To the uninstructed in the things of God the findings and facts presented in this volume may seem fanciful and farfetched. There are some who are totally unacquainted with the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the transforming power of His Gospel so that they do not know the reality nor even the possibility of the transfer of citizenship from the kingdom of satan to the kingdom of God. There are many who know the Savior as their own but are uninstructed in the Word of God so as to be strangers to the reality of spiritual warfare. Such know the power of the Gospel to save from sin but not the authority of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ against Satan and his hosts.

There are many Christians, born again of the Spirit of God, who are unfamiliar with spiritual realities, either good or evil. They know about the Holy Spirit from the Scriptures and can repeat the Apostels’ Creed in all honesty, saying, "believe in the Holy Ghost." But the Holy Spirit is not a living, dynamic Personality to them, nor are demonic personalities a reality because such believers lack appreciation and discernment of things spiritual. They are like a person who hears music, vocal or instrumental, but have no understanding nor appreciation for it because of their insensitivity to music whether in harmony or discord. Such are the many who have no discernment of things spiritual.

There are some, however, to whom the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are very real personalities. In particular they are acquainted with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer in Christ, and they know the dreadful reality of spiritual warfare in the heaven and on earth from the beginning of the Scriptures to the end thereof, from the entrance of satan into the Garden of Eden to his being cast into the lake of fire.

Demonic activity is not uniform the world over nor in historical experience. It appears that there was a great increase in demonic activity preceding and during the life of the Lord Jesus here on earth. There does appear to be a present increase because of an awareness on the part of the powers of darkness that their time is short and that the second coming of Christ is at hand. It is therefore particularly imperative for Christians to be informed in spiritual warfare.

Over the years I have met a few Christians who are so instructed. Usually they have been missionaries from the dark places of the earth. Some are pastors and laymen. Among the most informed and experienced that I have met is Dr. Kurt Koch, a Lutheran minister in Germany. This volume is one of many he has written to present his findings and facts regarding demonic activity and the effort for presenting a scriptural understanding therein. These facts are neither fancy nor the product of fanaticism. The Christian is to go forth into spiritual warfare fully armed as described in Ephesians 6, with faith in the all conquering name of the Lord Jesus Christ and without fear.

The well-known writer C. S. Lewis wrote in the preface to his book ‘The Screwtape Letters:’ "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them."

On one side we have the rationalists of every shade and coloring and on the other side we have the magicians. Both of these groups of people will be upset by this book, and one might ask: have they reason to be? Whether they have or not, Christian ministers and counselors are justified in being distressed when they meet the devastating effects of materialism and magic in their counseling sessions. It is thus our duty to publish the following information, and two reasons compel us to do so.

First of all we must proclaim the victory that Jesus Christ has won over the powers of darkness. People oppressed and subjected by occultism will never find true deliverance through medicine, psychology or psychiatry; it is only to be found in Jesus Christ. It is for us to show them the way to the Great Deliverer.

Secondly, people must be warned of the dangers of spiritism, magic and occultism. There are terrible consequences involved if we trespass into these areas, and God Himself has forbidden us to touch these things.

We will be drawing heavily upon examples brought to light in private counseling sessions, but in each case we have the express permission of those involved to publish the information.

For thousands of years fortune-telling has been a bastard of heathenism, born out of fear, curiosity and superstition. Today fortune-telling is a many-sided problem involving folklore, psychology and theology. The following chapters had their origin in the counseling work of an evangelical minister and theologian. Such a ministry is a continual source of new material in this area. My file of occult cases has already grown to over 20,000 in number. In this present book we shall be avoiding scientific dissertations. Such an approach can be found in my book ‘Christian Counseling and Occultism,’ but here we will be dealing mainly with first-hand examples, to enable the reader to form his own opinion. The seal of confession will not be violated since permission has been granted for the publishing of the instances found in this book. In this first chapter the following aspects of fortune-telling will be discussed: astrology, card-laying, palmistry, divination by rod and by pendulum, mirror mantic, psychometry; and finally we will consider the position taken by the Bible and the way to liberation from occult subjection.

Ex. 1. A woman appeared at a police station and stated that she had just shot and killed her son. An astrologer had told her in a written horoscope that her son would never regain his full mental health. Wanting to save the boy from this terrible future, she had killed him. The woman was arrested and finally sentenced after a long trial. The astrologer himself went free.

This day-to-day experience shows the suggestive powers and effects that horoscopes have. But before we enter this problematic field, first a brief historical introduction.

One understands by astrology the prediction of human character and destiny from the stars and their constellations. It is the most widely spread superstition of our time. The Research Institute of Public Opinion at Lake Constance established through a questionnaire that about 63% of the German people had occupied themselves with astrology at one time or another. Very few of them know about the so-called scientific form of astrology, and most of them only subscribe to the solstitial point horoscope.

In the ancient world astronomy (the exploration of the stars) and astrology (the interpretation of the constellations of the stars) were a single science. In the ancient Babylonian Empire it was the science of the priests. Originally horoscopes were cast only for kings. Since astrology can also be traced back to ancient Mexican culture, it is thought to be a common human phenomenon and archetype. The Greeks and the Romans took over astrology from the Babylonians. Of course at that time there were already rational thinkers who ridiculed astrology. The poet Ennius declared, "Horoscopes cost one drachme, and are one drachme too expensive." The Church father Augustine called astrology the most stupid delusion of mankind!

During the Middle Ages, Europe was gripped by astrology. The Emperor Frederick II (1194-1250) was especially influenced by it. Professorial chairs for astrology were established. The reformer Philip Melanchthon even held one. Luther, however, called it ‘a shabby art.’ The story is told of how at that time the astrologer Stoeffler made a complete fool of himself. He predicted a diluvian flood for February 1524. The population was terrified. Nobody wanted to work. The fields were not tilled. The rich either had ships built for themselves or they retreated for safety into the mountains. Even the Elector of Brandenburg made preparations to escape the flood.

The great astronomer Kepler was also not free from the contamination of astrology. A well-known example of this is his prediction that Wallenstein would die a peaceful death in his youth year. But he was killed in his 50^th year. Yet Kepler only engaged in astrology out of economic necessity. He wrote, "Astrology is to me an unbearable but necessary slavery. To keep my yearly income, my title, and my living quarters, I have to comply with ignorant curiosity. Astronomy is the wise mother, and astrology the foolish daughter who gives herself to anyone who pays her, so that she can support her wise mother."

Since the age of rationalism (1750), however, astrology has declined in its influence. Astronomy and astrology finally parted company. But two world wars have made it flare up again. In 1930 horoscopes were already being cast for Hitler but they were very contradictory. After 1933 they said his influence should have declined. The ‘truth’ of these horoscopes we have certainly experienced. They contained a miscalculation of about twelve years, and what a disastrous twelve years they were! The horoscope of Rudolf Hess prophesied that he was destined by fate to bring about a reconciliation with England. That was perhaps the reason why he flew to England. The ‘truth’ of this horoscope is equally as well-known as Hitler’s.

And what is the position of astrology today? One has to distinguish between a supposedly scientific form, which for instance Alfred Rosenberg (Signs in the Sky) advocates, and a popular form, the so-called solstitial point horoscope. This mentally contagious habit is so widespread, that the large daily newspapers and magazines have to take it into account. We are told that in the United States some 170 newspapers and magazines carry daily horoscopes. It is also known that there are about 25,000 well-paid astrologers in the world today.

A humorous example will give us an insight into the situation.

Ex. 2. I attended a conference of Protestant ministers to which the publishers of certain large newspapers and many other journalists were invited. The discussion was concerning the intellectual level and outlook on life of the newspapers. A minister pointed out that Swedish newspapers contain no horoscopes, and that this is the accepted practice in Sweden. Why was it not possible to adopt the same attitude throughout Germany and other countries? The following explanation was given by the chief editor of a large daily paper. He said that personally he was convinced of the nonsense of astrology, but it was a question of finance. The paper that includes no weekly horoscope in its Sunday edition must count on many cancellations. No newspaper can afford this. He went on to tell of a humorous experience. One Friday the astrologer’s horoscope did not arrive on time. In his dilemma he went to a storage room and picked out an old horoscope. Since he did not know the order of the Zodiac, it was an incorrect one. In spite of this, none of the readers noticed the mistake. Since all went well, he saved himself the astrologer’s fee, and on 22 occasions he used incorrect horoscopes from previous years. None of the hundreds of thousands of readers noticed this, till finally someone wrote in, saying that it was impossible for the sign of Scorpion to rule in July. Now his trick was uncovered. He had to turn again to the ‘experts’ for help. Having told his story, the editor then added with a smile, "During the time of the incorrect horoscopes everything went well. It does not depend on the horoscope, but on what the people believe."

What reasons do we have as Christians for not recognizing astrology as being providential to our lives and destinies? First of all we should be repelled by its heathen background. With ancient people astrology had a religious accent. The stars were equivalent to gods. The heathen felt themselves to be led, influenced and threatened by these planet gods, and though, in the course of time, the religious character of astrology receded, the old rules were retained.

Here we have a second reason for rejecting it. The retention of these old rules involves an insoluble contradiction. Every 26,000 years the axis of the earth prescribes the lateral area of a cone (precession). Today’s astrologer does not see the planets in the same position as his colleague of 4000 to 5000 years ago. Besides, several other planets have been discovered; Uranus in 1781, Neptune in 1839, and Pluto in 1932. Since all these changes failed to shake the astrological system in any way, present astronomers reject astrology as one of the greatest frauds of all time.

But there are still more impossibilities to be considered. The rays from the stars falling on a child at the moment of birth are said to be decisive to its fate. But this assertion leads to several contradictions. Our earth is being showered predominantly by light and cosmic rays. Yet neither of these has its source in the planets, which of themselves emit no light of their own. The source of the light is found rather in the fixed stars, while cosmic rays originate in the Milky Way. The planets, like our earth, radiate neither of these.

Moreover, the moment when the umbilical cord is cut should be of decisive importance. Thus if a doctor delays the cutting of the cord, the child should receive a different fate. Therefore one ought to consult an astrologer to determine the most favourable time for the doctor to cut the cord. And so the next question is why the 240 people whose cords are cut at the same moment do not have the same fate. Why was there only one Shakespeare, and only one Johann Sebastian Bach, among the many that were born at the same moment in time as they were? Ironically, however, Abbe Moritz Warburg, who is a well-known research worker in astrology, has said, "Astrology just cannot be discredited."

A reform movement in astrology wants to clear away these difficulties. It is called Cosmo-Biology, and its headquarters are in Aalen, Wuerttemberg. Man’s heredity must be considered together with the stars, they say. This is but a compromise between the old astrology and modern biology.

Of course there is no question that in some ways the planets do affect our earth. The tides and other natural phenomena are caused or affected by them. But to suggest that these effects influence our lives and destinies would be the same as asserting that the luminous dials of our wrist watches could cause our death through radioactivity.

