Fast Facts on False Teachings

The Occult

Introduction

Third-graders in California were taught to visualize a personal spirit guide in the form of an animal, then had to write about their occult experience with this creature for a public bulletin-board display. Oregon students were seated in the order of their astrological signs for a Winter Solstice celebration as the "sun god" and "moon goddess" entered the auditorium accompanied by chanting and the beating of drums. "Celebrating Winter Solstice with 'dance around the Solstice tree' is one of the Anti-Bias Curriculum’s suggested alternatives to Christmas.

Those who bring the occult into education are highly honored. Occult psychologist Jean Houston was named "Educator 0f the Year" in 1984-85 by the National Teachers Education Association (NEA) and by the National Catholic Educators. Lamar Alexander, Education Secretary under President Bush, confessed that the book that influenced his thinking the most in the last ten years was A God Within, by Rene Dubos, in which Dubos says that "our salvation depends upon our ability to create a religion of nature... suited to... modern man.''

A Montana mother discovered that her fourth-grader's class was to pretend it was part of a mythical Indian tribe. The children were to imagine themselves going on a quest "alone in the wilderness... to prove to their tribe "that they are worthy of being considered adults." Concerned that these quests would be used to encounter spirit guides, she studied the lessons. In one, the children were introduced to a mystical youth "from the Modat Tribe, known to have great shamans."' They were to follow him (in their minds) to a "deep canyon... [where] you feel many spirits rising... calling you to visit this place." The students were to write a paper describing their adventures there.

Look with me at Deuteronomy 18:9-14,

Deuteronomy 18:9 "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.

Deuteronomy 18:10 "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,

Deuteronomy 18:11 "or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

Deuteronomy 18:12 "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.

Deuteronomy 18:13 "You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 18:14 "For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you."

Quite a list of occultic phenomena! The Christian should not be surprised by occultic phenomena. In fact, you should expect it. There is a spiritual realm from which counterfeit and deception should be expected.

Remember Moses? He dealt with magicians in Egypt who had very real supernatural powers. We would call them occultic.

The word "occult" comes from the Latin word "occultus" and it carries the idea of things hidden, secret and mysterious. We could list three distinct characteristics of the occult:

1. The occult deals with things secret or hidden.

2. The occult deals with operations or events which seem to depend on human powers that go beyond the five senses.

3. The occult deals with the supernatural, the presence of angelic or demonic forces.

C. S. Lewis once commented,

"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight" (C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters).

We want to avoid such extremes that are common in dealing with the occult. We neither see the devil in everything nor completely deny his influence and workings.

At the same time, there are phenomena that some feel to be occultic but can be better explained either by deception, luck, or by psychological or physiological factors.

Although we admit the reality of the supernatural, we must be careful not to place all unexplained phenomena into the supernatural category. There is much that goes on under the guise of the supernatural that is nothing but fakery. This pseudo-occult phenomenon has fooled many people into believing in its legitimacy,

In an excellent book entitled The Fakers, Danny Korem and Paul Meir expose much that is taken to be supernatural. They list eleven principles of deception that fakers use to imitate supernatural or occultic phenomena:

1. Sleight of hand
2. Psychological principles
3. Using a stooge
4. Unseen and unknown devices
5. Mathematical principles
6. Physics
7. Physical deception
8. Mechanical deception
9. Optical illusion
10. Luck and probability
11. A combination of these things

Nevertheless, the supernatural realm is real; we make a serious mistake if we assume everything has a natural explanation. And we need to know something about the occult because so many people are involved in its more popular forms, like the estimated 50 million Americans who read their horoscope in the daily newspaper each day.

Let’s take a very brief look at the more popular forms of occult activity in modern culture.

The largest area of the occult today is astrology. Astrology is an ancient practice that assumes that the position of the

stars and planets has a direct influence upon people and events. Supposedly, one's life pattern can be charted by determining the positions of the stars and planets at the time of one's birth. The chart that attempts to accomplish this is known as a horoscope.

Here are a few problems with astrology:

1. Conflicting Systems. Astrologers in the West would not interpret the same stars as an astrologer in, say, China. Even in the West, there are conflicting systems. Some say there are eight zodiac signs rather than the traditional twelve, while others see as many as fourteen or even twenty-four.
2. Earth-Centered. Astrology is actually, originally, based on the theory that the planets revolve around the earth! If the basic assumption is false, the conclusions will be false.
3. Missing Planets. Most astrological charts are based on a seven-planet solar system, including the moon and the sun. In ancient times Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were unobservable to the naked eye and, so, didn’t figure in to the charts.
4. Incorrect time of reckoning. Charts are based on your time of birth; but all your hereditary factors are actually set at the time of conception, not birth. It logically follows that the planets should have began influencing you at conception.

