April 13, 2012
Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. -- Colossians 2: 8-10 (NLT)
Today is Friday the 13th! Booga-booga! Be afraid, be very afraid! The world creates these irrational fears and folklore and sometimes as Christians we can fall into these empty philosophies. The world actually classifies the fear of Friday the 13th as paraskevidekatriaphobia. A study once conducted actually proved that less fires, thefts and accidents happen on Friday the 13th than on other Fridays presumably because people are either more careful or afraid to leave their houses! But not all cultures even agree about when to be scared. In Spain and Greece it is Tuesday the 13th that is considered unlucky. In Italy it is Friday the 17th that is the day to avoid. It has been estimated that 800-900 million dollars of business is lost every Friday the 13th.
I provide these facts simply as a backdrop to remind us that as Christians, we are not to think as the world thinks. We do not operate in such futility. Christians do not believe in luck; we believe in the providence of God. If something wonderful happens in your life and you ascribe it to luck, then you are robbing God of His glory for blessing you. God is not random. Jeremiah 29:11 assures us that God has a plan for our future to prosper us and give us hope. That is not found in tarot readings, horoscopes, psychics, fortune cookies, lucky numbers or any other high-sounding nonsense designed to remove the sovereignty of God.
I know the "lighten up" crowd might already be upset. I understand how alluring the horoscope can be. But the problem as always lies in the spiritual realm of what we believe. The Bible explicitly warns us that the battle we face is not carnal, it is spiritual. Even the key verse above reiterates it. It is the spiritual powers of this world that we fight against. Astrology is based upon satanic teachings that state that your entire disposition and future is based upon the stars and planets and not God. There is a spirit world beloved and outside of the spirit of God, you should want no part in it. There are psychics who can genuinely see things but it is not God showing them! Witchcraft, sorcery, soothsayers (psychics), omen interpreters (tarot readers), and mediums (those that talk with the dead) are all called abominations in the Bible for a reason. That is because they are all rooted in the demonic spiritual works of Satan.
The verse above
assures us that we are already complete in Christ and that He is already the
head over every ruler and authority. As long as we remain in Him and trust in
Him, then it doesn't matter what the date is. It doesn't matter what the horoscope
says. It doesn't matter what anyone says -- God is at work for my good in my
life -- period. Do not take these things lightly. The spiritual realm is very
real and very dangerous. It is not just some harmless fun.
Rev. Anthony
