Storytelling – Divine Council

Communication

“Wikipedia is…broken,” controlled by special interests and bad actors, says co-founder

By Guest Post June 4, 2019

by Sharyl Attkisson

I’ve done quite a bit of reporting about how Wikipedia is definitely not “the encyclopedia anyone can edit.” It’s become a vehicle for special interests to control information. Agenda editors are able to prevent or revert edits and sourcing on selected issues and people in order to control the narrative.

Watch Sharyl Attkisson’s TedX talk on Wikipedia and other Astroturf tools

My own battle with Wikipedia included being unable to correct provably false facts such as incorrect job history, incorrect birth place and incorrect birth date.

What’s worse is that agenda editors related to pharmaceutical interests and the partisan blog Media Matters control my Wikipedia biographical page, making sure that slanted or false information stays on it. For example, they falsely refer to my reporting as “anti-vaccine,” and imply my reporting on the topic has been discredited. In fact, my vaccine and medical reporting has been recognized by top national journalism awards organizations, and has even been cited as a source in a peer-reviewed scientific publication. However, anyone who tries to edit this factual context and footnotes onto my page finds it is quickly removed.

What persists on my page, however, are sources that are supposedly disallowed by Wikipedia’s policies. They include citations by Media Matters, with no disclosure that it’s a partisan blog.

Another entity quoted on my Wikipedia biographical page to disparage my work is the vaccine industry’s Dr. Paul Offit. But there’s no mention of the lawsuits filed against Offit for libel (one prompted him to apologize and correct his book), or the fact that he provided false information about his work and my reporting to the Orange County Register, which later corrected its article. Obviously, these facts would normally make Offit an unreliable source, but for Wikipedia, he’s presented as if an unconflicted expert. In fact, Wikipedia doesn’t even mention that’s Offit is a vaccine industry insider who’s made millions of dollars off of vaccines.

Meantime, turn to Dr. Offit’s own Wikipedia biography and– at last look– it also omitted all mention of his countless controversies. Instead, it’s written like a promotional resume– in violation of Wikipedia’s supposed politics on neutrality.

Watch Sharyl Attkisson’s TedX talk on Fake News

These biographies are just two examples of ones that blatantly violate Wikipedia’s strict rules, yet they are set in stone. The powerful interests that “watch” and control the pages make sure Offit’s background is whitewashed and that mine is subtly tarnished. They will revert or change any edits that attempt to correct the record.

This, in a nutshell, exemplifies Wikipedia’s problems across the platform as described by its co-founder Larry Sanger.

Watch “Wikipedia: The Dark Side,” a Full Measure investigation

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Apologetics

The Big Story of the Bible, Part 10

By Guest Post May 15, 2019

by Dr. Ronn Johnson

I have been away from this blog for some time, though it has been constantly on my mind. Since my last post, I have written and presented a course at our church on the big story of the Bible. It was rewarding, yet undoubtedly the toughest challenge I had ever faced as a Bible teacher. As I told the class several times, sometimes out of desperation, it’s one thing to teach a passage of the Bible, or even a survey of books within the Bible—most of us have tried that—but something entirely different to approach the text with the sole intent of tracking its largest narrative. Sometimes I felt like I knew where I was going, while at other times I felt very unsure of myself, even within an hour of walking into the class. Now that it’s over I look forward to stepping back and reviewing what I said, thinking through where my work needs improvement.

I would like to return to this blog for such a purpose, in fact: to review what I said in the class and hear myself talk. I invite your response if you have the time. In previous blogs my thinking has been largely negative, pointing out perceived problems with evangelicalism’s traditional understanding of the big story of the Bible. It will feel good to turn the ship around at this point and head in a positive direction. As you could guess, my understanding of the story will be categorically different from the Sin Paid For model that I have been talking about—where the punishment required for sin by God was voluntarily paid by a behaviorally perfect individual, with this payment then being applied to those who accept this gracious provision of Christ on their behalf. I realize that many people like this story because it offers God a way to relieve the tension between his justice and love through Jesus while remaining true to his own demands of grace and impartiality. But as I’ve recommended, this does not seem to be the tension played out in the biblical story. And once we change the tension or crisis of a story we are in effect writing a different story altogether.