Yet the main problem we are concerned in astrology is its effects as we meet them in Christian counseling. It can be stated in three words: Deceit, Suggestion, Occultism. I will give an example of each from my own work.

Ex. 3. A student of psychology at the Sorbonne University in Paris wanted to write his thesis. He put a classified advertisement in a newspaper and passed himself off as an astrologer. For a prepaid fee of 20 francs he would cast a detailed horoscope for each applicant. He received about 400 customers and was thus able to finance his own studies. He gave the same horoscope to all 400 customers, paying no heed to the signs of the Zodiac. His only consideration was the psychological aspect: telling everyone that a good future lay ahead of them, and implying positive character traits in everyone, for people like to believe such things and hence would not regret having paid the fee. He received many letters of appreciation, since the horoscope covered almost everybody’s situation. The student then wrote his dissertation and passed his degree with honors. In this case the astrology was mere deception. The young Frenchman earned a lot of money and got his degree through the stupidity and superstition of his fellow-men.

Ex. 4. I met the most absurd example of the horoscope disease in the person of a young theologian. As a young man this minister had been a business man. He had had a detailed horoscope cast, in which it was said he would change his profession three times. The young man did not have to be told twice. He attended evening school, and then studied Protestant theology, and was later ordained as a minister. He married, but fortunately had no children. The reason why this was fortunate will soon appear. After a few years he was converted to the Catholic faith, and was received by them as a priest. His wife was allowed to stay with him as his housekeeper. Already two changes were behind him. Today he explains that he has not as yet reached his last station in life. He feels an urge to enter a fourth profession. His plans have yet to be fulfilled. It will not be very long before the change will have taken place. In this case, the unfortunate man has become the victim of suggestion. He lives out his own horoscope. He stands bound and compelled by this astrological prediction.

Ex. 5. A minister who saw his mission as fighting superstition had a horoscope cast for the sake of study. He wanted to prove that horoscope casting was just superstition and deceit. He had to pay a large fee because a detailed horoscope was cast for him. He now waited confidently, believing that the horoscope would not fulfill itself. But he was amazed to see that the prophecies were fulfilled. For eight years he observed that all the predictions came true, even to the smallest details. He grew uneasy at this and reflected on the problem. It had indeed been his preconceived idea that it was all based on suggestion and superstition. Yet he knew that as a Christian he had not been the victim of suggestion. Finally he saw no other way of escape than to repent and to ask God for His protection. The thought came to him that he had sinned through this experiment, and had placed himself under the influence of the powers of darkness. After his repentance he discovered to his surprise that his horoscope was now no longer correct. Through this experience the minister clearly understood that demonic powers can be active in astrology. The person who exposes himself to this danger can perish by it.

How do the experts in various fields judge astrology? Medicine already recognizes the damage that can be done by astrology. The medical superintendent of Wiesbaden, Dr. Schrank, writes in an article about the psychology of superstition, "We can see how dangerous astrology is by the way it produces serious psychic disturbances, a fear of life, despair and other disorders in sensitive people. Astrology paralyses initiative and powers of judgment. It stupefies and encourages shallowness. It moulds the personality into receiving an underground movement that thrives on platitudes."

Astrologers themselves have put it even more clearly. The leading astrologer Wehrle designates astrology as mantic, that is, the art of fortune-telling. Thus in astrology we are faced in part with an occult tendency, together with all the side-effects that occult things carry with them.

The Bible makes it most clear what one’s attitude should be towards astrology. It is commanded, "If there be found a man or a woman who has gone and served or worshipped the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, thou shalt stone that man or woman to death with stones" (Deut. 17:2-5). The prophet Isaiah speaks in even more detail about astrology. He writes: "You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons predict what shall befall you. Behold they are like stubble, the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame" (Isaiah 47:13-14)

According to the Bible, astrology is to be equated with pagan idol worship, blasphemy, and apostasy from the living God. The second commandment is forgotten by those who deal with it: "Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth" (Exodus 20:4).

Historically, the use of cards in fortune-telling can be traced back over many centuries. The Romans already possessed a system of small tablets with inscribed symbols. Then in the 8^th century, cards appeared. The technique of fortune-telling by means of cards is very simple. Certain cards have certain meanings. For instance the 7 of hearts is the card of love; the 10 of hearts means a wish fulfilled; the 10 of spades is a lucky card; etc. With 52 playing cards there are thousands of combinations. Now let us acquaint ourselves with the main problems of card-laying by means of a few examples.

Ex. 6. An evangelist of the German Tent Mission gave a lecture in which he spoke against fortune-telling and card-laying. Afterwards a church official who had been present called the evangelist over and asked him: "What do you mean by your protest about card-laying? I do it myself. It’s a harmless social pastime." We can add a similar example to this from Switzerland.

Ex. 7. A Swiss minister held a bazaar. In the parish hall several fairy-tale booths were erected. One of the booths had the title ‘Fortunes Told.’ For small pay, the children could go in and have their fortunes told by a woman fortune-teller. One of the church elders was annoyed by this and spoke with the minister. "It’s a harmless joke," was the only reply. However, a boy who went into this ecclesiastical fortune-telling booth was told that he would have an accident on his bicycle in the following week. Several days later this actually happened, and the boy broke his leg. A girl was told: "Your teacher does not like you." Subsequently the girl suffered much from this alleged dislike of her teacher.

These first two examples show that card-laying cannot be said to be harmless. The two children became the victims of suggestion. The two ministers were the victims of the rationalistic theory of their university education, which leaves a disastrous gap in the field of magic (the mastery of matter through the mind or the soul) and mantic (the art of fortune-telling).

If card-laying is not just concerned with making easy money but does in fact involve paranormal abilities, then telepathy (the reading of thoughts etc.) and subconscious communication will play a part in it. An example should make this clear.

Ex. 8. A sixteen year old girl went to a card-laying fortune-teller. She wanted to know how long she would have to wait till she met her future husband. The woman looked at her closely and said, "Your brother had a serious motorcycle accident a year ago. Is that true?" "Yes," replied the girl. "Your mother has heart trouble. Is that true?" Again "Yes." "At present you are not getting on well with your father. Is that true?" "Yes, but how do you know all this?" "From the cards." In reality the woman possessed the rare ability of telepathy and therefore had read these statements from the girl. By now though, the young client had come to trust the fortune-teller completely, so the woman now went on to tell her about the future. The girl believed the ambiguous statements and inwardly set her mind on their fulfilment. In her superstition she fell victim to a fulfilment compulsion. It was as the Bible says: "According to your faith be it done unto you." The accurate recounting of the past triggered off the psychological process of fulfilment through the subconscious.

Another form of card-laying is based on genuine mediumistic abilities. The word ‘mediumistic’ comes from the Latin word ‘medium’ (middle). By ‘mediumistic’ one means the mysterious ability of some people to describe or to explain certain events in a way that seems to be beyond the range of the five senses. The following case of a woman card-layer should show us the meaning of the word.

Ex. 9. On being questioned, a fortune-teller said that while she was actually in the process of fortune-telling, she was controlled by a strange power. This spirit would come over her and she was then forced to say things of which she had no previous knowledge. It was a feeling as if she was possessed, but after the fortune-telling she was completely normal again.

This example is close to that which is described in (Acts 16:16-18). Paul was on a missionary journey at Philippi. A girl with the spirit of divination followed him daily. She was continually crying out: "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation." Why was Paul unhappy with this statement? Why did he restrain her? The answer is that the apostle saw immediately that the power of fortune-telling at work in the girl was not of God. He turned on the girl and commanded: "In the name of Jesus Christ, come out of her." Immediately the girl was freed of her powers of divination and fortune-telling. This incident in the early missionary work of the Church is very enlightening.

First of all we learn that there are genuine powers of fortune-telling and that it is at least not all fake. The girl had told the truth. She had received her knowledge from other than human intelligences, from demonic powers. Furthermore it becomes clear that fortune-telling can also have a religious flavor. Only too often the occult world camouflages itself with Christian trimmings. The apostle however, at once recognized the source of this power of divination. He had the gift of the discerning of spirits. His spiritual authority as one of Christ’s representatives and missionaries showed itself. The name of Jesus was and is equal to all the powers of the world of darkness. The complete victory of the Gospel over the demon-bound pagan world was portrayed. In the name of Jesus the chains and fetters broke; the poor oppressed human being was set free. The many factors revealed in this story appear again and again in various forms in the area of fortune-telling.

Christian counseling is not so much concerned with the scientific issues as with the effects that fortune-telling has on people, and the way to overcome these effects. Several examples will clarify this.

Ex. 10. During a counseling session a student confessed that she had several psychic disturbances. She suffered from a fear of examinations, had symptoms of paralysis and no powers of concentration. It appeared as if her intellectual and emotional faculties were completely divided. On being questioned she admitted that she had often had her fortune told from cards. Her parents and grandparents had also sought the advice of fortune-tellers.

Ex. 11. For many years a Christian university graduate practiced card-laying for himself, his family, and for fellow members of his church. After his death his wife became an alcoholic. Her whole pension was used on drink. Her house was decorated by a host of bottles. In addition to this the woman started to engage in white magic and thus continued in the occult tradition of her husband. The daughter in turn followed in the footsteps of her parents. She too was caught up in the superstitious customs of her mother. When the girl was seventeen years old, she became mentally ill and was committed to an asylum. Magic and superstition had destroyed the whole family.

Ex. 12. A young Christian man told me of his time in the services. He had been a corporal in a unit where the staff sergeant had laid cards for all the NCO’s. At first, the corporal had objected to the fortune-telling but finally he gave in to his superior. The card-layer prophesied that he would receive news of a death the following day, and that he could also expect a money-order in the near future. As a matter of fact, the next day he heard that his uncle had died, and five days later he also received the predicted money. The parents had never been in the habit of sending their son money. It was a unique event. After this session with the card-layer, the corporal experienced depressions and his prayer life was disrupted. He had then gone to a Christian man for help and after the man had prayed and laid hands on him, the serious emotional disturbances disappeared completely.

These examples involve a number of problems. The simplest group of questions are of a parapsychological or psychological nature, parapsychology being the science of the extrasensory border experiences of life. Did the staff sergeant possess genuine abilities of fortune-telling? This is not self-evident in the above example. The corporal could have known of the serious illness of his uncle, and he could also have toyed with the idea of his parents sending him some money as a congratulatory gift for his recent promotion. The staff sergeant would then have only needed the help of extrasensory perception, or some telepathic faculty, to have tapped the information from the corporal. This does not seem at all like a case of genuine prevision.

