{"collection":"bos","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bos/bos230.htm","path":"bos/bos230.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bos/bos230.htm","text":"A Minister Speaks Out on the Psychic and the Devil\nby J. Gordon Melton\nIn the late 1960's, the psychic truly came of age as a major\ncompetitor of some forms of Christian faith. No longer could it be\ndismissed as foolishness and because of this new realization the\n1960's also saw the birth of a new type of literature in which\nfundamentalist Christians attack the psychic as being \"of the Devil.\"\nAsa minister of theGospel I often amcalled upon to evaluate\nthis \"antipsychic\" literature. My interest in psychic and spiritual\nhealing, as well as church history, is well known and laymen, having\nadded a new depth to their faith through experiencing psychic reality\nare concerned that their fellow Christians should speak so harshly\nof them. At the same time, my non-Christian acquaintances in the\npsychic community consider the literature a 20th-Century form of\nwitch-hunting and ridicule it as an expression of \"Christian love.\"\nTheliterature of which Ispeak consistsof numerous pamphlets\nand a few books, some claiming to be written by former mediums or\npsychics now converted to conservative evangelical Protestantism. A\nfew of these booklets are from Reformed or Baptist writers but by far\nthe greatest number represent the Protestant Pentecostal perspective.\n(Pentecostals are those Protestants distinguished by a belief that\nspeaking-in-tongues, or glossolalia, is prima facie evidence of the\nbaptism of the Holy Spirit.)\nTheir major argument is that the Bible condemns all psychic\nactivity and they cite a number of both Old and New Testament passages\n(Deuteronomy 18:9-12;I Samual 28;Acts 8; I Timothy 4:1) to make their\npoint. The material is accompanied by the warning that these devices\nof Satan shall increase in the latter days and are signs of the end of\ntime.Satan is a major figure in the literature, especially in the\nwritings of Hal Lindsey, author of several popular books on prophecy,\nwho seems determined to prove Satan's existence. The Church of Satan\nof Anton LaVey, although a minor force even in occult circles, always\nis given a large coverage and the remaining psychic community is\nwrongly associated with him and his antiChristianity.\nOne is tempted to dismiss this literature as the ravings of\npeople who know little or nothing about their topics. Even the\nconverted mediums seem to be the ones who flunked their training\ncourses in basic psychic development. In fact on a theological level\nthe material is all but worthless.\nWhenthe Pentecostal says that something is \"of the Devil\" he\nreally is saying in the strongest possible way that he does not like\nit and disagrees with it. But for someone who does not accept this\nworld view, there is no common standard to judge the Devil's tastes. I\npersonally think that cooked carrots are the Devil's favorite food\n(with boiled okra running a close second). Who is to prove me wrong?\nCertainly not those Devil-worshipping carrot eaters. Satan's deceit is\nmanifested by his inclusion of vitamin A in carrots so people will\nthink they are \"good\" food!\n976\nThere is noappeal then frompersonal taste,just as thereis no\nappeal from divine revelation. One can only hope that a new dislike\nwill arise to replace the psychic as the \"Devil's\" main manifestation.\nOn apastoral level, however, theantipsychic literature takes\non some importance. Almost weekly I hear from laymen who have been\nvictimized by well meaning if fanatical acquaintances who challenge\nthem with their devil theology. It's one thing to read a book. Its\nquite another to have a friend or relative say that something you\nare doing is satanic and draw a line that places you outside the\nchurch.\nSuch wellmeaning but misguided concern is reminiscent of the\nInquisition that tortured people out of loving concern for their souls\nand then killed them quickly lest they turn again to their sin. It is\nfor these victims that I write. Hopefully, by discovering answers\nwhich will blunt the major points of the attack on the psychic, they\nwill find a shield from the barrage of their Christian brethren.\n* * * * *\nIf any central charge can be leveled at the Pentecostal\ndevil-psychic theory, it is shallow Biblicism. As one of my Bible\nteachers warned me, \"A text out of context becomes a pretext.\" The\nantipsychic literature is rife with texts out of context. Typical is\nthe constant repetitions of the Deuteronomic prohibitions against\ncertain kinds of psychic activity.\n\"When thouart come into theland which the Lordthy God giveth\nthee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those\nnations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his\nson or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth\ndivination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a wizard, or\na necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto\nthe Lord thy God doth drive tham out from before thee.\"\n(Deuteronomy 18:9-12.)\nTwo problems immediately arisein any modern use ofthis text.\nFirst it contains several Hebrew words which appear nowhere else in\nHebrew literature and are untranslatable. They were translated during\nthe rule of England's James 1 when witchcraft trials were popular and\nterms useful in those trials were inserted into the text. While we\nknow the prohibitions are against certain forms of divination, we do\nnot know specifically which ones. These prohibitions must, however, be\nset within the context of \"accepted\" means of divination: dreams\n(Genesis 41), the Urim and the Thummin, a Quija board-like device\n(Exodus 28:30), precognition (Judges 4:4), casting lots (Acts 1:26)\nand the psychic experience (I Samual 9, particularly verse 9).\nIncertaincontexts, suchas theconflict withCanaanite religion\n(particularly the blood-sacrifice cult of Moloch), practices\nassociated with divination are prohibited. But in a differing context\n(Israel's own religion and in the early church) divination was an\naccepted practice (Numbers 27:21, Acts 1:26).