In my class, I developed the biblical story by working through the chronological flow of the text. This is easier said than done, I came to realize, and I’ll talk more of this below. But in general, I tried to not give away what happened until it actually happened. I did this for those in the class who were unfamiliar with the Bible, as well as to experiment how this would work within my own presentation. For purposes of this blog, I will lay out the whole story right up front, from beginning to end, then return back to go through the details in upcoming posts. I presume that readers of this website are familiar enough with the Bible to not be annoyed at being given the end of the story too soon.

I have used the analogy of a brick wall before so I will continue the analogy here. What follows are the one hundred bricks which make up, in my opinion, the big story wall of the Bible. Ending up with this round number is not accidental, as you could guess, but mostly because I didn’t like the idea of ending on an odd number, like 89 or 105. I constantly reworked my pile to keep it at the century mark, which is unimportant in the long run. The number can certainly change. Here are my bricks listed in the order in which they appear (or occur) in the story, starting with Genesis 1:1:

God creates the universe
God creates elohim above humans
God creates humans below elohim
Humans fail a loyalty test
Humanity dies and awakens
Creation is sentenced to frustration
Adam’s family shows divided loyalties
Elohim interfere in human affairs
God destroys the earth
Elohim receive territorial rule

Elohim abuse their authority
God judges ruling elohim
Abraham switches spiritual loyalties
Abraham is promised blessing
Elohim come to earth as messengers
God designates loyalty as right
God designates disloyalty as wrong
Abraham’s family shows divided loyalties
God’s family is named Israel
Jacob bears twelve tribes

Joseph saves the family in Egypt
Pharaoh enslaves the family
God reveals his name
Passover redeems Israel
Israel accepts Torah
Israel worships Baal
God clarifies his jealousy
Loyalty is demanded
Disloyalty is predicted
Sacred space is institutionalized

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Culture

Avengers: Endgame and the Problem of Evil

By Terence Gillespie May 7, 2019

Along with my regular blog here at seanmcdowell.org, I am now featuring occasional guest posts from some students in the Biola M.A. in Christian Apologetics that I personally had the privilege of teaching. This post is from my friend Tim Stratton, who has an excellent and growing ministry of his own. I simply asked him to write anything on his heart and mind. Check out his ministry and enjoy this post! Sean McDowell

Avengers: Endgame and the Problem of Evil

By Tim Stratton

The problem of evil (a.k.a., the problem of suffering), in my experience, is by far the greatest reason atheists offer for their lack of belief. In a nutshell, the problem of evil/suffering comes down to this: Why would a perfectly good, loving, and all-powerful God allow so much pain, evil, and suffering in the world? Since many cannot make sense of this, they often either get mad at God and resent Him, or they simply abandon their faith altogether and become atheists.

Avengers Assemble!

Avengers: Endgame, however, provides Christians a unique opportunity to help non-Christians who struggle with the logical problem of evil and suffering, to see that this problem is really no logical problem at all.

Doctor Strange used the time stone to not merely look forward into the future to see what WILL happen, but to evaluate over 14,000,000 “alternate futures” (otherwise known as “possible worlds”) to see what “WOULD happen IF.” Doctor Strange is doing this because although it is not logically impossible for the Avengers to defeat Thanos (of course that COULD happen), he wants to see if there is a possible world that could be actualized (what philosophers and theologians describe as a “feasible world”) in which the Avengers actually would defeat Thanos!

Doctor Strange explains that he examined over 14 million possible alternate futures, but out of the multi-millions of possible worlds surveyed, he knows of only one in which the good guys actually defeat Thanos in the end. One in 14 million is typically thought of as “horrible odds.”

