Is it possible to go to fortune tellers? How does the church treat fortune tellers?

The desire to know one's future has excited people's imagination since ancient times. The ruling elite, be it leaders, pharaohs, kings, kings, and so on, also resorted to the services of sorcerers, magicians and priests. But even today the interest in fortune telling even among the average person does not subside. Is it possible for baptized people to go to fortune tellers? How does the church feel about this type of activity? You will find answers to these questions in the article.

The history of the emergence of people with the gift of foresight

It is impossible to say unambiguously in what century the first sorcerers and magicians appeared. Even in ancient times, people had to face the problems of drought, flood, earthquake, volcanic eruption and other disasters, which were associated with the wrath of the gods. Loss of crops could lead to the extinction of an entire tribe. To avoid this, we had to turn to special people with the talent to see the future. It was believed that they were the chosen ones, and their connection with higher powers was strong. The help of the priests was not only in predictions, but also in conducting magical rituals, love spells, and so on. They were in a special position and were respected.

Orthodox healers - what are they?

Will a sincere believer in Christ call himself an Orthodox healer? I don't think it will. After all, this would mean that he equates himself with such saints of God as, for example, the holy great martyr and healer Panteleimon, St. Luke of Voino-Yasenetsky and other healers.

Nowadays, there are Orthodox doctors who openly declare that they are members of the Church. But this is most often done for you and me, so that we can get advice from a doctor without fear that the recommendations may contradict our Christian worldview. Therefore, in church shops you can find works by Orthodox therapists, psychiatrists, etc.

In the photo, Orthodox psychiatrist Dmitry Aleksandrovich Avdeev

However, it is also impossible to entrust not only the body, but also the soul to everyone who calls themselves Orthodox doctors. You know, you can believe in different ways.

What is most important for a person who is called upon to treat a patient? The answer is simple - professionalism . It may happen that in our search for an Orthodox doctor we will find a sincere person who will share our views, maybe even go to the same church, but... I remember the phrase of one friend: “He may be a bad doctor, but he’s really a human being.” good!" Here we need to decide for ourselves what exactly we want from a doctor.

There are those who call themselves herbalists. Some specialists use ancient manual therapy techniques or something else. These can be specialists who really benefit our health without harming the soul. But they also need to be tested. Firstly, in order to treat someone, a person must have a medical education. Secondly, you need to check whether such a specialist wants to apply on you the practice of adjusting the “biofield”, “aura”, “opening all kinds of “chakras” with the third eye, folding your fingers into “mudras”, etc. Often such people combine treatment with occult techniques.

To help readers, an anesthesiologist has written a short definition of scientific quackery.

We also recommend: Should you go to a believing healer?

Why do they contact them?

Is it possible to go to fortune tellers? Why do people even turn to them? Man is designed in such a way that he wants to know what will happen. The desires of society from ancient times to this day have not changed at all, but the abilities of mediums and fortune-tellers have not changed at all. True, the subject of addressing them has become a little different. People in different social strata think differently. Wealthy, happy individuals, satisfied with their lives, status and position, are unlikely to believe fortune telling and waste their time on it. But a sudden loss of income, internal torment, self-doubt, fear of what will happen tomorrow - these are the problems of potential clients of mediums and fortune-tellers.

Who are mediums?

Mediums are the link between the world of the living and the dead. Their abilities include direct communication with the deceased by infusing themselves with the spirit of a dead person, or contact with him at a distance. There are several types of such contacts:

1. Mental mediumship is connecting with a spirit using the power of thought at a distance.
2. Speech mediumship is the process of obtaining information through the voice of spirits or demons emanating from an object.
3. Physical mediumship is the ability to obtain information directly by moving a spirit into and out of one’s body.
4. Photographic mediumship – when it is possible to extract information from a photograph.

For the presented types of contacts listed above, a spiritualistic session is carried out, allowing the connection and communication of the guide - the medium with the summoned spirit, to whom you can directly ask questions of interest.

Fortune Teller Abilities

Fortune tellers, unlike mediums, obtain information by assessing certain values. For example:

1. Card reading. The most famous and popular fortune teller cards are Tarot, the layout of which in various combinations, with certain meanings of the symbol of each of them, tells about the past, present and future. This type of fortune telling is considered the most common.
2. Fortune telling on coffee grounds. A special pattern of settled coffee grounds at the bottom of the mug is associated with some event that should soon come true. This kind of fortune telling is considered more accurate.
3. Fortune telling on wax is another type of deciphering the resulting image from frozen wax.
4. The most unique way to foresee the future is a prediction ball, which is widely used on the Internet.