Not only is there no logical or scientific validity to astrology, but it is also one of the oldest pagan practices that God has condemned throughout history. One of the exciting things about God's Word is that it is more relevant than today's newspaper. All these things which we confront in contemporary society God has already dealt with specifically in His Word. Look at these two Scriptures:

When you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars--all the heavenly array--do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven (Deuteronomy 4:19).

If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the Lord gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God in violation of his covenant, and contrary to my command has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars of the sky, and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death (Deuteronomy 17:2-5).

The varieties of witchcraft are so many that they defy systematic analysis. Yet some constant factors can be found: the lust for power, for knowledge (especially of the future), and for control over opposing forces. There is usually an appeal to an external and often mysterious source of power. The proper rituals, spells, and charms must be followed in order to produce the desired results.

Witches are classically organized into covens. The word "coven" dates from about 1500 and is a variation of the word convent. It means simply an assembly of people, but it came to be applied to the organization of the witches' society.

Witches were supposed to have a variety of different powers which kept the people in fear of them. They supposedly could cast spells which would raise storms, magically destroy crops and turn themselves into werewolves and vampires. However, the most feared power thought to be held by the witches was that of bewitchment, the ability to cause sickness and death.

Modern witchcraft bears little resemblance to the witchcraft of the Middle Ages or to witchcraft in still primitive, preliterate societies. Modern witchcraft is a relatively recent development over the last 200 years. It embraces hundreds of beliefs and practices and has hundreds of thousands of adherents. The one common theme running through modern witchcraft is the practice of and belief in things forbidden by God in the Bible as occultic.

Tens of thousands across America - some of them with university degrees - are dabbling in witchcraft, Satanism, voodoo, and other forms of black and white magic. Witches appear openly on television. In Cleveland you can rent a witch to liven up a party. There are some 80,000 persons practicing white magic in the United States, with 6,000 in Chicago alone.

Books on witchcraft do not agree about the genuineness of the powers behind it. Some writers claim that witchcraft is nothing more than legend and ritual. An intermediate view is that witchcraft may involve the combined psychic power of groups of people. There is some truth to these two positions, but they do not explain all the phenomena in witchcraft. Many witches claim to traffic with outside spiritual forces, and it appears that in some cases they do. The Bible calls these spiritual forces demons.

One of the ancient beliefs in witchcraft is that spirit beings sometimes incarnate themselves in humans or animals and appear to worshipers in various forms. The most important of these beings is said to appear in the form of a horned god, usually half-man and half-goat. He is identified with Lucifer or Pan (the Greek god who came to represent the mystical personification of nature).

Some practitioners are more committed to the forces of darkness than others. Some witches believe they are practicing "white magic" (their spells are used for the benefit of others) as opposed to "black magic." In most cases, however, witches desire to attain their own ends through the practice of their craft. They believe certain powers of evil affect the destinies of men, and that the person who gets in contact with these powers can use them for his own purposes.

People who engage in witchcraft have various motivations for doing so, but some of the most common are the desire to gain power over other people and material things, the appeal of mysterious adventure, sexual pleasure, and the promise of occult knowledge.

There is a catch, of course. These things are not free. Most of those who are serious about witchcraft know that some kind of contractual arrangement is involved. Just as they are served by the dark powers (demons), so they must also serve these beings.

Some witches are given great power through demonic agency. By using the proper spells they can have demons inflict pain, disease, despair, and suicidal thoughts on others. Or they can manipulate people and situations to their advantage.

The more a practitioner of witchcraft thinks he is in control of these powers, the more deluded he becomes. He may convince himself that he is master of the situation, but he actually becomes subject to the forces he thinks he has conquered.

The magic we are concerned with is occultic in nature, an attempt to master supernormal forces in order to produce visible effects. This magic is a secretive art, and it is difficult to give a precise definition of all it includes.

Arthur S. Gregor defines magic in the following manner:

"Magic is an attempt to gain control over nature by supernatural means. It consists of spells, charms, and other techniques intended to give man what he cannot achieve with his normal human powers" (Arthur S. Gregor, Witchcraft and Magic, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972, p. 1).

Different types of occultic magic include white magic, black magic, and sympathetic magic.

White magic is said to be the use of magical powers and abilities in an unselfish manner for the benefit of others. It is believed a person could be cured of bewitchment by white magic.

Although white magic was and is used to combat evil, it still comes from an ungodly source and should in no way be practiced.

Black Magic is the opposite of white magic which can be defined as the use of magical powers to cause harm to others.