The second group of questions are of a medical character. Were the disturbances caused or triggered off by the fortune-telling, or was it not rather a latent emotional or even mental illness that came to the surface at the time of the fortune-telling experience? Could the coincidence be mistaken for the cause? Has the cause been mistaken for the effect? These are the objections that are always being raised by psychiatry — the science of mental and emotional illnesses. Behind these medical objections are weighty biblical and theological problems. Many doctors and theologians contest the idea that occult practices can evoke psychic and nervous disturbances, and damage to a person’s faith. And further back again is the question as to whether there really are other worldly or demonic powers whose effects touch upon human life. In this connection psychiatrists, almost without exception, view the New Testament reports of possessed people as serious cases of hysteria. Many theologians follow this line, and speak of possession as a disease or defect. There are some who have been unable to rid themselves of the rationalistic egg-shells of their liberal theology. Among these one finds in particular all the adherents to Bultmann’s theology. They miss the true facts of the biblical accounts entirely. They have no organ of receptivity to the happenings of the Scriptures. Spiritual whoredom with the philosophical trends of the past and present has blunted them against the Holy Spirit. It is indeed embarrassing, when even a positive theologian from Basle, who develops good New Testament thoughts in her booklet ‘Salvation and Healing,’ goes on to call the ability of fortune-telling merely a defect. This is the result and influence of psychiatric doubts. Although there are what one might call defects or illnesses that are recorded as being healed in the New Testament, those possessed by devils are also delivered through the name of the Lord Jesus. The young woman at Philippi with the spirit of divination had no defect, but a demonic spirit. Paul therefore did not heal her by laying his hands on her and praying, but he commanded the unclean spirit to come out of her in the name of Jesus. The particular therapy that Jesus and his disciples used made it clear what the patient was suffering from. To the physically sick, laying on of hands and prayer was applied, while the unclean spirits and demons were met with authority and with the command to come out.

If we return now to the medical questions, we see that the view of the Bible is at variance with the view of modern psychiatry. Medicine must however concede that many mental illnesses do have a magical factor. This is apparent in conversation with many schizophrenics who assert that they are either magically persecuted or bewitched. We must not miss the fact that in many cases magic is the primary cause, and psychic disturbances are the effects and consequences. 20,000 carefully examined cases cannot be disregarded lightly. Besides this, our parapsychologists, as for example Dr. Bender of the University of Freiburg, know of diseases which have arisen after occult practices. Mediumistic psychosis needs to be mentioned only as one example. Christian counseling clearly reveals that spiritistic, magic or fortune-telling activities trigger off disturbances, which can often be proved medically. Moreover in almost every case the faith of the person involved can be seen to be damaged. This indicates that the origin of the damage is primarily of a spiritual nature, as the Scriptures would have us know. For the treatment, then, the minister who as a Christian believes in the Bible is the most qualified. Second to him would be a believing psychiatrist.

To avoid confusion we must clarify what we mean by some of the terms. It is with chiromancy that we will be dealing, and by that is meant the telling of fortunes from the lines of the hand. We will not be considering chirology, the scientific interpretation of the shape and the lines of the hand, nor graphology, the interpretation of handwriting.

Palmistry can be traced back to ancient Rome. Early astrological ideas were mixed up with palmistry. Besides the four main lines, the heart, head, life and fate lines, the palm was divided into seven planetary mounds. From the index finger to the little finger they are the Mercury, Apollo, Saturn and Jupiter mounds.

We will again lead into the question of Christian counseling by means of a few examples. Whereas it was mentioned above that chiromancy, chirology and graphology should be dealt with under separate headings, in practice a disastrous merging of the three takes place. The following is an example of this.

Ex. 13. A young girl went to a graphologist and had her handwriting and her hand lines interpreted. In the written forecast it was stated that she would be murdered in her 30^th year. Thereupon the girl told her family, "If I have to die so young, I want to enjoy my life to the full." She engaged in prostitution and had several abortions. Because of her dissolute life she became seriously ill in her 24^th year and died of an ulcerated colitis. The doctor stated that she had ruined herself through her licentious living. It should be noted that after the sessions with the graphologist, mediumistic abilities had appeared in the girl. She developed the ability to use a pendulum and a divining rod.

The example reveals first of all that this particular graphologist used occult methods. He was misusing graphology for the purpose of fortune-telling. One of the most usual forms of fortune-telling is also brought to light by this example, and that is suggestive fortune-telling. There are many forms of this in which the person who has been advised brings about the fulfillment himself, either consciously or subconsciously. This is a repetition of what has been said about the psychological process of card-laying. With regards to Christian counseling, it is frequently observed that fortune-telling causes people to lose all moral inhibitions. Christian education, tradition and custom have built up a protective wall around our lives, and even the person who is far from Christ lives unconsciously in a Christian world order, although he may rebel against it inwardly. Coming to grips with occult powers tears down these walls. Dark, turbid waters stream unhindered into the abandoned life. In the above example the sensual life of the girl gained the upper hand and she was ruined by it. Occultism tends to stir up all one’s passions and addictions. A person who has sought advice in the occult field can become irritable, and can abandon himself to alcohol, nicotine and licentious living.

The effects of suggestion in fortune-telling can be further illustrated in the following examples.

Ex. 14. A young woman had her fortune told through palmistry. The fortune-teller informed her that in her 40^th year she would die of cancer. As it happens the woman is wasting away already because of this suggestion, and she now lives under the delusion that she is going to have cancer. She has already lost 30 lb. and today weighs only six stone.

Ex. 15. The cousin of one of my class-mates was working as a maid in a manse. One day a gipsy woman appeared at the door selling household articles. The girl refused to buy anything because the articles were so dear.

Thereupon the gipsy snatched her hand in order to tell her fortune. The girl wanted to pull her hand away, but the sly woman used a psychological trick. She said quickly, "Oh, that’s interesting. You will marry within two years." What girl would refuse to listen when marriage is mentioned? She now willingly let the gipsy read her hand. The woman continued with her prophecy. "Several men will ask you to marry them. You will marry the tallest one. In the first year of your marriage you will become a mother. But I see your life line stops quite suddenly. You will die during the birth of your first child"

Before going on I will briefly point out the character of this particular piece of fortune-telling. One certainly needs no prophetic ability to say that a pretty girl will marry soon. It is also not necessary to be a prophet to say that she would give birth to a child in the first year of her marriage. Also the reference to death at the end of the piece of fortune-telling was no more than an act of vengeance on the part of the gipsy because the girl had bought nothing from her. But did the words of the gipsy come true?

It so happened that several suitors did appear in the following two years. The girl was already under the influence of the prophecy, and she consequently married the tallest one. During the first year of their marriage she became pregnant. As the time of delivery grew closer her fear increased proportionally. She struggled against the evil prophecy. Her relatives and especially her husband tried to persuade her not to believe the nonsense. But they were unsuccessful. The young woman did not have a strong enough faith to counteract the superstition. She had a normal delivery, but several days later she developed a high fever. The doctor could find no organic cause for this fever at all. Three weeks after the birth of the child the mother became mentally deranged. She was taken to a psychiatric clinic, where she died three days later.

Only those unfamiliar with the psychology of fortune-telling will speak of this as genuine prophecy. In all probability it was only suggestion. We know from the mission fields that the heathen natives are in complete subjection to the prophecies’ of their medicine men and witch-doctors. If a tribal magician predicts the death of a member of the tribe, then the prediction is soon fulfilled. This is called the psychological phenomenon of thanatomania, the death wish. Death by suggestion exists not only among primitive people, but also among civilized Europeans. In this connection, the Americans have made experiments on convicts that have produced positive results. A man who had been sentenced to death was blindfolded. He was then told that he was to die by having the main artery of his neck opened and that in one minute he would be dead. The skin of his neck was superficially scratched, and at the same time a water tap was turned on near by. The convict felt the cut and heard the water pouring out. Within a minute he had lost consciousness. The experiment had been a success!

With regards to the content of fortune-telling and the form of the prophecies. Professor Zucker in his ‘Psychology of Superstition’ distinguishes between magical superstition, mystical superstition and thirdly, presentiment. Magical superstition is active. It puts into operation suggestive and magical powers. It interferes decisively and formatively in the life of the one who seeks advice. Almost all the examples given so far fall into this category. Mystical superstition has an intuitive and an adaptive character. It is based on insight, meditation and sensitivity. To it belong the abilities of unification, perception, accommodation and assimilation. The principle behind magical superstition is that the ego gains mastery over the world, while in the case of mystical superstition the ego is said to become merged with the world. The basic difference between these two is in their said method of perception. It is said that prevision may be explained in two ways. Either man carries his whole future within himself in embryo and the information is tapped from this source, or it is supposed that the whole history and destiny of the human race is carried in a kind of world consciousness. This is the opinion held by Professor Osty, E. von Hartmann and Professor Driesch. Mediums are supposed to be able to tap this world consciousness. Both views are based in a certain way on determinism and predestination. From the standpoint of the Scriptures neither of these two methods of fortune-telling are acceptable. To presentiment, the third form of fortune-telling, belong the unconscious premonitions, monitions, veridical dreams, experiences of second sight, clairvoyance, and in fact all the effects of mediumistic abilities. A good example of this is to be found in the book ‘Christian Counseling and Occultism’ (p. 69, Ex.37). I will not be repeating it here, so as to avoid any overlap in the two publications.

No matter how interesting these scientific distinctions may be, the needs of pastoral work are of far greater importance. We must learn how to help those people who are both emotionally and mentally disturbed, and yet whose symptoms do not fit into the psychiatric picture. To illustrate the effects of palmistry further, I will add two more examples.

Ex. 16. There was a woman who was a fortune-teller, and rejected everything to do with the idea of God. One day a Christian girl was introduced to her. When the girl heard about the woman’s strange business of fortune-telling, as a joke she held out her hand. She thought that there was nothing in it. The woman read her palm. The girl laughed and could not stop herself making a facetious remark. However, afterwards the Christian girl suffered from depressions and lost her faith. The fortune-tellers children also exhibited the typical effects. They were all neurotics, living immoral lives. As I said, here we see the typical characteristics of the effects: depression and loss of moral inhibition.

Ex. 17. For many years a man was actively engaged in palmistry. In addition to this he practiced mesmerism. Over the years he was himself able to feel the destructive influence of his dubious occupation. He later wanted to become a Christian and for several months forced himself to read the Bible, although he felt a strong inner resistance to this. Every time he faced up to the things of God he felt this strange inward defensiveness and resisting pressure on himself.

A new aspect comes to light in this example. Fortune-telling develops the phenomenon of a resistance and an inner defensiveness towards anything to do with God and His Spirit. When a person who has engaged in fortune-telling wants to come to Christ, he finds the way very difficult. Violent and sinister defensive forces appear, which attempt to prevent a decision for Christ. The person who has been infected and ‘immunized’ by fortune-telling is almost insensitive to the Holy Spirit. Such people find it very difficult to become Christians.

