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Psychic Phenomena
What is the Truth about Psychic Phenomena?
With the New Age Movement rapidly gaining support today, it is
necessary that Christians understand it. Are the reported
stories of spiritual phenomena true? Are these things from
God? Let's begin with a look at the man who propelled the metaphysical world into the spotlight in the 20th century.
Edgar Cayce
Edgar Cayce was a good and moral man who sincerely wanted to help
people. Much of Cayce's life is documented in the
book, There
Is a River, by Thomas Segrew. Cayce was a
student of the Bible and a Sunday school teacher who had reportedly
read the Bible through once for each year of his age. Believing that he
had a special spiritual gift from God, Cayce became
engulfed in the spiritual world, and indeed he did help many
people. Cayce would go into a hypnotic-like trance in which
he was able to diagnose health problems and prescribe health cures with
marvelous accuracy. There are over 30,000 documented cases of
his successes. With his psychic powers he was not only able
to analyze and heal the sick, but he also made remarkably accurate
predictions concerning such things as the stock market, oil
discoveries, earthquakes, World War II, and the lost city of
Atlantis. Cayce actually prescribed cures for some cancers
which the medical world acknowledges today. Yet, he never
sought wealth or fame. He was truly a humble man who wanted to help people.
The Vision
When Edgar was 12 years old, he had a vision of a lady who granted him
one wish. He wished that he could help people. His first
amazing feat was to change from a failing student into an exceptionally
smart one. He was able to do this by sleeping on his school
books. The lady would tell him, "We can help you." He would sleep with
the books under his head, and when he would wake
up, he would amazingly know all the contents of the books! Afterwards,
Edgar would pray a prayer of thanks to the lady.
Even now we have our first clue as to the source of Cayce's amazing
powers. God does not reveal Himself to us through visions in
this age of grace. The biblical explanation is that the lady
was a demon from Satan who worked in association with other demons
(Ephesians 6:12). This is why she said, "We can help
you." Also, the lady was worshiped by Cayce. To him she was
God, and this was likely part of Satan's deception.
As an adult, Cayce would routinely place himself under a self-hypnotic
trance and conduct what he called "readings." An assistant would ask
him questions, and he would commence to describe the exact condition of
the subject, and then he would prescribe a treatment. Cayce
would speak in a different voice, and he would tell things that he
could not possibly have known, because he was not a well-educated
man. His voice would say things such as, "We have the body
now," or "We
are through." Here again we see a plurality of spiritual beings.
One of Cayce's remarkable successes involved his own son, Hugh Lynn
Cayce. Hugh Lynn had seriously burned his eyes with
photographic flash powder, and a group of doctors agreed that he would
never see again, and that one eye would have to be removed. Cayce gave
a reading, prescribed an unorthodox treatment, and Hugh Lynn's vision was restored.
Deception
Satan is the great deceiver, and he apparently had established an
effective means of deception through Cayce. With the physical
proof of so many health cures, Cayce began what he called "life
readings," whereby he attempted to ascertain answers from the spirit
world to theological questions. The logic he used was that
since these spirits were right about the physical world, they would
have to tell the truth about the supernatural world too.
We must come to the realization here that not all supernatural activity
is from God. Neither do all the earthly things that seem good
come from God. Satan and his demons work plenty of good when
it will advance their deceptions. Satan has a way of mixing
the truth with lies, thus deceiving the unsuspecting.
The Universal Mind
Perhaps the greatest deception pulled off by Satan through Cayce was
the advancement of the theory of the universal mind. Cayce's life
readings explained how all the souls of the universe share a common
pool of information, thereby allowing all souls access to information
such as that revealed by Cayce. It is through this subconscious state that the metaphysical phenomena of the New Age Movement occur today.
Reincarnation
A deception closely related to the universal mind is the theory of
reincarnation. Reincarnation says that when we die, we return
to this life in another body, and we keep coming back in different
bodies until we have learned so much about life that we reach a state
of perfection, and we become gods. Reincarnation is taught
extensively in India today, where through one's Karma, merits are
increased and demerits are overcome, with perfection as the final
objective. Some of these groups even believe in
transmigration, where humans return in the bodies of animals, insects,
or plants. The theory of reincarnation is refuted by Hebrews
9:27 which tells us that each of us dies only once. Cayce perverted the
scriptures by using passages such as John 3:3, which actually explains
the meaning of being born again, as evidence of reincarnation.
Theosophy
Another deception promoted by Cayce was that of theosophy. In
theosophy, there is no personal God, no atonement, and no divine
Jesus. The Bible is considered to be only a partial
revelation, and salvation is achieved through a series of several
planes of self-improvement. Again scripture was distorted by
Cayce's claims of reaching perfection. He used the passage in
Matthew 5, which says one must be perfect to enter the kingdom, in
order to support his belief in reaching perfection. He also
said that the reason the Bible didn't teach these doctrines more
emphatically was because man was not yet ready for explicit revelations
concerning these subjects. These doctrines are closely
related to the practices of both the ancient mystery religions and the
Gnostic beliefs, where the common man was kept in ignorance, and only a
few insiders were trusted with the secrets of their religions.
Astrology
Astrology is another deception promoted by Cayce, and it goes hand in
hand with the others. Satan is eager to make man forget God
and worship something else, such as the stars. We should
beware of the demonic influences in astrological activities such as reading daily horoscopes.
The Doctrine of Demons
In 1 Timothy 4:1-2, Paul refers to all these false religions as being
the works of Satan, and he even calls them the doctrines of demons.
Conclusions
Cayce taught the creation of God from a wandering spirit. Similar to
Mormon belief, he believed that all souls were created by
God at one time and they wandered to and fro looking for bodies to
inhabit. Among the outrageous stories of lost souls, Cyclops,
apes, and evolution, he saw souls entering animals and men at every
opportunity. Through a series of reincarnations, these souls
would finally reach perfection via their individual efforts. They would
provide their own salvation and then become gods
themselves. To Cayce, Jesus was just a good man and a good
soul who had reached perfection, and now teaches others how to follow His example of becoming a god.
Satan is the great deceiver, and through Edgar Cayce, he was able to
mix enough lies with enough good to deceive millions, just as he was
able to do with the ancient mystery religions. Cayce's power came from
Satan and his demons. Satan will perform good, such as
healings, when it will elevate his deceptions. We are truly
in the midst of the spiritual warfare described in Ephesians
6. The holy angels fight for us under the authority of Christ
(1Peter 3:22, Matthew 26:53, Hebrews 1:6, Matthew 9:34, Mark
1:23-24). They perform such services as protection for the
children (Matthew 18:10). The demonic angels fight against us
under the authority of Satan (Ephesians 6:12). We must be aware to
recognize where their actions violate Bible doctrine. "See to
it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive
philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." (Colossians 2:8)
Owen Weber 2009
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