Bible Questions Answered:
“...as a teacher I see the rise of the occult among my students. What part can I do …?
Brendy/ Houston, Texas U.S.A.
Bible Answer:
Though today it has become a simply a piece of decoration for some, if you can, and some work places, today you can't, wear a cross.
When asked reply...
This cross reminds me to be separate from the world.
Or wear the symbol of the Holy Spirit, the Dove as was seen at our Lord's baptism with John (Matthew 3:16 KJV).
Speak of your faith, when and however you can.
Pray for your students and friends who are involved in spiritual deception.
Concerning the occult, be sure to read the blog posting …. Occult
Spiritual deceptions, miracles, and rebellion:
Leviticus 19:26,31 NLT
26 ...“Do not practice fortune-telling or witchcraft.
31 “Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 20:6-8,27 NLT
6 “I will also turn against those who commit spiritual prostitution by putting their trust in mediums or in those who consult the spirits of the dead. I will cut them off from the community.
7 So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the Lord your God.
8 Keep all My decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord who makes you holy.
27 “Men and women among you who act as mediums or who consult the spirits of the dead...They are guilty of a capital offense.”
Deuteronomy 18:9-14 NLT
9 “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there.
10 For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. (Abortions-Ed. Note) And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft,
11 or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead.
12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you.
13 But you must be blameless before the Lord your God.
14 The nations you are about to displace consult sorcerers and fortune-tellers, but the Lord your God forbids you to do such things.”
II Kings 17:16-18 KJV
16 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire (Abortion), and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.
18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
II Kings 21:1-6,10-15 NLT (An evil King in Judah.)
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother was Hephzibah.
2 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, following the detestable practices of the pagan nations that the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.
3 He rebuilt the pagan shrines his father, Hezekiah, had destroyed. He constructed altars for Baal and set up an Asherah pole, just as King Ahab of Israel had done. He also bowed before all the powers of the heavens and worshiped them.
4 He built pagan altars in the Temple of the Lord, the place where the Lord had said, “My name will remain in Jerusalem forever.”
5 He built these altars for all the powers of the heavens in both courtyards of the Lord’s Temple.
6 Manasseh also sacrificed his own son in the fire. He practiced sorcery and divination, and he consulted with mediums and psychics. He did much that was evil in the Lord’s sight, arousing His anger.
10 Then the Lord said through His servants the prophets:
11 “King Manasseh of Judah has done many detestable things. He is even more wicked than the Amorites, who lived in this land before Israel. He has caused the people of Judah to sin with his idols.
12 So this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of those who hear about it will tingle with horror.
13 I will judge Jerusalem by the same standard I used for Samaria and the same measure I used for the family of Ahab. I will wipe away the people of Jerusalem as one wipes a dish and turns it upside down.
14 Then I will reject even the remnant of my own people who are left, and I will hand them over as plunder for their enemies.
15 For they have done great evil in My sight and have angered Me ever since their ancestors came out of Egypt.”
I Chronicles 10:13,14 NLT
13 So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord. He failed to obey the Lord’s command, and he even consulted a medium
14 instead of asking the Lord for guidance. So the Lord killed him and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.
Isaiah 8:19-22 NLT
19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?
20 Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict His word are completely in the dark.
21 They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven
22 and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.
Isaiah 47:8-15 NLT
8 “Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom, living at ease and feeling secure. You say, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other. I will never be a widow or lose my children.’
9 Well, both these things will come upon you in a moment: widowhood and the loss of your children. Yes, these calamities will come upon you, despite all your witchcraft and magic.
10 “You felt secure in your wickedness. ‘No one sees me,’ you said. But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray, and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’
11 So disaster will overtake you, and you won’t be able to charm it away. Calamity will fall upon you, and you won’t be able to buy your way out. A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one for which you are not prepared.
12 “Now use your magical charms! Use the spells you have worked at all these years! Maybe they will do you some good. Maybe they can make someone afraid of you.
13 All the advice you receive has made you tired. Where are all your astrologers, those stargazers who make predictions each month? Let them stand up and save you from what the future holds.
14 But they are like straw burning in a fire; they cannot save themselves from the flame. You will get no help from them at all; their hearth is no place to sit for warmth.
15 And all your friends, those with whom you’ve done business since childhood, will go their own ways, turning a deaf ear to your cries.
Jeremiah 27:9 KJV (Warnings of Jeremiah.)
9 “‘Do not listen to your false prophets, fortune-tellers, interpreters of dreams, mediums, and sorcerers who say, “The king of Babylon will not conquer you.”
10 They are all liars, and their lies will lead to your being driven out of your land. I will drive you out and send you far away to die.
Micah 5:12 NLT
I will put an end to all witchcraft, and there will be no more fortune-tellers.
Zechariah 10:2 NLT
Household gods give worthless advice, fortune-tellers predict only lies and interpreters of dreams pronounce falsehoods that give no comfort. So My people are wandering like lost sheep; they are attacked because they have no shepherd.
Matthew 7:21-23 KJV (Deceptive Works)
21 Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.
Matthew 24:23-26 KJV
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Acts 16:16-18 NLT (Paul and Silas)
16 One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters.
17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”
18 This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.
II Corinthians 11:13-15 KJV
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Galatians 5:19-21 NLT
19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.
Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
II Thessalonians 2:3-12 NLT
3...For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and
the man of lawlessness (Anti-Christ) is revealed—the one who brings destruction.
4 He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.
5 Don’t you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you?
6 And you know what (Who-The Holy Spirit) is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes.
7 For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way.
8 Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by the splendor of His coming.
9 This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles.
10 He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them.
11 So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies.
12 Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.
Revelation 13:11-15 NLT (A religious cheerleader for the lawless one mentioned in II Thessalonians 2:8,9.)
11 Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon.
12 He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.
13 He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching.
14 And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life.
15 He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die.
Revelation 16:14 NLT
They are demonic spirits who work miracles and go out to all the rulers of the world to gather them for battle against the Lord on that great judgment day of God the Almighty.
Revelation 19:20 NLT
And the beast (The man of lawlessness (Anti-Christ) was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
Revelation 21:8 KJV
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