Fortune tellers do not have direct contact with spirits, which is why fewer mediums are trusted. An experienced fortune teller will not give direct answers to the questions posed, but will point to the only correct answer through the subconscious. Most often, she uses cards or a fortune ball.

How to recognize a scammer

Only a psychic with abilities can tell 100% confidently who is in front of you, a fraudster or a real magician. But there is no need to despair, there are many ways to check this on your own. We cannot determine it with a guarantee, but with great probability it can be done. So, let’s look at a few signs that you need to pick up your feet and run from a specialist:

• The magician has a fixed price for services, which he can immediately name upon first contact. Let’s say if you asked a psychic how much a love spell costs, and he immediately gave the exact number, he’s a charlatan. You can determine the cost of materials based on experience, but it is impossible to look at the entire situation, determine its complexity and immediately name the cost of the purchase. Each case is individual and the price is announced after viewing (analysis), which must also be paid.
• The magician makes a free view or gives 1 free answer. This is a very popular scam online. There is no such thing as a free view, and there is no answer to the question, since it is hard work and asking entities for which you need to pay off. Don’t you think that a specialist in his field will sacrifice something to solve someone else’s problem? This is either a fraudster or a self-taught magician who does not understand that in this way he will bring trouble to the client.
• Lack of understanding of your work. Ask leading questions. If a magician is lost and cannot give a clear answer, he has little experience. The only exceptions are answers for which you need to review, since it will not be possible to form a clear sentence in any other way.
• Payment for results. No real magician works like that. First the sacrifice, the ransom, the full understanding of the desire and only then the execution of the work. No one will invest money for you. If they offer payment for results, they are scammers. Why this is so - you can read in detail in this article.
• New magician or lack of reviews. You can only trust those who have already experienced the work of a magician and can confirm this. The easiest way is to read reviews and find out whether the magician really has abilities.
• Knownly low price for services. Let’s say a love spell for 5,000 rubles, which they promise to do through a strong ritual, is obviously a scam. For that kind of money, your grandmothers will light candles in the church and pray for you, which you yourself can do without the ability. A real magician with strong rituals will take much more, since the materials will cost 10 times more, not to mention the magician’s ability (can’t he work for free?), time spent (3-4 weeks) and effort.
• Fast and cheap execution of the ritual. The Internet is replete with advertisements like “Strong love spell in 3 days inexpensively” or “Removing damage with candles with instant results.” So that you understand, using candles will not solve anything quickly (if they help solve it at all). And for a strong ritual that works and is done faster than the deadline, the price immediately increases 2, 3 or even 10 times, depending on the ritual and the essence that is being asked. Why is this happening?

1. The magician needs to put aside his work and suddenly take care of you.
2. Buy consumables quickly at a high price (if they are out of stock).
3. Carry out a much stronger ritual that will take a lot of strength and energy from the magician.
4. Supplement it with other rituals.
5. Spend a few weeks restoring your performance and health.

In general, you can recognize a fraudster, as well as check him. But it’s better when they did it for you, so as not to get into trouble yourself and not pay for things that are dear to you. We have selected for you a list of real magicians who have already been tested by our specialists and rated by clients. We check them on many parameters, including reviews from clients who have used the services.

What could be the consequences of turning to a charlatan?

It is difficult to predict the consequences, since it is impossible to know the goals of the charlatan, his abilities. The main and most common damage when turning to a charlatan is the loss of financial resources. The fraudster will simply pretend that he performed some kind of service that will be of no use, or he will try to prove that it is of some use and will demand money.

Less common are extortionists who provide a service or simply constantly demand money to prolong the effect. Some particularly arrogant charlatans extort money in order not to make things worse for the client, and they may threaten to tell friends, relatives, at work about this service, and even submit the information for a general review.

If you fall for a self-taught magician or a “teapot”, this is worse. There is a risk of angering the entities and the consequences are completely difficult to guess. They can take something important from the magician himself, they can take something away from you and make the situation worse. Most often, beginners do not understand the seriousness and work at random - this is the worst thing.

Should you turn to fortune tellers for help?

