I was 12, 13
tops, when my cousin and I sat down on the floor of her house, and began to
play with her Ouija Board. True to form the cursor began taking us places we
had never planned to go, and over which we seemingly had no control. And
sooner, rather than later, I stepped away from the game, and recognized it for
what it was. I only played with that thing a ma jig… once. And never again. It
scared me spit-less.
Later, I
recall playing with what might better be classified as a toy; an “8 Ball.” No
problems here. Just some “pre-printed” answers.
Then there
are the fortune tellers. Don’t even get me started. You find them scattered
about in half broken-down houses, and store fronts. If they were such
soothsayers of all that is not yet, but will be, they could easily rake in
millions on horse racing or the lottery, and leave the fortune telling to the
amateurs.
In years
gone by, perhaps less so today, Americans were “taken up” with horoscopes, and
some still talk about what sign he or she was born under; (which is absolute
“tommy-rot” since how can the stars, (which are inanimate objects) have any
impact on the lives of animate people? There are those among us who swear by
horoscopes, at least they take time to read them at the breakfast table, and
talk about them at the conference table. It never ceases to amaze me that the
average connoisseur of horoscopes apparently doesn’t take time to realize that
letters don’t magically fall out of the sky, and organize themselves into
blessings and cursings on the pages of a newspaper. Someone is paid to write
the “stuff.” (There’s a better word for it, but I won’t use it here).
And then
there are those who are absolutely “eat up” with angels. Scripture has
described the cherubim and seraphim as messengers of the Most High God. (And
indeed, I think they are).
I saw an
angel the other day.
(Yes, I
did).
And no, I’m
not one to see angelic beings every other day, and behind every tree. I was
biking in the wee hours recently, and as I stopped my trusty, (but oh, so slow)
bike at a stop sign, I looked to the right, and saw this young man walking down
the sidewalk towards me; perhaps fifty feet away. There is a six or eight foot
wall to a gated community which runs along that stretch of sidewalk, and that
wall was situated to his immediate left. On his right was a four lane highway.
I looked away for a moment, as I prepared to cross the road, and then cast my
eyes again to the right.
The “man”
who had been walking towards me, only a moment before, had vanished. Humanly
impossible, for there had been nowhere for him to go.
And while I
believe in angels, and I believe that which I saw that night was angelic in
substance, and that they have their role in our lives, the current interest in
angels is entirely misplaced, as is our culture’s involvement in fortune
tellers, and horoscopes and stars.
As scripture
admonishes us,
These men deliberately forfeited the
truth of God and accepted a lie, paying homage and giving service to the
creature instead of to the Creator,
… who alone is worthy to be
worshipped for ever and ever (Romans 1:25)
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