Why Are People Leaving Christianity for Spirituality, Astrology, and Tarot Cards?

Why are people leaving Christianity for spirituality, astrology, and tarot cards? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Well, hi, I'm Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We'd love to hear from you, and you can call us right now with your question. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and you can email us your question at questions-at-core-christianity.com. Well, Pastor Adriel, you got to enjoy a bit of vacation time, and I understand you took a little camping trip with your family. Yeah, quite a bit, and so that was a little bit of a bummer, but I made it back to San Diego, which is not a bad place to live. I mean, got to hang out at the beach and have some relaxing time with the family, which is wonderful. One story that I'll share from camping is my son actually trapped a squirrel, which was pretty amazing, because I've never taught him how to do anything like that.

In fact, I probably couldn't do it. We've been watching this show on Netflix, which is this kind of survivalist show, and they'll often create snares and traps to catch animals, and I think just watching that show taught him how to do this, but one morning, early morning, we wake up. He's outside doing something. I get out of my tent and see that he's creating this rope-snare-trap thing, and he was able to get a squirrel, and so for breakfast that morning, we had squirrel. Well, we didn't actually eat the squirrel, but no, we let the squirrel go, and that was actually quite an adventure in and of itself, because he caught it, and then he was like, what do I do now? So we gently held the squirrel down and fed it free, and it'll never get caught again. We had a great time, though, Bill. Thanks for asking. We have animal rights activists on line four, five, and six that would like to talk to your son.

Yeah, hey, it didn't hurt the squirrel at all, so she's fine. Okay, good news. All right, let's go to the phones, and we have Brian on the line from St. Louis, Missouri. Great question for Pastor Adrian. Yes, Pastor Adrian, I have a very thought-provoking question.

It's a two-parter. People have asked me, and I've really studied in the Book of Revelation, is the United States of America mentioned anywhere in the Book of Revelation, and specifically during the tribulation time? And I know I might be reaching for this one, but because of the immorality and humanity, could the United States actually be Babylon, which is mentioned during the tribulation period?

Is that possible? Hey, Brian, thank you for that question. So a couple of things. First, I would say, when we think about the Book of Revelation, we need to understand why the book was written. I mean, the book initially was given by Jesus to John for the sake of comforting the persecuted church early on, encouraging them to persevere in the faith. So I think a lot of times when we approach the Book of Revelation today, we approach it as a sort of puzzle that we need to unlock the mysteries of the Book of Revelation, and it's really primarily about us and the things that are happening in North America and the United States. But the reality is, this book was meant to be a comfort to the Christians living there in Asia Minor for the things that they were experiencing, the persecutions that they were facing.

So I think we have to understand it just in terms of the context, first and foremost, in that way. Now, that doesn't mean that the book doesn't have things to say to us and that it doesn't speak to us about the things that we experience today as well, the suffering that we might experience for Jesus Christ. But we need to understand that this book wasn't written and then given to these Christians so that they might say, oh, well, this is going to be great for believers in the United States 2,000 years from now, but it doesn't really have anything to say to me. No, this was a very relevant book for the Christians then, and it has been for Christians throughout the history of the church who are experiencing suffering and persecution as they take up their crosses and follow Jesus. Now, with regard to Babylon mentioned throughout the Book of Revelation and the identity of Babylon, it's this political machine, this nation, if you will, that causes the peoples to engage in idolatry and sexual immorality. For the early Christians, I think primarily this is referring to Rome, and you think specifically about the kinds of things that Rome was doing early on, especially some of those persecutions that came after the first couple centuries of the church where Christians were commanded to engage in idolatry, and if they didn't, they would be killed, and many of them were killed. And so I think that the best way to understand Babylon throughout the Book of Revelation is this sort of picture of these political nations, these totalitarian states, if you will, that call the people of God to engage in idolatry and call them away from Christ. And that was certainly what was happening to the believers there in Asia Minor, and so they're being encouraged by Jesus and by John to persevere in their faith, and we need to do the same thing.

