LETTERS: CON'T CONFUSE BIBLE PROPHECY, FORTUNE-TELLING

To the editor:

This letter is in response to the recent article, "The business of good and bad vibrations."

While I agree tarot-card and palm reading are a business, I feel it cannot and should not be confused with anything pertaining to God (Matthew 7:22). Christianity is a faith-based relationship with God. Christians are sanctified by faith (Acts 26:8), God is revealed from faith (Romans 1:17), we walk by faith (II Corinthians 5:7) and we are saved by faith (Ephesians 2:8). As faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11), we believe that only God knows what the future holds.

The Bible is pretty clear on God's feelings about sorcery, witchcraft, soothsayers and people with a familiar spirit (Exodus 22:1, Jeremiah 27:9, Malachi 3:5, Acts 13:8, Revelation 21:8 and Galatians 5:19).

All prophecies in the Bible in some way edify God, telling of future events concerning God, the birth of the Son of God and the final return of God to collect his followers and establish his kingdom. Jesus, being God, came to earth with the intention of sacrificing his life for our sins. His acts were premeditated and intentional, not a premonition or the result of some psychic determination. To compare foreseeing the purchase of a used car or the collapse of a relationship with the sacrifice Jesus made is ludicrous.

BARB DIRNBERGER

Cape Girardeau