Many thought the ending of Infinity War was one of despair. I, however, was filled with hope. This is because it seemed that these “alternate futures” were not merely based on chance alone, and that Doctor Strange gained knowledge of how all of these super heroes and villains would freely choose in each of the millions and millions of possible worlds he examined. Possessing this knowledge of how these super-powered persons would freely choose in each of these possible futures (similar to what theologians refer to as God’s “middle knowledge”), it seemed to me that Strange freely chose himself — and did everything in his power — to make the possible world in which the good guys would win the actual world in which the good guys will win. Indeed, right before Strange fades away at the end of Infinity War he tells Tony Stark, “It was the only way.”

The Heroic Dr. Strange

As we see in Endgame, this “best feasible world” according to Doctor Strange, is the one in which the greatest number of persons flourish and the evil of Thanos is eventually conquered. As Strange tells Stark in Endgame, “If I tell you what will happen, it won’t happen!” Be that as it may, this particular world is also filled with temporary, but extreme amounts of pain, evil, sadness, and suffering before the ultimate good can be realized.

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Atheism

Is Secular Humanism a Religion?

By Guest Post May 1, 2019

by John Staddon

It is now a rather old story: secular humanism is a religion. A court case in 1995 examined the issue and concluded, rightly, that science, in the form of the theory of evolution, is not a religion. In 2006, the BBC aired a program called The Trouble with Atheism which argued that atheists are religious and made the point via a series of interviews with prominent atheists who claimed their beliefs were “proved” by science. The presenter, Rod Liddle, concluded that Darwinism is a religion. That is wrong, as 18th century philosopher David Hume showed many years ago. Science consists of facts, but facts alone do not motivate. Without motive, a fact points to no action. Liddle was half-right: both religion and secular humanism provide _motives, explicit in one case, but covert in the other.

What is religion? All religions have three elements, although the relative emphasis differs from one religion to another—Buddhists are light on the supernatural, for example.

The first is the belief in invisible or hidden beings, worlds and processes—like God, heaven, miracles, reincarnation, and the soul. All these are unverifiable, or unseen and unseeable, except by mystics under special and generally unrepeatable conditions. Since absence of evidence is not, logically, evidence of absence, these features of religion are neither true nor false, but simply unprovable. They have no implications for action, hence no bearing on legal matters.

The second element are claims about the real world: every religion, especially in its primordial version, makes claims that are essentially scientific—assertions of fact that are potentially verifiable. These claims are of two kinds. The first we might call timeless: e.g., claims about physical properties—the four elementary humors, for example, the Hindu turtle that supports the world, properties of foods, the doctrine of literal transubstantiation. The second are claims about history: Noah’s flood, the age of the earth, the resurrection—all “myths of origin.” Some of these claims are unverifiable; as for the rest, there is now a consensus that science usually wins—in law and elsewhere. In any case, few of these claims have any bearing on action.

The third property of a religion are its rules for action—prohibitions and requirements—its morality. All religions have a code, a set of moral and behavioral prescriptions, matters of belief —usually, but not necessarily—said to flow from God, that provide guides to action in a wide range of situations. The 10 Commandments, the principles of Sharia, the Five Precepts of Buddhism, etc.

Secular humanism lacks any reference to the supernatural and defers matters of fact to science. But it is as rich in moral rules, in dogma, as any religion. Its rules come not from God but from texts like Mill’s On Liberty, and the works of philosophers like Peter Singer, Dan Dennett and Bertrand Russell, psychologists B. F. Skinner and Sigmund Freud, public intellectuals like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins, and “humanist chaplains” everywhere.

In terms of moral rules, secular humanism is indistinguishable from a religion.

It has escaped the kind of attacks directed at Christianity and other up-front religions for two reasons: its name implies that it is not religious, and its principles cannot be tracked down to a canonical text. They exist but are not formally defined by any “holy book.”

But it is only the morality of a religion, not its supernatural or historical beliefs, that has any implications for action, for politics and law. Secular humanism makes moral claims as strong as any other faith. It is therefore as much a religion as any other. But because it is not seen as religious, the beliefs of secular humanists increasingly influence U.S. law.