And so I think when you understand the book in that way, you realize, okay, this has some real relevance to the Christians who were living there at that time, but it also speaks to us because we can be led astray by the spirit of the Antichrist, as John says in 1 John, and we need to be vigilant and wise as we continue to pursue the Lord in our own lives. Thank you, Brian, for your question. Hey, Brian, thanks so much for listening to Core Christianity. We really do appreciate you. Well, we do have voicemails that come in here Monday through Friday on our system, and you can leave us a message anytime at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Connor. Hey, Pastor Adrian, this is Connor. My question, it's not as much of a question as it is asking for prayer and encouragement. It's just really hard in my marriage right now.

We're about two years in when we started. My wife really did have this fire for the Lord and was pursuing Him and seeking Him. And over the past six months, she's really fallen away from the Lord and delved into spirituality, sense of astrology, tarot cards, just a lot of things that I know the devil is using to deceive her. I'm not trying to push her away from the faith, but at the same time not agreeing with what she's saying because I don't want to make it seem like I'm supporting her. If I could just get my family at Core Christianity and then pray for our marriage and namely her heart and just the Spirit would fill her again, God, that would be incredible.

Thank you. Yeah, Connor, absolutely. I would be happy to pray for you and to invite all of our listeners right now to pray for Connor and for his wife specifically. Let's pray. Father, God, we pray for Connor. We pray for his wife. We ask, Lord, that whatever it is that's been drawing her away, the influences, stuff that she's been reading or maybe watching on the internet, Lord, whatever it is, Lord God, that the truth of Your word would penetrate into her mind and heart, that she would be drawn back to You, Lord, that she would see that ultimately true spirituality is found in You and in Your Son Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit that You give to us.

So many people are chasing after spiritual experiences, Lord. I pray that she would find in You that perfect peace and love and the experience ultimately of Your grace and I pray for Connor, Lord, that You would be with him, that You would give him wisdom as a husband, Lord, to be able to encourage his wife, to challenge, Lord, where there needs to be a challenge but to do so graciously and in love. And, Lord, we know that this is a serious thing and so I pray that You would be with my brother and ultimately that You would bring healing in their marriage, Lord, and restoration in regard to her faith as well. So please be with them in Jesus' name. Amen.

Connor, you're in a difficult situation here and it is tragic. I was just talking to my wife recently and she was telling me about a mutual friend of ours where something similar happened where now all of a sudden this couple that was once walking with the Lord, and for them it was both of them, has now gotten into this sort of mystical spirituality and tarot cards and whatnot. And I think part of the problem is just not being grounded in the truth of the Gospel, in the truth of God's Word. I think of what the Psalms tell us early on, you know, the man who meditates on the Word of God is like that tree planted by streams of living water. And if we're not grounded in the Word of God, then we're going to be led astray by every wind of doctrine as the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians chapter 4. And so I think it's returning to the Word and submitting to what God has revealed about Himself in Scripture.

If I could just speak to your wife as she's going through these changes, I would just want to plead with her and say, look, there are very real spiritual forces in the world. There are real powers behind things like tarot cards and psychic readings and whatnot, but they are not of God. Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and he will use anything he can to draw us away from Jesus and the salvation that is found in Him. And Jesus calls you back to Himself through His Word to know Him, to know His grace, to know His forgiveness.

And so I would just plead to return to that, to get plugged into a solid church where the Word of God is faithfully taught and where the two of you can grow as a couple in submission to Jesus and His Word. Again, there are all sorts of spiritual influences and ideas out there in the world. The question is, are they right and are they good for our souls? And there's a lot of stuff out there that you can consume in your spiritual diet that is actually quite detrimental.

We need to avoid that stuff and drink from the stream of living water, which is the Word of God. Connor, may the Lord bless you and be with you and give you wisdom, and may the Lord be at work in your wife's heart as well. Some great counsel.

Thank you for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we are excited about a special book that we are offering today. It's a real classic. Yes, I'm actually super stoked about this book, and if you've not read St. Augustine's Confessions, I want you to get ahold of this resource.

It's yours for a donation of any amount. The first time I read this book was when I was in college. I took a class on Christian classics, and I remember just being so encouraged, edified, challenged. It's so wonderful to read the words of a Christian brother who lived hundreds and hundreds of years ago, but who is in love with Jesus, the same Jesus that we worship. This book, The Confessions of St. Augustine, is going to walk you through his life story, his conversion, how the Lord worked powerfully in his life and his mother's life to bring him to faith.

