What about the mediums that help solve crimes against children or anyone else. They are helping to keep evil doers off of our streets. I am grateful for those.

Before we discuss this further, let me suggest that you check out two places on the web related to your comment. The first is an article by Joe Nickell entitled, Police Psychics: Do They Really Help Solve Crimes? Click here to go to it. Then look at this page on ABC News website. John Stossel did an investigation around this subject and here is what he reported on the air click here. The overwhelming evidence when investigated is that psychics and mediums DO NOT solve crimes. I am reminded of Isaiah 8:19, “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?”

 

While you’re at it, here are some other Scriptures to check out: Leviticus 19:31 and 20:6; 2 Kings 21:6 and 23:34; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Isaiah 19:3 and Jeremiah 27:9.

 

-David Corts

 

 

Are abilities to help others not God given? (I.e. Sylvia Brown, missing children?)

Sylvia Browne may not have been as helpful as the reports you’ve read or heard about. In the response to the next question I’ve given some links to read before you accept the fact that Sylvia Browne has helped find missing children. She is specifically mentioned in John Stossel’s report on ABC 20-20. click here

 

-David Corts

Jesus knows our thoughts. Does Satan have that ability?

The answer is “no”! Satan has powers different from ours but they certainly are not even close to God’s power. Satan didn’t know the true heart of Job, for example, but God did. God is everywhere present, Satan is not. God is all-knowing, Satan is not. God is all powerful, Satan is not. Since he is a fallen angel, he would have the powers and abilities of an angel but not of God. You may put I John 4:4 in your heart to remember. It says, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

 

-David Corts

Does God tell us the future today? If so, how does He do it?

I recognize there could be varying responses to this question. I personally believe that God does. How does He do it? He does it as He did through the prophets of old, through dreams, visions, and revelations. The second coming of Christ is accurately predicted by the prophets of old and recorded in Scripture. Their words are up-to-date and many prophesies are still to be fulfilled. This is still a valid study for knowing the kind of things that will happen in the future.

 

In addition to this, there are individuals who appear to be used by God in the present time to issue us reminders and warnings before his wrath is administered. Such information will never contradict the written Word and will never go contrary to the Spirit of God. Remember also, the test is the same as mentioned in the previous question. It must be 100% accurate if it is a word spoken from the Lord (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).

 

-David Corts

How do you minister to someone who believes in astrology, psychics and spirit guides without seeming judgemental?

I think you will find in the life of Jesus, that ministry always precedes message. So the quick answer is that you love and serve them as best you can without consulting them or letting them try to deceive you into believing they have special powers.

 

If you are thinking of witnessing to them, it would be helpful to have in mind some biblical truths about this. READ the following passages as a beginning: Leviticus 19:31 and 20:6; 2 Kings 21:6 and 23:34; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Isaiah 19:3 and Jeremiah 27:9.

 

Next, be aware of the fact that the Bible gives us the test for someone who believes they can foretell the future or uncover secrets of the past by psychic means. It is the same test given to prophets who predict things and claim to be speaking on behalf of the Lord. The test is 100% accuracy according to Deuteronomy 18:21-22, “You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?" If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”

 

When you have earned the right to speak more directly, you might quiz a psychic about how revelation comes to them. The conversation might be developed in such a way as to learn their accuracy rate. From there, your conversation can go in a number of directions. You might point them to the 100% accuracy of Jesus Christ and the value of taking all of your inquiries to the Lord through Jesus Christ.

 

This is very brief but hopefully it gives you a track to run on.

 

-David Corts

 

Allowing God to fight my battles sounds great but it sounds too easy. Do I have any responsibility?

You are correct in thinking that we do have responsibility! But let us remember that man’s part is not always as complex as you might suspect. I think you will find that in most of our dealings with the Lord, there is God’s part working in tandem with man’s part. God does allude to this in 2 Corinthians 6:1 when he says, “As God's fellow workers…”  Having said that, I think you will find that many of our personal battles are really the Lord’s and not ours. This is especially true for those who make it their aim to please Him. Try to imagine a circumstance you have faced when there was little more to do than to “Stand firm and see the deliverance of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13)! But notice, one is still to “stand firm” and “see the deliverance” – which is man’s part.

 

Prior to the Iron Curtain coming down, several friends of mine were part of a ministry that smuggled Bibles into the Soviet Union. The penalty if caught could be imprisonment after a period of torture. Every one of them had some hair-raising experiences at the individual borders. But they also testified of remarkable instances of how God delivered them supernaturally. God would actually make the Bibles invisible to the border guards and other phenomenal things like that. Even in such instances, the individuals had responsibility. They had to be willing to trust God and approach the danger regardless of the price they could have paid. Even though man had a part, it was God who came through big time and his servants could only say, “God won the battle.”

 

Pastor Steve mentioned Jericho as the “Place of Battle” where Elijah returned as he approached being taken to heaven. Part of remembering included the dramatic way in which God brought the walls of Jericho down in the time of Joshua. While God did that difficult part, man’s part was to march around the city seven times, blow the trumpets, and take the city. When you partner with God, your activity will always be associated with demonstrating trust and faith in the Lord. Again, our Pastor told of Naaman going to the Jordan River and dipping seven times – his part – and yet when healed of leprosy, he could only celebrate that God had performed the remarkable cure by Himself. Elijah became part of a drama like that when he struck the water and it parted so he and Elisha could cross the river on dry land. There was again man’s part and then God’s mighty acts.

 

I guess the point is the perspective we use to view the activity of God in our lives while recognizing that man’s part is to trust and obey God.

 

-David Corts

 

 

 

 

What does building an altar look like in 2008?

Altars do not need to be elaborate things. Sacred spaces are being created by many people in ordinary places around their homes such as closets, bedrooms, and quiet places on patios or in backyards. They are places prepared especially for prayer and meditation - places that often serve as soul-quieting antidotes to modern stress. I remember Dick Eastman at his Change the World School of Prayer encouraging us to set up a devotional spot in or around our home called The Gap. It was based on Ezekiel 22:30 “"I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” He urged us to pursue intercessory prayer on behalf of our nation and the nations of the world. I did that in our home at the time and kept it for a number of years. It was a surprising experience of great worth. But really, as Pastor Steve mentioned, God’s people set up altars in many places and for varied reasons. One can use picnic tables at State Parks, desolate areas in woods or wherever you find an environment that is conducive to embracing God. An altar is a place that you make sacred space because of the way you use it to carry on two-way communication with God Almighty. It is a space where He has done some special work on your heart or in your head in the past and you might return from time to time to ask God to do it again. It is a place to commune with our Maker remembering that it is in Him we live and move and have our being.

 

-David Corts