February 21, 2010

What is Fortune Telling?


by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

What is fortune telling? There are three kinds of belief, which have their origin in fortune telling: belief in blind chance, belief in things and belief in the almighty power of the spirits of darkness.

Through fortune telling, events are prophesied, the power of things differentiated, and an oath is sworn to the spirits of darkness.

No faith so decisively condemned and rejected fortune telling as did the Christian Faith. No faith except Christianity is free and pure of fortune telling. Other faiths are, more or less, fortune telling and some consist only of fortune telling.

Fortune telling means to subject man to lower things and beings lower than man. From this, one can say that fortune telling can be called a belief in darkness. That is why the Apostle Paul speaks: "Avoid profane and silly myths. Train yourself for devotion" (1 Timothy 4:7).

Christianity is a Faith of light in two senses: First because it elevates man above chance, above all things and above the spirits of darkness; and Second that it subordinates man only to the authority of the Living, Wise and Almighty God. The All-seeing God exists, that is why blind chance does not exist. In spiritual union with this All-seeing and Living God, man can be more exalted than all things and more powerful than all the spirits of darkness.