As with the case of many other occult practices, people have attempted to make the use of a pendulum scientifically acceptable. The idea of radiaesthesis has been evolved which asserts that all matter radiates. The dowser or pendulum practitioner is supposed to be able to attune himself to this radiation. The scientific aspect of this problem is discussed in ‘Christian Counseling and Occultism’ (p. 81 f). We will again only concern ourselves here with the practical questions which arise in the field of Christian counseling. For the sake of those unacquainted with this phenomenon, it must be pointed out that the use of both a divining rod and a pendulum is basically the same. The only difference is said to be that a pendulum is the more delicate indicator. To make it possible to judge the problem objectively, we will begin with some examples which apparently produced no ill-effects on those involved.

There are doctors, ministers, missionaries and engineers who are convinced of the usefulness and exactness of the results obtained through the use of a rod or pendulum. They say that apart from a certain draining of one’s nervous energy there are no derogatory effects.

Ex. 18. A man, 28 years old, committed suicide. Since he just disappeared, a police search was begun to find him. His brother-in-law consulted a pendulum practitioner. The practitioner asked for an object belonging to the missing man, and he was given some socks. Putting these on the floor, he walked around them in rectangle, holding a metal rod. Having done this he was then able to identify the missing man, stating his name, date of birth and the place where he could be found. Then in addition to this, he took a map and a pendulum to check his own statement as to where the man could be found. And the pendulum did just that. The brother-in-law went to the specified place with the police, and they in fact found the body of the man there in a small hut in the forest, where he had shot himself.

Ex. 19. A doctor from Alsace is a dowser. He considers this ability to be a gift of God. It is worth noting, though, that he has a defensive attitude towards the things of God, and is very nervous.

Ex. 20. A postal employee has the ability to find water when using a divining rod or a pendulum, and he can also correctly identify the position of telephone cables with a pendulum. He has commented, however, on signs of tiredness appearing after his dowsing.

Ex. 21. Another doctor had a house built for himself. He wanted to have a well in his garden. A friend of his, a Protestant minister, heard about this. He asked the doctor to give him a plan of the house and garden. He then took a pendulum and established from the plan where water was to be found. His findings were correct, and water was found after digging at the prescribed spot.

Ex. 22. A missionary using a pendulum on the second floor of a house, had the ability to tell whether or not someone was on the floor below him, and to determine whether it was a man or a woman. If it was a woman he could also determine whether she was pregnant or not, and if so, whether the child would be a boy or a girl. He often did such experiments in the presence of his friends, and they were always successful. In the same way he could go to a cemetery and determine whether any particular grave was that of a man or a woman. Obviously when doing this experiment he did not look at the name on the gravestone.

Ex. 23. A Salvation Army officer was a pendulum practitioner for many years. During the war, when his son was missing, he used a pendulum over his son’s photograph to determine whether he was alive or not. Once after the war, when his suitcase was stolen, he used his pendulum to discover where the stolen suitcase was. The pendulum directed him to the right place. In reply to my question if he had suffered any ill-effects from his pendulum practice, he replied in the negative, saying that as far as he was concerned he had felt no damage had been done to his Christian life.

Glancing quickly at these six examples we find ourselves already furnished with a few clues which will help us formulate an opinion on the matter. First of all it becomes clear that these things cannot be explained away as mere nonsense. There are in existence both dowsers and pendulum practitioners who can make exact predictions, even though many geologists and other scientists argue strongly to the contrary. But it must also be born in mind that many of the statements which arise from the use of a pendulum do contain only confused, muddled and irrelevant information.

It also becomes obvious from the few examples just mentioned that many people support the use of a rod or pendulum. A doctor, a minister, a missionary and others have been cited as having indulged in this practice. Who is right, then? Those who fanatically support the idea, or those who passionately oppose it? Either way it would be very wrong to argue that if ministers and other such people use a pendulum, then it must be harmless. It is obvious that adultery is not justified because we may know of a missionary who has committed adultery! So too one can reject the following argument: if some supposedly Christian people feel no derogatory effects after using a pendulum, then instances where the opposite is true cannot be taken seriously. It is true that I do know of several cases where dowsing with a divining rod has apparently had no ill-effects on the dowser. But it must not be forgotten that effects can also lie dormant. With some people the cloven hoof may only reveal itself at their deathbed, or maybe at a time when the person wants to become a Christian. We must also free ourselves from the idea that everyone who proclaims the Word of God is a real Christian. The words of the Bible are still applicable: "They say, thus says the Lord, ‘when the Lord has not sent them’" (Ezek. 13:6). A minister using a pendulum can be burdened as much as anyone belonging to any other profession. In my work I have had ample evidence to the effect that the Catholic priest Emmenegger, by using a pendulum on his patients, has been the cause of serious burdening to many of them. Not long ago a Protestant minister was tried and convicted on account of some bad mistakes that he had made when using a pendulum in treating people.

It is a fatal mistake to confuse the ability to use a pendulum with a gift of God. The doctor from Alsace is not the only one to do this. Many pastors and ministers share his view. But which view should we take? On examining many family histories one finds that the ability to use a rod or a pendulum, together with mesmerism, clairvoyance, second sight and veridical dreams, occur in people whose ancestors include active spiritists or maybe a magic charmer. These unusual human abilities are not gifts of the Spirit, nor even neutral or natural gifts, but are rather mediumistic abilities. Many people possess these abilities unknowingly. Sometimes they are detected accidentally. Now and again it happens that a person possessing mediumistic abilities is saved and becomes a Christian. Then suddenly as a Christian he may discover his extraordinary ability and so form the idea that he has a gift of the Spirit. And this is of course untrue. In pastoral work one notices that sometimes these mediumistic abilities disappear when the person is converted, but they are often dragged into the person’s new life. Yet a Christian who prays earnestly to be delivered from these abilities will have his prayer answered. Many Christians do in fact find these abilities a burden to them. Markus Hauser said that clairvoyance was not so much a gift but a plague to him. These mediumistic abilities must never be regarded as gifts of the Spirit. Mediumistic abilities are not even sanctified through conversion. Things acquired by one’s ancestors in the service of Satan will never be used or sanctioned later on by the Holy Spirit.

The relationship between the use of a pendulum and mediumistic powers can be clarified by means of two examples.

Ex. 24. A young man was treated for a disease by a nature healer who also used a pendulum and practiced magic charming. After the treatment the patient developed mediumistic abilities. He suddenly became clairvoyant and at the same time was able to use mental suggestion over a distance.

Ex. 25. After the war a woman gave a photograph of her missing husband to a pendulum practitioner to discover where he was. She afterwards experienced symptoms of clairvoyance. She had somnambulistic experiences, and found that she could as it were send her soul out over great distances. In this plight she sought the help of a minister, and having repented and surrendered her life to Christ the mediumistic abilities disappeared.

There are also both conscious and unconscious transferences of mediumistic abilities. Through the treatment of a highly mediumistic occultist, the patient can easily become mediumistic himself. We have here the demonic counterpart to the laying on of hands of the disciples in the Acts of the Apostles. Through the apostles’ laying on of hands some Christians received the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17; 19:6). There is also a conscious form of transference connected with dowsers and pendulum practitioners. In counseling, many people have said that they received their sensitivity to use a divining rod, when a strong dowser had held their hands while searching for water. The rod had suddenly reacted and this mediumistic ability had remained with them afterwards.

The following examples, better than any amount of theoretical explanation, will give us an insight into the important difference between mediumistic abilities and the spiritual powers referred to in the Bible.

Ex. 26. A woman who had an organic disease went to be examined by a pendulum practitioner. A diagnosis was made and the medical treatment was prescribed through the use of a pendulum. The woman, who had a Christian outlook and attitude, afterwards felt as though she was being approached by unearthly forces. These strange assaults lasted for a few months. During this time she sought the help of a Christian minister because of the strange inner fear that gripped her.

Ex. 27. Since childhood a girl had had the gift of second sight. She often saw apparitions. She was also antagonistic towards religious matters. However, during a mission she accepted Christ as her Savior. From that time on her resistance to the things of God was gone. But one day she fell ill and unknowingly went to a pendulum practitioner. Immediately her psychic disturbances and her resistance to the Bible and prayer returned.

This example underlines the following facts. It has been said earlier that the gift of second sight is one of the subsequent effects of the occult activities of one’s ancestors. Another common symptom of this is a resistance to things concerning religion. The girl in Ex. 27 had both these symptoms. When she turned to Christ the mediumistic subjection departed. After the pendulum treatment they both reappeared. Here the mediumistic character of the pendulum practice becomes apparent. This characteristic resistance which accompanies other symptoms will be seen more dearly through some further examples.

Ex. 28. During an illness a woman sought the help of a well-known pendulum practitioner. She thought nothing of doing this, as she had previously heard nothing against such a practice. However, she became restless in the waiting room of the practitioner and this unrest increased during the treatment itself. She took the medicines which had been prescribed by the pendulum but the degree of her psychic disturbances only intensified. She found it impossible to pray and developed an aversion to the Bible and to the things of her faith. It was then on her own initiative that she threw away the medicines. Only after this did she come to seek my advice as a minister, and to ask me what I thought about the use of a pendulum in diagnosing diseases and in prescribing medicines.

Ex. 29. A pendulum practitioner came to me. He admitted quite openly that his practice was a strain on him and consumed his nervous energy. He specialized in determining the constituency of foods by means of a pendulum. White sugar he said would affect him negatively, while brown sugar would do so positively. Over the years, however, he had observed psychic changes in himself. He had suffered a loss of energy and a loss in his ability to make decisions. Added to this he had become hypersensitive, and had developed a nervous twitching and a sensitivity to southerly winds and to water. When he tried to read the Bible, he had a feeling of disgust and a great aversion towards it. Crucifixes were also violently repugnant to him. All this he observed in himself, and realizing that these psycho-religious disturbances were connected with his pendulum practice, he sought pastoral help and found himself ready to surrender his life to Christ.

These two examples show that both the woman and the pendulum practitioner became aware of the derogatory effects through their own sound judgement and insight. In both cases they came to reject the use of a pendulum before ever receiving any such advice from a Christian minister.

The antagonism that exists between mediumistic pendulum practices and the spiritual power of prayer is revealed in the next three examples.

Ex. 30. A well-known dowser was asked one day by a professor of medicine, to walk through the various buildings of the clinic with a divining rod and to note its reactions. The reason for the professor’s request was the fact that in one of the buildings belonging to the clinic an exceptionally high rate of deaths occurred. When a seriously ill patient was moved into this building their condition usually worsened. However, the professor did not tell this to the dowser. He wanted to have an unbiased report. The dowser went through the different buildings and actually established that there were stronger impulses in the house of death. The professor, who in fact was very skeptical about the result, nevertheless had some screening put up to counteract the so-called impulses. The result was puzzling. The number of deaths there immediately declined. So as to avoid gossip, the professor is usually silent about this experience.

The dowser in question is not only able to use a divining rod, but is also a clairvoyant. He can for example state where the members of his family are at any time. He is also consulted by insurance companies and real estate agents to determine the condition of building plots. In the course of his activities this dowser and clairvoyant confessed that he was unable to pray. An inner force prevented him from doing so.