\n977\nThe secondproblem with theuse ofthis textconcerns itspresent\nbinding force on the church. While it may be a matter of argument\nwhether or not the text is binding, it seems for anyone who accepts\nthe \"whole Bible\" the commands surrounding the prohibitions are as\nrelevant as the divination prohibition.\nThus anyone whowishes to usethis text asliteral commandtoday\nshould also be prepared to stone stubborn children (Deuteronomy\n21:18), keep the feast of booths (Deuteronomy 16:13) and accept\npolygamy (Deuteronomy 21:15).\nAsthese versesshow, thiswhole section ofDeuteronomy consists\nof legalisms which have little or no relevance today and were only\nvalid in the context of Israel's struggle with the Canaanites.\n* * * * *\nA major complaint of conservative Christians is that liberal\nChristians see them as being all alike, failing to recognize\nsignificant differences of doctrine and lifestyle exist amoung\nHoliness people and Pentecostals, Billy Graham and the Reverend Ike,\nBaptists and Plymouth Brethren, Wesleyans and Reformed. Conservatives\nstrongly deny any association with the weird and radical fringe that\nis part of their movement, such as those fundamentalists who espouse\nbigoted racial theories of the donning of ascension robes or free sex\npractices.\nLikewise the psychic communityresents the naive and ignorant\nlumping of psychic research and parapsychology with healing,\nmeditative practices with witchcraft, yoga with hypnotism, astrology\nwith the tarot, or Spiritualism with satanism and black magic. Such an\napproach to the psychic is the lowest form of the polemic.\nWhile interests in the psychic often lead to exploration of a\nnumber of areas, most people in the field have one or two central\nconcerns. (My own interests are psychic and spiritual healing,\nprayer and meditation.) While one learns about many things one's\ninvolvement usually is in the specific area that is most rewarding\npersonally.\nPentecostal claims that involvement in the psychic leads to\npossession are plainly false. Such involvement by people who are\nemotionally unstable or who have immoral motives can lead to\npossession-like phenomena, especially when such people dabble with\nautomatic writing, Quija boards or seance activity. But such phenomena\nare no more prevalent than those caused by speaking-in-tongues which\nalso affects the deep levels of the psychic. Any kind of psychic\nactivity -glossolalia included- can and does lead to possession\nphenomena in the unprepared and unstable (see \"The Dangers of\nPsychic Development\" by Harmon H. Bro, October-November 1970 Fate.)\n978\nFinally, thecentral problem ofthe antipsychic materialis its\norientation towards the negative, toward evil and the devil. Such a\nbook as Hal Lindsey's \"Satan Is Alive and Well\" and Derek Prince's\nworks on the demonic are psychologically dangerous literature. They\nare major causes of the phenomena they seem most to abhor. A simple\npsychological principle is at work. As Aldous Huxley explains in\n\"The Devils of Loudon\", \"No man can concentrate his attention upon\nevil or even upon the idea of evil and remain unaffected. To be more\nagainst the devil than for God is exceedingly dangerous. Every\ncrusader is apt to go mad. He is haunted by the wickedness which he\nattributes to his enemies; it becomes some sort a part of him.\nPrince, Lindsey and cohorts are pouring their energy into\nfighting Satan. They are creating an atmosphere in which it is the\n\"in thing\" to be freed from a possession. Lonely, bored and highly\nsuggestible people are only too happy to respond with the called-for\nsymptoms. At a mass meeting if you produce a paper bag, someone will\nbe happy to regurgitate a \"demon\" for you.\nTheologically, Isympathize withthePentecostals. Theirleaders\nand writers certainly recognize the theological attack the psychic\nrepresents for them. For years they have been telling their\nfollowers that tongues and healing \"miracles\" represent a direct\nsupernatural activity and are a self-authenticating sign of the Holy\nSpirit. Considering tongues an outward sign of the baptism of the\nHoly Spirit within is crucial to the Pentecostal position. And psychic\nresearch applied to the \"supernatural\" activities often results in\na denial of their supernaturalism. If non-Pentecostals and even\nnon-Christians can do these things, their value as a sign of baptism\nis ended.\nPentecostalistsdenouncenon-Christianphenomenonas\"counterfeit\nmiracles.\" Discussing healing, one Pentecostal writer says, \"We can\nsee that this gift, like all the other gifts of the spirit, can be\neither from God or from Satan. The counterfeit must be in appearance\nas good as the real thing, otherwise it would not fulfill its aim.\"\nWhen Jesus was accused of working satanic miracles (see Mark 3:20-26)\nhis reply was that a house divided cannot stand, a rejoinder that\nstill is valid.\nThe ideaof \"counterfeit miracles\" is asmuch a problem to the\nPentecostals as it is to the psychic, moreover. If counterfeit\nmiracles exist, than no instance of speaking-in-tongues can be\nconsidered a sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit until it has been\ntested. Like all Christian experience the baptism is signified only\nif the fruits of the spirit follow. Anyone can speak in tongues or be\na channel for miraculous healings. Only those persons filled with the\nSpirit can bring forth love, patience and kindness (Galatians 5:22).\nPentecostals have no corner on the fruits-of-the-spirit market.\nIn conclusion, involvement inthe psychic clearly isvalid for\nthe Christian, provided that involvement is done in a sane\nself-conscious context. I bid my Christian brethren cease their harsh\nwords and uninformed polemics. Let us unite against our mutual\npsychic enemy, the perverted phenomena that can wreck a life as surely\nas can alcohol or narcotics. Allegiance at any particular\ntheological principle should not keep us from that fellowship we all\ndesire.\nReprinted with permission of FATE Magazine.\n979","title":"A Minster Speaks Out (J. Gordon Melton)","type":"page"}