I know that you'll find it to be an encouragement. Again, this is a gift for your donation of any amount, and if you've not read St. Augustine's Confessions, you're really going to want to get ahold of this one. This is really a legendary, incredible book, and you can purchase these resources and make these donations. You help us in supporting the work that create more resources and Bible studies that help Christians everywhere answer the tough questions about a variety of important topics. Well, let's go to Adrian who's on the line from St. Louis, Missouri. Adrian, what's your question for Adrian? Yes, how you doing, Pastor Adrian? Really appreciate what you've been doing on your platform.

I've learned a lot, even just listening to you and all that you have to say. My question is, I was ministering to this young guy, and he had been being ministered to the last three years by the Mormon religion. So my question is, since I've started ministering to him, he told me that he was going to go ahead and get baptized in that Mormon religion, so I'm kind of like, I don't know what to say to him, because I don't know a whole lot about the Mormon religion, but I do know that it's fairly new, a couple of hundred years old.

So basically, I just wanted to know what you think, what do I need to say to him to make him see Christianity as it is, opposed to the Mormon religion? Adrian, I want to say thanks for your encouragement, and may the Lord bless you as you minister to this young man. Let me just start off by praying, because I think that's the most important thing, is we're having these conversations with people.

It's the Holy Spirit that opens the eyes of an individual. So I want to pray for this individual, and I want to pray for you. Father, be with Adrian. Give him wisdom in your word. Guide him, Lord, in his conversations with this individual. Thank you that he has a heart to share your love and your gospel with others. And I pray for this young man who's contemplating being baptized as a Mormon. I pray that you would reveal to him the true gospel of your son, Jesus Christ, the truth of who you are, gracious God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that he would get plugged into a solid Bible-believing church, Lord God, and not get caught up in the confusion that is Mormonism and Mormon theology. And so be with Adrian and be with this young man, I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. You're right that the Mormon religion is quite novel. I mean, it was sort of birthed out of this idea that all the churches in the world had gone astray, that they had all participated in this great apostasy, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ needed to be recovered. At first, when the Mormon religion started, I mean, that was the sort of platform, is everybody else is wrong, they're all apostates, and the gospel of Jesus needs to be restored.

And so Joseph Smith gets his visions. It's sort of interesting, is now the Mormon church has really changed its tune. Now you talk to Mormons and they really try to just sort of be like, well, I'm just a Christian like you're a Christian, that kind of a thing. We're all believers in Jesus Christ, and so instead of positioning themselves against Christianity, they're sort of trying to jump onto the bandwagon.

So that's just an interesting historical sort of tactic or strategy that they're using now. But the issue is, and one of the challenges that you'll find as you're talking to this guy, especially if he's been learning from Mormon missionaries and going to Mormon church, is that they will use a lot of the same words that we use, like grace, God, salvation, justification, Jesus, the Son of God, salvation, atonement. They'll use those words, but they mean something very different than the church has meant when the church has used those words throughout ecclesiastical history. And that's part of the problem, is they really wrote people in by talking about the grace of Jesus Christ, but when you get into what Mormons actually believe about who Jesus is, about who God is, about how one is saved, it's different, very different from what we've confessed as Christians, and that's the issue. And I like to just say, look, Mormonism started with this idea that all the churches were apostate, that the light of the gospel had gone out. There was this Mormon apologist some time ago who actually wrote a book on this when the lights went out where he just made the argument that there was no gospel in the church anymore. But that goes directly against what Jesus Christ himself said when he told Peter, I will build my church, this is Matthew chapter 16, verse 18, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The idea that Mormonism needed to bring back the gospel because it had been completely lost is just false. And it goes against what Jesus himself promised, to have his church and to always sustain her. Yeah, there have been periods of darkness and corruption, but the true gospel has never been completely lost. It never needed to be restored in the sense that the Mormon church teaches. And so I would say, Adrian, you're going to want to focus on what the Bible teaches about Jesus, about his divinity, about his relationship to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, about salvation.

We're saved by grace through faith alone, Ephesians chapter 2. And highlight, as you've already done, just the novelty of this Mormon religion. That should be concerning to people, I think. If this was really true, I mean, you're really telling me that everybody missed this for hundreds of years, thousands of years, and then all of a sudden this one guy got it right?