Ex. 31. A Christian wanted to discover if there was a spring in his large garden. A dowser had reactions in two places but no water was found on digging there. The dowser was surprised and said: "This has never happened to me before." The Christian man in reply said that he had prayed about the matter beforehand, since he had not been sure whether he as a Christian should have called a dowser in to help or not. "Well, that’s why," replied the dowser, "Of course it wouldn’t work."

Ex. 32. One pendulum practitioner casts spells over warts, corns, goitres, and eczemas etc. Added to this he experiments in the field of death magic. He also asserts that he can either make people sick or heal them. A Christian woman who knew nothing of his magical powers, thinking that he was only a nature healer, went to him for treatment. In the waiting room she prayed silently. Suddenly he addressed her and said, "You can go home. I can’t help you" In spite of this, the woman began to have attacks of depression and thoughts of suicide. Her husband, who had no clear relationship with Christ, was treated magically by this same pendulum practitioner. The children born of their marriage since this treatment have all been affected and burdened. It is also worth noting that a doctor nearby sends some of his patients to this pendulum practitioner.

These three examples indicate that dowsing can paralyze a man’s desire to pray, while on the other hand the prayer of a believing Christian can paralyze dowsing. The woman praying in the waiting room prevented the magic pendulum practitioner from working. The power of the Holy Spirit and mediumistic abilities are mutually exclusive.

Finally we will mention the definite effects of using a pendulum. We will be dealing not so much with the effects on one’s Christian life but rather with authentic medical disturbances.

Ex. 33. A young man, being out of work, had a pendulum practitioner find jobs for him by using a pendulum over the ‘Vacant Jobs’ column of a newspaper. In this way he had the offer of five jobs in one day. But although he got a job immediately, after a few days he had to give it up again because he became emotionally disturbed. He then spent some months in a mental hospital. When his health improved he turned to some monks for advice. Again he was told to seek the help of a pendulum practitioner. Finally he sought the counsel of a magic charmer. The result was that a few days later he had attacks of temporary insanity and was again taken to the mental hospital.

Ex. 34. A young man with bronchial asthma was being treated by a pendulum practitioner. Both the diagnosis and the required medicine were determined by the use of a pendulum. Besides working with a pendulum the man was also a magic charmer, and he used the following charm on the young patient: "Blood turn to water, water turn to pus, pus come out." He then put bandages on several parts of the patient’s body, after having covered the bandages with salves. A few days later some pus actually formed under the bandages. The pus drained out but the bronchial asthma was not healed. Yet from that time the young man began to have nervous and mental disturbances. He felt that his memory was failing, and he could no longer concentrate on his studies since he felt a numbness in his head. These disturbances caused him to seek the advice of a Christian minister.

Ex. 35. A Protestant minister used a pendulum to find water and ore. He could also diagnose diseases and establish the character of medicines with the pendulum. A Swiss university professor tested his ability. With his medical assistants and students present, he introduced twenty patients to the pendulum practitioner. With the help of the pendulum the man made a correct diagnosis on all 20 patients. This minister was also not immune to the effects of his practice. His wife had a fatal accident. All his children died unnatural deaths. He himself has now been in an asylum for a number of years.

Ex. 36. A minister in Germany used a pendulum in dealing with diseases and medicines. He also practiced healing at a distance. Sick people would send him their photographs and he would hold the pendulum over them to find out the medicine that should be prescribed. A believing Christian woman sent him her photograph for the same purpose. Her illness was diagnosed and the necessary medicine determined. However, later on she became insane and was taken to an asylum. Members of her family reported this to the church authorities and the minister was later brought to court.

These four examples reveal a fact that can be verified by hundreds of similar cases. Pendulum therapy can indeed accomplish a certain relief and healing in the organic field. This organic relief, however, must be paid for by disturbances appearing in the psychic field. Even the minister who was an active pendulum practitioner was not immune. The degree of psychic disorder differs only in this, that the active pendulum practitioner experiences more complicated sicknesses as a result of his mediumistic activity, than the people who are treated. In many cases the occult character of the pendulum practice is revealed by the fact that the pendulum practitioner often indulges in other occult activities. This may include for example magic charming, spiritism, clairvoyance, or mesmerism etc. The company is worthy of note. Birds of a feather flock together!

There are in existence occult text books on the subject of mirror mantic and mirror magic. The mirror magician with the help of a magic mirror may attempt to heal or to persecute through magic, to treat people at a distance or to use love and defense magic, and so on. Mirror mantic is often directed at discovering things unknown to the inquirer, in uncovering crimes or diagnosing difficult diseases, and it can embrace any physical event which happens in the world. Mirrors are not the only occult tools used in this field, but crystal balls, rock crystal and other reflecting objects all play a part. Some even use water as a reflecting surface.

Historically, mirror mantic or crystal gazing can be traced back over hundreds of years. Even the fairy tale with the mirror on the wall contains this theme. Mirror gazing also has a place in mysticism. Jacob Boehme is supposed to have received his best thoughts while meditating over a glass ball, one like those once used by shoemakers to concentrate the light on their work. From the psychological point of view, crystal gazing may aid auto-suggestion or auto-hypnosis, and may help to arouse certain subconscious processes. The indication is that this form of fortune-telling sets into motion forces that are mainly subconscious. Since these subconscious forces are far removed from conscious control, they can easily give entrance to powers outside ourselves. Paul does not say in vain that "We wrestle Not against flesh and blood, but against the evil spirits of the air" (Eph. 6:12). A few examples will again serve as an introduction to this form of fortune-telling.

Ex. 37. A farm owner had a large number of sheep. One day several of the sheep disappeared and no trace could be found of them. The farm boy ran to a crystal gazer who was said to be able to solve and to clear up any problem he was faced with. He asked for his advice. The man went into his small room and stayed there for some time. Finally he reappeared and said, "Go to the first road from the farm, turn right and climb straight up the hill. On the top there is a large rock. The sheep are there." The boy followed this advice and found the sheep.

Ex. 38. A farmer went to a crystal gazer complaining that his cow had been stolen the previous night. Could he say where the cow now was? The fortune-teller went into his room and concentrated on his mirror. In the end he came out and stated, "Your cow is on Holzerjoerg farm. She is in fact in the barn behind a number of bales of straw. Take three or four people there together with a policeman. Some of you go into the house and the others go straight to the barn" The man followed this advice and recovered his cow.

Ex. 39. One night the garage containing the car of a non-Christian was burned down. The man assumed it to be arson and he notified the police. The police investigation was unsuccessful. To identify the fire raiser, he then went to someone who practiced mirror divination. The clairvoyant retreated into a room for about twenty minutes. When he came out of the semi-darkened room, he held his magic mirror out to the man and said, "This is the person who did it" The man was startled as he recognized his former schoolmate in the mirror. He exclaimed, "It’s impossible. We are on very good terms." "The mirror does not lie," said the clairvoyant. As the man left, the clairvoyant added quite casually, "Something else. You will die soon!" The bewildered man then went to see his schoolmate, and confronting him asked, "Did you have anything to do with the burning of my garage?" The schoolmate became quite confused and then admitted his guilt. In reply to questions of motive, he confessed that he was very jealous about his former school-friend’s success, since he himself had always suffered setbacks in his own profession. The fire raiser begged his victim to keep quiet about it. He offered to replace the garage and car, which he soon did.

About four weeks later in the middle of the night the garage owner screamed terribly. His wife woke up and turned on the light. She saw her husband writhing in terrible convulsions. She sent for a doctor immediately, and her husband was transferred to the university clinic. There he remained unconscious and had to be fed intra-venously for ten days. During this time a church group interceded for him daily. The patient finally regained consciousness and was able to speak about what he had experienced in the previous ten days. When he had originally cried out in the night, he had seen in a dream or half-dream some horrible devilish figures approaching him which had pulled him along on a descent into hell. In the course of this fearful experience all the guilt of his past life had appeared before his eyes. He had also recognized the minute details of the fire, and the session with the clairvoyant had also come to his mind again. The black figures that had dragged him into the dark abyss had explained to him that the measure of his sins was full, and that he now had to be crucified for them. He had then experienced a terrible and painful crucifixion. After horrible mistreatment and seemingly unending torment, these black figures had disappeared again. It had then grown lighter, and then he had regained consciousness. Later he leamt from the doctor that he had been unconscious for ten days. The man completely changed after this experience. Previously he had wanted little to do with things concerning the Bible, but now he began to attend the services and Bible studies of the local church. He became very active, and used to fill his car with neighbors every Sunday to take them to the church.

In spite of all the confused and doubtful statements that do come from many mirror fortune-tellers, these three examples show that some of them can get genuine information from their mirrors. In the first two cases I was not able to follow up the effects. The third example, however, reveals them clearly. I assume though, that the man fell victim to an unconscious suggestion when the fortune-teller casually stated that he would soon die. He was obviously greatly disturbed to hear that his schoolmate had caused the fire. His thoughts were centered on his friend and the ignominious story. At that moment his consciousness was diverted and his subconscious mind was open. It was a good moment for the fortune-teller to make his suggestion, which would then have penetrated the subconscious. The resulting sickness was not true prevision. It would be, to use the terminology of Zucker, not so much a mystical or foreseeing act of fortune-telling, as a magical and inducive fortune-telling act. Such examples are sufficient to warn Christians to avoid all forms of fortune-telling.

The word psychometry means ‘to measure the mind or the soul.’ This definition was originally used by the American, Professor Buchanan. It is extremely difficult to describe the essence of psychometry. A few examples may best introduce the subject to us.

Ex. 40. A young man who came to me in my pastoral work, had the strange ability of being able to discover someone’s identity and character with the help of some object belonging to the person. I will cite one example of this. One day his family doctor gave him a few lines of handwriting in order to test him. The doctor did not say whose writing it was, yet the boy concentrated on the lines and then stated exactly who the writer was, giving her address, her family background, her diseases and other things. The doctor was able to verify the truth of these statements.

One might ask in this example whether it was not simply telepathy. Maybe this young clairvoyant got his information from the doctor rather than from the handwriting. At best this argument can only be partly correct, for the boy reported things of which the doctor had no knowledge, but which were later discovered to be correct.

Ex. 41. During a mission in Switzerland, I met a clairvoyant in my counseling who used psychometric powers, and who could make statements that were 100% accurate. If one were to place before him an object belonging to a patient who was unknown to him, for example a handkerchief, then he was able to identify the disease of that person. A professor in Zurich tested his ability and confirmed that his statements were reliable.

This clairvoyant could do other stunts using his psychometric ability. In much the same way he could state from what diseases people had died. Ex. 18 records another case or psychometry.

