“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall not have other gods beside me.”
These are the beginning words of the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) that God speaks to the Israelites through Moses (Dt 5:6,7). As a mediator between God and the Israelites, Moses reminds them of the Covenant God desires to make with them. They have been given a choice: to love and worship the God who created them or to serve “other gods,” a choice that will have consequences, resulting in a “blessing or curse.”
God created us, and our entire existence depends on Him. The Ten Commandments given to Moses remain unchanged throughout history and remain today for us to obey. Jesus gave us “The Greatest Commandment,” “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Mt.22:37)
The Catechism teaches us (CCC 2110 – 2132) how certain things can intentionally or unintentionally lead us to sin against God and our faith. Sins against religion include idolatry and belief and practice in superstition and the occult. Today, idolatry isn’t likely to be the making of images of golden calves as is described in the Old Testament, but it may include things like excessive attachment to hobbies, sports, gambling, personal power, and success. If these attachments become first in life before worshiping and serving God, they deify what is not God.
Given certain circumstances, God reveals what the future might bring to His prophets and saints. Recourse to the practices of astrology, horoscopes, divination, palm reading, etc., contradict what we owe to God alone. A recent Morality Matters article by Maria Stewart reminded us of the description of the Beatitude: “Blessed are the pure in Heart, for they shall see God.” Maria described ‘pure of heart’ as “having sincere intentions and a love for God that seeks nothing that would jeopardize that relationship.”
The devil tempted Jesus to serve him and not God; the story in Matthew 4: 5-7 recounts: Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”
The Great Deceiver was tempting Jesus to sin, telling him that it would be acceptable to God. The devil tempts us, telling us the same lies.
When we engage with the occult, idolatry, fortune telling, tarot cards, etc., we tell ourselves that it is not a problem, perhaps just a game and nothing serious. But consider other evils that we acknowledge can present serious moral issues for us, be it drug or alcohol abuse, power, or pornography. No one starts believing that it will someday progress out of control and become first order in their life, ahead of and above everything else, especially God, yet this happens. Likewise, placing other seemingly less significant things in front of Christ or engaging in superstition or the occult can cause the same to occur.
Just like the Israelites, we, too, have choices to make. We can choose to love and worship the God who created us or serve “other gods” through inadvertent idolatry or by attempting to gain knowledge and control over aspects of our lives through superstition and the occult, which are the purview of God alone. Let’s help each other to choose wisely and receive God’s blessings!
“Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.”
Jim Rundell – SFA Theologians Guild Member