Superstition
Walk into the homes of many believers around the world and you will find things that would surprise the apostles. A black thread tied on a baby’s wrist to keep away the evil eye. A lemon and chillies hanging at the door of a new shop. A Bible kept open at Psalm 91 to protect the house. A wedding date fixed by checking which day is “good” and which day is “bad.” A new house built facing the “right” direction. A blue eye bead swinging from the car mirror. A horseshoe nailed over the door. Oil poured on a car, a phone, or a doorpost so nothing evil can touch it. And on the lips of church people, “good luck,” “touch wood," and “fingers crossed.” I was born in a Hindu home, so I know how deep these things run in a culture. But they are found in every nation, in the West as much as in the East, in Africa, Latin America, and Asia alike. And many Christians who would never bow to an idol still hold on to them without ever asking where they came from.
So what is a superstition? It is the belief that an object, a ritual, a day, a word, or a sign has power in itself to bring blessing, protect us, or bring harm, apart from God. At the root of every superstition is FEAR and a desire to control what only God controls. And the Bible is not silent about it. “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12).
Against every superstition stands one truth, the SOVEREIGNTY of God. “The lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from the LORD” (Proverbs 16:33). There is no such thing as luck. There is no blind force out there that we can bend with the right charm or the right words. There is a God who rules every detail of our lives. Jesus said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear” (Luke 12:6-7).
So let us test some of these beliefs with the Word of God.
Can objects protect us?
Black threads in India, red strings tied on babies in Latin America, the blue eye bead in Turkey, Greece, and the Middle East, the hand charm in North Africa, the horseshoe and the rabbit’s foot in the West, crosses hung on the neck or the car mirror as protection, and a Bible under the pillow. The question is simple. Who are we trusting? Israel learned this the hard way. When the Philistines were beating them, they said, “Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies” (1 Samuel 4:3). They treated the holiest object in Israel like a lucky charm. And the Bible says, “So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated... and the ark of God was taken” (1 Samuel 4:10-11). God would not be used.
Even an object God Himself commanded can become an idol. Moses made a bronze serpent at God’s word, and the people who looked at it were healed (Numbers 21:8-9). Hundreds of years later King Hezekiah “broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it” (2 Kings 18:4). If a God-given object became an idol the moment people trusted in it, how much more a thread from a temple or a bead from the market? A cross on a chain is not wrong in itself. A cross trusted to protect us is a charm.
Can oil, salt, or water keep evil away?
In many churches today, oil is poured on doors, cars, phones, money, and clothes to “cover” them, and in other places it is salt or water. In the Bible, oil was used to anoint kings and priests, and elders prayed over the sick and anointed them “in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14). It was the prayer offered in faith, and the Lord who heard it, that mattered (James 5:15). The oil had no power of its own. When Christians start trusting the bottle more than the God they pray to, the oil has become a charm.
Is the name of Jesus a magic word?
Some people use the name of Jesus, or phrases like “I plead the blood” and “I bind you,” as if repeating the right words releases power by itself. Look at what happened in Ephesus. “Some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, ‘I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches’” (Acts 19:13). The evil spirit answered, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15), and the man attacked them “so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded” (Acts 19:16). The name of Jesus is not a formula. It is the name of a person, and it belongs to those who belong to Him.
Can Bible verses be used like charms?
Many believers hang Psalm 91 on their walls, carry it in their purse, or read it over their homes as a shield. It is a beautiful psalm, and it is true. But do you know who quoted Psalm 91 to Jesus? Satan did. In the wilderness he said, "For it is written, ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU,' and ‘ON THEIR HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE’” (Matthew 4:6). And Jesus answered, “YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST” (Matthew 4:7). Scripture is given to be believed and obeyed, and when we use it like a magic paper, we are doing what the devil did with it. The same is true of opening the Bible at random to find God’s will, as if the page we land on is a message from heaven. God gave us His whole Word to be read in context.
Are some days lucky and some days unlucky?
In many cultures people check the stars, the calendar, or an astrologer before a wedding, a journey, a housewarming, or a new business. In India there are hours of the day that are considered bad to begin anything. In the West people fear Friday the thirteenth and read their horoscopes in the newspaper. Some believers do the same thing quietly, “just to be safe.” God says, “Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens." Although the nations are terrified by them” (Jeremiah 10:2). He mocked Babylon’s astrologers, “Let now the astrologers, those who prophesy by the stars, thosestand who predict by the new moons, stand up and save you from what will come upon you” (Isaiah 47:13).
Paul was alarmed when the Galatians went back to watching calendars. “You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain” (Galatians 4:10-11). A believer does not need a good day. “This is the day which the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). “My times are in Your hand” (Psalm 31:15).
Can signs and omens tell us what will happen?
A black cat crossing the road. A crow calling near the house. Someone sneezing as we leave. A broken mirror. Our left eye is twitching. Walking under a ladder. The number 4 in China, Japan, and Korea, and the number 13 in the West, where many buildings have no thirteenth floor. In some places, even meeting a widow at the start of a journey is thought to bring bad luck, and widows are kept away from weddings and celebrations. That last one is not only superstition. It is cruelty to people God loves. “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). God tells us plainly that interpreting omens is “detestable to the LORD” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). Nothing in creation sends us messages about the future, because the future is in the hands of the One who said, “I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:9-10).
Are we under the curses of our ancestors?
