A Warning About the Occult. (438)

To date in our survey of spiritual warfare, we spent some time examining sorcery. In particular, divination by an alleged assistance of evil spirits. In short, the practice is forbidden.

Nathan joins Keith in discussing this passage found in Leviticus 19:26-31
26 ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying.
• Drinking blood was a common prohibition, implying it was a frequent pagan practice.
• Divination and soothsaying, or as the King James puts it, enchantment and observing times.
• These practices are often translated in a wide variety of ways. The intent is that these are worship practices of heathens who seek lesser gods.
• The point is to remain pure so the Holy Spirit might reside. Being a beacon in the light of darkness from other nations.

27 ‘You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard.
28 ‘You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD.
• Haircuts, cutting, tattooing were not necessarily immoral.
• What made them a moral was they were connected with the phrase quote for the dead”, and were used specifically for this manner of worship.

29 ‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness.
• Any time harlotry is involved is degrading and profane.
• The unsaid part is that forced harlotry was often used in pagan religions.
• Traditionally then and now, religious heritage was passed down on the mother’s side.

30 ‘You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am the LORD.
• This is what the Israelites were to do, instead of following these occult practices.
• Do not forsake God’s first commandment.

31 ‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
KJV: 31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
• Mediums or spiritists. As King James puts it, spiritists or wizards.
• Again, these titles are used in a wide variety of ways and are often interchangeable.
• These are the people who performed the divinations, enchantment, soothsaying and so forth mentioned in verse 26.
• don’t seek out the mediums, and don’t seek out these practices.

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