WHEN THE BIBLE BECOMES A TAROT CARD

By Akin Ojumu

Authored by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Bible is the inerrant and infallible Word of God. Fully sufficient as the sole authority for godly conduct and more than enough as the only source of divine inspiration for righteous living, the Bible is the Code of Conduct for Christ followers and the Manual for Living for true believers.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

2 Peter 1:3

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.”

Meant to be cognitively and intellectually discerned, the Bible is never ever mystically or esoterically divined. It is not a book of magic that you consult, neither is it a manual of sorcery you conjure. Bible texts are not supposed to be chanted like an incantation to bring out a desired outcome. The words of the Bible are not to be muttered as spells to make things happen. Those who use the Bible in such a fashion are not practicing Christianity, but sorcery and wizardry. 

God’s command to us who believe is to diligently, consistently, and persistently study Scriptures, availing ourselves of all available complementary resources, until His Word fills our heart, soul, and mind with all knowledge and understanding. 

Colossians 3:16

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

It’s when this happens that the life-giving Spirit of the Word begins to reign supreme in our heart. Like a refiner’s fire, God’s Word starts to purify our mind from all impurities, and it goes in deep to sanitize our soul from all defilements.

John 6:63

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The Words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

When the Word of God permeates our inner depths and it suffuses our entire being, it gradually transforms us into the image of Christ, and we progressively start to have the mind of Christ i.e., we now surrender to His plan, embrace His purpose, and  share in His perspectives with our life characterized by love, humility, obedience, self-sacrifice, and compassion for others, even to the point of death. 

Without us even realizing it, we find that the Word of God informs our thoughts, words, decisions, deeds, and actions. The practical resultant effect is that we are able to make the right decisions and are capable of finding the right directions in any situation of life.

2 Corinthians 3:18

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

In contrast to the aforementioned purpose and use of the Bible, what you find among many professing Christians today is a totally unholy and a completely ungodly use of Scriptures. It’s a distorted understanding of the purpose of the Bible that reveals the bottom of the barrel low view the vast majority of church folks have for God and His Word. In this short video clip, the late Pastor John MacArthur gives an apt description of this unwholesome use of Scriptures among contemporary believers.

Basically, many of those who call themselves Christians today play Russian roulette with the Bible. In their quest for a Word from God concerning a particular situation in their lives, what they do is to randomly flip the Bible to any page, like the toss of a coin. With eyes closed, they then reach out their finger to touch the page, and whichever verse their finger touches is what they believe is God’s Word for that situation.

Here’s how Pastor John MacArthur describes this unbiblical approach.

“Looking for a word from the Lord, they often play Bible roulette. You know, they spin the Bible, as it were, and flip it open somewhere, and whatever it says, that’s the Lord’s verse for them for that moment. And of course, you know the classic illustration of that flipping through the Bible. Somebody came across Matthew 27:5, “Judas went out and hanged himself.” That won’t work. Flipped to another page, Luke 10:37, “Jesus said go thou and do likewise.” That's not going to work. Flip to another passage, John 13:27 “And what you do, do it quickly.””

If you find Pastor MacArthur’s description of this unholy use of the Holy Bible comical, you are not alone. It is ROTF hilarious. But guess what? This isn’t funny at all; it is deadly serious. There’s nothing humorous about turning the Bible into a tarot card.

Shockingly, many people trapped in the Pentecostal, Word of Faith, Charismatic, and New Apostolic Reformation spiritual hellholes subscribe to this voodoo-like use of the Bible. They fervently believe that this is a highly spiritual technique for hearing God speak to them. In reality, though, this sort of approach to the Bible is straight up fortune telling and an unequivocal divination. And there’s actually a technical term for it. It’s called Bibliomancy.

Bibliomancy is a form of divination that involves opening a book, typically a sacred text like the Bible, at random to find a verse or passage that is believed to provide an answer to a question or offer guidance. It is a method of fortune-telling where a practitioner asks a question, closes their eyes, and points to a random word or passage. The chosen text is then interpreted, with some believing it’s a way to receive divine communication, while others see it as a tool for exploring new ideas or breaking out of comfort zones (Source: Google AI).

You’d be shocked to learn that bibliomancy is not an invention of Christianity. In fact, the practice originated from occultic pagan cults. Shamans, sorcerers, and witches employ bibliomancy for their divination and fortune-telling. Many of these folks can even use any book for their bibliomancy, ranging from something as secular as children's poetry books to a sacred book like the Bible. There’s no book from which they can’t conjure up omens, mediums, portents, and signs.

If you call yourself a Christian, you must know that the Bible couldn’t be more clear about what God thinks of divination, fortune-telling, omens, and bibliomancy.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14

“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.”

Bibliomancy is an abomination before God. If you engage in such a practice, you are spiritually doomed. Those who play Russian roulette with the Bible are eternally damned. For the sake of your soul, flee from all appearances of evil.