The difficult question is how these psychometric powers of clairvoyance come about. Some parapsychologists, for example Richer, Geley, Osty, Price, Gumppenberg, Gatterer, believe that clothing and in fact any object used daily by a person will become impregnated by them in some way or other. The psychometric clairvoyant is supposed to have the ability to grasp and interpret these mental-psychic impressions. This explanation is very questionable when one considers that the psychometric clairvoyant is not only able to uncover the past, but also the future of the person concerned. Here we find ourselves without doubt in the field of mediumistic fortune-telling. This deduction is confirmed when one examines the fate of such psychometrists. In my work I have had the opportunity to examine many psychometric practices. For instance, the clairvoyant in Ex. 40 wanted to come to Christ. Immediately, a state of pronounced resistance developed. Resistance to spiritual things became so strong that when trying to pray his concentration vanished entirely. Afterwards however, his mind was completely clear again. It was not even possible for him to recite a prayer, although he was an intelligent man and wanted to pray. No encouragement from the Word of God was able to penetrate this barrier. During prayer he had spells of fainting. Later I discovered that this psydiometrist had also used the dangerous magic book, the 6^th and 7^th Book of Moses. This would again point to the mediumistic character of psychometry, i. e. its being found in the company of black magic.

There are yet other forms of fortune-telling that could be discussed, as for instance that which is based on the excursion of the psyche or soul. We could also include here the many questions which arise in the area of Christian Science, Theosophy and Anthroposophy. In ‘Christian Counseling and Occultism’ some twenty forms of fortune-telling are enumerated (p. 92). The technique of fortune-telling often changes, but the spirit and the force behind it remains the same.

The Scriptures are unanimous in their judgement and rejection of fortune-telling. At no period in the history of the children of Israel were fortune-tellers recognized. From the earliest history to the time of Christ and on into the time of the apostles, fortune-telling in all its forms was rejected. The following passages bear witness to this: "If a person turns to mediums and wizards (astrologers), playing the harlot after them, I will set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people" (Lev. 20:6).

"A man or a woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned with stones, and their blood shall be upon them" (Lev. 20:27). "There shall not be found among you any one who practices divination, a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord" (Deut. 18:10-12).

This is part of the Law as given to Moses, but the same rule remained valid as we read further in the time of the kings and the prophets: "So Saul died for his unfaithfulness in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance, and did not seek guidance from the Lord" (1 Chron. 10:13). "Do not let your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream, for it is a lie which they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord" (Jer. 29:8).

The same condemnation is found in other passages: 1 Sam. 28:6-21; Is. 8:19; Is. 44:25; Ez. 21:21; Mic. 3:6-7; Jer. 29:8. We have already discussed the passage in (Acts 16:16-18), but in we read: "But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that bums with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Rev. 21:8).

We maintain that in all these passages fortune-telling in both its scientific and its primitive forms stands under the judgment of God. God has given them up! This basically is the reason why so much damage is caused to the bodies and minds of those who come into contact with the many forms of fortune-telling. We will just briefly summarize these effects, although it must be pointed out that the list only represents a frequency pattern, and it cannot be assumed that these effects are always the result of occult practices. Nevertheless people infected or burdened by fortune-telling and occult phenomena very frequently suffer in the following ways: The characters of such people reveal abnormal passions, instability, violent tempers, addiction to alcohol, nicotine and sexual vices, selfishness, gossiping, egotism, cursing etc.

Their religious lives reveal on the one hand an antagonism towards religion, callousness, skepticism, a vicious critical attitude and an inability to pray or read the Bible if they are an atheistic type of person, while on the other hand the pious type reveals a self-righteousness, a spiritual pride, phariseeism, hypocrisy and an insensitivity to the workings of the Holy Spirit.

Medically speaking the families of those involved in fortune-telling reveal in a remarkable way such things as nervous disturbances, psychopathic and hysteric symptoms, cases of St. Vitus’ dance, symptoms of paralysis, epileptics, freaks, deaf-mutes, cases of mediumistic psychoses, and a general tendency towards emotional and mental illnesses etc.

Finally to prevent any fundamental misunderstanding, it must be pointed out that the concepts of fortune-telling and prophecy are not to be confused. God is the source of all true prophecy, while the devil is the source of fortune-telling. Prophecy is inspired by the Holy Spirit but fortune-telling is of demonic inspiration. The girl with the spirit of divination at Philippi was possessed of an evil spirit. The prophet Agabus in (Acts 21) was moved by the Holy Spirit. There must be an absolutely clear distinction in our minds between these two concepts.

It is possible to be delivered from the influence and the effects of fortune-telling. The apostle Paul’s meeting with the girl at Philippi led to her complete and immediate liberation. At the name of Jesus the spirits of darkness are powerless. Christ’s victory on the cross at Golgotha reminds us that all the powers of darkness and hell have been broken. The treatment of people affected by fortune-telling is thus not primarily a problem for the psychiatrist, who is only qualified for purely medical matters, but is rather the concern of the Christian counselor. Basically deliverance is only possible through Jesus Christ. Hence people who are oppressed by fortune-telling must first come to Christ. Leading up to this, one finds that a complete confession of sin is indispensable. Confession in the Bible is a voluntary act. Protestant Christians reject any coercion in this matter. Yet in my ministry I have not found one instance of a person suffering from occult subjection being delivered without the help of confession.

By way of encouragement I will give some examples where deliverance was possible. However, the question is dealt with more fully in my book ‘Belastung und Be-freiung," and also in the last fifty pages of ‘Christian Counseling and Occultism.’ We will also return to this subject in the concluding pages of this book.

Ex. 42. A girl from a Christian family worked in a large factory. In her department there was a woman who laid cards for all the girls employed there. The Christian girl hesitated for a long time before joining in with the other girls. Since childhood her mother had warned her against it. Finally, however, her curiosity won and she went to see the woman. The cards were shuffled and dealt out on the table. Suddenly the woman exclaimed abruptly to the girl: "can’t lay cards for you."

Ex. 43. A young woman was being treated magically for an organic disease. The unqualified doctor used a pendulum to determine which medicine to prescribe. One day this magician told her that within a few years she would be paralysed. In fact after a year or so the woman actually developed symptoms of paralysis on the right side of her body. Her arm and part of her leg became insensitive and immovable. At the same time she found it impossible to pray or to read her Bible, and a strange fear took hold of her. After a complete confession, however, I prayed over the woman according to (James 5:14). The paralysis disappeared from that moment.

Ex. 44. A woman often visited a fortune-teller and she was also in the habit of consulting a pendulum practitioner. Since she had begun doing this it was as if her house had become haunted. She heard scratching and knocking, and saw shadowy ghostly figures. These experiences were a cause of fear to her and so she sought the advice and help of a minister who was able to lead her to Christ. On becoming a Christian the haunting ceased.

These three examples show the power of faith in Christ. The girl from the Christian family was surrounded by the prayers of her relatives. One experiences quite often that people for whom many others are praying are protected when danger threatens them. The magic power of the occult worker was paralyzed in her case. The second example again reveals the suggestive power of fortune-telling. In turning to Christ this woman was delivered from a suggestive spell. In the third example it is not absolutely certain whether the woman actually had authentic-objective ghost experiences. It may have been an hallucination. Either way, though, through her new-found faith in Christ she was freed from these experiences. The next two examples of deliverance concern the two most powerful pendulum practitioners that I have ever met.

Ex. 45. A doctor discovered that he had the ability to use a pendulum. He began a series of experiments that lasted over a period of about a week. When a new patient entered his consulting room, he would first offer him a chair, and then he would go into an adjoining room and use a pendulum over the letters of the alphabet to find out the patient’s Christian names, surname and complaint. The results proved to be correct in each case and the successes encouraged the doctor to conduct further experiments. When a nurse called from his branch office and told him of some new patients, he used the same method. With the help of the pendulum and the alphabet he discovered the names, diseases and ages of the still unknown patients. The results always proved to be correct. These surprising successes spurred him on to make yet other more difficult experiments. For instance, if he wanted to know the time of departure or arrival of a train, he found that the pendulum obligingly gave him the desired information. He could also with the help of the pendulum state the names, ages, family relationships and other things of people, merely by using the pendulum in conjunction with a photograph of the individual in question. There appeared to be nothing impossible to this pendulum practitioner.

During these experiments, however, the doctor observed various psychic changes in himself. He lost control of himself sexually as well as towards alcohol and smoking. He often had fits of temper and did not understand why. Already after the first week of experimenting with the pendulum he had felt and feared that he was going out of his mind. After a time he therefore stopped using his pendulum and in his inner confusion he endeavored to become a Christian. In doing so he was completely delivered from the powers that he had been working with. Today this doctor believes that such pendulum abilities depend on demonic forces, because the characteristic effects appeared not only in his mental life but also in his spiritual life.

Ex. 46. During a missionary conference in Switzerland I met an evangelist whose life story is a triumph of the grace of God. As a young man, after being deceived by his fiancé, he had turned to fortune-telling. Since all the statements of the fortune-teller were fulfilled, he became curious to learn the art for himself. He started using a pendulum at first only to examine food. Soon, however, he turned to more profitable experiments. He used the pendulum to determine the prices of rival businesses, and he was successful in this. Afterwards he had seen a price-list of one of the firms and his results had coincided with it. At night he had influenced his clients using a magic mirror, and in this way he had forced them to give him their orders. Finally he went on to healing. He was able to accurately diagnose illnesses and at the same time he could prescribe the most suitable medicines. Through his magic charming he was able to heal toothache, stop bleeding, cure rheumatism, and treat people even when they were not present, as well as many other things. And added to all this he was able to locate anything that had been lost merely by using his pendulum. Here briefly are two examples.

A transport plane crashed in the mountains. After an unsuccessful search the government offered a reward for its discovery. This man took an atlas and a pendulum and determined that the plane had crashed at the foot of Piz Duan. He reported this but they did not believe him. Later however, the wreckage of the plane was discovered where he had said it would be. On another occasion a skier was lost at Valaise in Switzerland. With the help of a pendulum and a map he located the missing man. The highlights of his pendulum experiments were his predictions. When Germany acquired the Sudeten mountains in 1938 his pendulum predicted that there would be war in 1939. As with many pendulum practitioners he thought that his ability was a gift of God. He also considered his pendulum activities to be a new science.

One day he had a booklet given to him, written by a Christian. He noticed the passage: For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord"(Deut. 18:10-12). These words hit home. A great inward battle began. He threw away his pendulum literature together with his books on magic, and he tried to free himself from it all. Only now did he realize who he had been serving. He later wrote in a booklet, "The devil, who through my activities had a claim on my soul, beat and tormented me incessantly." He came to a point of complete inner bankruptcy. For many months he fought and battled to be delivered. A prayer group started interceding for him. For 15 months the battle went to and fro. Hours of joy and faith were interspersed with hours of depression. He was still not delivered of his magic. He had yet to give up the idea that his use of a pendulum had nothing to do with science. Only then was the power given to him to break free from all his occult practices. At once the pressure lifted and a great peace entered his life. He had assurance that he had been forgiven. Jesus Christ became the centre of his life and since then he has served his Lord faithfully. During one of my missions in Zurich he gave the closing message entitled "From magician to evangelist:" "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (Jn. 8:36).

