2. Dangers of Occultism
World Scripture
Men of ignorance worship spirits and ghosts.
Bhagavad-Gita 17.4 (Hinduism)
Do not turn to mediums or wizards; do not seek them out, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19.31
Confucius never discussed abnormal phenomena, physical exploits, disorderly conduct, or spiritual beings.
Analects 7.20 (Confucianism)
My follower does not study the practice of magic and spells. He does not analyze dreams and signs in sleep and movements in the Zodiac.
Sutta Nipata 927 (Buddhism)
As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by soothsaying. She followed Paul and us, crying, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul was annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
Acts 16.16-18
Aisha told that when God’s messenger was asked by some people about fortune-tellers he replied, “They are of no account.” They said, “Messenger of God, they sometimes tell a thing which is true.” He replied, “That is a word pertaining to truth which a jinn snatches and cackles into the ear of his friend as a hen does; then they mix more than a hundred lies with it.”
Hadith of Bukhari and Muslim (Islam)
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none. Then he says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” And when he comes he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.
Matthew 12.43-45
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
People want to believe in a higher power, without knowing what it is. Unable to relate to it by themselves, they may seek out a shaman, who leads them in shamanistic rituals. Or, they may latch on to superstitions. Thus they grope in the darkness, seeking for something. People have this tendency, though they don’t know why.
(101:90, October 22, 1978)
Mediums and fortunetellers will tell your fortune and predict your future. They can do this because they are in contact with certain spirits standing behind them, who can see and reveal to them some aspects of your reality.
(176:286, May 13, 1988)
Spiritual mediums are often confused and fall into conflict among themselves, because the levels of the spirit world with which they are in communication and the content of the revelations they receive differ. Although spiritually perceptive people are in contact with the same spirit world, because their circumstances and positions vary and their character, intellect and spirituality are at different levels, they will perceive the spirit world in different ways. These differences give rise to conflicts among them.
(Exposition of the Divine Principle, Resurrection 2.2.6)
Why do the “gods” in the spirit world—the angelic world—try to relate with the world of human beings? You have heard of mediums, fortune telling and superstitions. They are religious forms that do not make clear distinctions between good and evil. As God prepared religious forms, Satan too prepared religious forms as a countermeasure.
More than 80 percent of mediums and fortune-tellers are women. With whom are they working? When Eve fell, she was overcome by the power of an angel to do wickedness. The same path is repeated during the time of restoration: definitely, there are angels in the spirit world who descend to the earth to relate with women and instruct them. The work of fortune-tellers and mediums is to teach what angels instruct them to say. Just like fallen Eve, they live with spirits.
(76:95, February 1, 1975)
If a spiritualist with low spirituality treats your ailment, the spirits in the spirit world will be temporarily comforted, but the problem will not be fundamentally resolved. Your soul will be comforted and peaceful for a while, but after some time passes it will be disturbed with the same problem.
(293:249-50, June 1, 1998)