Every person at least once in his life, if not used their services, but clearly thought about it. The essence of the appeal is always connected with deep inner experiences:

1. The loss of a loved one or acquaintance, which caused mental shock, after which a feeling of the presence of his spirit remains, in the form of tapping, voices, movement of objects, and other things.
2. Loss of material wealth due to reduction or dismissal at work and further opportunities to find a job with a decent salary.
3. Intrafamily conflicts, for example, betrayal of a spouse and related circumstances.
4. Inability to arrange your own personal life. It seems that she is beautiful, young, interesting and not stupid, but the relationship does not work out. This applies to both women and men.
5. A sudden illness in which treatment does not lead to results. Or a woman who does not have any medical complications cannot become pregnant, etc.
6. There are known cases when the elite of the political elite used the help of predictors. Interest in the election results, the future of the country in their hands, and so on.
7. There are often cases of people simply showing interest, out of curiosity, without any apparent reason or reason.

All of the listed points, except the first, are associated with the so-called damage - a ritual due to which changes occur in your personal life that are harmful to your wealth, relationships, illnesses, and so on. And you can find out whether damage has been caused only by turning to people who have a special gift. It is definitely impossible to say whether it is worth going to a fortune teller or not, since this is everyone’s choice, but before such a step you need to weigh the pros and cons. Of course, one way or another, you can get answers to the questions posed and, for sure, practical help will be provided in some way, if you really came to the right place.

Why are occult techniques dangerous?

from the report “Occult defeats of man” by Hieromonk Anatoly (Berestov)

What are the consequences of occult influences on humans?

Conventionally, we divided them into 2 groups.

First group. Consequences of occult influences among persons who sought so-called help from occultists, bioenergeticists, sorcerers and magicians.

Second group. The consequences of occult influence among the occultists themselves, i.e. those who themselves were actively involved in various diseases of an occult and non-occult nature. Our observations and various data show that the type of occultism, be it psychic

rika, witchcraft, shamanism, spiritualism, reiki, etc., does not have an influence or specific effect on a person, but is of a non-specific nature; although some of the psychodestructive psychological practices that we mentioned may have some specificity of impact, for example: hypnosis, meditation, holotropic breathing. So, in the first group of victims, various lesions of the spiritual, mental and psychosomatic spheres develop. These are spiritual disorders: mental, psychosomatic, somatic, impact on family and offspring, development of extrasensory abilities, disturbances, sometimes quite severe, of the microsocial and everyday climate, especially family, with frequent family breakdown.

The spiritual consequences include the following phenomena:

First. Alienation, most often gradual, less often rapid, from the Church and from Christ. People stop praying, going to church, confessing, taking communion; they often take off their cross and throw it away, just throw it away. They begin to blaspheme Christ, the Church, and the clergy. This is quite common.

Second. Perhaps the most common occurrence is the appearance of a poltergeist after a person has visited an occultist.

Third. Strange random events in the life of a person who turns to a sorcerer, which are clearly spiritual in nature. Some extraordinary phenomena begin to happen in a person’s life (for example, a businessman or entrepreneur quickly becomes rich or goes bankrupt).

Fourth. The predictions of spirits or sorcerers that come true. This earns them the trust of those who contact them and enslaves them through the development of psychological dependence. A person is so amazed by the predictions coming true that he begins to believe the sorcerer and go to him again and again.

Fifth. A feeling of an outside force, or more precisely, of someone invisible, with the suggestion of certain thoughts and actions. This is not yet nonsense, since the person is quite critical of his condition, realistically assessing it and is quite amenable to persuasion by a doctor or priest. This condition often develops after visiting witches, practicing spiritualism, after undergoing auditing with Scientologists, and very often after initiation into Reiki. This extraneous force can sense their deceased relatives, a psychic, a sorcerer, a demon; and relationships with this force, therefore, can be built differently for a person. Meetings with deceased relatives are perceived as easier, usually not leading to serious consequences. More severe ones - with demons and psychics. These latter often degenerate into delusions of relationship or persecution.

And finally, obsession - occurs quite often, especially when people come into contact with sorcerers, or when practicing spiritualism. I have met women who, during a session of spiritualism, directly called demons into communication. Subsequently, they developed severe mental disorders and severe poltergeist phenomena at home. Such that close people could no longer live in the same apartment with these women.

Mental or emotional consequences (disorders).

1. Psychological dependence on a psychic or sorcerer. It develops quite often (especially in women), and can take severe forms with the formation of sexual delusions or fantasies. It develops more often in women, although it is often observed in men.
2. Sexual disinhibition, with sensations

   
   rape by a psychic, sorcerer or alien. Often psychological dependence on a psychic is combined with sexual addiction. Moreover, this addiction is often actively caused by psychics themselves... They take advantage of it. “Rape” by demons or aliens causes difficult feelings in women, leads to obsessive fears, and is very difficult to experience. Such people require active treatment from a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and not just pastoral counseling.