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Christianity

8 Faith-based Films Worth Your Time

By Guest Post April 27, 2019

by Jesse Carey

“Christian” movies don’t exactly have the greatest reputation among film watchers. Christian cinema’s apocalyptic thrillers, morally concerned family films and social-issue stumping dramas have often been criticized for being a little too preachy for non-church goers, lacking the subtlety of their Hollywood counterparts.

Of course, there’s nothing that makes a movie (or any other piece of pop culture) “Christian,” but films with overtly Christian messages have in some ways, become a sub-genre of their own.

Here’s our look at eight movies with Christian messages that will restore your faith in redemptive films.

Believe Me

Believe Me follows the exploits of a group of college guys who attempt to pay off their student loans by crafting a fake, charity:water-type nonprofit and keeping the donations for themselves. Along the way, they discover they’ve got a gift for crafting the sort of highly emotional, faux-substantive Christian “worship” experiences that grease the pockets of the faithful, but they also start to come to terms with their own hypocrisy. Watching the dudes learn to perfect their Christianese is a stinging riot, but Believe Me has a lot more on its mind than just laughs.

Amazing Grace

The 2006 film about William Wilberforce’s campaign to abolish the slave trade in Britain works on several levels: It’s a gripping historical drama; it’s a compelling story about social activism and it’s a moving testimony to the power of faith and reliance on a higher calling.

Blue Like Jazz

The film adaptation of Donald Miller’s best-selling memoir may not have captured the same breakaway success as the book, but the movie remains a pretty charming indie. Unlike many traditional “Christian” movies (or films that are targeted to Christian audiences), Blue Like Jazz isn’t afraid to embrace the complexity of faith, coming of age and thinking about God. Like the book, the movie enjoys asking questions and exploring doubts, but ultimately, finding truth.

Into Great Silence

In 1984, filmmaker Philip Gröning asked Carthusian monks in a remote French monastery if he could make a documentary about their lives. Sixteen years later, the monks agreed. The resulting documentary is a wordless, but gripping, look at the lives of the reclusive monks who have devoted themselves to God and the Bible. What’s captured on camera is like a time-capsule from a group of men dedicated to prayer, and it soon becomes clear why their order’s motto is “The Cross is steady while the world is turning.”

The Mission

Based on actual events, the 1986 drama starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons is an emotional story of redemption, forgiveness, persecution and devotion. Set at a Jesuit mission in the South American jungles during the 1700s, the movie is about fighting injustice and how grace can be used to overcome the most powerful forces of might. It’s a hard-hitting movie featuring one of the most iconic scores in history. Don’t miss it.

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Christianity

Free Christian Movies to Watch for Easter Week

By Terence Gillespie April 17, 2019

Yesterday was Darren Wilson’s “Finger of God” and today is his “Furious Love”. WP Films is making their films watchable for free during Easter week!

I’m half-way through Furious Love and can now recommend it. Here’s the trailer:

I don’t know what movies will be shown, tomorrow, so tune in to find out!

Discipleship

Traveling Light

By Theo Theo April 2, 2019

Photo by Simon English on Unsplash

Most of you who are familiar with my previous updates may be aware of the situations I face as I serve in Asia as a missionary scholar. On top of all I have shared I have those at home whom I cannot be with as I am overseas on the mission field. My brother lost his wife recently and has been trying to cope with raising two young sons since. My parents’ health has declined significantly with only apologies coming from the medical professionals after repeated trips to the ER and many procedures.

Additionally, I have just come to know of family members who are seeing to their grandchildren after the children’s parents were murdered in cold blood during a robbery. I also have an uncle and family in need of prayers as his complications have him in a very critical condition. There’s no way of knowing if he will survive much longer. In light of all these various afflictions, I have come to renew myself in an illustration I have used for many years in ministry to help encourage myself. Maybe it could inspire others as well.

Trekking Mountains and Challenges of Asia

For many years, I have trekked the mountains of Asia. Each time, I bring way too much! (Too many creature comforts! Lol!) So much so, my wife lets me pack and then unpacks my bag only to see what all I plan on taking to cull out much that is not required. A hefty load makes one weary traveler. On one such trip, I injured myself by falling in the spring rains five times coming down from one of the highest peaks between Nepal and India and seriously hurt my knee. Often, though, for the task at hand, one must take quite a bit to meet the journey’s proper end.

