118. Jesus Is Not Netflix And Tarot Is Not A Tool

Tarot as a “tool.” Astrology as “just guidance.” Worshiping other gods as long as God stays at the top. We keep hearing versions of the same promise: you can blend New Age spirituality with Christian faith and still be fine. We don’t buy it, and more importantly, Scripture doesn’t either.

We slow down and walk through the Bible passages people quote to defend spiritual coexistence, then we put them back in context. That includes Psalm 82, the commandment about having no other gods, and the difference between acknowledging spiritual reality and being authorized to seek spiritual direction from it. We also go straight to the clear warnings many of us wish were more flexible: Deuteronomy 18 on divination and sorcery, Leviticus 19 on not seeking mediums, and Isaiah 47’s blunt words on astrologers. Along the way, we draw a clean line between astronomy as observing God’s creation and astrology as an identity and guidance system.

We also talk about why false worship is not “neutral energy,” why the Bible connects idols and pagan sacrifice to demonic powers, and why deception often feels like light. Then we tackle the modern slogan “I follow Christ, not the Bible” and test it against Jesus’ own teaching on fulfilling the law, grace, and obedience. If you’re deconstructing New Age beliefs, leaving tarot behind, or trying to understand what biblical discernment really looks like, this conversation is for you.

If this helped you, subscribe for more, share it with someone who’s on the fence, and leave a review so more people can find it. What spiritual practice has been the hardest for you to let go of?

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Transcript

ruth Fragments And Subtle Deception

salm 82 And Other “Gods”