3. Mental disorders such as Kandinsky-Clerambault syndrome. It occurs with delusions of persecution and influence. The patient develops “voices” that begin to control him. Mental automatism often appears. Ideas of influence, which should be considered as delirium, are often associated with witchcraft, telepathic or hypnotic influences on the human soul, allegedly controlling the personality of the victim. Often, radiation, radio waves, and other radiation emanating from a psychic, magician, or sorcerer act as an influence on a person.
4. Chronic fatigue syndrome. Recently, people have often written about chronic fatigue syndrome, which supposedly has an infectious origin. I personally do not believe in an infectious origin. I have seen many patients with this syndrome. Personally, I view chronic fatigue syndrome as a condition and manifestation of depression. This syndrome occurs more often in relatively young women who are socially active; characterized by increased fatigue, tiredness, slight increase in body temperature, sleep disturbance, joint pain, low mood, irritability, decreased vitality. You need to pay attention to this: this did not exist before visiting a sorcerer, magician, or psychic; it develops almost immediately after the first visit.
5. Depressive syndromes of various origins. More often of neurotic origin and exogenously determined, they are often identified or appear after occult influences on a person and often have a severe course, combined with thoughts of suicide, suicide attempts and death. Often such depressive states with suicide develop in young people and adolescents who become acquainted with black magic and begin to practice black magic actions.
6. Syndrome of obsessive fears, often resistant to conventional medical treatment, but responding well to treatment after confession and communion.
7. Somatic disorders.

A) Syndrome of immunological disorders. It occurs mainly in children exposed to occult influences, or whose parents are occultists themselves. Parents begin to engage in the occult - the child begins to get sick. This is a common occurrence. If a wife begins to engage in occultism, the husband develops a severe depressive state. Most often, a severe drunken state begins to develop. The husband also begins to fornicate. The family is falling apart. So, we are talking about the syndrome of immunological disorders. And although we did not conduct special immunological studies, nevertheless. The clinical features of the disease in children, described by us in the book “The Number of the Beast,” allow us to speak specifically about immunological disorders, since we often saw a generalized form of cytomegalovirus infection after contacting occultists. We know well that this infection is a marker of immunological disorders and, with normal immunity is never observed. Almost 85% of people are carriers of cytomegalovirus infection and do not get sick from it.

B) Rapid growth of malignant tumors or malignancy of benign tumors with rapid growth. This is a frequent manifestation of occult disease in all ages and in both groups of victims.

Recently I received a patient who had recently started practicing black magic. As a result, in just 3-4 weeks she developed a huge uterine fibroid. It turns out that before her classes she had a consultation with a gynecologist. It was shown by the providence of God: she rejected the doctor, began to practice magic, and ended up on the operating table. According to the observations of ophthalmologists, maturation of cataracts is often observed in persons exposed to occult influences. In patients with diabetes who are involved in occultism, endocrinologists observe cases of the development of severe hypoglycemic coma, from which patients cannot always be brought out and they die.

1. In children with organic diseases of the central nervous system, the following severe lesions may develop after occult influences: severe status epilepticus, which often ends in death or decortication syndrome. In children with cerebral palsy, we often observed a stop in their mental development and the disappearance of acquired motor and speech skills. Such regression of the disease did not in any way indicate the presence of a progressive degenerative disease of the nervous system, such as leukodystrophy or leukoencephalitis or some kind of neurolipoidosis, since they were given the appropriate diagnosis. In adolescents with the consequences of cerebral palsy, I observed severe vegetative-dystonic crises of the sympathoadrenal type immediately after extrasensory influence.

Other manifestations of occult disease are the following

First. Various effects on family members who sought help from a sorcerer or psychic.

Second. Close relatives, often children, develop a similar disease and weakened immunity.

Third. Impact on family. If wives are involved in the occult, very often husbands begin to drink, go out, go on carousing, cheat on their wives, fornicate, and leave the family, although before that they were distinguished by decency and were considered good family men.

1. Changing the psychological microclimate in a team where

Thus, the consequences of people turning to the occult are very diverse and negative.

