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divination and sooth saying let's start reading there in verse number nine the Bible reads when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations there shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire or they use it divination or an observer of times or an enchanter or a witch or a charmer or a consult her with familiar spirits or a wizard or a necromancer for all that do these things are an abomination under the Lord and because of these abominations the Lord thy God that drive them out from before thee thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God for these nations which thou shalt possess harken unto observers of times and under diviners but as for thee the Lord thy God have not suffered thee so to do pay special attention to verse 15 the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him he shall harken now keep your finger here in Deuteronomy 18 go to Acts chapter 3 Acts chapter 3 quotes a few things from Deuteronomy chapter 18 and gives us some application Acts chapter 3 beginning in verse number 20 reads and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began for Moses truly said unto the fathers watch this this is from Deuteronomy 18 a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you and it shall come to pass that every soul this was from a little later in Deuteronomy 18 we read it before the sermon and it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people now this designation of the prophet like unto Moses that God would raise up is referring to Jesus according to Acts chapter 3 so what we actually get when we take that knowledge okay God is specifically referring to the Lord Jesus Christ here when we take that back to Deuteronomy 18 here's what we come up with don't listen to all this superstitious hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo horoscopes and diviners and observing times and enchantments listen to Jesus isn't that what he's saying listen to the prophet that I'm gonna raise up and of course that's the Son of God Jesus Christ now let me give you a divination dictionary definition here okay what does it mean when he says hey don't listen to anybody who uses divination because anybody who uses it is an abomination and then a little later he told them in verse 14 that these wicked nations had hearkened unto diviners the diviners are the ones who use divination what does that mean though divination what's the sermon about here's the dictionary definition the practice of attempting to foretell future events or to discover hidden knowledge by occult or supernatural means and so basically instead of listening to the true Word of God instead of reading the Bible to figure out what truth is this is seeking to find truth and revelation elsewhere using superstitious occultic means like omens signs horoscopes numerology Ouija boards palm reading seances channeling aura pictures up in Sedona or peyote or transcendental meditation I mean this can take on a lot of different forms and then he talked about not observing times he kind of lumps that in what does it mean to observe times well let me read this for you from Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 2 thus saith the Lord learn not the way of the heathen and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven for the heathen are dismayed at them observing times would be like horoscopes because it has to do with different dates and what the heavenly bodies are doing at that time and in that month and in that year it also has to do with astrology astrologers and by the way every time astrologers are mentioned in the Bible it's only the Babylonians because it's mentioned in Isaiah 47 about Babylon and it's mentioned over and over again in the book of Daniel with the Babylonians that's the only mention that you'll find and so astrology horoscopes getting scared about Friday the 13th right wouldn't that be observing times and being dismayed at the signs of it oh but also how about the blood moons and setting a date for the rapture and setting a date for the second coming based on these occurrences this is observing of times now obviously there's nothing wrong with looking at a calendar counting up years months days and those things could be very interesting but not when we start using them to find hidden or esoteric knowledge about the things of God the God has revealed the things that we need to know unto us through his word by his spirit the secret things belong to the Lord but that which is revealed belongs to us through Scripture here so we don't need to get into all this demonic stuff when it comes to observing times this is brought up in the New Testament in Galatians 4 in regard to the Galatians who had been Judaized because the whole book of Galatians is about the Judaizers they're trying to get him to be circumcised to keep the law of Moses and to do these things and he says to them you observe days and months and times and years I'm afraid of you lest I've bestowed upon you labor in vain so don't be dismayed at the signs of heaven don't be dismayed or observe these superstitions horoscopes good luck charms you know a black cat crosses your path you walk under a ladder or you break a mirror you kill a spider step on a crack break your mother's back you know any of this stuff you know you spilled the salt or whatever you know this is all foolishness fear God and keep his commandments this is the whole duty of man don't fear these type of signs and omens and superstitions fear the Lord and if you want to know the truth it's found in the Bible as revealed by the Holy Spirit through the reading of the Bible but let's talk about this idea of divination now this is something that comes up a lot in the Bible this is not a small subject this word is used over and over and over again let me give you some examples go to 2nd Kings chapter 17 2nd Kings chapter 17 while you're turning there I'll read for you from Chronicles about a wicked king he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom also he observed times and used enchantments and used witchcraft and dealt with a familiar spirit and with wizards he wrought much evil in the side of the Lord to provoke him to anger so we see these things make God angry they provoke him to anger they're known as being evil and observing times using enchantments witchcraft has to do with dealing with what a familiar spirit this is what we would know as a demon that's what we know as the devil so this stuff is truly demonic in every sense of the word look at 2nd Kings 17 verse 16 it says they left all the commandments of the Lord their God and made the molten images even two calves and made a grove and worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served bail bail is the devil bail bail bail Beelzebub and they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire and used divination and enchantments and sold themselves to do evil in the side of the Lord to provoke them to anger therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight there was none left but the tribe of Judah only also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made and the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of the spoilers until he had cast them out of his sight I mean those are some pretty serious consequences for getting into this stuff flip over to chapter 21 since you're there in 2nd Kings anyway while you're turning there I'll read for you from Jeremiah therefore harken not ye to your prophets nor to your diviners nor to your dreamers nor to your enchanters nor to your sorcerers which speak unto you saying you shall not serve the king of Babylon for they prophesy a lie unto you to remove you far from your land and that I should drive you out and ye should perish look at 2nd Kings 21 verse 6 he made his son pass through the fire observed times and used enchantments and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards he brought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him anger notice how these things are all mentioned in the same breath God puts these things in the same category these are some pretty wicked things