The practice of seeking guidance or insight through supernatural means, other than through God, is strongly condemned in Scripture. In Acts, the apostle Paul encounters a slave girl who has a spirit of divination, and he commands the spirit to come out of her. The Old Testament, particularly in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, warns against consulting mediums, wizards, and other practitioners of the occult, with Isaiah also cautioning against seeking guidance from the dead. These passages emphasize the importance of seeking wisdom and guidance from God alone, rather than relying on forbidden practices.
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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. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!” She continued this for many days. Eventually Paul grew so aggravated that he turned and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” And the spirit left her at that very moment.
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.
When men tell you to consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?
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.
You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.
For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver.
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.
who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,