1998-03-24 - The Oscar Goes

You shall follow the Lord you God and fear Him … listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. Deuteronomy 13:4 (NASB)

As I write this the Oscar extravaganza has now ended. I missed it. I wonder why we still have award shows like these. I see advertisements for all these psychic services and it would seem that if these psychics could really be right that someone will soon find love in the produce isle of a local supermarket, well, I should think they could tell us all who is going to win these awards ahead of time. This would mean 1/2 of America would not have to lose a night of productivity waiting to find out who the winners are. They could do a great service to America if they were really psychic.

In fact, if these psychics are really psychic they are not very kind. How many plane crash victims would have liked to have known that their flight was going down before they got on it? I bet lots, but if these prognosticators really can give us direction or tell us about our future, they sure are doing us no service. The reality is that they are probably about equal to an expensive psychologist who has no training.

Everyone wants direction in life. There are limitless sources in which direction is offered to us. Friends, family, Scripture, talk shows, advice columns, only begin to scratch the surface of where we can turn for advice. Many of these avenues for seeking guidance are useful. Friends and family can often see through the stupidity of a potential decision we are about to make. But there is a source which claims the final authority and that is Scripture. It is here where we must ultimately test and gauge our impending or potential decisions or actions.

Scripture has much to say about prophets that lead us away from God's will. Deuteronomy 13:1-5, tells the Israelites to put such a prophet to death. I'm not advocating a new movement here, but we must take to heart the spirit and tenor of such verses. God is not pleased with those who pretend to be seers. We should avoid them and cling to the Word of God. As we grow in our relationship with God around His Word, through prayer and fellowship with the saints, then the absurdity of looking anywhere else for guidance will become more and more crystal clear.

"Since the book of Revelation was completed, no new written or verbal prophecy has ever been universally recognized by Christians as divine truth from God." John MacArthur

Soli Deo Gloria,
Tim