Quote from Forum Archives on January 26, 2011, 10:02 pm

Posted by: edwrather <edwrather@...>

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The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 736 new subscribers since January 1, 2011!!
There were 4010 new subscribers during 2010!!
Classic from 2002

01.26.11

The Psychic Sham

Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed
with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by
fortunetelling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying,
'These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way
of salvation.' And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed,
turned and said to the spirit, 'I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to
come out of her.' And he came out that very hour. - Acts 16:16-8.

Psychics apparently are looking into the future and seeing the money. They
are seeing all the money they can scam from people who may be tempted to use
their services. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint in
federal court accusing Miss Cleo, and her backers of scamming as much as
$360 million from those calling her psychic hotline. The FTC in the past 18
months has received over 2,000 complaints about Miss Cleo (This was in
2002). Miss Cleo offers a toll free number to callers to her service, but
then are told to call another number which costs $4.99 a minute after the
first three minutes. One of the problems with deception comes in when
customers are told there will be no charges while they are on hold, however,
they are still charged. The average charge encountered by those calling Miss
Cleo is $60.00.

Let's be clear about one thing, and that is that any power that psychics may
have is demonic. Have you ever heard of a psychic acknowledging Jesus Christ
as Lord, and as the One from which their knowledge comes? The apostle John
tells us, "By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that
does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God (1
John 4:2-3a)."

Another way to determine whether a spirit is of God, is to see whether it is
in agreement with the Word of God. If there is a conflict, you know it is
not of God. Isaiah makes it very clear when he says, "And when they say to
you, 'Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,'
should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of
the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according
to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isaiah 8:19-20)."

For those who decided to seek out psychics, we can see one sad result from
their decision was the loss of money. But beyond the loss of money,
receiving false ungodly advice, and acting upon that advice is far more
damaging. If we really want help in our lives, guidance in our lives, and
wisdom for our lives; then, let us do as Isaiah suggests, and seek the One
who can truly give it to us. "To the law and to the testimony!"

Copyright © 2002-2011. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the
devotionals on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush
website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email
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