Scripture: Acts 16 v 16 - 18: "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour."
Divination is another word for fortune telling, palm reading, reading of tea leaves, crystal ball psychic. It is the manifestation of evil spirits and the counterfeit of true prophecy. Divination is seeking to know the future out of the mouths of those who consult demons.
In the passage above, Paul and Silas were going to a prayer meeting when they were confronted by a demon-possessed woman. Whenever God's people are about to communicate with Him, the enemy tries to interfere to minimize the damage to himself. He will use any distraction to stop effective prayer.
This was apparent a few chapters on in Acts 19 v 13 - 16: "Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded."
Unbelievers have no power over evil spirits, only Christians have this authority. And Satan and the demons know this too - they knew Jesus and Paul, but knew the sons of Sceva were imposters. They were attacked, stripped naked and badly hurt for assuming authority they had no right to.
The woman possessed with the spirit of divination proclaimed, These men are servants of the Most High God! This was truth but coming out of her mouth brought no glory to it. It was like mockery. And she kept at it for at least 750 days.
Paul and Silas spent nearly two years in that place, and their departure came when they were told to leave after Jesus said, Do it NOW! Paul felt 'grieved in Spirit', which is one of the ways the Lord lets you know its time to cast the demon out.
This came after a very long period of Intercession. And the same hour that he told the demon to go, it left and she was free. Perhaps she harassed them for so long because she saw them as her only hope. She was being used by others to make them rich.
The dangers of divination are that when you consult a psychic, medium or diviner, what they tell you was never going to happen, but the demons in the psychic are now permitted to create that scenario of "someone close to you will die in April".
Something similar happened in a church I attended occasionally. One lady had struggled a long time to receive salvation. I was told the joyful news that she had just got saved in that Sunday night service. The next morning came the shocking news that she had died of a heart attack during the night.
A prophet from another country had visited this church three months before and this lady had received a "prophecy" from him that in 3 months time a family member would die. Praise the Lord for His mercy, He could not halt the demon but He brought her to salvation. It's our job to deal with the demons and no one knew that man was a false prophet.
Very early on in this ministry I was invited to a Bible Study and prayer meeting in another town. I knew the hostess who had visited me for prayer for her small son. During this meeting I developed a terrible headache. It was the Holy Spirit alerting me that someone was in pain.
I asked if anyone had a headache, and the hostess said she had a headache. We gathered around her and prayed for healing. She sprang up and danced around the room. I asked her why such a huge response. She said, I have had this continuous headache for 25 years. I went to a fortune teller and came away with this headache and it never left me till now. And it stayed gone. Glory to our wonderful Jesus.
I have testified of my long ministry to the late Karen Ann Quinlan from New Jersey USA, who was in a coma for ten years shortly after her 21st birthday. The Lord opened a door in the Spirit for us to talk to her and lead her to salvation.
A few days before she passed away we found an autobiography of her life in the local library. It tells how ten days before her coma began, Karen Ann visited a fortune teller, palm reader, who told her she had such a long life line she would never die. She omitted to tell her the quality or status her long life would be like!
Jesus told me to cut off the words of that palm reader, which I did, hoping it would bring Karen out of her coma. Actually I was severely shocked that within 24 hours she had died. The Lord gave me two verses of scripture.
Acts 3 v 9: "And all the people saw him walking and praising God:" The Lord had released her to come home to Heaven.
John 12 v 24: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." Through all we learned in our ministry to Karen Ann, the ability to pray for people far away and especially those in coma or cut off from help in time of need has been truly amazing. She has brought much fruit to His Kingdom.
The danger of going to psychics, diviners, water diviners, fortune tellers is that you open a spiritual door into the occult realm through which demons can torment you. The bigger problem is that they have come unseen into the church and are seen as prophets of God.
They "prophesy" that pregnant women are having a boy or girl. They prophesy of death in the family. They do not prophesy of the warnings of God or the dangers of sin. They also prophesy of only good things to keep people happy.
In the book of Revelations chapter 2 - 3 are 7 letters Jesus told to John for the seven churches that make up His Body. They are exhortations for us to overcome all that Satan is doing to the church. If we don't do this He says He will blot our names out of the Lamb's Book of Life.
I may be the little voice of one crying out in the wilderness but don't ignore it. Jesus wants to see His Kingdom filled with those who have been set free. No demon will be let in there. We have His name, His Blood, His power and authority. He said all that He has done we can do too and greater things than these because we have the Holy Spirit and all His gifts.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Jesus came to break our chains and show us how to set the captives free. Their is serious danger in consulting mediums which is forbidden to Christians, Lord forgive us and blot out every word with Your Blood.
To those who are seeing the difference obedience makes, I salute you, and more than this, Jesus does too. Let us step out in faith Lord and stand against the wiles of the Devil and drive him out so Your people can know You. In Jesus' name. Amen.