cripture On Divination And Mediums

tars For Seasons Not Identity

alse Worship And Demonic Powers

ollowing Christ Means Obedience

egalism Versus Changed Heart

eading The Bible In Context

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Counterculture Mama podcast. I am your host, Danielle Venables, and today's episode is going to be a juicy one. I apologize if you can hear my son in the background. He gets very vocal when he hears me speaking. Um so this episode is all about this idea, this sort of universalist idea that you can sort of coexist. Like you can you can worship other gods, but as long as you put the real God first, or that um, you know, divination and tarot and things like that, like it's okay to get guidance from those things. Um, because we are followers of Christ, not followers of the law. Um I want to unpack this to the best of my ability. I'm sure I'll end up redoing this video in the future. Um, but I want to get like sort of a basic out one out there in like layman's terms on why these ideas are problematic and quite frankly not biblical. Um, because I've had conversations like this and people who are kind of towing that line, who are walking, you know, one foot in each world, um, will quote scripture to try to tell me why I'm wrong. And I have so much empathy for these people because I was one of those people. I'm very transparent. You can look back at my testimony video, which honestly one day I might remove because of the end of it. But at the very end of my testimony video, I said that I'm currently launching an Oracle deck and that um, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna redo the cards so that like they're they align biblically and they're like I'm gonna redeem them kind of thing. And since then I've changed my stance and I've changed my view. That was about four months ago that I recorded that. Um, because when you know more, you do better. And when you really spend time in the Word, it becomes harder and harder to be deceived by things that are 90% true but aren't completely true, that still guide you off of the path that God has intended for your life. Um so there's like I said, there's there's a lot of people out there on the New Age to Jesus testimonies, whether that's on my own posts or um, you know, other people's posts and videos and things that I've been seeing that are like, oh, tarot isn't evil if you put God first, or astrology is just a tool, or um even things like I don't follow the Bible as a rule book, like I follow Christ. And I want to lovingly but clearly say this that sounds really nuanced, it sounds really balanced, it sounds very loving, but it's not biblical. Um, and the issue is not, you know, whether other spiritual beings exist or whether God, you know, gave us the stars or anything like that. Like I'm gonna go through all of that and acknowledge that yes, other spiritual beings exist. Um, yes, God did create the stars as the sign of the seasons. Yes, he did draw the wise men to Jesus using the stars, so I'm not denying those things, but he also didn't give us permission to seek spiritual insight, direction, and power through those practices that he explicitly for forbids in his scripture. So, not everything spiritual is holy, and not everything meaningful or that appears to be meaningful is from God, and that's really the trap that I want to guide you away from falling into. Um, so like I said, like there are parts of this argument that sound compelling because they do contain fragments of truth. Uh, yes, the Bible acknowledges other spiritual beings, yes, God is supreme over all powers. Yes, all creation can point to God, including the stars. And yes, God can use signs in in creation, but acknowledging that something exists is not the same thing as being authorized to use it or being encouraged to use it. There's actually a um a Bible verse. Let me find it here. I think it's Deuteronomy 29, that says, secret things belong to God while revealed truths belong to humanity forever, intended for obedience to his laws. So basically, what that means is we are not meant to seek out the unseen, the things that God hasn't told us explicitly through his word, through his divine revelation. Um, we're not meant to seek those things out. In fact, I've said this many times before, but Genesis 3 is the prime example of humanity looking for hidden knowledge and actually cursing ourselves in the process because God puts these safeguards in place for us to say, this is what's safe, this is what's acceptable. And not only is it acceptable by his standard, which should be enough for us because he's the creator of the universe. And if anybody has a right to place boundaries on where we should and shouldn't go, it would be our creator who loves us and cares for us and made us in his image. But also for our own safety, because he knows the evil forces in the world, and he knows that there are things that will pose as angels of light, as we will discuss, um, that will deceive us and that will lead us away from him. And so um it's it's important to follow the rules that he sets out for us because he doesn't set them out to be, you know, suppressive or oppressive. Um, he really does it from a place of love and protection. And when we come to that conclusion, and it took me straying, it took me seeking hidden knowledge, it took me going deep into new age in order to really accept this truth and let it sink in. Um but, you know, just because demons exist does not mean we have permission to consult them. Uh, just because false gods exist does not give us permission to worship them. Uh, just because the stars exist does not give us permission to um, you know, get to know ourselves and our fate and our future based on astrology. And just because spiritual power exists does not give us permission to access it outside of God's design. So again, like manifestation, energy healing, sorcery, those kinds of things. Um it just doesn't. So the Bible acknowledges the existence of all of these things, but it also is very clear on the stance of how we should be in relationship with those things, which the answer is not at all. Um so one of the conversations I was having in the comments of actually somebody else's post, which is funny, but um, is Psalm 82. And it says Um that, well, you know, of course there's other beings, because it it shows us where God stands among the other gods. Psalm 82, one says God has taken his place in the divine council. In the midst of the gods, he holds judgment. Um and and that was one of the arguments, so it started with the commandment to not have other gods before him, right? That is in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, I want to say. Don't quote me on that. Um, but when when he gives Moses the Ten Commandments, one of those commandments is do not have other gods before me. And um people seem to interpret, and I also interpreted this in the beginning, as do not have other gods um ahead of me. Like do not rank other gods above me. You can worship other gods, but make sure that I'm number one, was how I was reading it. Um, and it's really important because when you actually translate that back to Hebrew and then you look at the meaning of that Hebrew word, which I don't have in front of me right now, but when you look at that, it actually means like before me means like in front of me, like as in like in my presence. Um, and