Deuteronomy 1 8:9-1 4
THE PREVIOUS verses we had brought before us the special portion and blessings of the priests and the Levites, those who stand in the presence of the Lord and serve Him, and then the encouragement for one who would come and worship the Lord and dwell in His presence.
Now we have warnings against one turning his back on the light of God and slipping off into the world and all its darkness. To shun the presence of God who is light, and in whom is no darkness at all is surely to come under the powers of darkness that inhabit the heavenly places. Among the heathen there were many attractive delusions of Satan — witchcraft, familiar spirits, enchantments, wizards and those who used drugs. God would not allow these things among His people. Alas, we see in our own favored land where the power of Christianity is becoming feebler that these very things are asserting themselves with startling boldness.
The many references in Scripture to these forms of divination, witchcraft, and the like, now called the occult sciences, and God's solemn warnings to His people to have nothing to do with them, show that it was a dangerous reality. Nor is it any less so now as then. These things are the subtle power of Satan in the unseen world by which he deludes men.
In our times there has been a great increase in attempts to communicate with the spirits of the dead, and even Christians have been drawn into them by mere curiosity, not without loss to their souls and even to their mental and spiritual health. These things are in deadly opposition to God and Christ. They are declared to be an abomination to the Lord, not only the things themselves but also those who do them. If those who profess Christianity turn to these things it is because they have turned their back on God.
A loving all-wise Father has given unto us, His children, "all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue"; He has made known unto us "the mystery of His will," and has "blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." How thankful we should be if we have been spared from Satan's power and from the world going down to its judgment. May we grow in grace, dear young Christian, and in the knowledge of Him who has called us "out of darkness into His marvelous light."
Messages of the Love of God 6/15/1975