The prophet's dictionary guide to the supernatural

means to uncover truth, as revealed by the gods or indicated by the forces of nature. Generally, divinatory activities were engaged in to cajole the gods or divine beings into releasing their otherwise hidden information. B) Soothsayers were highly popular in ancient Philistine and were thought of as cloud raisers or storm gatherers. As a form of divination, telling the future and fortunes by means of unclean spirits, they are the equivalent of false prophets. Sooth means truth and say is self-explanatory. Therefore, the soothsayer seeks to divine truth by way of the clouds and the weather. Their goal is to convince petitioners of what the spirits or the gods say by what they have interpreted from the way clouds moved or how storms formed. They relied on the mystical writings of pagan priests who served the false deities they represented, which is sufficient reason for the Almighty to condemn their works as demonic and spiritually subversive. See Joshua 13:22. The girl with the spirit of divination makes our point about the soothsayers endeavor to pronounce truth that diverts from the true and living God. Acts 16:16 records the girl attempting to usurp Paul’s ministry of the Great Commission by declaring that her followers should listen to the apostles and prophets because she knows for sure that they are teaching the way of God. Naturally, the divining damsel got her information from a familiar spirit and was engaged in trying to block the mass redemption that was taking place as a result of the gospel. So to seduce her followers into thinking they were all on the same side, the girl kept adding to and interjecting her form of spiritual truth into Christ’s ministers message. The Philistines were notorious for their elaborate soothsaying institution. 1399. Soothsaying—A form of divination that does not necessarily derive its information from the entrails and organs of slaughtered animals or augury. Historically, the Philistines were notorious soothsayers. Acts 16:16. 1400. Soothsaying Compared to Prophecy—Soothsaying requires a medium in league with a familiar spirit. In ancient times, as indicated in the Hebrew language, these were call obu or, in Babylonian, ubi. The spirit operating in the soothsayer brings up the dead to answer questions about life and the living. By virtue of its authority over the deceased persons, in the Old Testament, the familiar spirit compelled the dead to rise in response to the medium’s sorcery and answer the questions put to it. The prophet Isaiah mocked this practice by asking God’s people why they sought the living among the dead (Isaiah 8:19). Prophecy distinguishes itself in that it seeks the living God for answers to the living. Prophets accept what Scripture teaches in the book of Hebrews, that it is