it's very clear when you when you ask about the the Hebrew definition, you can Google it. Um, that it that that's the meaning. That's like, do not let me see you worshiping other gods. So don't worship other gods, basically, because God is omniscient and um everything we do is before him, there's no hiding. And so um, with that, is that was kind of like the the beginning of that, and so this this woman was trying to tell me that the two could coexist because um as long as you rank capital G God first, then you're fine. And I was like, no, that's actually not what that means. And she's like, well, the Bible in Psalm 82 shows us that there are other gods, like God Himself, like the scripture of God the God, um acknowledges the existence of other gods because it says God has taken his place in the divine council in the midst of the gods, he holds judgment. Now, there is um a couple of problems with that. Number one, um, these small g gods, anything that's immortal, there would not be a reference to death. So um in in Psalm 82, verses 6 and 7, it says, I said you are gods, nevertheless, like men you shall die. What this is saying to me, and the generally agreed upon theology here, if something's going to die, that means it's human, that means it's mortal. Gods, demons, angels don't die. They are understood to be immortal. So, like the argument is that even when you go back to Hebrew, the word Elohim um it's used twice. It's used for Elohim, capital E for God, and then it's used lowercase e um for the small g gods. And um it's understood that that is meant to mean the rulers or judges. It could, there's a small chance it could mean spiritual beings, but the the point of the psalm is judgment. God is rebuking um these these rulers for for being unjust. And you can go read the full text if you want, but it's a psalm 82 is a courtroom scene, it's not a permission slip. And so even then, God is showing that He is supreme over all dominions, all beings, uh, spiritual, physical beings, um, as well as saying they will die, which really implies that they're probably human rulers that are being unjust and being rebuked in that psalm. So even if someone wants to argue that this refers to spiritual beings, the point is still the same. God is rebuking and judging corrupt powers, not inviting his people to partner with them. Um plain and plain and simple. So when we move into occult practices such as divination, witchcrafts, astrology, things like that, um, Deuteronomy 18, 10 to 12 says, There shall not be found among you anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or a sorcerer, and it goes on. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. I found that passage really, really tough to swallow when I was first, you know, coming to terms, trying to say, okay, maybe my oracle deck could still exist with my faith and blah, blah, blah. Maybe I can redeem it. That one really hurt. And I had a hard time accepting it in the beginning. But that's not vague. It's not a vague teaching, it's not open to interpretation. It's not only if your heart is wrong, or only if, you know, you're you're looking at dark sources, not light sources. Let me tell you something, and I will get into this and show you the proof in the Bible, but there are no light sources other than God. If it's not the Trinity, it's not light. Period. Um, so it's not it's okay unless you put God for like it's just not, it's not. It's explicitly saying this is not okay. Um, he explicitly names the practices of divination, fortune telling, omens, sorcery, mediums, and necromancy. Period. Um, and then Leviticus 1931 says, Do not turn to mediums or necromancers, do not seek them out. I am the Lord your God. Umtice the command isn't just don't worship them, it's don't turn to them, don't seek them out. And that matters. Because a lot of people say today, I'm not worshiping tarot, I'm just using it as a tool, a tool to access God. I always say, like, it's it's not, I mean, God can't just be like channeled on demand. I'm sorry. He answers when he wants to answer, he stays silent when he wants to stay silent, when you know we're meant to figure figure things out on our own, or when it's a test of our faith, or we're meant to develop like steadfastness and fortitude in our faith in him, right? Um he is the ultimate, you don't just get to on-demand him like Netflix, okay? Um, and and scripture specifically addresses the act of seeking, right? Do not seek them out. Um, so the Bible doesn't only warn against bowing down, it warns against turning to forbidden sources for spiritual insight. Period. Isaiah 47. If someone wants to argue astrology is somehow biblically neutral, it's not. Isaiah 47 completely destroys that argument. 47, 13 to 14. I'm just gonna paraphrase here, but it says, let your astrologers stand forth and save you. Behold, they are like stubble, the fire consumes them. God is literally mocking astrologers here, not because stars are evil, but because seeking guidance from them is a counterfeit source of wisdom and salvation. It is not the truth. The ultimate truth is God and God alone. It is the Trinity, like I said before. Um, so God created the stars, but he did not all authorize star-based guidance six systems. And in fact, if you are curious about why or how, like, how could that be bad? Like God invented the stars, right? Like, how could that be bad? It it would be good to watch some testimonies of astrologers who have come to Jesus and the ways that uh the interpretation of astrology essentially like cast spells on people's lives. Um, it's really interesting stuff, but I'm gonna try to stay like biblically focused in this episode so that I don't get too far off track. But it is really important to like go and listen as kind of like when when people were saying yoga was demonic. I was like, that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Um, and then I went and I saw New Age to Jesus testimonies from people who studied yoga deeply, who understood yoga far more than I do, and they explained why it was demonic. And I was like, oh my gosh, I had no idea. And so it's important to hear the sources and hear the reasoning instead of just dismissing somebody as oh, well, that's harmless. So why like that's so stupid that you would call it demonic, right? Um, and then the stars are for signs, and like the argument of the wise men that you know God used the stars to guide the wise men to Jesus when he was born. Um and even just in general, right? Genesis 114 says, let there be lights for signs and for seasons and for days and years. And um, yes, scripture says the heavens are for signs and seasons, but that does not mean that God gave us permission to build identity systems. Again, getting to know ourselves, like manufacturing our identity through the stars was never part of his design. Our identity is in him, our identity is in in Jesus, period. Um, and you can read the letters of Paul in the New Testament. If you don't believe me on that, our identity is built in Christ. Jesus Himself calls us to, you know, build our foundations on him, not on the stars. And um you know, the way that it impacts like decision making, uh, spiritual guidance, all of that around zodiac interpretations, like that is just not God's design. Point blank period, like I said. Um, so signs and seasons uh in the Bible refers to time markers and you know, appointed