Friday, February 6, 2009

Fruit of the Tree....

It must be true. Great minds think alike. Or ironic minds? I made a joke with my blogger pals the other day about inviting one more person to contribute to this blog so that we would have twelve people. I further joked that twelve is a much holier number than eleven: twelve apostles, twelve tribes of Israel, a dozen eggs in a carton, a dozen donuts in a box, all proof that twelve is an awesome number, and we should go for it. I was kidding, but that set me off on my off day (Wednesday) to thinking about numerology, astrology, psychic phenomenon, and all sorts of things that people follow rather than the Lord. Then Jeff beat me to it yesterday Jeff's irony post.. Nice job Jeff, I didn't see that coming. But then, I am not a psychic....
Not being able to resist an opportunity to become SCLfamous, (yes Katdish, here I am, shamelessly trying to cash in your fame chips), and after seeing that Jeff began a discussion of the paranormal, I figured I would wait until today to write about something similar. I am also sure my buddies will bump me over before anyone sees this (not that I am psychic or anything...) so I am not suffering from stage fright (or, on a blog, is it screen fright? Keyboard fright?)
I admit to finding these ologies more interesting than I ought. What sends me away from it fleeing, is simply that God says to leave it alone. Yeah, sometimes I hear the serpent saying "Don't you want to find out if you ever have kids.....", but I know it to be the serpents voice. I know who the power to know these things comes from, when it is real, and it isn't God. If it was coming from God, the person would not be taking money to read palms, crystals, tea leaves, whatever, but would be busy acting crazy, trying to stop people from doing normal things that will hurt them. "Don't get on that bus! You have three children! They need you.......!" Or notifying the police and FBI about threats to the public. You know, making a nuisance of themself and getting themself arrested...
FBI Agent: How did you know about the plot to get rid of all Big Boy restaurants with statues?
Godly Psychic: God told me to tell you.
FBI Agent: That's what they all say! You're in on it, aren't you! Who is the leader?
Godly Psychic: God didn't tell me that...
FBI Agent: You are the leader of the diabolical plot to get rid of that artistic and culinary delight!
Godly Psychic: I was sent to warn you...
FBI Agent: Okay, I'm through being nice. We're getting out the water boards....

Seriously, if you sold information you got from God, wouldn't that be simony? How was Simon punished? Okay, time to flee in the other direction.
But what bothers me most is otherwise Godly people who think astrology, psychics, Ouija boards and such are fun. I used to teach in a Christian school. Yes, I taught that playing with those things is wrong. (Pausing to duck stones...........) Well, some of the girls in class were having a slumber party (they were twelve and thirteen). They spoke to their moms about what I said. Parental reaction?
Momma J: Miss Helen, don't you think that you are scaring the kids.
Me: Well, perhaps I jumped the gun a bit. Children who are not exposed to such things shouldn't be exposed to them in a Christian school, I suppose...
Momma E: No, we mean, aren't you making a big deal about a children's game?
Me: Excuse me?
Momma J: Ouija boards. They are just games for young children....
Me: So, you mean they are only pretending to talk to the devil....
Momma J: Miss Helen...
Me: I don't really see how allowing them to pretend to talk to satan and his minions and wait for answers is a good thing. You spend a lot of money so that your sons and daughters will be taught the best things here, and have the worst discouraged. I dearly hope for your cooperation....

So, was I the teacher from H-E-double hockey stick? Who thinks I made a mountain out of a molehill? Who thinks I should have called DCFS on Momma J and Momma E? You gotta tell me in the comment section, because I am not a psychic....


P.S. I do believe that sometimes God talks to us in dreams, as He did to Joseph. Which of us Christians would sell what He has to tell?

12 comments:

Sherri Murphy said...

"Freely you have received, freely give" is what I think applies here.

And regarding the occult games, I agree.

You're just opening a can of worms.

The bad thing is about taking a trip over to the dark side(for WHATEVER reason)....

you don't get to choose the souveniers!

Many unwanted things will make their way into your bag...sometimes for years to come.

Good post Helen!

Annie K said...

Is Steph going to show up with her VooDoo Chicken foot? Aren't those good luck?

Stephanie Wetzel said...

Annie K, I was debating commenting because of my non-occult association with voodoo and chickens. (It's my dog's fault!)

Before I comment, here's something interesting and kinda sad: Every day someone lands on my blog through a search for voodoo, chicken, rooster, foot, etc. Every day. At least one.

Now. As for Ouija Boards, I am with you. My mom always forbade that, and I'm glad she did. From what I've heard, some people DO get answers when they play (or at least believe they did). Playing pretend with that kind of evil makes me shudder.

I'd love to hear Mare's take on this.

Helen said...

Steph, I am sure the voodoo chicken foot researchers get blessed when they read the rest of your blog. Seriously, I am not being facetious. This time....

katdish said...

Hey guys, I didn't delete anyone else's posts, I just moved Helen's to the top. I hope ya'll don't mind.

Jeff and I were talking about this post yesterday. Even when I was far away from God, Ouija Boards just gave me the creeps and I have actually left a couple of slumber parties when someone pulled one out. Jeff put it much better than I could. He said, "It's not a child's game, it's a doorway." You were right to do what you did. The Truth is incredibly inconvenient sometimes.

On a side note, here's an interesting (or not) observation: Did you know that those giant Kip's Big Boys are actually hollow, lightweight, made of fiberlass and can easily fit into the back of a full sized pick up truck? Not that I have any personal experience with this, I'm just saying...

Beth said...

I think this all goes under Romans 12:9
Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

The first time I heard about Ouija boards was in Jr. High and some girls were talking about how they had it at their slumber party and the scary things that happened...I was scared to death and never went near one. BUT there is a lot of evil stuff out there that doesn't seem to be all that bad until you've gotten yourself tangled up in it. Like you said...lots of those "ologies" are verrrrry interesting...

Great post, Helen!! I've read it three times already!!

katdish said...

Hey ya'll,

On the day of my SCL debut, my "oil change required" light goes off in my car, I am forced to grocery shop b/c we have nothing to eat, I get a call from the school that my daughter is running and fever and could I come pick her up?

Clearly, God is saying to me: You are not a big deal...

But I know I'm a big deal to my friends and family, and I love you guys!

Helen said...

Katdish, to us, you really are all that, and a bag of chips. Heck, let's throw in a diet Dr. Pepper as well. Of course, I am speaking for myself, Dory, Helen, Clyde, and notbob, here, but I am sure the Magnificent 7 will back me up. Maybe the Holey Dozen will as well (note to selves: come up with cool name for the contributors to fottsp).
Oh yeah, God loves you, too.

Jeff said...

This was a fantastic post, Helen.

I loved your comment to the mom, "I don't really see how allowing them to pretend to talk to satan and his minions and wait for answers is a good thing." Tell us what you really think...

You rock. :)

Helen said...

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the support. There have been more than a few times when I would say stuff like this, and people would look at me like I was nuts. I am glad that you all don't think I'm nuts. About this anyway.
You all are great. I'm glad you are my friends.

Ryan B said...

Good post Helen. When I went to New Orleans this summer we saw quite a few "interesting" things similar to stuff like this. Your post sparked up a bunch of memories of that. Keep it up.

imfreenow.blogspot.com said...

Hi Helen. Good to know there are others who support the resisting of occult things.