We will conclude with an example of how a young man was delivered after he had read of the dangers involved in occult practices.

Ex. 47. A young man with a Christian background learned how to use a pendulum. He thought that it was a new branch of science. Later he became engaged to a Christian girl who called his attention to the dangers of using a pendulum. She gave him Modersohn’s book "Under the Spell of the devil" (Im Banne des Teufels). Through reading this book he recognized that the powers behind such a practice were evil. He tried to free himself from their grip yet he found this impossible and even began to have experiences involving ghosts. His fiancé then started a small prayer group to intercede for him. The battle lasted for about a year, but in the end he was completely delivered through the power of Christ.

In this chapter we will again be drawing heavily upon the experiences of pastoral work, and it is our desire that the examples which we shall be quoting will serve both as a warning and as a source of information to Christians who may become involved in this field. Having counseled thousands of people in the course of my ministry I am amazed at the way in which modern man still cleaves to the ancient customs and magic practices of the past, in spite of the present standard of scientific knowledge. If magic were only a harmless superstition, then a warning such as this would not be so urgently needed. But in fact many people are today being psychically ruined through magic. A mission held quite recently revealed this to be the case. The minister had told the elders of the church that if someone was going to be either muddled or confused through the mission, then even if 49 other people were helped by it, he did not want the mission to take place. In spite of this objection, following the unanimous approval of the church elders, the mission was held. As it turned out over a hundred people came to be counseled. These sessions revealed that the whole community was being troubled and burdened by nature healers and unqualified doctors, who relied upon occult methods for their healing successes. Many of the people had thus been treated magically, and suffered daily as a result of this. In the counseling sessions I was constantly being asked, "Why aren’t we warned about magic and sorcery from the pulpit?" Here then we have two points of view, that of the local minister and that of the congregation. In seeking to solve this problem we ask die question, "Should 49 people be allowed to suffer through lack of information, for fear of harming the one person by making the information public?" If this argument were followed all propaganda against drug addiction or infectious diseases would have to be curtailed. However, our argument is not the important thing, it is what the Bible says that counts. In (Ezek. 3) we read of the commission that was given to Ezekiel to be a watchman. It was his duty to warn the wicked of the evil of their ways. As members of the Body of Christ we have a similar duty.

The watchman’s task is a difficult one but it is one that is filled with expectancy and hope. The source of our message is the victory of Christ. The devil and his angels are indeed a terrible reality, yet Christ has triumphed over them, on the cross He robbed them of their power. Therefore those who follow in the steps of Christ stand on victorious ground. All power in heaven and upon earth belongs to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and so we have no reason to fear. It only remains for all those who read these words and who face up to the reality of this subject to set their eyes upon Jesus, and to place their lives in His hands for Him to protect them.

What do we understand by the term magic? The answer to this question depends on the attitude and point of view of the questioner. The psychologist, the doctor, the student of folklore, the philosopher, the occultist, the liberal (de-mythologizing) theologian and the true Christian — to all these magic will appear in a different light. People are sharply divided and opinions range from considering it to be nonsense to it being an addiction. From my experience as a minister I would like to put forward the following definition. Magic is the much disputed art of or at least attempt at knowing and ruling the spirit, human, animal and plant worlds, together with the world of dead matter, through extrasensory means with the aid of the mystical and accompanying ceremonies. Let me briefly explain the various assertions in this definition.

The very existence of magic is strongly contested. Psychiatry sees the question of magic as being the symptom of a mental illness. Psychology would say that when people are subjected to magic it is only the result of an incorrect upbringing, and that such people are superstitiously maladjusted and have a false conception of life. Liberal theology would even, in its modem form, regard magic simply as a system of traditional customs and ideas.

The ethical character of magic is also a battle ground of opinion. Some praise it as a gift of God while others see in it just neutral forces of nature which can be used either for good or for evil. Again others, especially the Christian, know of the demonic character of magic.

Why are events involving magic so difficult to judge? Going back to our definition we see that magic is practiced through extrasensory forces being called into play. Our five senses have only a limited range. On the physical level people are ready to admit this, since science furnishes us with ample proof of the existence of areas that are beyond our human senses. But in the spiritual realm such a mathematical demonstration is not possible. Hence the shortsighted rationalists simply deny the very existence of the divine as well as the demonic.

We will point out how these extrasensory forces reveal themselves by means of a few examples.

Ex. 48. The two Seller brothers in Ottenheim, Baden, run a non-professional medical practice. One of the brothers puts himself into a trance and in this state he is able to identify the diseases of the patients. The process is always successful.

Ex. 49. In Alsace a Catholic priest heals by magic. His nickname is Father Slipper. The reason behind this is that all those who desire his help must send him one of their slippers. Through concentrating on the slippers he can discover what is wrong with the people.

Ex. 50. During counseling sessions in Austria I happened to come across a so-called urine taster. The patients urine was not examined medically to discover the albumen, sugar and haemoglobin content etc., but was used as a psydiometrical means of contact for a clairvoyant diagnosis. Such urine tasters are also known in Switzerland, France, Germany and other European countries.

The strange thing is that in spite of such curious methods the diagnosis often proves to be correct. These magic healing methods depend on mediumistic and extrasensory forces! Herein lies the reason for their success.

In the definition the various aims of magic were mentioned. Whereas spiritism seeks to communicate with and to dominate the spirit world, magic enlarges this aim to cover people, animals, plants and the material world. The black magician endeavors to subjugate and to dominate his enemy through magic. Some examples of this will follow later. Others try through magic to influence the animal and the plant worlds as we see in the next examples.

Ex. 51. A man dabbled in black magic for many years. He specialized in stealing milk from the neighboring farmers. He would tie a towel to a door knob, then murmur his magic phrases and squeeze the milk out of the towel. I have heard of similar examples in my counseling work but I was unable to investigate them personally.

Ex. 52. A missionary told me that on several occasions when she had tried to visit a magician some wild animals had approached her. She felt at once that demonic powers were at work. She had commanded the animals to go in the name of Jesus. They had gone. After this she heard that the magician had boasted that he was able to send out wild animals to kill any foreigner who came to see him.

Ex. 53. A young man, whom a doctor described as schizophrenic, confessed to me during counseling that he had the ability to kill small animals at some distance away from him, merely through using his powers of magic.

Ex. 54. In Toggenburg, Switzerland, on several occasions in my counseling sessions people confessed that they had the power to kill horses, cows and pigs with the help of black magic. In reply to my question how they had received this ability, they told me that they had subscribed themselves with their own blood to the devil. One actual case of animal killing was examined by some scientists but they could find no natural cause of death.

Ex. 55. A farmer who had had several bad crops in a row was given the following advice by a magician. He should place three grains of corn under his tongue while sowing, then, having sowed the field he should spit the corn out of his mouth into the field, say a magic charm and end by calling on the names of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. This would then encourage growth and protect the crops from bad weather. As a matter of fact the farmer was convinced that the charming of his field had been beneficial. Since that time though, his desire to read the Word of God disappeared, and besides this there was an enormous increase in accidents in his stables.

It is not only the organic world, the world of living creatures, that falls within the sphere and influence of magic, but also the inorganic world of dead matter. The following are some examples of this.

Ex. 56. For years three sisters slept in a single room. From time to time stones would fall from the ceiling of this room. When the eldest sister became engaged and finally left the house, this rain of stones stopped. I heard of the incident from one of the sisters. Such magical falls of stones are not so rare as one might imagine. I have on several occasions had eyewitness accounts of them.

Ex. 57. For many years a man practiced black magic. One of his specialties which he often demonstrated was thrusting a knife into the ground. He would murmur some magical words and several pints of blood would then come out of the place where the knife had been stuck in. The sister of this man was also an expert in the same field. The question is, was this just a clever trick or a genuine piece of magic? This case is very reminiscent of a fakir trick. Nevertheless similar incidents have been reported to me in my pastoral work.

In the sphere of magic some of the most unreasonable things take place. Yet even if it were simply all a case of superstition and imagination, and if it had no real foundation, the area would still be an abyss of human aberration and need, demanding enlightenment and counseling help. Other questions arising from the definition will come under discussion later.

At the very threshold of human history stands God’s command, "Fill the earth and subdue it" (Gen. 1:28). The task and right of man was the peaceful conquest of the earth’s powers in accordance with the will of God. In opposition to this command Satan, the great master of confusion came and put forward his arch-temptation: "You will be like God knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:5). Magic is the very antithesis of the commandment of God as it reveals a hunger for knowledge and a desire for power in opposition to the will of God. When faced with this temptation mankind was at the crossroads.

The decision had to be made. Either voluntary subordination to the will of God or rebellion against His statutes and His ordinances caused by a greed for power and a desire for knowledge. The decision still faces us today. We either conform to God’s revealed way of salvation or we carry on the rebellion, trying to rule the created world in unforgivable opposition to God. Magic is thus at its roots a rebellion, and it has been so from the beginning. It is the climax of man’s revolt against God. Any talk of harmless forces of nature and neutral applications is criminal in the light of this scriptural fact.

On the surface, parapsychology (the science of extrasensory experiences) still recognizes something of the double nature of magic. The differentiation is made between Psi-Gamma phenomena and Psi-Kappa phenomena. (Gamma representing gignoskein, to perceive; kappa representing kinein, to move). Here we have again the two basic elements of magic: knowledge and power through supernatural means.

Through a great deal of pastoral work I have noticed four ways in which magical powers can originate. These are through heredity, subscription of oneself to the devil, occult experiments and occult transference.

a) The evidence drawn from many actual case histories goes to prove that magical abilities can be passed on by means of heredity. Often mediumistic powers can be traced back over three or four generations in one family. There are two possibilities here, one being that it is a matter of the genes and the other that it is a matter of succession. By this we mean the custom of a person on his deathbed actually bestowing the magical abilities upon the eldest son or daughter in order to die peacefully. Often tragic scenes occur when the children do not want to have these abilities passed on to them. A person may cry out for weeks on his deathbed for someone to relieve him of his magical powers. Sometimes a distant relative or an outsider is willing to accept the succession. The reason for this may differ from case to case, be it pity, curiosity or maybe lust for power. The death of some magicians can drag on over a period of weeks till the office of ‘succession’ has been settled. This is not an apostolic but a diabolic succession.

b) Magical powers on the other hand may originate through subscription to the devil. One can see in this the counterpart to baptism. To every event recorded in the Bible there seems to be a demonic parallel to it in the field of magic. Subscription to the devil accounts for some of the most terrible and formidable cases met with by Christian workers.

Ex. 58. In Paris there is an occult church with the name or title, ‘We Worship the Prince of this World.’ This church has sister congregations in Basle and Berne, and just recently one has been opened in Rome. In order to become a member of this church one has to subscribe oneself to the devil. This is a baptism into black magic!

