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This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still ahead, answers to your questions in Contending for the Faith, and in Understanding the Scriptures, Dave and Tom will resume their conversation on God’s salvation. In addition to this radio program, we publish a monthly newsletter, which we make available free of charge. We also produce and distribute a wide variety of teaching materials, including books in print, e-book and audio book formats, CD’s, DVD’s and other items to encourage the serious study of God’s Word. For a complete list of materials, or to get a copy of today’s broadcast, write to us at PO Box 7019 , Bend , Oregon 97708 . Call our toll free order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org . If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk, ask for Program #3007, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And now if you would like to watch Dave and Tom, our weekly broadcast is available on DVD, ask about a subscription when you contact us. You can also download both audio and video podcast at our website. We’ll repeat this information at the end of the program.
RELIGION IN THE NEWS
Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on trends and events being covered by the media. This week’s item is from religionnewsblog.com, May 27, 2007 , with a headline: “Test For Psychics In Salem?” the following are excerpts. Lawyers have the bar exam, accountants have the CPA exam, should Salem ’s fortune tellers have to pass a test of their own to prove they are psychic? City Counselors, hoping to crack down on fraudulent fortune tellers are trying to define exactly how a psychic can become licensed to set up shop in the witch city. They want candidates to undergo a criminal background check, and to either live or run a business in Salem for at least a year. But many psychics want the city to go a step further, make sure they are actually qualified to predict the future. “It’s become a free-for-all,” said Laurie Cabot, the official witch of Salem, anyone who says they are psychic can come into the city, we don’t even know where they come from, we don’t know their qualifications. For more than 3 hours this week city counselors listened to two dozen witches and psychics, many clad in black and wearing pentacles as they explained the tools of their trade. There has to be criteria or you’re going to get garbage coming here, Barbara Safretsky, the owner of Angelica of the Angels, predicted. What are the criteria, asked a baffled counselor at large, Joan Lovely, is there schooling? Counselors are considering requiring psychics to submit a five-year employment history and their educational background before their license is granted. Doug Johnson, a psychic, noted, “There are nuts out there, people who are not mentally there.” He wants candidates to show their experience and training before becoming licensed. The city took up the issue almost a year ago, mainly to prevent fortune tellers from blatantly ripping off consumers by demanding lucrative payments in return for lifting a curse, or removing a black cloud. City counselors modeled the regulations after those used by San Francisco , which licenses between 30 and 40 fortune tellers. But they ran into trouble trying to define the practice of fortune telling, and opted to scrap a line referring to it as casting spells, removing curses, and administering potions to recover property, stop bad luck, give good luck, put bad luck on a person or animal, shorten a person’s life, make one person marry or divorce another, induce a person to make or alter a will, or tell where money or property is hidden.
Dave:
It is a joke, Tom, where do you find these things?
Tom:
Well, Dave, is this any less absurd than “The Secret?”
Dave:
No, same thing, except nobody licensed those people that wrote that.
Tom:
Well, you know, some of them, you look at all the so-called degrees that they have, they sort of have credentials, or at least that’s what we see, that’s what they promote.
Dave:
Not credentials to tell you that you’re God.
Tom:
No, but Dave, like “The Secret” and this is what I was alluding to, that by asking, How does this work? I mean, there are so many holes in this stuff you could drive, you know, a Mac truck through it. Now, we have Laurie Cabot, the official witch of Salem , and she says, “Anyone who says they are psychic can come into the city, we don’t even know where they come from, we don’t know their qualifications.” Well, wait a minute! If she’s a psychic, she wouldn’t have any problem with that, should she?
Dave:
She should be able to expose all the phonies.
Tom:
Of course, but then licensing, you’re going to license a psychic?
Dave:
Well, the city has got to get their cut, and they’ve got to control this thing because, Tom, there are kooks out there, and allowed to come in.
Tom:
Well, that’s what they say. Some of these psychics are accusing other psychics of being nuts. Now, Dave, Salem , Massachusetts , it’s got a history, and it’s almost like they are capitalizing on one of the biggest tragedies, really in the history of this country.
Dave:
Tom, we’ve dealt with this sort of thing in the past, I’ve written books about it, on the one hand Satan cannot foretell the future. God points His ability to foretell the future as proof that He is God. On the other hand, what about the assassination of Robert Kennedy? Sirhon B. Sirhon, he wrote it in his diary by automatic writing. You will find that in a book called, R.F.K. Must Be Killed, R.F.K. Must Be Killed . He wrote it in his diary, and he gave the date, in fact, it happened on that day. Now, does Satan know the future? No, he can only foretell disasters that he creates. You go to a fortune teller—you’re going to have a horrible wreck in your car next Thursday, or whatever, well, Satan can go to work and make that come to pass, possibly.
Tom:
Well, Dave, let me give you another example. There is a bridge over the Ohio River , you know, I grew up in Southern Ohio , and the psychics had predicted that this bridge was going to collapse, and it did. The thing that was interesting was, when the engineers checked out the problem, they said some of the main strength of this bridge were below the surface of the road, and as cars throughout the winter, you know, back in Ohio they would salt the roads and so on, and over a period of time the salt was deteriorating the structural part of the bridge. Now, Satan can know that, he can recognize things that are about to happen and then tell his minions or the minions themselves can know this.
Dave:
Tom, there are things that do happen. There are guys that can visualize something. Far away they have located downed aircraft, they have located bodies.
Tom:
Right, but they’re remote viewing, I believe it said.
Dave:
Right, remote viewing, it has been documented. Well, we know that there are demons everywhere, and if you are open to this they can use you. But it’s not infallible, it’s a far cry from what the Bible tells us. When Jesus said to Nathaniel, Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree. It’s not some kind of a psychic thing, this is a demonstration that He is God. And Nathaniel said: My Lord and my God. But Jesus didn’t say, Well, wait just a couple thousand years and write a book called The Secret and they’ll tell you how to do this, or, you know, it’s just the human potential, it’s in all of us—don’t call me God because I can foretell the future or can see things far away—this is a normal gift that we all have, you just have to learn to develop it. That is not biblical, I will stand on the Bible, because it proves it is God’s Word.
