I think psychic powers are not of God, but what about psychics who predict the future, know things about strangers, or do miracles?

This is a good question. In our time, "miracles" seem to be happening more frequently, many performed by nonChristians and atheists, sowing a lot of confusion amongst the Church. The first thing we must clarify are the three sources of power: man, God and Satan.

When God created man, He invested great natural powers in this creature that was "little lower than the angels." Many of these powers we don't fully understand yet (look at the controversy within the medical community over the percentage of illnesses that are psychosomatic, or caused by "bad thinking").

However, I do not believe any of the traditional psychic powers have their source in the natural man, for the following reasons:

1) Psychic powers are often used to explain away the miracles of the Bible. Since the most powerful way that God uses to reach the unsaved is the work or powers manifested by the Holy Spirit, anything that hides His power is evil (Jesus said, "You can blaspheme against the Father and the Son, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgiveable" ).

2) A very common psychic power is mind reading, which the Bible says is impossible ("For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God..." ICorinthians 2:11,12).

3) Psychics have a high rate of suicide and insanity. Kurt Koch's ministry to demonically oppressed peoples in Europe has dealt with many psychics who have become demon possessed. The authoress of I Was a Teenage Witch spent many years developing her psychic powers before Satan came to collect, saying, "You are my pig, my servant!" and he held a knife to her throat by her own hand!

4) The Bible constantly indicates that miracle workers must be tested to see if their power is from God (the magicians of Pharoah could do most of the miracles of Moses until his rod-turned-snake ate their rods-turned-into-snakes; In the Old Testament Law, a prophet whose prophecies did not come true, or who led the people after other gods was a false prophet; Elijah met the prophets of Baal for a test of power; Paul said of his accusers, "We will meet and have a test of power!" (1Cor. 4:19)). If a person does not believe in the God of the Bible, then any powers he possesses are not of God (Deuteronomy 13:1-5).

Examples: Jean Dixon has a remarkable ability to predict the future. She has also been wrong. This means that she does have a source of supernatural power, but that source is not all knowing or all powerful (in other words, Satan is her source). A friend of mine was going out to sea during the Vietnam War on the USS Ashtabula. Jean Dixon had predicted that particular ship would sink on its next voyage, so my friend was very nervous. On that voyage, the ship almost sank. A forklift was driven off the main deck into an open hold, falling three decks onto a pallet of high explosive shells. None of them went off. Since the super-tanker/supply ship was loaded with oil and explosive, the detonation of any shell would almost certainly have sunken the ship.

What can we learn from this failed prophecy? We know that Satan can't predict the future (if he could, he wouldn't have set up the Redemption by crucifying Christ (1Cor 2:8)). However, Satan can make plans for the future. He planned to sink the USS Ashtabula by having one of his human servants drive the forklift into the open hold. However, the angels intervened and did not allow the natural thing, an explosion, to occur. Thus, Satan was thwarted, Jean Dixon was proven wrong, and many lives were saved, all of it unseen by the human eye.

I knew a young man in Idaho Falls who had a bad knee due to a skiing injury. He had been to several doctors and none of them could do anything for him. Finally, he went to a psychic healer who gave him an amulet to hang around his neck. Although warned by his Christian friends, this young man wore the amulet and got his healing because, in his words, "I have to be able to ski!"

Psychic healers have used rusty butcher knives without anesthetics for eye surgeries and other major operations. Mixed in with these incidents are charlatans who are only pretending to operate. However, I find it hard to believe that all of these healers are charlatans, especially when the maladies disappear after the operation. Those who don't believe in modern day supernatural power tend to believe it is all charlatans; those who believe in psychic powers believe there are few charlatans. I believe that the truth lies in between.

I do not believe in glorifying Satan. It's true that Satan has certain supernatural powers, but they are mere parlour tricks compared to what God can do. God can warn us of future events, heal, and even transport us supernaturally, as He did Phillip (Acts 8:39). Many times, God's leading is mistaken as a psychic phenomena, just as His genuine miracles of healing are often used in medical textbooks to calculate spontaneous remission percentages.

So, if you get vision or premonition of disaster, pray! Maybe you're not sure whether it's God or not, but either way, prayer is certainly a valid response.

The One True Church is composed of Christians everywhere who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, whether they wear a denominational label or not.

According to Kurt Koch, who has dealt with over 20,000 people oppressed by the Occult, the patient is warned that opening the amulet will nullify the healing. Those who have opened these amulets found these words, "This soul belongs to Satan."