Christian's responsibility, other than to pray for him?
HC: All you can do is pray for him, and pray that God might give you an opportunity to open the Word to him. But he is convinced that he belongs to God, that God is doing this work through him. And my guess is that he will not listen to you at all. He'll simply say, "Well, you don't understand." And so remember, his sin is not against you. His sin is against God. Because you love your fellow man, you can pray for him. And it is only God who can make a difference in his life. There's nothing that you really can do, except to pray for him.