In the biblical account, certain practices are strictly forbidden, including seeking guidance from soothsayers or mediums. According to Leviticus 19:31 and Deuteronomy 18:9-12, God's people are warned against engaging with such individuals, as they promote darkness and falsehood. The New Testament also cautions against false prophets, as seen in 1 John 4:1, and records instances where believers encountered those claiming supernatural insight, such as the slave girl in Acts 16:16. Additionally, Leviticus 19:26 prohibits the use of divination and sorcery, emphasizing the importance of seeking truth and wisdom from God alone.
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You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery, casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD. And because of these detestable things, the LORD your God is driving out the nations before you.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl with a spirit of divination, who earned a large income for her masters by fortune-telling.
You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.
When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery, casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD. And because of these detestable things, the LORD your God is driving out the nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God. Though these nations, which you will dispossess, listen to conjurers and diviners, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so.
Daniel answered the king, “No wise man, enchanter, medium, or magician can explain to the king the mystery of which he inquires. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay on your bed were these:
But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”
Prior to that time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and astounded the people of Samaria. He claimed to be someone great, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, heeded his words and said, “This man is the divine power called the Great Power.” They paid close attention to him because he had astounded them for a long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as he preached the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed and was baptized. He followed Philip closely and was astounded by the great signs and miracles he observed.
You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you— your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate. Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside. This is what they are to you— those with whom you have labored and traded from youth— each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.”
This is the word of the LORD that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem: Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it! May the Lord GOD bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple. For behold, the LORD comes forth from His dwelling place; He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. All this is for the transgression of Jacob and the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble in the open field, a planting area for a vineyard. I will pour her stones into the valley and expose her foundations. All her carved images will be smashed to pieces; all her wages will be burned in the fire, and I will destroy all her idols. Since she collected the wages of a prostitute, they will be used again on a prostitute. Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich. For her wound is incurable; it has reached even Judah; it has approached the gate of my people, as far as Jerusalem itself. Do not tell it in Gath; do not weep at all. Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah. Depart in shameful nakedness, O dwellers of Shaphir. The dwellers of Zaanan will not come out. Beth-ezel is in mourning; its support is taken from you. For the dwellers of Maroth pined for good, but calamity came down from the LORD, even to the gate of Jerusalem. Harness your chariot horses, O dweller of Lachish. You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you. Therefore, send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib will prove deceptive to the kings of Israel. I will again bring a conqueror against you, O dweller of Mareshah. The glory of Israel will come to Adullam. Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair in mourning for your precious children; make yourselves as bald as an eagle, for they will go from you into exile.
This is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, yet have seen nothing.
So Saul died for his unfaithfulness to the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance,
Furthermore, they did not repent of their murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft.
When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.
Whoever turns to mediums or spiritists to prostitute himself with them, I will also set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.
In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent —Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.