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Psychics vs. Prophets

Psychics vs. Prophets. By Dr. H.C. Felder GivingAnAnswer.org. Topics. Why is this important? About Psychics About Prophets Summary Questions. Why is this important?. If psychics are equal to prophets, then we loose a major proof of the inspiration of scripture

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Psychics vs. Prophets

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  1. Psychics vs. Prophets By Dr. H.C. Felder GivingAnAnswer.org

  2. Topics • Why is this important? • About Psychics • About Prophets • Summary • Questions

  3. Why is this important? • If psychics are equal to prophets, then we loose a major proof of the inspiration of scripture • If Scripture is not inspired, then our faith is a lie

  4. About Psychics

  5. About Psychics • Another word for psychic is clairvoyant, which means to see clearly & includes the following activities: • Doing readings using their psychic powers • Contacting the dead • Channeling spirits • Using divination tools such as tarot cards to receive information

  6. About Psychics • The biblical view • “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord” (Dt. 18:11-11)

  7. About Psychics • The source of psychic powers • Fraud/deception • Cold reading • Generalizations that can fit anyone • If someone guesses enough times, they are bound to be right some of them

  8. About Psychics • The source of psychic powers • Demonic • It falls under their job description • “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” (2 Cor.11:14) • “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” (2 Thess. 8-10)

  9. About Psychics • The source of psychic powers • Demonic • Their primary means is observation • Because they are smarter than we are, they can make certain types of predictions • Demonic are not omniscient but have access to a great wealth of insider information

  10. About Psychics • Often contradict the Bible and Christian doctrine • The Bible should not be interpreted literally. Instead, we should we should seek the hidden spiritual truths • They deny the deity of Jesus & the bodily resurrection. Jesus was the embodiment of Christ, which we can all have • To some psychics, God is not a personal being but an impersonal force. Others, such as Sylvia Browne, hold to a Father God and Mother God (Azna) • Humans are perfect in nature. We are one with God • Sin is merely an illusion. Man is not morally fallen and there is no sin nature. We have not committed any offense against God that needs to be fixed

  11. About Psychics • No psychic claims 100% accuracy

  12. About Psychics • Nostradamus • Nostradamus lived from 1503-1566 and is considered by his followers, “the most effective prophet in the history of the human race.”

  13. About Psychics • Nostradamus evaluation • Most of his prophecies were vague. Every time he was specific, he was wrong • Arabs capturing the King of Morocco in 1607 (Quatrain 6–54) • A monk from Campania elected Pope in 1609 (Quatrain 10–91) • Turks capturing the King of Persia in 1727 (Quatrain 3–77) • A natural disaster nearly destroying the human race in 1732.

  14. About Psychics • Edgar Cayce • Edgar Cayce lived from 1877-1945. Cayce was known as a mystic, healer and prophet who earned the name Sleeping Prophet since he would make his predictions in a sleep-like state • He is credited with predicting the Great Depression and Stock Market crash of 1929 as well as WWII

  15. About Psychics • Edgar Cayce evaluation • He also made many predictions which included some glaring failures • The rise of the ancient city of Atlantis which would appear in the Caribbean in 1968 or 1969 • The destruction of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York by 1998

  16. About Psychics • Sylvia Browne • Sylvia Browne was one of America’s most recognized psychics before dying in 2013 at the age of seventy-seven • She was regularly featured on the “The Montel Williams Show” and “Larry King Live” TV shows • Before she died, Browne made a number of predictions that are available on http://www.sylviaspredictions.com.

  17. About Psychics • Sylvia Browne evaluation • Most of the predictions are so general that they are hard to prove or disprove • “More people will start eating better to cut down on obesity” • “New values begin to emerge very slowly, but we get back to caring for each other more.” • When she does give specific predictions, they are often just out right wrong. For 2012 she predicted • “Obama will not be reelected,” “The next president will be a Republican.” • “There will be a cure found for M.S.” • “There will be a tsunami in Florida in the fall”

  18. About Psychics • Sylvia Browne • In 2002 on an episode of “The Montel Williams Show,” she told the parents of missing eleven-year-old Shawn Hornbeck that their child was dead and had been kidnapped by a dark-skinned man with dreadlocks

  19. About Psychics • Sylvia Browne • The child was found alive in 2007. The kidnapper was Caucasian with short hair. She was later questioned about how she could be so wrong. In one of her most truthful moments, she made probably her most accurate statement, “Only God is right all the time.”

