Phony Prophets

A few years ago, a feng shui master made some predictions about my family and me, some of which have since come true. I'm really disturbed. Should I believe that the other things she has predicted will come true as well?

—Confused, via e-mail

As you know, feng shui has to do with the Chinese practice of positioning objects, especially buildings and furniture, in a way that supposedly manages the "flow of energy" through the space. But in your situation, the practitioner is actually functioning as a fortuneteller, like a palm or tarot reader, a medium or spiritist.

Many of those who claim to tell the future are nothing more than con artists out to make a quick buck off an easy mark. Often they are astute judges of character, skilled at reading body language and facial expressions. With a few carefully crafted questions, they get us to reveal far more than we realize, enabling them to make observations about us that ring amazingly true—and inspiring our faith in what comes next. However, if anything these charlatans say comes true, it's nothing more than a coincidence. The predictions are so vague that almost any event could be interpreted in such a way that it seems to fulfill the prophecy. Sometimes our faith in these predictions—constantly thinking about them, believing in them, watching for them—makes them self-fulfilling.

Then there are those who take their "craft" very seriously—people who actually believe in and practice the occult spirituality associated with their "power." The Scripture warns us in no uncertain terms to have nothing to do with spiritual guidance that does not come from God (Deut. 18:10-12). These people are offering themselves to demonic influences that tell them what to say, and they become tools in the hands of the enemy of our souls (Acts 16:16). If sometimes their predictions seem to come true, it's only another of Satan's attempts to rob us of our peace, fill our hearts with fear and doubt, and keep us from putting our full trust in almighty God—our one true source of knowledge and wisdom and power.

Christin Ditchfield is the host of the syndicated radio program Take It To Heart, and the author of A Family Guide to Narnia: Biblical Truths in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia (Crossway).

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