We are commanded in 1 Peter 5:7, quoting Psalm 55:22, to cast our worries upon the Lord for he cares for us. I used to see myself traveling the mountains with a rather large backpack stuffed quite full. One day I couldn’t handle it anymore. I was about to give up.

…With the Lord

Then I understood if I were in the hands of God, why would I lug the load at all? I should let him transport both me and the weight, but it no longer needed to be mounted on my shoulders as he ferries me as his payload. It could sit right beside me as he bore me. When I needed to deal with something in the bag, it was handy, but I did not have to haul the brunt of its full weight any longer on my own back while he held me in his hand. He could just as efficiently manage both and give me a break I needed to catch my breath. I needed to save my strength for what lay ahead.

I could trust in God to hoist it and me to where both needed to go, and I only had to pull out and deal with one item at a time as required at the moment which necessitated it! I may be responsible for the contents, but I do not have to lift them all as my burden at the same time. Instead, I need to surrender them all to Jesus while I merely rest in his loving care. When required, he and I can tackle each item as it presents itself along the trek. I only need to address them in the order he sees best and utilize the proper means to deal with each one in its own timing and terms and not let the rest distract me from what was presently required.

I do not have to consume my strength in worrying about what now is in his hands and out of my reach in the bottom of the rucksack that is for a latter part of the current expedition. I can take it easy and gently allow him to help me with the items that come first out of the pack—each one in its own timing as he permits. I can focus on what’s now and next and not something out of my hands that can wait subsequently when its actual attention is merited. It should not rob me of what is needed currently.

What I do not have to do is rely on my own strength to carry it all at once alone for he totes me. I rest in his to get me where I need to go and then to do as he bids me one day at a time and one item at a time without digging into anything that remains in the bottom. After each is put in its place, the pack becomes smaller and lighter. This makes room for me to be then able to gather his blessings along the path to replace the former burdens.

These blessings I can then bestow upon others as I make my way to reach the goal for which I am commissioned. Often, I am given sweets here in one form or another. I am not fond of sweets. Some have taken offense and even stopped giving me any because of my apparent disdain.

What I do, though, is collect them so that when I come across someone, I have something with which to bless them. Often, I do not have much. Most of the time in Asia there is very little I have in hand to dole out. Thus, when I am given a sweet, I savor it by saving it and then when given a chance I can give that gift to someone who would much better enjoy it. I receive kindly the benefit only in hopes of passing it on to those who truly would be blessed by such a pleasure.

As I serve here considering all I have reported to you, I leave it all in the Lord’s hand. In whatever ways he chooses to bless my family and myself, we are very grateful. I am learning to pack my own trash out and put it in its respective place rather than leaving my mess for others. I have my wife who assists me greatly in helping me lay down what I need not bear.

Comfort or Thorns?

Many creature comforts only end up being thorns to prevent me from a successful course. It is best to leave them behind! Jesus commanded his disciples to travel light. Our cross often is enough to bear as life gets quite challenging to carry much else as distractions to his intended target.

Eastwood is famous in his dialogue, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” I cannot carry the world. It is not my job. My job is to do as much as I can while affording others to do theirs—including God, his!

Perhaps, this illustration will somehow be meaningful to you in your current journey! We may try to be good boy scouts and prepared for much life throws at us. Then again, we may find ourselves in the humble position of trusting in others to be led by God to providentially provide that which we lack to continue according to his divine will and not our own plans. In Galatians 6, bearing one another’s burdens fulfills the law of Christ.

We all need each other. Many have born my burdens. I am very thankful for them as I am trying my level best to do the same according to each one’s giftings. Thank you for being a part of what we are called to do in Asia to help the people here. Because of you, I can be God’s light in a dark place where few have tasted and seen the goodness of our God!