  20. Topics • Why is this important? • About Psychics • About Prophets

  21. About Prophets

  22. About Prophets • The purpose • Demonstrate God’s power • “Or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods.” (Isa. 41:23) • “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.9 See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you” (Isa. 42:8-9)

  23. About Prophets • Source of their power • God’s omniscience • They do not use psychic ability but are given their information directly from God via words & visions • Biblical prophets glorify God & proclaim his word

  24. About Prophets • They must be 100% accurate • “You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?’   If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken” (Dt. 18:21-22)

  25. About Prophets • Prophecy • Prophecies concerning Israel • Israel to be conquered by Assyria (Lev. 26:33) • Lev. was written by the prophet Moses around 1444 B.C., hundreds of years before its fulfillment • Judah to go into captivity (Isaiah 39:5-7) • Isaiah accurately predicted these events around 700 B.C., 114 years before the actual exile took place. • Judah to be delivered out of captivity (Isa. 44:26-28) • These events occurred exactly as Isaiah predicted, approximately 150 years after his prophecies were written

  26. About Prophets • Prophecy • Prophecies concerning Israel • Israel to become a nation again (Jeremiah 29:3) • The re-population of Israel (northern kingdom) did not begin to occur until the eighteenth century, over 185 centuries after this prediction and death of the prophet.

  27. About Prophets • Prophecy • Prophecies concerning world history • Fall of Babylon (Isaiah 13:17-20; Isaiah 47:9,11) • Fulfilled 142 years after the prophecy was written • Rise of the Persia (Daniel 7:2) • Fall of Persia (Daniel 8:5-7; 8:20-21) • Fulfilled in detail over two hundred years after Daniel's prophecy • Rise and fall of Alexander the Great and the Greek Empire (Dan. 8:8, 21) • Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire (Dan. 2:40)

  28. About Prophets • Prophecy • Concerning Jesus • Time of death (Dan.9:25-26) • Predicted the anointed one would be killed in the year A.D. 30, 500 years before the event

  29. About Prophets • Prophecy • Concerning Jesus • Manner of death (Isaiah 53:5,8) • He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent so he did not open his mouth. • “For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.”

  30. About Prophets • Prophecy • Manner of death (Isaiah 53:5,8) • There are 191 prophecies concerning the anticipated Jewish Messiah and Savior. Each was literally fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus of Nazareth

  31. Topics • Why is this important? • About Psychics • About Prophets • Summary

  32. Summary • Psychics and biblical prophets are very different • Psychics are often wrong and deceptive. They do not have your best interest at heart and will lead you away from God • Prophets speak for God and their words will lead you to God • God alone knows the end from the beginning • The Bible alone passed the test of inspiration through prophecy

  33. Questions

  34. Bibliography • Dailey, Timothy J. The Paranormal Conspiracy: The Truth About Ghosts, Aliens and Mysterious Beings. 2015. • Felder, H. C. The African American Guide to the Bible. 2015. • Hansen, George P. The Trickster and the Paranormal. [Philadelphia]: Xlibris Corporation, 2001. • Montenegro, Marcia. Spellbound: The Paranormal Seduction of Today's Kids. 2013. • Rhodes, Ron. The Truth Behind Ghosts, Mediums & Psychic Phenomena. 2006. • Stearn, Jess. The Sleeping Prophet: The Life and Work of Edgar Cayce. London: Müller, 1983.

  35. Contact • Dr. H.C. Felder • Giving An Answer • www.GivingAnAnswer.org • hcfelder@GivingAnAnswer.org • www.facebook.com/GivingAnAnswer • www.YouTube.com/GivingAnAnswer • @hcfelder

  36. The End

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