Pseudo-fortune tellers and mediums

Sometimes it seems that there are a lot of people with problems, but there are even more people who want to help them. Since ancient times, people who asked for help gave sorcerers, magicians, and priests expensive gifts. Today it's a good business. Quickly trained, newly minted fortune tellers make money from the problems of the people with the help of simple manipulations. To do this, they use not only the Internet, but also television, and also provide assistance by telephone. Communication with spirits at a distance is doubtful and does not inspire confidence. Pseudo-fortune tellers use stereotyped words and are good manipulators whose task is to profit from someone else’s misfortune. This is quite selfish in relation to a person who is trying to find a way out of the current, sometimes hopeless situation in this way, while giving away his last money to achieve the result.

Among the mediums there may also be dishonest individuals who, having basic acting skills, a good vocabulary and elements of psychological influence, can deceive a person without thinking about the consequences.

What does fortune telling lead to?

Some people, being in a difficult situation, turn to God for help, while others ask for help from magicians and at the same time try to look into the future.

The danger of this situation is as follows:

1. A favorable forecast changes a person’s perception of the current situation, the person relaxes, which is why his fate may change. Predicted events in life do not happen.
2. A bad prognosis is deposited at the subconscious level. Thoughts are material. Therefore, thinking about fortune telling and its predictions, a person independently attracts misfortunes and problems.

According to the church, the sin of fortune telling is that it upsets the spiritual balance and alienates the individual from the Almighty.

The attitude of the church towards fortune tellers and fortune telling

Is it possible to go to fortune tellers? Will this be considered a sin? The Orthodox Church has always been skeptical about mediums and fortune-tellers and has not blessed people to turn to them. Despite the fact that fortune tellers have nothing to do with the church, they often use church candles for their rituals and even manage to resort to fortune telling from the Bible. But what about “Orthodox healers” who use “prayers”, holy water, incense, etc. to treat ailments? This has nothing to do with the church. A gullible person becomes morally weak and easily suggestible, and the use of church attributes convinces his trust. The goal of such pseudo-healers is to make easy money.

The position of the church regarding healers, psychics and fortune tellers

Photo: Gallerix.ru
It is unacceptable for an Orthodox Christian to visit psychics, fortune tellers or healers. If we look at this issue purely from the point of view of the Orthodox Church, then it is worth highlighting its following positions:

• the church cannot bless appeals to healers and fortune-tellers, since they do not act together with it, but only hide behind church paraphernalia and the name of the Lord;
• the goal of every psychic and healer is to make money from human troubles, and not real help, therefore such a position is already considered a sin;
• since healers inspire a person that the words of a spoken prayer turn into some kind of healing formula, they brazenly deceive him, because Orthodoxy teaches that prayer is communication with God to ask for forgiveness and gratitude, and not a spell that fulfills all desires;
• even the prayers with which called healers and psychics treat tact are not spelled out in any prayer book, which means that the church cannot consider them Orthodox;
• psychics and healers turn prayers into conspiracies, and such a practice will bring nothing but severe harm;
• in the Holy Scriptures the information is repeated more than once that turning to magicians and healers is a sinful, devilish practice, and living not according to the Word of God is a sin that causes moral and physical harm;
• Addressing such people is strictly prohibited by church rules.

Based on what was written above, we can conclude that the Lord Himself warned His followers that fortune-tellers and healers are from the evil one, and the Church strictly follows His Will and teaches its faithful how to avoid the sinful, devilish trap.

The Bible says that we should pray for each other, but a person must understand that we are not talking about the prayers of healers, but in a temple or privately at home, without intermediaries who simultaneously use the Gospel and Tarot cards.

What does the church interpret?

How does the church treat fortune tellers? In cases of trouble, a person seeks salvation not from God, not in prayers, but resorts to the help of fortune-tellers, healers, and mediums, which is a direct violation of God’s commandments. For several centuries the Church fought against them. The clergy believe that fortunetellers use the help of evil spirits and, through rituals, allow evil spirits into the world of people, who subsequently poison the coexistence of the children of God. The life of an Orthodox person should be spent in communication with the Almighty, in prayer. It is through them that the son of God draws strength for good deeds.

Can baptized people go to fortune tellers?

A baptized person, cleansed of sins, after the sacred sacrament becomes a member of the Church of Christ and gains the protection of God. By coming to the fortune teller, he deviates from the foundations of the church. Forecasters foresee the future by entering the spiritual world and, perhaps, can see the truth, or can convey the information that the spirits themselves program for the future. It is believed that fortune tellers, magicians, and sorcerers acquire their gift by signing an agreement with the devil himself, and by joining the services of fortune tellers, a baptized person turns away from religion and true beliefs.

