Bibliomancy. n.
Divination by interpretation of a passage chosen at random from a book,
especially the Bible. (American Heritage Dictionary)
About thirty years ago, I sat on an examining council for a
missionary candidate applying for service in Japan. The candidate had grown up
in Japan as the daughter of very successful church planters in that country,
yet she said she had felt a burden for the newly opened field of Russia.
Knowing she would have to learn a new language and culture if she went to
Russia, she struggled over whether to go to that field or return to Japan. Which
one was God’s will? To which field was she called?
Her struggle ended when she received what she believed was
guidance from God in her devotions. She read Jeremiah 49:31 – “Arise , get you
up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the LORD, which
have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.” The candidate explained
her reasoning to the council along these lines: The Lord was calling her to a
“wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care” and whose homes have no “gates or
bars.” Russian people, she reasoned, did not dwell securely, their homes have
walls and gates for security, and they are certainly not a “wealthy nation.”
Japan, on the other hand, is a
wealthy nation whose people dwell securely without walls or gates. On this
basis, she was certain that God was calling her to return to Japan as a
missionary. I saw that the regular council members were delighted with her
answer, so a bit my tongue. What was more disturbing than the fact that this
recent Bible college graduate and young missionary candidate misused the Bible
in this way was the fact that the council members, all long-time pastors,
approved of that use!
The missionary candidate egregiously took Jeremiah 49:31 out
of context, but she was also mislead by the wording of the King James
translation she was using. (The college she attended held to a KJV-Only
position.) Better translations like the New American Standard Bible or the
English Standard Version clearly show that the LORD’s command was not a
missionary commission but a call to war! It was a prophecy of Nebuchadnezzar’s
conquest of the Ishmaelite tribes of the Arabian peninsula:
"Arise, go up against a nation which is at ease, which lives securely,"
declares the LORD. "It has no gates or bars; they dwell alone.” (Jeremiah 49:31 NASB, emphasis added)
The context of Jeremiah 49:28-33
is the pronouncement of God’s judgment on “Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor” (v.
28), the nomadic tribes of Arabia-Petraea.
Wrenching verses out of context to make them say something
that was never intended is nothing new. Every pseudo-Christian cult does it.
But it is paganism, seeking signs instead of truth and wisdom from the
Scriptures. Many best-selling so-called Christian authors make millions off the
gullibility of the Christian public by writing books claiming to have found “hidden” messages in the Bible. The Bible Code by Michael Drosnin
started an avalanche of books on the subject, pro and con, in the late 1990’s. Jonathan
Cahn, who is sometimes called “pastor” and sometimes “rabbi,” is a Messianic
Jew who has also capitalized on “hidden messages” in the Old Testament. His
books The Harbinger and The
Mystery of the Shemitah both claim to unravel the “mystery” of America’s
future. Cahn also says the Old Testament – in hidden messages – predicted the major
economic crises and 9/11. The Harbinger sees
the “mystery” of America’s future in Isaiah 9:10. But since the context surrounding that
verse names “Jacob” and “Israel” and “Ephraim” and “Samaria,” who would
imagine, just reading the text for what it says, that it contains a “hidden
message” about America?!
This misuse of the Bible is bibliomancy! And it has a long history in Judaism. The Kabbalah -- which seems to be Cahn's inspiration -- is a Jewish mystical movement which began in the 6th century A.D. The
Kabbalist commentary on the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), called
the Zohar, serves as a guide to Kabbalists in their quest for a deeper
knowledge of God through mystical experience and understanding the hidden
messages in the numerology and individual words of Scripture. According to Elliot Miller, writing for the
Christian Research Institute: “The overwhelming philosophical influence in
areas where Kabbalah began was Greek; Neo-Platonism and its ‘Christian’
offshoot, Gnosticism.”[i] Early
gnostic influences were among the false doctrines Paul and John were combating in
the early church. (See Colossians, John, First John, especially.)
This may come as a surprise to many, but the purpose of the
Bible – even the Book of Revelation – is NOT to reveal specific details of the
future. The Apostle Paul wrote to his young colleague Timothy about the power
and purpose of Holy Scripture:
“. . . from childhood you have known
the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by
God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in
righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good
work. (2 Timothy 3:15-17 NASB, emphasis added)
But how about the Book of Revelation? The stated purpose of
Revelation was to edify and encourage God’s people in the face of a hostile
world. It is applicable to Christians in every epoch:
“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear
the words of the prophecy, and heed the
things which are written in it; for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3 NASB, emphasis
added)
Prognostication is always popular. That’s why the daily
newspapers have astrology columns. But that’s not the purpose of the Bible. The
Bible is God’s unfolding plan of redemption through Jesus Christ and instruction in godly
wisdom to conform His people to the image of Christ. That message is clear and
plain throughout Scripture.
Looking for hidden messages in the Bible is bibliomancy, and that is paganism.
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