Communicating with the World of the Spirit

In yesterday's Blog I told Meridith that Christians (and Jews, I might add) have always believed that the Word of God is the way by which God communicates with us. That is to say, the Word of God is the means by which He makes His will known to us.

The phrase 'Word of God' has a dual meaning among us:

• It refers to the sacred or holy writings. To call the writings 'holy' is to say they are separate and distinct from all other writings. They are set aside for God's purposes. In the N.T. that word is used only twice, once in 1 Corinthians 9:13 where it refers to those who handle sacrificial offerings and work in the Temple. Theirs was a very distinct job, different from all others. The other place is 2 Timothy 3:15-17 where the Apostle calls the Scripture—the O.T. Scripture at that moment—holy. In other words, these are distinct and separate words, set aside for God's service. I won't discuss here which writings of the O.T. are or are not considered God's holy Word. My only point is that Christians have from the beginning considered these Scriptures as God's Word, His way of communicating with us.
• Word of God also refers to Jesus. This concept is lifted up especially in the Gospel of John, for instance John 1:1-18; 6:63-68; 10:27-30. Jesus is the Word of God and the words he speaks are the words of eternal life. He is God's living, personal Word to us. He spoke and continues to speak through his life, his teachings, his sacrifice upon the cross and his glorious resurrection from the dead.

We could go into much detail here about the meaning of inspiration. I won't. Suffice it to say that Lutherans, together with the ancient church, emphasize that God deals with us exclusively by means of his external Word and sacrament, e.g. the Lord's Supper. Everyone who boasts of receiving communication from God's Spirit apart from this Word is of the devil (Smalcald Articles 8:9-13)


In that sense it must not surprise us that other religions have retained the idea or concept that their gods who dwell in the spirit world are ready and willing to communicate with men through symbols and words. Words are, after all, nothing less than symbols put together in a wide variety of ways to convey ideas, concepts, thoughts and feelings. Why should the 'gods' not use them to speak?

Thus the runes, for instance, were viewed by the Norse, Celtic and Germanic peoples as sacred or holy, because through them the gods spoke. So those ancient worshipers—and their modern counterparts—held that the runes are a way to both discover the will of the gods AND to use spiritual power to heal or bring spells upon men, animals or plants. They even talk today about scientific magickal technology!  Supposedly, with the proper understanding of how to use the runes you can discover the future, weave spells, wield power and gain wealth.

We Christians are very wary, therefore, of the use of such symbols, symbolical actions and 'sacred' words by those who have not been reborn by the power and work of the Holy Spirit to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord. Paul says that such faith comes from hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10:1-17).


We flee from Tarot cards, OuiJa boards, special charms, mediums, wizardry, seances and all other such things. Moses, speaking for God, strongly warns Israel away from such practices so common among the heathen in the land they were about to occupy (Deuteronomy 18:9-14).


In all these matters we are dealing with demons and demonic forces. Against them, without the full armor of God and alone, we are helpless (Ephesians 6:10-18). Note in the Ephesians passage that the Apostle speaks about 'you' in the plural, not in the singular. When he says "so that you will be able to resist" he speaks about you in the plural. We never go up against demonic forces alone, but rather together, protected by God's armor and praying with and for one another.