D L Henderson
2 min readAug 7, 2024

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Sorry: on this one I could not "clap."

The Bible cautions, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit [speaking through a self-proclaimed prophet]; instead test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets and teachers have gone out into the world." - 1 John 4:1, Amplified Bible.

There were originators of the religious philosophies you cite, and John's warning is applicable in that setting. I have known people who have also tried these paths and have come to reject them and rather have chosen to follow Jesus of Nazareth instead, testifying to the immense differences and the actual results of that choice.

My wife had a bad experience when she was just around 11 or 12, playing with a Ouija Board, resulting in extreme fear and paranoia to the point that when she heard someone entering her house, she feared for her life and jumped out of a second floor window in the middle of Winter, screaming "Bloody murder!!!" ...Turns out, it was just her Dad.

I know that that is a fairly simple, perhaps innocuous, example, but I've heard worse. The least harmful thing people have said is that the pursuit of those paths you cited is that they found that they were futile and a grandiose waste of their time. This, of course, was in hindsight after starting their rewarding walk with Jesus.

Many people search, and that is a good thing, but as the Bible warns, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." - Proverbs 14:12, Berean Standard Bible.

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D L Henderson

Born 1950; HS 1968; Born again 1972; Cornell ILR; Steward, Local President/Business Agent; Husband, father, grandfather; winner/loser/everything in between