Superstition or faith?

[AI translation] Let me say from the outset that today I want to talk about superstition, the essence of superstitions, the dangers of superstition and the purification from superstition.Many people confuse religion and superstition. Not only those who are outside religion, outside the church, who think that religion is, let's say: Christian faith also belongs to the world of superstition, and therefore religiousness, as a kind of superstition, can and must be cleansed from people's minds by means of sufficient enlightenment; so it is not only those outside the Church who confuse religion and superstition with each other - that is not such a great problem - but also those within the Church, in their lives, who have a great many superstitions of all kinds lurking alongside religiousness or under the religious guise. And that is a much bigger problem!
In Ephesus, where Paul had been preaching the Word for a long time, the passage we read tells of a shocking incident in which the divine glory of Jesus was revealed, in which the faith of a whole church was suddenly cleansed of the pagan superstitions that had been lurking and, as a result of this cleansing, a great revival took place in the church. Now it is revealed, at the great showdown, at the burning of the books, that many of the Ephesian believers "practised devilish arts" (literally). Shocking: believers in Christ - practising devilish arts... The modern Reformed and modern Roman Catholic Bible translations say: they practised sorcery... What exactly this meant in practice is no longer known, but in any case we are talking about superstitious customs, practices and acts of some kind carried over from the old pagan religion into Christianity. Such dark practices can hide and become so ingrained in the recesses of people's souls that they can hardly be expelled or rooted out... They hide themselves in the soul in such a way that a little living faith, the faith of Christ, can still be found in the same soul. That is what we are talking about.
One would think that in today's enlightened age, in the age of technology and modern civilisation, superstition is no longer a serious problem. In fact, one is perhaps even more susceptible to it than in the past. Even today, many souls still harbour some kind of ancient superstition, sometimes unconsciously. And if I were to give you some examples, I could almost point to a person here in the church. For example, a young mother points with a happy smile to her little child sleeping in the car and says with a little pride. Then the next moment a dark shadow crosses her face, and she taps her finger on the bottom of the table two or three times quickly, and adds to her previous sentence, quite meaninglessly, this: "So that I don't shout it out!" But she is a modern and clever woman. She has graduated from school, she has read a lot, she goes to church, she prays and eats communion, and yet! She knows it's superstition and nonsense, but still, she doesn't want to shout her fortune, lest she provoke the wrath of some hostile power against herself or her baby!
Do you know what is behind this? The secret fear that lurks in the depths of man's heart, that the gods envy the joy of men on earth. And the ancient notion that the calamities that are to come can be warded off by some magic formula and magical warding act. Behold, all his learning, all his knowledge, all his culture, were not powerful enough to deliver him from the pagan fears that lurked in the deep recesses of his soul. Enlightened and yet superstitious! Millions live like that! Many of them consider themselves so clever that they no longer believe in God, but they would not let a rusty horseshoe nailed to their door, or a small amulet hung around their child's neck, be removed for the world, because it would bring them bad luck...
The fact is, indeed, that countless people live under the spell of all sorts of superstitions. The educated and the uneducated, the clerical and the unchurched, the religious and the religious scoffers... Once, someone who openly said he believed in nothing, neither in God nor in hell, hung a little white cotton bear in the back window of his car. They asked him. Just a toy? No, he said, it's my talisman! Here it is... a lifeless cotton figurine... So superstition is a thing against which no education can help. Enlightenment is for the intellect, and our intellect is only a very thin, uppermost layer of our whole being. There are much deeper and more powerful layers of our soul than that. No! What the Word of God calls: devilish arts! The snares of satanic powers for unsuspecting man!
Then there is another great and dangerous field of sorcery, dark superstition, which many people today practice and consider a serious science: astrology! The practice of astrology. A person's horoscope is drawn up according to the constellation constellation at the hour of their birth, and from this it is supposedly possible to tell exactly who and what they are. The stars determine one's character and character determines one's destiny. So if someone is a wicked person, a spendthrift, lazy, a fornicator: what can you do about it, the stars are to blame. In fact, some people even believe that the stars determine one's future. There are plenty of people running around in the big cities of the world who, before making a major decision or undertaking a business, are guided by their horoscope: they go on a trip, get married, do a business deal, according to what the horoscope says. Well, there is no doubt that the inhabitants of the earth are connected to the whole cosmos and that the influence of the celestial bodies, the light of the sun, the moon and the cosmic light can be felt and detected in the whole human organism, mood and work life - but otherwise I agree with what Luther said at the end of the Middle Ages: "If the stars were gods, I would still attribute to them some significance in determining our destiny, but now it is only a remnant of the ancient Babylonian and Assyrian star religions, which astrologers today cultivate as pseudo-science." And let me also say this quite emphatically, however painful it may be for some: astrology is typically what our Word calls a devil's craft. And not only astrology, but all other forms and practices of fortune-telling: card-telling, palm-reading, dream-reading, necromancy, New Year's Eve lead-casting, inquiring of fortune-tellers and other occult mediums - all these are specifically diabolical arts, dark superstitions. Most of it is simply deception, and what it is not: it is befriending the spirits of the underworld, playing with the devil!
