1 | Page By: David A. Sargent Numbers 22:7, ―And the Elders Of
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By: David A. Sargent Numbers 22:7, ―And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.‖ This subject is quite dark and needs to be studied with care and much humility. I pray the reader will become a blood pleader and live for the Lord Jesus Christ; the alternative is not to be underestimated. The subject in this study is divination and will be covering many forms of divination that the Christian may be unaware that he is practicing. Also at the end is an extensive Divination Glossary Appendix. Divination in the verse above looks like there was something in their hand; however this is a form of phraseology to say they had a divination motive in their heart in agreement together to do someone evil and in this case the children of Israel. Here you need to pray: I mean real-time: before you read this PRAY! Notice the phrase ―...the rewards of divination in their hand…‖ and the comparative passage: 2 Peter 2:12-16, ―But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.‖ This explains what divination is: Unrighteousness. The Bibles says: 1 John 5:17a, ―All unrighteousness is sin...‖ And so we are warned not to go along with people like Balaam; however many in the local churches are doing just that: Revelation 2:14, ―But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold 1 | P a g e the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.‖ This is against one of the seven local churches in Revelation during the Tribulation. But remember this is the left over local churches from the church age that ended up in Apostasy. Many Christians are involved in different forms of divination these days. Many are superstitious about things and because of their lack of Bible reading, studying and memorizing they lack the needed equipment to fight a good fight of faith. Many do not even know that they are in a spiritual war and those that do have a modern Bible version that is like going into battle with a butter-knife. The modern Bibles are part of the divination involved in textual criticism and thinking and exalting the original manuscripts to a level of importance and ignoring what God gave you in the King James Bible. This divination is subtle, hidden and usually misunderstood. A very strong law was given to Israel in Deuteronomy 18:9-14, ―When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.‖ So if a person that uses these things of divination and claims to be a Christian can he or she be trusted? How do we tell when these things are right in front of us? Will it be obvious, or could it be such a lie that it can deceive us into trusting in them? First the divination itself cannot be trusted even if the prognosis of that divination or the diviner is true and actually helps people. The end NEVER justifies the means. This is the modern lie that has been pushed upon us all to think that because the end came out right, that the means to it must also be right. This is a lie. Israel got caught up in this in spite of the warning from the Lord. 2 Kings 17:16- 17, ―And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them 2 | P a g e molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.‖ What we see here is that there are ear marks of divination; things that seem to go along with divination. 1. Molten Images 2. Worshipping the Sun, Moon Stars and Planets 3. Causing your children to pass through the fire 4. Serving Baal (Satan indirectly) 5. Using Divination 6. Using Enchantments 7. Selling Yourself to do Evil This is the splitting of the nation of Israel and it was because of these things that God drave the ten tribes out and carried them away to Assyria leaving Judah, Benjamin and part of the tribe of Levi in the land. Later Judah fell away also and were taken to Babylon. But before this they were warned and yet there were diviners that were false prophets that said to them that they will not go to Babylon when Jeremiah told them that they were going. Jeremiah 14:14, ―Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.‖ With Jeremiah 27:9, ―Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:‖ yet they did serve the king of Babylon. And with Jeremiah 29:8, ―For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.‖ You cannot trust in dreams, you are supposed to trust in the Lord by trusting in His words. If you do not have God’s words, you have to trust in something else: that is a precursor to modern the divination. It is a matter of what you are TRUSTING in. That is what IDOLS do, they are for people to trust in and rely on for life. There is a fine line between Divine and Divination. There is a fine line between an IMAGE 3 | P a g e of an idol, and the IMAGE of God: The Lord Jesus Christ. But an IDOL IMAGE is NOT the same in any way as the Lord Jesus Christ. The fine line is that IMAGE; and eventually there will be an IMAGE of a beast during the tribulation. There will be a whole lot more divination during that time than now as life degenerates with each generation. Ezekiel had the same issues as Jeremiah with divination in the land of the people if Israel. Ezekiel 13:6-9, ―They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken? Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD. And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.‖ The Lord is against these false prophets because of their lying divination and telling the people that these things the Lord had said when he didn’t. When Judah fell to Babylon; God gave them over to a nation that used divinations and even in the invasion of the king of Babylon when they were coming into Jerusalem the king of Babylon used divination and consulted with images as he gazed into the liver; so there was some sort of pagan sacrifice either of animal or human to look into the liver and see an image and divine from that to over through Jerusalem.