A relative of mine sent me a text message the other day. He had been visiting with some friends and while there, he noticed that one by one his friends would disappear for a little bit and then come back. Each of them had in turn gone to speak to a fortune teller who was sitting in one of the rooms in the house. Apparently she would tell them a story about their life, their future, what they needed to focus their energy on, what they needed to change and so on.
He asked me what I thought about this and how he could tell if this was of God or not.
In my experience, I have seen an increase of this kind of thing over the years. It might be that I have just been oblivious to this and perhaps not in the right circles.
A more common version of this kind of thing is what we see in churches, Christian churches, when people want to “prophesy over our lives”, or give us a “word from the Father.” Because this happens in a church setting, we are more welcoming of it and we are less likely to ask, “Is this of God or is it not?”
To Go or Not to Go
The Bible specifically warns us not to go to fortune tellers and condemns the practice of fortune telling. Some of the newer versions of the Bible give us the modern words which makes things clearer for us than the King James Version for example. Here are two verses from the The Living Bible (TLB):
“When you arrive in the Promised Land you must be very careful lest you be corrupted by the horrible customs of the nations now living there. For example, an Israelite who presents his child to be burned to death as a sacrifice to heathen gods, must be killed. No one may practice black magic, or call on the evil spirits for aid, or be a fortune teller, or be a serpent charmer, medium, or wizard, or call forth the spirits of the dead. Anyone doing these things is an object of horror and disgust to the Lord, and it is because the nations do these things that the Lord your God will displace them. You must walk blamelessly before the Lord your God.”
Deuteronomy 18:9-13 (TLB)
“So why are you trying to find out the future by consulting witches and mediums. Don’t listen to their whisperings and mutterings. Can the living find out the future from the dead? Why not ask your God?”
Isaiah 8:19 (TLB)
According to Deuteronomy 18, the practice of fortune telling is forbidden by God. According to Isaiah 8, only God knows the future, and He wants us to seek guidance from Him and not from fortune tellers.
Then, there is this story in Acts 16:
“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 fortune-telling. 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. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.”
Acts 16:16-19 (NKJV)
It is clear that we are in danger if we go to fortune tellers. Only God knows the future and He is very selective when it comes to revealing the future to us. In general, He only reveals the future to His prophets. We do not find any examples in the Bible of people who went to a prophet of God for fortune telling. It is not the way God works.
The Bible gives us tests that we can use to determine whether or not someone is a prophet of God. I will perhaps go into this in more detail in the future. Unless you can prove that someone is a prophet of God through the tests of a prophet, you are in great danger if you go to them for advice. But, even if you do prove that the person is a prophet, according to the Bible, God’s prophets do not practice fortune telling. So this is already evidence that the person is not a prophet of God but is more likely possessed by an evil spirit like the slave girl in Acts 16.
A God-given Desire
There is a deeper issue at play here though. The reason we even consider visiting fortune tellers such as this is because we desire to have success in life. The desire that we have to accumulate wealth and to achieve success is something that has been placed there by God.
John writes,
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”
3 John 2 (NKJV)
and Solomon writes,
“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean [average] men.”
Proverbs 22:29 (KJV)
These verses would be completely out of place if it was not God’s will for our lives to be prosperous and to reap the rewards and honors of our labors.
God wants us to be successful. But He will not bring us success at the loss of our souls. This is the greater success: to be right with God and to develop a character fit for heaven. This is our first work and everything else must be second.
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his soul?”
Mark 8:36
One Thing I Do
The concept of remaining focussed is also something that is a Biblical principle. Paul employed this principle when he said in Philippians 3:13, “one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead”
Two of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, both cited focus as the reason for their success. Here is a brilliant video to watch that might help you with this:
What Has God Given Me?
When deciding on what to actually do, we must look to the opportunities and abilities that God has given us. We can also look at what we really want. Then using the reasoning power that God has given us, we should make a choice and then stick with it. Jumping around every time the grass looks greener somewhere else often does more harm than good. I’ve heard someone say, “The grass is greener where you water it.” Even if something else looks like a better opportunity, more often we will achieve greater success if we double our efforts on what we are currently working on.
One of the ways to determine what God has given us is to do personality tests. If you haven’t already done so, I would encourage you to do a personality test, like the Myers Briggs test, so that you can get a good idea of the type of work that fits best with your personality and will bring you most happiness. There are many such tests available online that are useful in this regard.
Ask God what He wants you to focus on. He may not reveal it to you audibly, but somehow He always shows us. But as soon as you can, make a decision on what you are going to focus on and then work towards it until you have achieved success.