Occult Items in the Home
(The following is an edited email correspondence.)
I am thinking about something that I may have already asked you during a phone conversation some time ago.
You were saying that the occult items that may be in our homes or in places that we stay should not have any effect on a Christian, that is, unless the Christian has willingly acquired them.
Again, I am in a situation where I am not the owner of the house so that I cannot just discard these occult items, since they belong to other people in my family.
The Bible forbids the worship of idols and the use of occult items, but there is no reason for believers to own these things at all. There are Christians who acquire various religious statues and occult objects as decorations and for their cultural significance. But this is already spiritual adultery.
When Paul saw that the city of Athens was "full of idols," he was not struck with artistic and cultural admiration; rather, he was "greatly distressed" (Acts 17:16). Any other reaction indicates nothing other than a spiritual defect and sickness in the believer.
It follows that a Christian should never travel to places that are "full of idols" just for entertainment or to satisfy their curiosity. If looking at demonic objects is your idea of fun, then there is something severely wrong with you.
This includes books on the occult and false religions (Acts 19:19) — the Christian is not to study them or practice their teachings. This might pose a problem for those Christians who wish to research the occult and false religions in order to refute them, so I will briefly address this also.
First, to put it mildly, I am uncertain that it is biblically wise or even permissible to run a ministry that specializes in refuting the occult and false religions. My understanding and conviction is that every legitimate Christian ministry should focus on the positive presentation of the whole counsel of God. Granted, the refutation of false ideas will almost always be a part of this, and this will sometimes include the direct refutation of the occult and false religions.
However, when this becomes the focus of the ministry instead of a mere support and reinforcement to the positive presentation of biblical teachings, which should be the main thrust of every proper ministry, then this ministry should be considered defective and inferior.
If a certain minister or scholar wishes to perform an extraordinary amount of research into the occult and false religions, then, even if this is biblically permissible, the least that he must do is to perform this work under the supervision of or in association with other ministers or scholars whose focus is on the positive presentation of biblical doctrines. Still, he should study Scripture and reliable Christian literature much more than he spends time in his research on the occult and false religions. He should also maintain constant fellowship with faithful Christians.
To ignore these principles and practices is to be foolhardy with one’s faith, and might even amount to testing God. Occult materials offer a similar temptation as the one which plunged our first parents into the depths of spiritual darkness and depravity. More than a few Christians have been taken by its promise of forbidden knowledge and power.
As Scripture warns, we must not think more highly of ourselves than we ought, but we must exercise our gifts according to the measure of our faith. We must be sober-minded, and understand the devices of the devil.
Second, the biblical/presuppositional method is sufficient to destroy any occult teaching or false religion without intensive and detailed research. It is cumbersome, and after a certain point impossible, to refute every occult teaching or false religion that we might have to deal with if we must first research the subject in detail every time. And the whole approach seems premature and even ridiculous in the light of the fact that most Christians have not even learned the most elementary things about biblical doctrines.
I can easily refute any occult teaching or false religion once I encounter it, including all those that I have never even heard of, because biblical revelation is my foundation and biblical reasoning is my weapon. It is impossible to defeat the mind of Christ, which God has graciously given to us when he sovereignly granted us faith to understand and believe his Word.
Just so no one misunderstands, I am not completely against counter-cult ministries — I just think that many of them have an unbiblical focus and an unhealthy obsession. It is possible to fix these problems and still remain a strong voice against the occult and false religions. In fact, if we will maintain the proper focus and be obsessed only with Jesus, we can be an even more powerful voice against the occult and false religions than any ministry that almost exclusively focuses on researching and refuting them.
We are talking about having occult items or non-Christian religious objects in the home. If you are not the one who brought them into the home and it is beyond your power to remove them, then it would seem that you have not sinned against God, in the sense that you are not personally and directly culpable for another man’s adulterous relationships, or the many sins of the people in the community that you are living in. It will not affect you in the sense that no direct judgment will come upon you for having those items at home, since you would instantly remove them if the situation were under your control.
However, you will probably be indirectly affected by other people’s sins and the ill effects of these sins. One example is how the sins of the people of Israel prevented Joshua and Caleb from entering Canaan for forty years, although these two had not sinned. It was not a direct judgment against them, but a natural consequence of belonging to that sinful community.
If suffering the consequences of belonging to a sinful community is unbearable or unwise, then you might consider removing yourself from it, if it is at all possible and practical. If this is impossible, then you will have to remain in that community, at least for now, and pray to God for strength and blessings. Of course, at appropriate and strategic times, you should confront the sinful beliefs and practices in your family or community with the claims and commands of God.
In other words, I do not say that a Christian who lives with a family of devout Buddhists must remain in that home, especially if the situation vexes his soul, hinders his growth in piety, and prevents effective ministry to other people. However, before he leaves, he should have repeatedly and in various ways confronted the sins of his family members and preached the gospel to them.
Also, he will probably continue to have opportunities to discuss the things of God with his family members even after he has left the home. So this does not necessarily mean a termination to all natural relationships with the family, but only a physical separation. Now, of course, if the occultist or idolator is a spouse, then the believer must not depart, in accordance with the teachings of Scripture.
It is not possible to discuss every scenario here. In any case, it is always preferable to talk over these problems and your scriptural options with mature believers, such as your church elders, before taking drastic actions.
Recommended:
Vincent Cheung, Ultimate Questions
Vincent Cheung, Presuppositional Confrontations
Vincent Cheung, Apologetics in Conversation
Vincent Cheung, Commentary on Ephesians
Vincent Cheung, Prayer and Revelation