Sympathetic magic is based upon the principle of "like produces like"; that is, things having a resemblance to each other in shape have a magical relationship. Sympathetic magic can be defined in the following manner:

Control of a person, animal, object, or event by either of two principles: 1) Like produces like - for example, a drawing of a deer pierced by arrows supposedly would help a tribe's real hunters repeat the scene. 2) Things that were once in contact always retain a magic connection-for example, a man supposedly could be harmed if a lost tooth fell into enemy hands.

Lycanthropy is a form of magic which believes human beings, under certain conditions, can change into animals.

A secular book, The Dictionary of Mysticism, defines spiritualism (spiritism) as

"the science, philosophy and religion of continuous life, based upon the demonstrated fact of communication, by means of mediumship, with those who live in the spirit world. Spiritualism rejects the belief in physical reincarnation, but teaches that death is a new birth into a spiritual body, without any change in individuality and character, and without impairment of memory."

The main idea behind spiritualism is that the spirits of the dead have the capacity to communicate with people here on earth through mediums, individuals who act as intermediaries between the material world and the spirit world.

A number of scholars prefer the term spiritism rather than spiritualism to designate this ancient cult. But spiritism more properly describes the worship of spirit beings which is found in many countries today. Voodoo worship in Haiti is one example of spiritism. Spiritualists, on the other hand, claim to have communication with the spiritual world. Most adherents of this cult therefore designate themselves by this name and distinguish themselves from spiritists. In 1976 the several national and international Spiritualist denominations reported more than 200 churches and clergy in the United States with a total membership of 10,000. This does not include unaffiliated Spiritualists. Membership worldwide is in the millions.

Spiritualism also goes by the name of necromancy. A more modern and benign name for it is channeling.

Spiritualism came to the forefront in the 1960s when Episcopal Bishop James Pike attempted to contact the spirit of his dead son. Pike's son had committed suicide and the Bishop consulted several mediums in an attempt to contact him.

While on television in Toronto, Canada, Pike met with famous medium, Arthur Ford, who through his spiritguide gave the Bishop a message from his son.

Pike, according to his own words, had "jettisoned the Trinity, the Virgin Birth and the Incarnation" and had become a believer in the world of departed spirits without any objective criteria by which to test the spirits. The Bishop died two years later after disappearing in the Judean Desert. The mediums in whom Pike had come to trust were giving his wife false comfort between the time he was lost and found dead, saying he was alive but sick in a cave. The Bishop's case became famous and led many into dabbling with spiritualism.

Fortunetelling, the art of forecasting the future supposedly by supernatural means, is an ancient practice which is still popular today. Fortunetelling is also known as divination. The one who practices this activity is known as a diviner. The diviner makes use of various props to receive his supernatural knowledge, including palmistry, cartomancy, mirror mantic and psychometry.

Palmistry is the art of divination from the shape and markings of the hands and fingers. A proper interpretation of these signs supposedly can be used to forecast the future.

Cartomancy forecasts the future by means of using cards. The elaborately illustrated cards used in this technique are called Tarot cards. Supposedly these cards hold the secrets to the future.

Mirror mantic uses crystal balls, mirrors, rock crystals or still water as "mirrors of the future." This is an ancient method of divination. The one gazing into the crystal supposedly enters a state of clairvoyance where he can see events and things happening at the present or the future, regardless of distance from the diviner. The crystal supposedly enables the person to see a series of pictures of what is taking place or will take place, thus enabling him to peer into the unknown.

Psychometry consists of a person holding some material object of another in his hands and having the ability to make statements and identify characteristics of the owner of the article. He may even foretell part of the future of the owner.

There are many other types of fortunetelling as well.

Psychic surgery is a phenomenon which has gained quite a lot of publicity in recent years. The idea behind psychic surgery is that a psychic can perform miraculous operations on individuals by magic without traditional instruments or techniques and without leaving a scar.

The most famous instances of psychic surgery were performed in recent years by a Brazilian named Arigo, known as "the surgeon with the rusty knife." Arigo was a man with little education and absolutely no medical training. His "operations" were performed while he was in a trance.

He claimed that the actual force behind his incredible operations was a spirit that possessed him. This spirit was supposedly that of a German doctor named Aldolph Fritz, who lived during the turn of the century. His methods, however, were anything but that of a qualified physician. Arigo's operations were performed with a rusty knife without using any anaesthetic or antiseptic.

His procedure included the diagnosis of the patient's disease while Arigo was in a trance. His diagnoses were usually correct. The house in which he performed many of his miracle operations had a sign which read, "Here in this house we are all Catholics." Arigo also would recite the Lord's Prayer before commencing surgery. Obviously, this is not standard operating procedure for surgeons, but the results of this illiterate miner's surgical attempts were amazing.