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Bible

How to Read the Bible through Comic Books, and Why It Matters that we do

By Guest Post March 12, 2019

by Zanne Domoney-Lyttle

Comic Books. Graphic Novels. Cartoons. Illustrated Pictures. The ‘Funnies.’ Methods of visual storytelling through sequential art have been around for centuries, yet this mode of narrative-sharing is often looked down upon, branded a lowly form of popular culture that is ‘just for kids’.

The label ‘just for kids’ is derogatory on three levels; firstly, children are inexorable in their ways of combining learning through fun, and that is nothing to be ashamed of. To suggest children’s literature is less important is to devalue the very education systems we pride ourselves on. Secondly, branding comic books as something that only the lower echelons of society can and should access, diminishes the amount of collaborative effort and work it takes to produce the things in the first place.

Thirdly, it does not take into account how comic books are often used as visual aids for learning in higher education institutions, as well as in homes around the world. In fact, you could argue that active modes of learning have frequently centred upon the combination of image with word to get its point across; pictures, as the saying goes, are worth a thousand words.

This is a concept that Bible illustrators have known for a long time. Consider, for example, the Garima Gospels, an illustrated Bible manuscript which dates back to the 5th-century CE. Biblical texts are incredibly difficult to read, understand interpret in some parts, so illustrating biblical texts was seen as a natural way to either clarify Scripture, or potentially fill in the gap between text and understanding. They are a form of visual exegesis if you will.

Post-publication of the Gutenberg Bible in the 15th-century, there was something of an explosion in the number of illustrated Bibles being produced. Ian Green argues that the reason biblical illustrations and illustrated Bibles grew in popularity at this time partly resulted from an increase in demand for visual aids as a well as a return to a more moralistic reading of Scripture, which meant readers wanted increased access to biblical texts.

Biblical illustrations were used either as visual aids to Scripture (for example, Biblia Pauperum which were printed block-books visualising typological narratives from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament), and as decorative items to adorn the bookshelves of wealthy households. Poorer households were not left out of the picture-Bible trend. For the less-wealthy connoisseur of biblical illustrations, cut-and-paste sheets of biblical imagery were produced.

Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) was one artist who produced such images. Born in Prague, a centre of arts, science and ambition in the early 17th-century, Hollar was a prolific artist who produced over 2,000 pieces of art, mostly in the format of etchings. Subjects varied from geographical and topographical scenes to portraits, fashion, visualizations of ancient and classic figures, and biblical motifs. On the last theme, Hollar produced visual interpretations of the classic stories of the Bible and drew inspiration from major figures such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Paul.

Hollar produced two cut-and-paste sheets on biblical stories; one on Abraham’s story between Gen. 12-24 (see image below) and one on Jacob and Joseph (Gen. 25-48). Both are unsigned, untitled and undated. Cataloguer of Hollar’s works, Richard Pennington suggests that these prints were most likely produced as cheap, visual aids for the Bible reader, meant to be cut up and stuck in personal Bibles or to be used as a cheap and alternative way of decorating walls. The format of each image supports this – the grid-like pattern and the annotations to each image shows where to cut, and where to paste.

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Culture

The Seers Perspective on Psychics

By Guest Post March 11, 2019

by Doug Overmyer

“I’ve received a lot of hate from Christians,” the psychic told me, her eyes guarded.

When I thought to title this post, I almost wrote, “Psychics: A Christian Perspective,” but I realized how off putting that might be to psychics who have received something from Christians that they shouldn’t have: hate.

You won’t receive that here.

I do, however, want to offer a perspective from the Kingdom of God Mindset that lays at the foundation of how I interpret what seers see.

I frequently receive emails asking for readings from seers or psychics. Obviously, that’s not what this site is about, but one of those emails last week prompted these thoughts.

In the public arena, a psychic is someone who receives hidden information from extra-sensory perceptions. Where does the information come from?

As described here, those with psychic ability probably fall along a continuum of ability. For ease of understanding, I’ve broken the continuum into 7 categories.

The source of the extra-sensory perception depends on where the psychic is on the continuum. But not all “psychics” receive extra-sensory perception.

