She should have known – pt. 2

Why call the Psychic Hotline "Hot"?

Psychics, astrologers, fortune-tellers, soothsayers, palm-readers--the Holy Scriptures condemns them all as rejected alternatives to trusting in the One whose will guides the direction of careening time and fate.

The Lord commanded the Israelites: "Do not practice divination or sorcery" (Lev. 19:26). He warned, "Let no one be found among you who . . . practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. . . . You must be blameless before the Lord your God" (Deut. 18:10-13).

The Israelites did not always obey these prohibitions. In times of religious apostasy, they turned to divination and witchcraft for guidance (2 Kings 17:17; 21:6). God punished them severely for these and other sins.

Some of the means ancient fortune-tellers used were different than those of today. They would slit open a goat and examine its liver or other organs. Nearly any unusual natural occurrence--lightning, an earthquake, the cries or flights of birds, an intense rain storm, the movement of snakes and mice--was seen as an omen. Astrologers, then as now, attempted to predict the future by the alignment of planets and stars.

Our trust is not in some huckster's claim to be able to predict the future. We trust Him who promises to work all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. What is His purpose? To conform us to the likeness of His Son (Rom. 8:28-29).

No matter what else happens, if we are becoming more like Jesus, we are overjoyed, and in that joy we yield control of our future to Him who loves us and has promised to be our Father and Friend for ever and ever.