Christian goes to psychic

Straight Talk

The Question:

I am unemployed and I have been praying and waiting but recently I went to a psychic because I was discouraged and I wanted to hear anything to let me know that this trial would be over soon. I prayed for forgiveness but is God mad at me?

– S. From Unknown Location


The Answer
Part 1: Trust is the root issue

Trust is the root issue (Part 1)

We’ll get the “mad” part of your question out of the way first. You confessed your sin and repented; believe me, God is not mad at you. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Honestly, he was never mad at you to begin with; rather, his heart was grieved.

It grieves God when we sin because sin is so bad for us. It breaks our fellowship with him and there are always adverse consequences. God tells us what is right and wrong because he is trying to spare us guilt, recrimination and loss of intimacy with himself. Your own case is a good example of all these things. It is still hard for you to let go of what you did.

Now let’s talk about what you did. You wanted to “hear anything to let me know that this trial would be over soon.” So you took what you hoped would be a shortcut. Rather than continue trusting God you rebelled and trusted man instead. Psychics are tempting because they promise to turn on the light in what we perceive as the darkness around us. But our circumstances and our future are never in darkness to God.

As you evaluate your sin, consider whether your root sin wasn’t really failure to trust in the Lord. That simply played itself out in going to a psychic (forbidden activity for a believer in Jesus Christ). As you rebuild your relationship with the Lord, trust is probably the root to work on so you never get fooled again. Maybe God designed this “trial” for just such a purpose?

Now forgive yourself as the Lord has forgiven you and “go and sin no more.” (John 8:11)

Note: It is worth mentioning that God’s Holy Spirit given gifts including prophetic ministry (See 1 Corinthians 12:8-10) are still operational today and are intended for the building up and edification of the Body of Christ. These legitimate gifts are largely counterfeited by psychics and the New Age movement. The church should never go outside the bounds of the ministry the Holy Spirit provides from within.

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