By Rev Fr Benard Gregory Anaebene
Divination is a phenomenon which science has not succeeded in eradicating, and it militates against the sincere conversion of Christians.
- Examples of Divinatory Services in the Bible
As we may know, divination and its services were forbidden in Israel in the Old Testament times and equally still forbidden till today in this New Testament times.
In Israel (in OT times), it was regarded as an abominable practice (Dt. 18:9-15), punishable by death (Lv. 20:6-27) and denounced (Is. 8:19).
Truly speaking, it implies lack of trust and confidence in God, but man. It further denies that God is all powerful (omnipotent) and all knowing (omniscient).
Scriptural References:
- Saul Consults the Witch of Endor
So, he (Saul) disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and set out with two companions. They came to the woman (the witch) by night, and Saul said to her, “Tell my fortune through a ghost; conjure up for me the one I ask you to.” But the woman answered him, “You are surely aware of what Saul has done, in driving the mediums and fortune-tellers out of the land. Why, then, are you laying snares for my life, to have me killed?” But Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As the Lord lives, you shall incur no blame for this.” Then the woman asked him,
“Whom do you want me to conjure up?” and he answered, “Samuel.” Samuel Appears. When the woman saw Samuel, she shrieked at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” But the king said to her, “Have no fear. What do you see?” The woman answered Saul, “I see a preternatural being rising from the death.” “What does he look like?” asked Saul. And she replied, “It is an old man who is rising, clothed in a mantle.” Saul knew that it was Samuel, and so he bowed face to the ground in homage… (read up 15-24) [1 Samuel 28:8-24]
God’s Reaction to this:
Thus Saul died because of his rebellion against the Lord in disobeying his command, and also because he had sought counsel of a necromancer (the witch), and had not rather inquired of the Lord. Therefore the Lord slew him, and transferred his kingdom to David, the son of Jesse. [1 Chronicles 10:13-14]
- Ahaziah Consults Baalzebub
After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel. Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his roof terrace at Samaria and had been injured. So he sent out messages with instructions: “Go and inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury.”
Meanwhile, the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite: “Go intercept the messengers of Samaria’s king, and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron?’ For this, the Lord says: ‘You shall not leave the bed upon which you lie; instead, you shall die.’” And with that, Elijah departed. The messengers then returned to Ahaziah, who asked them, “Why have you returned?”
“A man came up to us,” they answered, “who said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him: The Lord says, is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? For this you shall not leave the bed upon which you lie; instead, you shall die.’” The king asked them, “What was the man like who came up to you and said these things to you?” “Wearing a hairy garment,” they replied, “with a leather girdle about his loins.” “It is Elijah the Tishbite!” he ex
From what we have seen, God’s reaction and its resultant effects on the person who has practiced divination was always death. Think about this and repent, if you are involved in this evil practice.
III. Inordinate Ambitions and Desires
The practitioners of Neo-Paganism, the new belief system, do so for power, fame and wealth. Attesting to this, Okafor (2020) says: “Those who patronize this ‘new’ religion or their practitioners do so for various reasons. These reasons range from the search for security, spiritual powers, right relationship with the transcendental world and material benefits to existential problems…”
- Lifestyle of some Christian Parents
Some Christian parents are weak in the practice of their religion. These parents are not convinced, concerned and committed, because of this, they cannot bring their children up properly in Christian faith. These parents commit what I consider spiritual and religious abuse and neglect. This is even the first and worst level among other aspects of child abuse and neglect.
And this means the inability of the parents to lead their child(ren) to God. In other words, it means the denial of the right of the child to know and worship God, hence, depriving the child all avenues and chances of knowing, loving and being in union with God. God requires parents to rear their children in a God centred way.
The primary objective must be that the children know, believe, love, reverence and serve the Lord. All these signify how serious the Church is in the training of children by parents. It is the duty of the parents to bring them up to keep God’s commandment as Christ taught us. So, there is every need for parents to have a carefully planned program for the training of their children because according to Canon 1136, parents have the most serious duty and primary right to do all in their power to see to the physical, social, moral and religious upbringing of their children.
It is the failure of the parents to do this job, that leads to their children relapsing to Neo-Paganism. In as much as they cannot do this, they are weak to give their children the right example to follow because nemo dat quod non habet (you can’t give what you don’t have).
- More Emphasis on Social and Material Aspect of the Church than Spiritual Life of the Parish
Today, there is a noticeable shift from spiritual to social and material aspect of the Church. Most people use their money or wealth to get whatever they want from our Christian Churches. Insignificant attention is given to the spiritual life of the Church. Every activity in the Church today is about eating and drinking not minding that Jesus has warned us against this. [cf. Lk. 17:26-37] In the same vein, the performance of some Priests is measured on the monetary contribution and physical projects without looking into how the Priest develop the spiritual life of the Parish. All these contribute immensely to prevailing Neo-Paganism among Christians especially the youth in this modern time.
- Consequences
Here, we are going to look into the consequences as follows:
- Lack of Complete Trust in God
When a Christian begins to practise Neo-Paganism, he equally begins to lose complete or total trust in God. He then begins to live in fears and doubt. Instead of going to Jesus for the solution of his problems or crises (cf. Mt. 11:28-29), he turns to diviners who will offer him their divinatory services amidst fetish and diabolical means. Sometimes the resultant effect will be death as we see in the case of Saul the first King of Israel (cf. 1 Chron. 10:13-14): “Saul died because he had been unfaithful to the Lord: he had disobeyed the commands of the Lord; he had even consulted the spirits of the dead, and did not consult the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and gave control of the kingdom to David, son of Jesse.”
- Loss of Sense of the Sacred especially within Liturgical Worship
Patronizers or practitioners of Neo-Paganism are often times in constant loss of sense of the Sacred especially as it concerns liturgical worship or celebration as they take part in it without any reverence or fear of God. Not minding the warning given to all nations by God: “For, I am a great king and my name will be reverenced among all the nations, says the Lord of Hosts” (Malachi 1:14).
They go on despising the name of the Lord and treating holy matters with every levity and disrespect and that is why many of them are cursed by God. Good examples of such individual atrocities are making calls, chatting and so on when the Holy Mass is going; and group atrocities like the throwing of Mass Box into the grave of the dead as in Awka case and other cases like that in some other places.
III. Equivocation or Equivocal Life
Christians, especially the youths who practise Neo-Paganism are prone to living deceitful and carefree life. In the external, they come for Masses on Sundays or Services as it concerns non-Catholics, but in the internal, what you see is what I call psychological rejection of the Church and her teachings, because in reality, they have taken away their minds and hearts from Christ and his Church. This type of life is very indicative of equivocation in the sense that it is a way of life where there is no distinction between good and evil. In other words, evil is good, and good is evil.