Look, it is not for nothing that the Bible contains such admonitions: 'Do not go to those who are under a spell, and do not inquire of diviners, so that you may be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 19:31); "When a soothsayer or a dreamer of dreams shall arise among you, and shall give you a sign or a wonder, saying, Let us follow strange gods, whom thou knowest not, and let us worship them: thou shalt not hearken unto the words of such a soothsayer, or to such a dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God tempteth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul." (Deuteronomy 13:1-3); "For the Lord hateth all them that do these things, and for these abominations the Lord casteth them out..." (Deuteronomy 18:9-14); "And if it shall be said unto you, Inquire ye of the soothsayers and diviners, which whisper and whisper, shall not the people inquire of their God? Shall the living inquire of the dead?" (Isa 8:19), etc.
If a person does dabble in these devilish tricks, what happens is what one doctor has said: "The whole spiritual structure of man is upset, and many neuroses, fear complexes, and even suicide may result." All this superstition is, in the end, a game of fire. Maybe it starts by saying: I don't believe in it, I'm just trying it for fun... And then, for months afterwards, you are tormented by anxiety and fear because the prediction was unfavourable, because the horoscope was wrong, because it threatened you with imminent death... Many people who have tried such exercises as a joke have found themselves in a bondage from which they could not break free. They fell under the devil's spell! It is a game to play for eternity! Whether I pull the fuse of the hand grenade out of ignorance, or curiosity, or in jest, or in earnest? The result is the same! He who values his life - yes, life here on earth and in eternity - must not play with superstition, sorcery, or devilry. Spiritualism, astrology, divination and all other superstitions are nothing but the leash with which Satan keeps man's life bound.
And I know very well that mere warning is not enough here. In order to be freed from this bondage, one must do what the believers in the church at Ephesus did: they confessed their sins and set their books on fire. In other words: a radical break! A renunciation of sin! Whoever wants to be free: don't hide it, confess it, expose it! Come to me or to one of your brothers and sisters in the coming week and put out of your heart all the superstitions that you have now recognized in yourself, that the Spirit of God has now made sinful in you! I beg you very much, do not spare this sin in yourselves, do not be afraid to expose it to anyone, tear out of your hearts ruthlessly all superstition and deny it! And if you have any horoscopes, talismans, amulets, spiritualistic writings, predictions at home: fire away! This is the only place worthy of such rubbish! Not only put it aside, not only don't read it anymore - it's not enough! Burn it! So confess and burn! This is the radical break! There is always forgiveness for the sin so laid down for the merit of Jesus, and the forgiveness received for the merit of Jesus always cleanses completely any sin laid down!
As long as you have any superstition in you, you are not truly the Lord's! The soul that seeks refuge in superstitious practices, the soul that tries to secure its future with prophecies, horoscopes, amulets, is the soul that is not yet at rest in the living God. He who has no real God needs all kinds of god substitutes! And the only one who has a true God is the one who has known God in the person of Jesus, who has come under the influence of God through the power of Jesus' death and resurrection - that is, who has been converted and born again through faith in Jesus Christ! It is then that I can rest assured that God is sovereign over all things, that I can place my destiny, my past and my future in His hands with confidence, if I can look to that God as the one who, through Jesus, is my Father, whom I now know to be reconciled to me, to forgive me, to love me!
Let me add that in Ephesians, after the believers had confessed their superstitious practices and burned their books, we read, "In this way the Word of the Lord grows strong and takes authority." (Acts 19,20) So, the result of such a confrontation with recognized sins is always a great growth in faith, a strengthening, a revival! As when the dam bursts and the water gushes out, so the believers were flooded with the blessing of God, the power of the Word. Now there is no obstacle to their growth in communion with Christ, in the joy and beauty of new life, in the power of the Holy Spirit... It is worthwhile, therefore, to put away all dark superstitions, all secret sins, and to be abundantly compensated by the rich outpouring of God's blessings which will flow from them. The Word of the Lord will grow in power and might even now, if each one of us in his own life casts off all the snares of Satan as radically as the Ephesian believers did.
Amen
Date: 16 August 1959.