God Lists Nine Occult Practices He Calls an Abomination
Episode nine of a 21-day October series on what Scripture actually says about the spiritual realm. Yesterday opened Week 2 with the Witch of Endor, a specific violation of this ban with judgment attached. Today lays out the full taxonomy: nine specific occult practices God calls an abomination.
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (KJV):
"There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee."
The nine with Hebrew underneath:
Child sacrifice — ma'avir beno uvitto ba'esh: "making his son or daughter pass through the fire" (Molech worship).
Divination — qosem qesamim: fortune-telling via lots, arrows, livers, or omens.
Observing times — me'onen: soothsaying by cloud, time, or astrological observation.
Enchantment — menachesh: omen-reading, especially via snakes/animals.
Witchcraft — mekashsheph: sorcery, spell-casting with potions or incantations. (Connects directly to the NT pharmakeia, which is tomorrow's episode.)
Charming — chobēr chaber: spell-binding, especially binding by incantation.
Consulting familiar spirits — sho'el 'ob: mediumship. The Witch of Endor is called a ba'alat 'ob, "mistress of a familiar spirit."
Wizardry — yidde'oni: "one who knows" — a spiritist with claimed esoteric knowledge.
Necromancy — dorēsh el-hamētim: inquiring of the dead.
The verdict (Deut 18:12):
"All that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD."
To'ebah YHWH — "an abomination to the LORD" — is the strongest category of moral disapproval in the Torah. Scripture uses the same word for idolatry, child sacrifice, injustice, and sexual sin that God singles out as culturally defining.
Not a cultural ban. A moral ban. Never repealed.
The Reformed covenantal reading of OT law distinguishes moral, ceremonial, and civil commands:
— Moral commands reflect God's unchanging character and carry forward to the New Covenant church.
— Ceremonial commands (ritual, priestly, sacrificial) are fulfilled in Christ and no longer binding in form.
— Civil commands are specific to Israel's theocracy and not binding on the church as such.
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 is MORAL. The ban on occult practices reflects God's exclusive claim on worship and counsel (first commandment, Ex 20:3-5). It is not a culturally bounded Mosaic ordinance. The ban stands.
Westminster Confession 19.4-5 handles this distinction formally.
NT confirmation that the ban continues.
The New Testament nowhere relaxes this prohibition. In fact, it tightens it.
Galatians 5:19-21:
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft (pharmakeia), hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
Revelation 21:8:
"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
Revelation 22:14-15:
"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."
Sorcerers explicitly outside the New Jerusalem. In every NT list, sorcery/pharmakeia appears beside idolatry, immorality, and murder. The company it keeps is instructive.
The modern repackaging.
The ancient taxonomy maps directly to the modern market:
— Tarot → divination (qosem). Cards used as a divinatory method for guidance or future-telling.
— Astrology, horoscopes, natal charts → observing times (me'onen). Reading the heavens for personal guidance.
— Palm reading, tea-leaf reading, bone-casting → divination.
— Spell work, hex work, "manifestation" rituals when crossing into magical operation → witchcraft (mekashsheph) and charming (chobēr chaber).
— Modern mediums, "psychic readings," "spirit guides" → consulting familiar spirits (sho'el 'ob).
— Channeling, trance-work with spirit entities → wizardry (yidde'oni).
— Ouija boards, séances, "contacting departed loved ones" → necromancy (dorēsh el-hamētim).
The names changed. The categories did not. The Reformed reading does not strain to make this connection; the connection is the plain reading of the ancient terminology applied to current practice.
"But it's just entertainment."
Deuteronomy 18 does not distinguish between serious and recreational occult practice. The ban is on the ACTIVITY, not on the practitioner's seriousness. A "fun" ouija session is still necromancy. A "just for entertainment" tarot reading is still divination. The adversary does not care whether the user is sincere; he cares whether the door is opened.
Westminster Larger Catechism Q 105 names "consulting with the devil, and giving heed to his suggestions; making men our idols, and putting them in the room of God" among the sins against the first commandment.
Pastoral application for Reformed believers.
Reformed believers do not:
— Use ouija boards (ever, including "for fun").
— Consult horoscopes for guidance (reading them for entertainment is a gray zone most Reformed pastors still counsel against).
— Pay for tarot readings or psychic consultations.
— Practice spell work in any form, including "manifestation" rituals and "shadow work" that cross into spiritist practice.
— Host séances or participate in "contact with the departed" events.
These are not personal preferences. They are the moral ban applied.
The Reformed anchor:
The practice is forbidden. The God who forbade it has not changed. The one who crosses the line stands called an abomination by the only Judge who matters.
This is episode 9 of the 21-day October series. Week 2 continues: tomorrow we go deeper on item 5 of the list — witchcraft/pharmakeia — and discover that the Greek word for "sorcery" is where English gets "pharmacy," and that the ancient practice was explicitly drug-induced spiritism.
📖 Passages: Exodus 20:3-5, 22:18, Leviticus 18:21, 19:26, 19:31, 20:1-5, 20:6, 20:27, Numbers 23:23, Deuteronomy 4:19, 13:1-5, 17:2-7, 18:9-14, Judges 2:11-15, 1 Samuel 15:22-23, 28:3-25, 1 Kings 21:6, 2 Kings 9:22, 17:17, 21:1-9, 23:24, 1 Chronicles 10:13-14, 2 Chronicles 33:1-9, Isaiah 2:6, 8:19-20, 19:3, 47:9-15, 57:3-5, Jeremiah 7:30-34, 10:1-5, 27:9-10, Ezekiel 13:6-9, 13:17-23, 20:30-31, 21:21-23, Micah 3:5-7, 5:12-14, Nahum 3:4, Zechariah 10:2, Malachi 3:5, Acts 8:9-24, 13:6-12, 16:16-18, 19:13-20, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 10:14-22, 1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 3:13, Revelation 9:20-21, 18:23, 21:8, 22:14-15