Saturday, September 28, 2013

A Christian response to spiritualism: Why I wouldn't go to a medium

I've often seen spiritualist meetings advertised in theatres and around my area, but more recently it seems they've been happening closer to my home. Some of my friends are going along -you may be one of them!- and I thought I should take some time to properly write down where I stand on this as a Christian, and hopefully if you read it, it may make you think twice about getting involved with this sort of thing.

From what I've gathered, spiritualism is all about plugging into supernatural experiences. Often people are interested in what happens after death and try to contact someone they loved who has died. At the heart of spiritualism is the belief that a person's spirit is immortal and exists in a spirit world after their physical body has died. In terms of religion, spiritualism basically says that all religions hold truth and it doesn't matter which path you take because all paths lead to God. Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna and Jesus Christ were all messengers -even the same reincarnated being.

This fits with what a lot of people think today about religion, faith and spirituality. Many people will pray, and believe that there’s a supernatural world beyond this visible world. Many believe that when we die we’ll live forever and go somewhere else. And because this seemingly connects with religions like Christianity, a lot of people feel that they have their own way of 'believing' so they don't really need to look any further into it.

The key difference with Christianity is that we know there is a spiritual reality out there, but we discern what is good and comes from God and what is evil and comes from Satan (or the Devil).

Let me just unpack that!

The Bible teaches that God is the ultimate One who is Lord over everything. He made everything, which includes the powers in the spiritual realm. We don't exactly get a very detailed picture of how a third of the angels rebelled and 'fell' with Satan and came under God's judgement, but we do know that God has allowed Satan and his demons to be active in the world until the day when Jesus will come back and all demonic power will finally be destroyed.

So at the moment, there are demons out there, and they have one simple mission: to take people away from the kingdom of Jesus Christ. They will do that by deception and they will do that by distraction. Spiritualism is a key tool that they use for this.

If someone goes to a spiritualist and they are not a Christian, they have some faith in God and in an afterlife, they may see things and hear things which confirm for them what they already believe. They see 'evidence' of a spiritual, supernatural realm. But they leave the meeting without any desire to know Jesus Christ. That's the key victory for the devil here! Give people something to fill their spiritual appetite, so that they won't bother with Jesus.

Demons have no problem with lying. They will tell you whatever it takes to keep you away from Jesus. Things like “I'm your Grandad, I'm in a wonderful place now, don't worry, you'll join me here one day.” It's a lie. They've told you that so that you go away with a false sense of security, and that you never bother trusting in Jesus for your salvation.

'Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.' 1 John 4:1-3

The Bible recognises that there is spiritual activity all around us. But it warns us not to just listen to anything and every 'message' that is communicated. In fact the Bible is really strong in telling us not to consult with mediums (Leviticus 19:31) because when we do, we open ourselves up to a barrage of lies and deception from the devil and his demons. The Christian standpoint is simple: if it holds up Jesus Christ as the Son of God then the spirit is from God and is good. If not, it is nothing else but demonic. Don't be deceived! Not everything in the spirit world is good. Not everything in the spirit world is connected to God.

Mark Driscoll, a pastor with a lot of experience in the area of the occult, explains the Bible's teaching: 'Don’t believe every spirit... some of you will have a supernatural, paranormal experience that is a direct unmediated encounter with the spirit world. See an angel, have a dream, something amazingly supernatural happened. For others of you, you will have your gateway into the spirit realm through a teacher, but that teacher is getting their information from Satan or from a demon, and they’re all over the place. So you got to be really careful to be critical and to distinguish and to discern that which is good and evil.'

The Bible teaches this amazing truth that Jesus Christ was fully God, yet He also came into this world fully human. Often people will say that Jesus was a great man, but He wasn't God. Others will say He is a god but He never became human and flesh. The thing is, in Christianity, Jesus has to be both so that He can mediate between man and God. He was tempted but never sinned, and He died on the cross to pay the price for our sin. He rose from the dead three days' later, and in doing so He conquered Satan and ultimately has total victory over him (Colossians 3:14-15).

Because I believe and trust in Jesus Christ, I don't need to go to a medium. I don't need to contact the dead or any sort of spirit. In Christ I am connected to God. I have assurance of eternal life. There's no way I would go along to a spiritualist meeting and plug in blindly to a supernatural world, hoping to find a good spirit or hear some message. I've got the Bible, which tells me everything I need to know about God, myself, the world, and about the spiritual realm. I've got the Holy Spirit, who is God, not a created being like Satan and his demons, and He is greater than any of those. I'm not spiritual, I'm Spirit-filled!

Mark Driscoll's advice is this:
'Anytime you get a supernatural experience, anytime you receive instruction, two things you need to do... Pray and test it by Scripture... Read the Bible. Pray to Jesus. Be connected to God. He will speak to you, and he will love you. You respond to him in faith. You trust him walking away from your spirituality, from your superstition, from your skepticism, and you extend your hand to the living God, who adores you and by faith, you move forward, not as a spiritual person, but as a spirit-filled person, as a Christian.'
So that's where I stand. Please do let me know what you think on this! I'd love to chat more about it with you. God bless you.