The benefits of going to a fortune teller

• A kick into life . A visit to a fortune teller will be a good lesson for those who have given up. Luck turns away from uninvolved people. Folding your hands and waiting for outside help is easier than changing your life trajectory. The session will make it clear that the problem is far-fetched. And perhaps the solution will come by itself.
• Hearing this will make your soul feel better . Often, in order to solve a problem, a person needs to speak out. A fortune teller, by virtue of her profession, is a good listener. But there’s no need to tell too much; there’s a psychologist for that.
• Reflections on life . It is not because of a good life that people go to sessions. Many people see a visit to a witch as their last chance for change in life. It’s worth thinking about the correctness of existence when a thought creeps into your head.
• Spiritual nourishment . Loss of strength and headaches are the cause of the evil eye. This is what suspicious citizens think. Cleaning the chakras, aura, and removing damage gives a person confidence that he is protected.
• Search for truth . Cases when a person hears a true prediction are rare. But there is a chance to hear the desired answer. Among a hundred false fortune tellers, there will be one whose cards will show the truth. But the search may drag on, and the problem may disappear.
• The desperate need hope . When tried methods do not produce results, one remains to believe in a miracle. The effect of placebos has been proven by scientists. By convincing himself that the healer will help, a person programs himself for a better outcome.

Is going to a fortune teller a sin?

Going to fortune tellers is a great sin. The very vision of the future is a mystical process that is not harmless, since fortune tellers draw information from the fallen souls of demons. And the demon is the founder of lies, who manipulates the human soul, caught in his network. Initially, he will feed her with the necessary information, developing dependence on him, and subsequently, at his own request, he will build a destiny that he will have to follow alone. You should not succumb to the tricks of evil spirits who want human destruction. Why is going to fortune tellers a sin? Self-hypnosis and faith in otherworldly forces are a sin, since a person should not try to recognize and change his God-given destiny. Carrying out rituals allows the souls of the dead into the world of the living, which paralyze the will of a person. Obtaining information and pre-solving problems related to it, leading to getting ahead of the future, subsequently cause regret, and retribution can result not only in deterioration of health, but also in troubles in your personal life.

Can pregnant women go to fortune tellers?

Pregnancy is a state when an innocent soul is born in a person. A woman’s energy is not protected, she is prone to depression, which is why she and her child are in a vulnerable position. In this regard, fortune telling can negatively affect the general condition of the pregnant woman. Questions such as: “Who will be born - a boy or a girl?”, “What will be the relationship with the child’s father after childbirth?” and many others hover in the head of a woman who is in an interesting position. If you are not the first client of a fortune teller, then you can take on the accumulated negativity and problems from previous visitors, as well as from the fortune teller herself. There is no categorical answer to the question of whether pregnant women can go to fortune-tellers. This is just a waste of time; if a person really has a gift, then pregnancy will “confuse” the result, and the correct answer may be contradictory. You should carry the pregnancy to term, and with the birth of your child, answers to your pressing questions will appear by themselves.

By and large, no one can predict the future, since it has many options and largely depends on the actions of people themselves. A fortune teller can only guide you along a path that is unconsciously implemented by the person himself, and this programming is not always positive.

Why is visiting grandmothers a sin?

Why is visiting grandmothers a sin?

Troubles at work, the child behaves badly, insomnia torments, personal life is not going well. “We need to go to grandma,” my friends advise, “she will speak some water, read a prayer, restore the energy field, and life will get better.”

Prompted by sorrows and sorrows, we understand that we cannot cope with our troubles on our own. We need the help of a more powerful force. This desire is natural for us. Man was created by God, as the crown of all creation, lived in Paradise, was perfect and could directly communicate with the Lord. Through the machinations of the devil, the first people succumbed to the temptation of sin and fell, having lost, in addition to the heavenly tabernacles, the possibility of communion with God. The memory of what was lost was forever reflected in the human subconscious in the form of a desire to find spiritual support, to find a Savior, Protector and one’s Creator.

Modern man has no idea that going to grandma’s is a sin, he is spiritually disoriented, does not see the difference between Christian concepts and those opposed to Christianity, and begins to look for an easy way to get rid of troubles. This is where the devil slips in his next trick in the form of sorcerers, sorcerers, traditional healers and healers. A person does not understand that he is committing a sin and going to healers, although the Old Testament says “... Do not go to wizards, and do not bring yourself to the point of defilement from them. I am the Lord your God” (Lev. 19:31).