No, that's a significant issue. And so I would say continue to pray, continue to open up the scriptures with this guy and focus on who God is and what God has done for us in his son, Jesus. Appreciate you, brother, and may the Lord bless you. It's always so encouraging, Adrian, when we hear of listeners that want to help people understand the truth of the Gospel, especially those that are maybe being tempted to wander away or turn away from God's truth to some false substitute faith.

Yeah, no, it's super encouraging. We want all those who listen to this broadcast to be equipped, not just so you can have more knowledge, more information about who God is, I mean, ultimately this knowledge should cause you to praise God, to worship him because of his great grace, because of the revelation of who he is through scripture, but also to be able to talk to others, Mormons, atheists, I mean, whoever it is that doesn't understand the truth of the Gospel, and to be able to share it in ways that are compelling and faithful to what the scriptures teach, so really encouraged by that. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a reminder, we have this great offer for you today. It's Augustine's classic book, Confessions, and you can find that and order for a donation of any amount by going to our website at corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Let's go to Eric calling in from Iowa Falls, Iowa. Eric, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hello Pastor Adriel. I have a question about giving. I've been giving to the church that I attend, but I get a lot of letters in the mail from different Christian organizations and organizations that give out food, and also political candidates, and I'm a little bit overwhelmed. There are so many people that are asking for donations, and they all seem good, but how do you sort through all this, and what's your recommendations or suggestions?

I just, at this point, I don't know what to do. Well, Eric, let me just say God bless you and your desire to be generous. I'm grateful that you give to your local church and to the work of the ministry there, and I think sometimes people can try to make us feel guilty for not doing more or giving more.

Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6. The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

And so I would say, Eric, prayerfully consider how to be generous with your money and make a decision and do that with joy. And I would say in terms of the ministries that you want to support and give money to, well, do that for ministries that are faithful to the work of the gospel. There are all sorts of people that will ask you for money and donations that aren't actually doing gospel ministry, and some of them might actually say we're doing gospel ministry, but they're not.

They're doing other things. I would say in terms of investing in God's kingdom, you want to invest in your church, first and foremost, where the gospel is being faithfully taught, supporting the ministry there with your gifts, with your tithes and offerings. But as the Lord leads you, if there are other things that you want to support, missionaries or Christian organizations that are faithful to the gospel and getting the word of the gospel out, then I would say do that.

As you decide in your own heart, don't let them make you feel guilty. Our giving should be a response to God's great love and generosity, to the gifts that he gives to us. We should just be overwhelmed with his love and goodness for us in the gospel that we want to give, and we want to give joyfully.

So I would say that's how you want to approach this. Don't give under compulsion. That's what Paul says there in 2 Corinthians 9.7. And not reluctantly.

If you feel like, oh man, I feel like I'm being forced, my arm is being twisted, that's not the right approach. That's not what God wants. I want you to give cheerfully, full of joy, to the work of the ministry, to invest your treasure in heaven, in the kingdom of God. And when we do, we're blessed. This is what the scripture teaches. And so I would say again, think about this, pray about it, and then with the freedom that God gives you, certain ministries are not to give to them.

And either way, it's okay. So God bless you, brother. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We do receive email questions, and you can email us anytime with your question about the Bible or the Christian life.

Here's the email address. It's questions at corechristianity.com. And here's one from Jacob. Jacob says, How do you respond to an atheist that says the story of Job was just God allowing Job to be tortured so that he could prove a point to Satan?

Yeah. Well, one, I'm glad that you're getting into these conversations about the word of God, about scripture with atheists. And I think at the end of the day, we just want to ask ourselves, is that the right approach to the book of Job? Is that what it's all about, that God is trying to prove a point to Satan?

No. I think one thing that's put on display, and you get this later in the New Testament, is the long suffering of Job and God's merciful kindness to him at the end of his life. But certainly another thing that you're getting in the book of Job is God's sovereignty, the great distinction between God the creator and us as creatures. At the very end, when Job begins to ask questions, the Lord really puts him in his place.

He doesn't just sort of cast aside his questions. He just emphasizes the fact that he is God. The Lord says, I'm the Lord. And we're creatures submitted to his sovereign will.

And yeah, we experience suffering, but somehow we believe on the basis of places like Romans 8 that God is able to make all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. It's that promise that we rest in in Jesus Christ. Visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-the-core. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.