Ex. 59. For years a man in Toggenburg, Switzerland, had a flourishing practice as a nature healer and charmer. He could even cure some people who the doctors had given up as hopeless. He had healed the blind, the lame, cases of advanced cancer, tuberculosis, leukemia, multiple sclerosis, scleroderma and other serious diseases. On one occasion however, the man’s own personal need came to the surface. He said, "I can help others, but for myself there is no help, no not in all eternity!" In his youth the man had subscribed himself to the devil. It was since that time that he had obtained his unearthly healing ability.

c) Another way in which magical powers may develop is through experimenting with occultism.

Ex. 60. A Swiss factory worker grew tired of his job. Since he had often heard that occult healers and mesmerizers made a lot of money he bought some magic literature for himself. He set about learning the magic charms, underwent various devil ceremonies and then began healing experiments. His magic healing ability developed rapidly and ultimately his income surpassed his previous earnings many times over.

The next example will illustrate all three factors together, that is, the factors of heredity, subscription and experimenting in occultism.

Ex. 61. A young woman told me this story. Her great-grandmother had subscribed herself to the devil with her own blood. She had practiced black magic and had healed both animals and people. On her deathbed she had suffered terribly as is often the case with magic conjurers. The daughter, that is the grandmother of my storyteller, took over the magic powers of her mother. The magic literature of her mother also passed into her hands. Later the apparition of the great-grandmother was seen by the relatives. The grandmother however, continued to practice magic. During nights of the full moon she would charm diseases. She was also in the habit of using a key suspended over a Bible as a pendulum, and she could also successfully stop people from bleeding. If she ever attempted to read the Bible she found it quite a trial. As she grew older she began to see black figures in her home, and finally when she died it was again an unpleasant time. Her ghost was also seen after her departure. The story went on that the young woman’s mother had then taken over the magical literature and practices. She too had become a well-known healer but her fate had been the same as her predecessors.’ The fourth member in this terrible line of succession was now the young woman. As a small child her mother had cast spells over her. Shortly after this she had become clairvoyant and had also begun to see black figures in the house. Her brother and sister had suffered from depressions and she herself had had serious psychic and nervous disturbances which had led her to seek the help of a minister.

d) Occult transference is the fourth source of magical powers.

Ex. 62. A young man told me that he had once had three black magicians lay their hands on his head and murmur some magic charms over him. He had afterwards possessed magic abilities which astonished even the family doctor. The doctor had investigated his powers and had to acknowledge that they were genuine. The laying on of the hands of the magicians would again be a counterpart to the scriptural laying on of hands.

Ex. 63. A young man saw someone searching for water with a pendulum. He was asked if he would like to have a go, but the pendulum did not react in his hand. When the dowser took hold of his hands, though, the pendulum had at once reacted. Later when he had tried to repeat the experiment by himself, he was again successful, and he discovered that he now had the ability to search for water with both a rod or a pendulum. Yet the young man felt a change in his Christian life. Previously he had been regular in his reading of the Bible and in prayer. After this transference of pendulum ability, however, his love for the Word of God and for prayer declined.

Certain influences, as we might call them, can be termed elementary forms of magic. We will list them.

Firstly we have the criminal use of hypnosis.

Ex. 64. A girl reported in a counseling session that a doctor whom she had consulted had hypnotized her. While hypnotized he had seduced her. The doctor had done the same to her girl friend. It was later discovered that he had also done this with other girls. When these stories leaked out, the doctor left the town and settled elsewhere. The girl said that for a long time after this incident she had not been able to read her Bible. She had felt a strong aversion towards religion, and evil thoughts had always come to her mind when praying.

Ex. 65. A doctor at a hospital had indecently assaulted women and girls under hypnosis. Once the ward sister caught him in the act. To cover up his scandalous behavior, he used to question the patients about their sexual relationships and included their answers in their case histories. He thus tried to protect himself in the event of anything being discovered. A respectable girl who was engaged to a Christian young man became pregnant at the hospital. Following this her fiancé left her. The girl herself denied all knowledge of having sexual relationships with anyone. The doctor had lain with her when she had been hypnotized. The assistant matron and the ward sister had finally reported the doctor. However, the result was that they themselves were dismissed by the medical superintendent. The doctor in question stayed. Other nurses, who also had incriminating evidence against him, were forced to keep quiet now because of the fear of dismissal. After a few years, though, when the situation became too hot for the doctor, he left and went abroad.

Scientific advocates of hypnosis believe that a man cannot be forced to do anything under hypnosis that he would not be prepared to do when conscious. They are of the opinion that crimes are not possible under hypnosis. But not all the experts share this opinion. Moreover, in my counseling work I have met many cases in which crimes have taken place under hypnosis. From the point of view of the Scriptures it is understandable that an innocent girl can be molested in this way. Jesus said that out of the heart come evil thoughts and so on. Evil lies dormant even in the most moral of people. Normally these instinctive reactions are held in check by one’s consciousness, which is molded by education, religious training and is affected by one’s disposition. Under hypnosis however, this regulator is switched off. Instinctive impulses can arise unhindered from the subconscious, and can be exploited by unscrupulous and uninhibited people. Besides this, some take no account of the fact that magical hypnosis exists in addition to the normal type of hypnosis, and that this can have far deeper effects. Magical hypnosis can often be recognized by the fact that afterwards the patient is no longer able to pray or to keep his faith. Here are some actual examples of magical hypnosis.

Ex. 66. A Christian girl went to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist used magical hypnosis far more often than he did ordinary hypnosis. I have occasionally come across such doctors in areas where magic is commonly practiced. In reply to the girl’s question, the doctor admitted that he had not received his gift from God. He went on to tell the girl that he had wanted to conduct suggestive experiments on her. After the treatment the girl lost her faith and could no longer pray. She suffered from doubts and other serious difficulties in believing.

Ex. 67. In his spare time a minister dabbled in magic. He experimented in various areas and learned card-laying, how to use a pendulum, magic charming and magic hypnosis. Since he had no suitable people to experiment on, he used his wife for the purpose. As his magical abilities increased, so too did his own and his wife’s dislike for the Bible and prayer. This dislike developed into a strong resistance, and as time went on psychic disturbances appeared in his wife. She exhibited a serious anxiety hysteria and always had to lock the door of whichever room she happened to be in.

Ex. 68. A businessman has the strange ability of being able to influence his customers hypnotically or magically, causing them to accept the business offers that he makes to them. In this way his yearly income exceeds £6,000. He rejects Christianity altogether.

Ex. 69. A woman allowed a masseur to hypnotize her. Before the treatment she had regularly read her Bible, prayed and attended the local church services. Afterwards when she tried to pray she felt a compulsion to blaspheme and to curse. She then lost her faith. These effects indicate that the masseur had used magical hypnosis.

In general our doctors understand nothing of magically based hypnosis because it is an occult practice. While normal hypnosis as practiced by the medical world may be harmless, hypnosis used in conjunction with magic is always dangerous, and is a burden to the patient concerned.

A second elementary form of magic may be found in the area of mental suggestion. We mean by this a transmission of mental or emotional forces over a distance.

Ex. 70. A young psychologist wanted to qualify as a university lecturer. He specialized in hypnosis, though it was not the normal type of hypnosis but rather mental suggestion. He looked for a sensitive subject for his experiments and found one in the secretary of his boss. She was of nervous debility and easily influenced. Without asking, he attempted to put her to sleep. He would sit down about three or four yards away, either in the same room or a neighboring one, and then concentrate on her. She would find that her arms would suddenly become limp. A tremendous tiredness would come over her. She would have to fight with all her strength to avoid falling asleep. These experiments were continued over a period of time with the girl always resisting them. During this time the girl gradually developed psychic disturbances. She consulted a psychiatrist. When he heard of the suggestive experiments, he told her that they would not do her any good, as he already knew about the experiments of the young psychologist. The girl, having been the subject of these experiments for a considerable period of time, has since experienced strange paralytic symptoms and is now only capable of doing part-time work.

Ex. 72. For several years a craftsman indulged in black magic. He was chiefly concerned with the influencing of other people through his magic, and he also belonged to a magic circle which itself conducted unusual experiments. His first victim was a sensitive girl. He brought her under his control to such an extent that she sacrificed both her money and her body to him. After this initial success he looked for other victims. He continued to be successful with his experiments, and he finally found a girl who regularly handed over her monthly pay-cheque to him. For this reason he lived with her until finally her parents reported the matter to the police.

A third elementary form of magic is magically based magnetism or mesmerism. Magnetism, together with Hypnosis and suggestion, can be magically intensified. Ex. 69 refers to this fact.

For our first examples of this we will turn to Dr. Trampler, a lawyer who was originally a student of Groening, but who later ceased to hold the same ideas. Dr. Trampler has outlined his methods of healing in a book ‘Gesundung durch den Geist’ (Healing through the Spirit). His most fanatical followers are women. I have seen in counseling people that his healing powers are not beneficial, but are instead a burden to those treated. Two examples can be quoted to indicate this.

Ex. 73. A woman visited Dr. Trampler in Munich. He was successful in treating her backaches. In the course of the treatment he had made her hold her fingers up in the air as if they were antennae for cosmic powers, so he said. On returning home she found that organically she had been healed, but since then her spiritual life was held in check. She, like so many others, now found it impossible to pray and felt as though there was an impenetrable wall between herself and God.

Ex. 74. A Christian woman who came to me for counseling had visited Dr. Trampler in ignorance. While sitting in his office she had prayed. Finally when the other patients had been treated and it was her turn. Dr. Trampler came over to her. She had felt a strange fear come upon her and had prayed all the more. The doctor had then said to her, "can’t do anything for you."

Since these healers often camouflage and garnish their activities with religious phrases, the terrible nature of their powers is often unrecognized. In Baden I gained the acquaintance of a man who had been an unqualified medical doctor. In answer to my question regarding his healing ability he answered, "Natural healing magnetism can enable you to heal about two patients daily. The power is by then used up and one has to be recharged or refilled. People who treat more than two patients a day are either fakes, or they are plugged into the devil." By this he meant that such people would actually be using magic in their practice. Here is one other example of this both frequent yet confusing camouflage.

Ex. 75. A friend of mine, a Christian teacher, was being treated by a mesmerizer who was himself supposed to be a Christian. At least he attended a church. To make sure, the teacher asked the mesmerizer, "You don’t use demonic forces, do you?" The man replied, "Why not? Demonic powers are good. Demons are here to help us." The teacher decided not to continue with the treatment!

Having outlined these elementary aspects of magic, we will now go on to the more basic and principal forms. Professor Diepgen in his book ‘Culture and Medicine’ differentiates between three main forms of magic: black magic which uses demonic forces, white magic which is allegedly promoted by the power of God, and neutral magic which is supposed to rely solely on ordinary forces of nature. Diepgen is correct in dividing magic into three forms, but the same cannot be said of his definitions. Christian pastoral work reveals a completely different picture to the one he suggests concerning neutral and white magic.

a) First however, some examples of black magic.

Ex.