What is meant by witchcraft?

Witchcraft or magic, however, like divination, witchcraft, healing, extrasensory perception, telepathy, clairvoyance, reiki, etc., is a set of certain actions, the purpose of which is communication and interaction with the lower forces of the demonic world. By attracting demonic forces, a person tries to solve his life problems, acquire health, personal happiness, and financial well-being. Some are trying to find out their future, others are turning to dark forces simply out of curiosity or for company. Most of them have no idea whose “help” they are resorting to, who is actually behind the seemingly harmless grandmother healer or traditional healer. For some reason, it is generally accepted to consider these forces as impersonal energies of nature that do not have their own consciousness, easily amenable to control by village healers or their city psychic colleagues. But they are individuals, they are spirits, very cunning and immensely evil and hating the crown of Divine creation - man.

St. John Chrysostom wrote: “Just as slave traders, offering small children pies, sweet fruits and the like, often catch them with such bait and deprive them of freedom and even life itself, so in the same way sorcerers, promising to cure a disease, deprive a person of the salvation of his soul.”

Orthodox attributes in witchcraft activities.

The Church clearly states that visiting grandmothers is a sin. Grandmothers say: “God and the Church will not help, but I will help.” If a person turns to a sorcerer, he denies the power of God, His omnipotence and Providence. He himself turns away from God. But, if some traditional healers openly declare their involvement in dark forces, others, on the contrary, claim that they serve God. To confirm their words, they actively use Christian paraphernalia, cross themselves, read Orthodox prayers and advise all those who suffer to go to Church.

One of my friends was even advised by such a healer to give communion to a child in whom, according to her, there was a demon, and if this “miracle” did not help, to come to her for help. Please note that she presented Communion as a kind of magical remedy for the disease of obsession. But Communion is a Sacrament of the Church, in which the human body is united with the Body of Christ. Its main condition is sincere repentance and faith in God. If a person receiving the Sacrament imagines it as a magical ritual that must certainly work, he turns away from the Lord, blasphemes Him and becomes accessible to lower forces, evil and those who hate us. Knowledgeable sorcerers who serve Satan purposefully advise taking communion in the Church, and then coming to them in order to further desecrate the shrine and what is inside a person after the Sacrament.

The use of church items, prayers and holy water for purposes other than their intended purpose is condemned by the church. Grandmothers-healers pass off icons as talismans, amulets, and amulets. They suggest smearing holy water on sore spots. The Monk Ephraim the Syrian taught: “Beware of making potions, casting spells, telling fortunes, making storehouses (talismans) or wearing those made by others: these are not storehouses, but bonds.”

What is prayer? This is an appeal to God, praise of God. The healer uses prayers as a spell, he does not turn to God, he reads the words of the prayer a certain number of times, like a spell. Such mention of the name of God in vain is blasphemy against the Creator, a terrible sin. Often the sorcerer does not use prayers at all, but the postulates of folk art known to him alone: ​​“I will stand up, crossing myself, I will walk, blessing myself...”.

The key to prayer is a sincere attitude, purity of heart, and moral effort. At the same time, prayer does not imply the immediate fulfillment of what is desired. Remember the words of Christ: “Not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). In prayer, a Christian asks God for help, but he understands that the Lord may not give what he asks, for the Lord knows best what is best for a person for his salvation.

What if sorcerers sincerely think that they serve God?

Many traditional healers sincerely think that they serve the Lord, that the gift they supposedly possess was sent down to them by the Savior and they should help people. They think they see saints, angels or Christ. They begin to talk to them, listen to their advice, and then heal the suffering, restore energy fields, charge water, expel “aliens.”

There was such a case, a woman who had recently believed in Christ, for the first time in her life, read a prayer from a prayer book together with her neighbor, who thought that this made her headache go away. She told her friends. Friends began to go to this woman and ask her to heal them with prayers. It is worth noting that neither in their village nor in the neighboring ones there was either a temple or a priest; they had no one to consult with. As a result, the fame of the miraculous “healer” spread throughout neighboring villages and people began to come to her. The woman herself was completely confident that she had unexpectedly and without any effort received a gift from the Lord and should heal people. It never occurred to her that the evil one was playing a cruel joke on her. She did not know the Commandments of God and had no idea that the Lord could not give her, a sinner who had never confessed in her entire life, a gift of grace.

Why is visiting grandmothers a sin?