Many believers live in fear of “generational curses,” the idea that because a grandfather worshipped idols or did evil, a curse sits on the family until someone breaks it with special prayers. In many churches in Africa, the fear of witchcraft inside the family is so strong that a relative, often an old woman or even a child, is blamed for every sickness, every lost job, and every death, and families are torn apart by it. Scripture tells us who really holds our lives: “It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded, and it is I who heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand” (Deuteronomy 32:39). Some go further and keep up prayers or offerings to the dead. It is true that God said He visits “the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me” (Exodus 20:5). But notice who that is spoken of: "and those who hate Me.” Children who walk in the same sin as their fathers share in their judgment. God also said, “The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity” (Ezekiel 18:20).
And for those who are in Christ, every curse has already been dealt with. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). He took the debt against us and “nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him” (Colossians 2:14-15). A believer does not need a deliverance ritual to break a family curse. Christ broke it at Calvary. As for speaking to the dead, King Saul died partly “because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it, and did not inquire of the LORD” (1 Chronicles 10:13-14). Isaiah asked, "Should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?” (Isaiah 8:19).
Do our words have magic power?
Some Christians are afraid to say anything negative in case they “curse themselves,” and others believe they can speak blessings into existence by saying the right words with enough faith. People quote, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21), but Solomon is speaking about how our words build up or destroy other people. Only God speaks things into being (Romans 4:17). James says, “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that’” (James 4:15). Our words matter, but they do not control the future. God does.
What about “good luck” and “touch wood”?
These small sayings come out of Christian mouths every day without a thought. But a believer does not live by luck. We live under the hand of a sovereign God. “The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the LORD” (Proverbs 16:33). It is better to say what we mean, “I’ll be praying for you,” or “May the Lord be with you.”
Can the direction of our house bring blessing or trouble?
Many believers in India would not build or buy a house without checking vastu, which way the front door faces, where the kitchen and the bedroom must go, and which direction our head should point when we sleep. In East Asia the same thing is called feng shui. Behind both is the belief that the layout of a building controls the flow of luck, health and wealth. That belief comes from other religions, and it has no place in a Christian home. “Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it” (Psalm 127:1). Blessing on a home comes from the God who is worshipped in it. “The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the dwelling of the righteous” (Proverbs 3:33). Joshua’s concern for his home was this, “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).
Can we buy God’s blessing?
There are preachers who sell “anointed” oil, prayer cloths, water and stickers, and promise healing, a job or a visa to anyone who sends “seed money.” In parts of Africa, so called prophets sell bottled water, stickers and handkerchiefs to believers, and the same thing is done in India, in Latin America and on television screens in the West. It is the same superstition, only now money changes hands. When Simon saw the Holy Spirit given through the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, and Peter said, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God” (Acts 8:20-21). Jesus told His disciples, “Freely you received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8), and Paul warned of men “who suppose that godliness is a means of gain” (1 Timothy 6:5). Some point to the handkerchiefs carried from Paul to the sick, but Luke says “God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul” (Acts 19:11). They were signs that confirmed an apostle, and Paul never sold a single one.
Should we ask God for signs before we obey?
Some believers make deals with God. “If the phone rings in the next hour, I will know it is His will.” “If I open the Bible and see the word ‘go,’ I will take the job.” People point to Gideon and his fleece (Judges 6:36-40). But read it carefully. God had already told Gideon plainly, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” (Judges 6:14), and had already given him a sign with fire from the rock (Judges 6:21). The fleece came from a man who was struggling to believe what God had already said, and Gideon knew it, because he asked, “Do not let Your anger burn against me” (Judges 6:39). Jesus said, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign” (Matthew 12:39). We have something far better than a fleece. We have God’s Word, which makes the man of God “adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17). Where Scripture speaks, we obey. Where it is silent, we pray, ask God for wisdom (James 1:5), seek godly counsel, and trust that “The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).
Now we need to be careful not to swing the other way. Some believers live in terror of “cursed objects.” They panic because a relative tied a thread on their child, or because they ate food that had been offered at a temple, or because they touched something from a shrine. That fear is itself a superstition, because it gives the object a power God never gave it. Paul said, “we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one” (1 Corinthians 8:4), and “Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience’ sake; FOR THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND ALL IT CONTAINS” (1 Corinthians 10:25-26). Yet if someone tells us food was offered to an idol, Paul says not to eat it, for the sake of their conscience (1 Corinthians 10:28). In the same way we remove the thread and throw it away, because we will not give honor to an idol, even though the thread itself has no power. And not everything in our culture is superstition.
Wearing a cross as a witness to Christ, or elders anointing the sick and praying as James 5 tells us, is right when our trust is in God and not in the thing. “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
So why do Christians hold on to these things? Many of us brought them from the religion or culture we came out of, and nobody ever told us to let them go. Some of us were taught them in church. But mostly it is fear. We are afraid of what we cannot see or control, so we grab something we can hold. God’s answer to fear is never a charm. It is Himself. “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31). “The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul” (Psalm 121:7).
When the gospel came to Ephesus, the new believers did not keep their old practices on the side just in case. “Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone” (Acts 19:18-19). Paul says the Thessalonians “turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). So let us examine our homes and our hearts. If there is a thread, a charm, a habit or a saying that we are trusting instead of God, let us confess it and throw it out. In its own way, every one of these things tells us that God cannot be fully trusted, and that is a lie.
“Thus says the LORD, ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD.’ ... ‘Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.’” (Jeremiah 17:5, 7-8)
He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 11:15)
Image from post
Comments