Psychics offensive to God
Archive: Religious Intolerance
Psychics vs. the Catholic Church in Massachusetts North Shore.
Maybe that's why it seemed odd when the following words appeared in a letter to the editor in the Ipswich Chronicle late last month, directed toward Rev. John Kiley, pastor of Our Lady of Hope Catholic church in Ipswich:
“I asked you to immediately retract in writing the defamatory and libelous statements contained within your printed bulletin,” the letter read. “You refused … Anyone can think whatever they want to think, but it is quite another matter to put it in writing and then subsequently embarrass, defame and humiliate an individual with a community. This constitutes reckless indifference and has rather serious consequences.”
The author of the letter was Swampscott resident Linnea Johansson, whose ire had nothing to do with bake sales. As a psychic medium whose work is comparable to that of supersensory TV folk such as John Edward and James Van Praagh, Johansson had offered her services during the summer at the Ipswich Council on Aging, where she claimed to help senior citizens reconnect with their departed loved ones.
The rancor with which Johansson wrote her letter was matched only by the gravity of the message conveyed in Kiley's church bulletin.
“Avoid this program and encourage others not to participate,” wrote Kiley, using bold and italicized print. “The Word of God in scripture and in Christian teaching is very clear that (engaging in psychic activities) is 'off limits' and offensive to God. At one time, this practice was understood to be a sin against the first commandment.”
Quite a bit more in the article. Joel Beck, North Shore Sunday: Psyched out
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1 · Posted by: Ryan Joesph Liedtky on September 5, 2004 09:47 PM
There are two questions that first must be asked here. 1) Is psychic reading a sin, and 2) is the Bible correct. I would like to answer the second question first. The Bible was written by humans, and as such, probably isn't entirely correct. We know that over the years books have been added and taken out of the Bible as the Catholic Church, being the only church for a long time, saw fit. It has also been shown that in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the originail writings of the New Testament, there are several scrolls. Some of these go so far as to question whether Jesus was ever hung on the cross. It is argued in these scrolls that one of the deciples of Jesus who looked very similar to him, had taken his place. A book was in the Bible for many years, before being taken out by the King James, that described how Jesus had killed a boy once just because he had the power. He later brought the boy back to life. Now the first question: Is psychic reading a sin? How is it any different from what Jesus did? I do believe that if any one today were to do what Jesus did, we would call it witchcraft. Well, that is what it was called when Jesus was doing it. So, if you are Christian, you are following a man who was labled in his own time a sinner. Remember, Jesus did not set a good example for us to follow. He tells us to obey the church, but he did not. He tells us to obey our parents, but he did not. I am very religious, I don't want you to think that I am not. I attend a Catholic college. I just believe that we should not judge other religions and beliefs. Let us wait for God to do that!!!