This state of error in Orthodoxy is called prelest. In modern Russian, the word “prelest” is used as a positive characteristic, but in the Christian understanding it has always had a negative meaning. Flattery – translated from Slavic means “lie”. The prefix “pre-” adds a superlative degree to a word. The one who takes a lie for the truth, who, lacking humility, is mistaken in his pride, is in delusion. Seduction is a state of false spiritual self-superiority, conceit caused by the passion of vanity and pride and fueled by the influence of fallen spirits. No superpowers appear out of nowhere or suddenly. But a person’s pride prevents him from soberly assessing the situation. Proud self-awareness prompts: “I am special, I am not like everyone else, I have a gift from God, I can do anything.”

In the end, everything worked out well with that woman. The Lord led her to the Orthodox Church, where the priest preached a sermon about such misconceptions and explained why going to grandmothers is a sin. After a long and difficult conversation with the priest, the woman repented and parted with her role as a “healer.”

But not everyone manages to adequately assess their spiritual state. So the ranks of seduced sinners who imagine themselves worthy of Divine gifts are multiplying. St. Paisius the Svyatogorets said: “Once, when I was living in the kaliva of the Holy Cross, a visitor came to me and knocked with an iron rivet near the gate. When I looked out of the window, a terrible sight met my eyes! I saw a man followed by a whole phalanx of demons. He was surrounded by a whole black demonic swarm! This was the first time I saw a person under the power of so many unclean spirits. This unfortunate man was a psychic. Between the words of church prayers, he inserted invocations of demons, mixed Christian books with occult literature, and after all this the demons gained power over him. Terrible thing!

The devil can repeat miracles.

Excuse me, you say, but there are many cases when various diseases were actually cured by conspiracies. How can healing not be for the benefit of a person, because he gets rid of torment? Is it really a sin in this case to visit grandmothers?

You need to understand that the supernatural abilities that healers and sorcerers manipulate are not their property. These are not talents given by God from birth, such as an ear for music, a mathematical mind, or an artistic talent. What healers have actually belongs to demons. Christ said: “Many will say to Me on that day: Lord! God! Have we not prophesied in Your name? and was it not in Your name that they cast out demons? and did they not perform many miracles in Your name? And then I will declare to them: I never knew you; Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:22-23).

The devil is not harmless, he has the power to work miracles. Remember, in the Old Testament, the priests, like Moses, turned their rods into snakes? St. Irenaeus of Lyons wrote: “Satan is the monkey of God.” Yes, the devil can also repeat miracles, but the purpose of his miracles is to deceive and destroy a person, to take his soul. Christ said: “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Christ, when healing the sick and raising the dead, did not do it just for the sake of a miracle. His actions were aimed at correcting man, at his repentance and turning to God. He wanted everyone to be saved.

The devil wants to steal something from us, to destroy us. His goal is not health, not financial well-being, etc., but the soul. If you put a person’s soul and the very requests with which he goes to his grandmother on the scales, then the request itself will not be worth anything compared to the soul. The devil knows this and therefore is ready to give even all the riches of the world, as long as a person gives the most valuable thing - his soul. Remember how the devil tempted Christ in the desert, offering him power over all earthly kingdoms, in exchange for worshiping himself, “and the devil said to Him: I will give you power over all these kingdoms and the glory of them, for it is given to me, and I give it to whomever I want.” her; So, if You worship me, then everything will be Yours. Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan; It is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only” (Luke 4:6-8).

Turning to the devil gives him rights not only to a person’s soul, but also to life, as a result of which he finds himself in a situation even worse than he was.

The only source of salvation for man is the Lord; only to Him should our prayers for help be addressed. The key to salvation is sincere repentance, life in accordance with the commandments and communion of the Sacraments of the Church. But it is always worth remembering that the Lord may not answer your prayer with immediate healing. This happens not because He doesn’t hear you or doesn’t want to help you. He just knows that the help provided at this very moment will not benefit you. He foresees that, having been healed physically, you will forget about spiritual healing. Having gotten rid of your illnesses, you will certainly return to your previous life, full of sin. The Lord is patiently waiting for the moment when His help will have beneficial consequences. We must always remember that God allows only that evil that will certainly turn into good.

If a person, not understanding the subsequent severity of sin, nevertheless turned to a sorcerer, healer, psychic, etc., but then regretted it, he needs to confess his sin as soon as possible, sincerely repent and trust in the help of the Lord.

Irina Praslova

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