your horoscope?

really? No. Wait!

So you call yourself a Christian? Well…here’s something you may not know. In our world today countless people seek to know the future. Newspapers and magazines carry horoscope columns. Television networks advertise psychic hotlines. Bus stop benches boast ads for palm readers. Magazine racks beside grocery store checkout counters offer paperback books on astrology, numerology, and other occult subjects.

To many, this hype may sound like sheer silliness; it may appear to be nothing more than harmless fun. After all, what’s so bad about reading your daily horoscope? But listen up — this is the enemy’s territory! It is anything but silliness or harmless fun. Like the wood and stone idols of Ekron, these present-day seers are substitutes for putting our trust in the living God.

God is displeased with any occult involvement. No matter what the motive, no matter how great the need, dabbling with the occult is sin. God’s Word is crystal clear on this subject. Far back in the book of Leviticus, God gives His people this direct command: “Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:31).

Beyond that, God is dishonored by any specific pursuit of the future that does not find its source in His Word. I realize that most people who begin dabbling in astrology, fortune-telling, or Ouija boards don’t take it all that seriously at first. Astrology, for example, has a captivating appeal. Most do it for fun or out of curiosity. But these simple, harmless-looking games begin a process that many cannot handle; and they open doors that should remain closed. Then it’s only a matter of time before the dark powers of demonic forces suck them in, and they find themselves ensnared.

But let me reassure you, God is delighted when we trust Him only. The Lord strengthens those who put their trust in Him. If we are not grounded in the Word of God and seeking Him daily as our source of strength and knowledge for the future, we, too, can easily fall prey to the lure of the occult.

Learn a lasting lesson from Elijah. As you stand strong for the truth, watch out for the enemy. He not only plays dirty; he plays for keeps. And he’s playing for your soul.

I Borrowed the above from Great Days with the Great Lives by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2005 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.

So…Dr. Swindoll offers “Straight Talk” about a Christian’s involvement in the occult. Maybe some of what he talks about is news to you.

Before I became a follower of “the Lord Jesus” I was a dabbler in all sorts of stuff. A lot of that stuff was straight out of the realm of darkness and I had NO idea what I was messing with. God knew all about it. He warned me long before I even knew him. Read my testimony: Here’s the skinny

Apostle Paul ran into some similar stuff during his career too. In Acts chapter 19 we read:

¹¹ And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ¹² so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. ¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ And this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks; and fear fell upon them all; and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. ¹⁸ Many also of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. ¹⁹ And a number of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the word of the Lord grew and prevailed mightily.

Acts 19:11-20

So…if reading your horoscope along with your Bible verses is a practice you haven’t understood until today, may I suggest you reconsider. Thinking, “What can it harm?” is a question the enemy will be only to happy to answer. And believe me, the enemy’s answer comes straight out of the realm of the occult! You don’t want to go there.