Charlatans

Charlatans are great at reading people’s physical states. They are extremely observant and able to detect what their subject wants or needs to hear. In The Wizard of Oz, Professor Marvel is a charlatan.

Once, while staffing a booth at a psychic fair, a young man with yellow eyes came to me for a “reading.” My team, of course, was doing prophetic encouragement but in that environment, we adopted the local language and offered “spiritual readings.”

I told this young man what I told everyone: the source of our knowledge is the Father in heaven, and the only way to the Father is Jesus, so we’ll ask the Father through Jesus to have the Holy Spirit reveal what God has for this young man. I invited the Holy Spirit, asked for a word, and waited.

This man stood perfectly still with a blank affect looking directly into my eyes.

I received the prophetic word and gave it to him.

He was visibly startled.

“I wasn’t expecting to hear that. I go to a lot of these, and there’s a lot of fakes. They just read your face. I wanted to see if you were fake. Your reading was the most accurate I’ve ever received.”

I followed it up with, “It wasn’t me. God really wants you to know him.”

My point: he was looking to expose charlatans.

Empaths

An empath is very sensitive to what other people are feeling, to the point of feeling their emotions themselves. They are extremely intuitive. In the Myers Briggs/Keirsey Temperament Sorter, they are extreme INFPs or ENFPs.

It’s a marvelous gift and ability.

They are called into counseling, therapy, or pastoral ministry. Somewhere along the lines, they received guidance to channel their ability through the mask of psychic ability.

Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

These kinds of psychics were not trained to use their gifts appropriately. It is not rooted in the pure truth of God’s love as expressed through Jesus, so the help they end up offering others ends up tainted and distorted.

Parents: if your child expresses INFP or ENFP tendencies, guide him or her to get trained to use these amazing gifts for the most good.

Sensitives

These are people who are spiritually sensitive. They pick up spiritual baggage, spiritual entities, and spiritual destinies. They navigate these impressions, filtered through their worldview, to advise their clients.

They don’t see the baggage or entities or destinies, but they do receive impressions, and the impressions are probably accurate. The distortion comes from the incorrect worldview.

It’s important to adopt the worldview that Jesus had, or something close to it, rather than a gnostic or scientific framework when navigating spiritual impressions to advise someone.

Seers

Seers are sensitives to an extreme: they actually see spiritual baggage, entities, and destinies, and use what they see to advise their clients. Think of Whoopi Goldberg’s character in the movie Ghost.

The ability to see spiritual things is what this site is all about, so at the risk of sounding redundant: the best way to navigate what seers see is through the Kingdom of God Mindset.

False Prophets

Among Christians who think about these things, there is a ton of bad information regarding false prophets.

A false prophet is not a prophet speaking for God inaccurately or incorrectly. This is a “presumptuous” prophet. [Deuteronomy 17:13]

A “false prophet” is a prophet who gets his or her information from a “false god” or any spiritual entity not aligned with God. (A “false god” is any spirit that receives worship, other than the one true God Most High).

Basically, a False Prophet is anyone who delivers supernatural information from a spirit that is not the Holy Spirit or aligned with the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Bible

Unseen Realm Video Series — Introduction to Spiritual Beings

By divinecouncil February 15, 2019

By TheBibleProject

This is the first of a video series by The Bible Project illustrating material from biblical scholar Dr. Michael S. Heiser’s Unseen Realm.

In the first pages of the Bible, we’re introduced to God and humans as the main characters. But there’s also a whole cast of spiritual beings who play an important role throughout the Bible, though they’re often in the background. In this video, we begin to explore these beings and how they fit into the unified storyline of the Bible.

Spiritual Beings

If you’ve ever been puzzled about angels, demons, and other spiritual beings in the Bible, you’re not alone! Our modern depictions of these creatures are mostly based on misunderstandings of who they are and how they fit into the overall storyline of the Bible. In this first installment of our Spiritual Beings video series, we’ll introduce the biblical concept of spiritual beings and rediscover their role in the biblical story that leads to Jesus.

Here’s the link to the series Exploring Spiritual Beings.