One of the most popular occultic devices in the world today is the Ouija board. The Dictionary of Mysticism has this to say concerning the Ouija board:

"[It is] an instrument for communication with the spirits of the dead. Made in various shapes and designs, some of them [were] used in the sixth century before Christ. The common feature of all its varieties is that an object moves under the hand of the medium, and one of its corners, or a pointer attached to it, spells out messages by successively pointing to letters of the alphabet marked on a board which is a part of the instrument" (Frank Gaynor, ed., Dictionary of Mysticism, New York: Citadel Press, n.d., p. 132).

The Ouija board is considered by some as nothing more than a party game. Others believe that using it can reveal hidden things in the subconscious. Still others believe that, while the communications are produced supernaturally, the supernatural source is demonic rather than from "beyond the grave."

Whatever your opinion, the Ouija board is often a point of entrance into other occultic phenomena. It is dangerous.

Dr. Nandot Fodor defines hypnotism as

"a peculiar state of consciousness, artificially induced, which liberates subconscious powers in the subject, puts him in rapport with the hypnotizer, makes him accept and meticulously execute any of his suggestions, whether hypnotic or post-hypnotic, which do not conflict with deeper instincts of self-preservation and morality, and produces such strange physiological effects as anesthesia and the remarkable control over organic processes of the body. In hypnotic sleep the waking stimuli are strongly resisted, the sleeper hears and answers" (Nandot Fodor, Encyclopedia of Psychic Science, Secaucus, NJ: University Books, 1966, p. 77).

An objective, non-psychically oriented definition of hypnosis is suggested in the Encyclopedia Brittanica:

"a sleeplike state that nevertheless permits a wide range of behavioral responses to stimulation. The hypnotized individual appears to heed only the cornmunications of the hypnotist.... Even memory and awareness of self may be altered by suggestion, and the effects of the suggestions may be extended {posthypnotically} into subsequent waking activity" (Encyclopeclia Britannica, Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica Publishers, 1974, Macropaedia, Vol. 9, p. 133).

Hypnotism could be defined as a means of bringing on an artificial state of sleep or reduced consciousness. Hypnotism is used in a variety of ways. There are those who practice self-hypnosis who attempt to rid themselves of some bad habit or to put their mind in a more restful state. Some religionists practice extreme methods of selfhypnosis in an attempt to make themselves insensitive to the pain of sticking knives through various parts of their body. Some magicians use hypnosis as a means of entertaining the public. It is not unusual for schools to allow magic shows where the magician will call up several students in order to hypnotize them.

Many physicians use hypnosis for diagnosis and therapy in treating illnesses. The idea is to alter negative aspects of a person's behavior. Another use of hypnotism, which is much too common, is the occultist who uses hypnotism as a magic art to control the behavior of individuals.

There is a wide difference of opinion on the validity and usefulness of hypnotism. Some see hypnotism as being neutral, neither good nor bad, while others argue that hypnotism can be beneficial for diagnosis and therapy. There are yet others who see hypnotism as harmful, no matter what the case, because it is an attack on the human psyche.

The Bible says, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything" (1 Corinthians 6:12, NASB). We do not need to be mastered by the power of suggestion from another.

Conclusion

There are many, many other things we could discuss as occultic… These are the most "popular." Various forms of them, blatantly and subtly, are creeping into the culture and even the church. The church is far from immune from occultic influences. Many of the things we’ve discussed are working their way into the church with Christianized names.

Dave Hunt puts it this way:

"We are in the midst of an accelerating occult seduction of both the secular world and the church."

His 1998 book, Occult Invasion, is worth your reading. Discernment is needed in these dangerous last days. As we read in Deuteronomy, the Lord has not appointed us to such things.

Boa, Kenneth. Cults, World Religions, and the Occult.

ISBN 0-89693-823-9.

Braswell, George Jr. Understanding World Religions.

ISBN 0-8054-1068-6.

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ISBN 1-56507-168-9.

Enroth, Ronald & Others. A Guide to Cults and New Religions.

ISBN 0-87784-837-8.

Halverson, Dean (Editor). The Compact Guide to World Religions.

ISBN 1-55661-704-6.

Geisler, Norman & Rhodes, Ron. When Cultists Ask.

ISBN 0-8010-1149-3.

Martin, Walter. Kingdom of the Cults.

ISBN 0-87123-796-2.

Mather, George & Nichols, Larry. Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions, and the Occult.

ISBN 0-310-53100-4.

McDowell, Josh & Stewart, Don. Handbook of Today’s Religions.

ISBN 0-86605-093-0.