When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you
shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations
(Deuteronomy 18:9).

The lure of the occult is almost always on the basis of acquiring
knowledge or power. We desire the power that comes from unusual
insight and a knowledge of the unknown. We want to experience a
power that is spiritual and supernatural in origin. In a sense
these are God-given desires, but they are intended to be
fulfilled by the knowledge and power which comes from God.
However, Satan is busy trying to pass off his counterfeits for
God’s knowledge and power as the real thing. If he can get you to
accept his versions of knowledge and power, he has a foothold in
your life.

The lure of satanic knowledge and power is nothing new. God’s
people have been warned against it from the earliest times. The
command in Deuteronomy 18:9-12 is as viable for us today as it
was for the Israelites under Moses’ leadership. We live in a
contemporary Canaan where it is socially acceptable to consult
spiritists, mediums, palm-readers, psychic counselors and
horoscopes for supernatural insights and abilities.

This was clearly brought home to me while I was finishing my
doctorate in a class I took on business forecasting. One of the
men in the class presented a paper describing a scenario of the
future he had researched. He excitedly explained that we were on
the threshold of new frontiers in the mind: astral projection,
telepathic images, levitation, etc. This public school principal
was promoting New Age and the occult and the other class members
were eating it up.

After the class had enjoyed several minutes of lively discussion
I asked, “In all your exploration of your subject, did you ever
ask yourself if it is right for people to get involved in it?”

“Oh, I’m not interested in whether it’s right or not,” he
replied. “I just know it works.”

“I have no question that it works,” I argued. “The question we
need to answer is not whether or not it works, but whether or not
it’s right. What you are presenting is as old as Bible history.”

Create in me a constant thirst for knowing You, Lord, and a
readiness to recognize and reject Satan’s counterfeits.

This daily devotional is published and distributed by
http://www.GOSHEN.net/ . It is written by Neil Anderson at
http://www.freedominchrist.com/ .