times, God designs and create God's design and creation, like creation can carry meaning without being a divination tool. And I think that's a really important distinction that when we're talking about astrology, we really need to grasp is that like you know, it can help orient you to a certain direction, it can indicate a certain season, um, you know, depending on where different stars are, like that's astronomy. That is a science, that is the science of observing God's creation. Um, but deriving our identity from God's creation instead of deriving your identity from the creator is where people go wrong. So then people bring up the magic and say, Well, they followed the star to Jesus. And for one, that event is descriptive, not prescriptive. Um it was a unique redemptive historical sign. And God's sovereignty like he used creation to announce Christ, right? That's that's no different than you know, feeling drawn to, you know, certain certain things, certain areas. He used a star one time to announce the birth of Jesus, and it's not a standing invitation for believers to seek personal guidance through astrology. Like again, none of that relates to identity. They just went, they saw a star, and you know, that's not our discipleship model, that's just a a historic account of events, right? And they were not given, um they were not given in that in that context. Like they're never presented in the Bible in that context. That Jesus and his apostles were meant to be our model, not the wise men who followed a star. Um okay, this one is gonna probably get me a lot of heat. Um, I'm gonna pull up the Bible verse here that I need. So, small g gods. Again, coming back to the second commandment and Psalm 82, and God apparently acknowledges that there are other gods in the world. Um, you know, they're mentioned numerous times through the Bible. Um, they are often called false gods in the Bible, but nonetheless, they are um they they are acknowledged, and it also makes something very, very clear within the Bible. False worship is not spiritually neutral. Um, Deuteronomy 32, 17. Um I wanted it to says they sacrificed to false gods which are not God, gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your ancestors did not fear. So that right there tells us that those gods are not they're not God. Um this verse is incredibly important because it doesn't say they're just harmless archetypes or neutral energies, it says that they sacrificed to demons, which I think I need a different translation for that, but it does say that because I read it earlier. Yeah, so if you translate to the ESV, which is considered the best like word for word or one of the best word-for-word translations, um, so in biblical translations there's thought for thought, which is more of like on the end of like a paraphrase where they go through, they take the overarching concept and then they translate that concept to English. Um, ESV is the version that I use primarily because it's a word-for-word translation. So even if sometimes the sentences are like a bit long or a bit weird, um, it goes word for word from Hebrew, which is ultimately like what you want. So it says they sacrificed to demons that were not God, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently whom your fathers had never dreaded. Um so it it does. Does say they sacrificed two demons. It explicitly says that in there. Psalm 106. You can go read the entirety of Psalm 106. There's a lot of references to it in there, but verse 37 says they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons. Again, behind false worship, scripture identifies demonic powers, not innocent symbolism. And so that should be like a huge red flag to anybody who is seeking the light, to anybody who claims to be a light worker. And then 1 Corinthians 10, 19 to 21. I think I was just doing 19 to 20, but I put 21 in my notes. But what pagans sacrifice, they offer to demons and not to God. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. So again, it's saying the two are fundamentally incompatible. If you have given your life to God, if you are a follower of Jesus, you can't have both because what like what what do those two things have to do together, right? It's like I don't know. It's um there's another verse. I don't remember if it's part of this one or if it's somewhere else in the Bible, but it's like, what what company does does light have with darkness? Paul is crystal clear. An idol may be nothing in itself, but the spiritual participation is not neutral. Um so the idol may be empty, but the altar is not. And the spiritual destination is not neutral. So, no, I'm not saying that every person using tarot consciously thinks they're worshiping demons. I certainly wasn't. Um I was completely deceived by this, but I am saying the Bible does not treat forbidden spiritual practice as harmless curiosity, it treats them as spiritually dangerous and deceptive. Um, and I'm gonna pull up one more verse here because it's an important one, and that is 2 Corinthians 11 14. And it says, And no wonder for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. And that was another like realization moment for me where I was like, Oh, I was deceived. Like immediately I was like, I was deceived. I thought I was working in the light, and really I wasn't. Um, so we're gonna sort of shut this down with uh the rhetoric of I follow Christ, not the Bible. And a phrase I hear a lot with this is I don't follow the Bible as a rule book, I follow Christ. Um, another way of like wording this or another way of expressing this is you know, are we following the letter of the law or are we following the spirit of the law? Um and that sounds spiritual and with nuance, I somewhat agree. But the problem is the Christ of Scripture never contradicts the word of God. Um, so if we're using Jesus as our example, there is not one example of him in Scripture where he contradicts the Old Testament, um, which means that all of the you know Deuteronomy, Leviticus passages that I just read you, um, as well as obviously like the New Testament stuff, like that's all still valid. Does it mean that you're automatically going to hell if you don't um if you don't follow it perfectly? No, that that's the purpose of the new covenant, that's the perfect purpose of Jesus coming here. Like we literally can't be perfect, and that's why we need a perfect savior. That is why Jesus is such a a blessing and so important to us, right? Um, but he he says himself in Matthew 5.17, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly in order to atone for our sins, in order for our salvation, so that we can have a direct relationship with God as our Father, which is beautiful and amazing and more profound than I can even like put into words in this podcast episode, honestly, because I just don't have the words for it. But he did not come to make holiness and obedience optional. He didn't come to say, okay, I've died for your sins so that you can have free access to God and nothing is required on your end. So we are saved by grace through faith. Um, that is in the Bible, you know, belief in Jesus as the Lord and Savior, um, as our personal Lord and Savior is like the key to salvation, right? And we earn eternal life, not through our own good deeds, not through um, you know, anything that we can physically do as humans on this planet. We earn it through Christ's sacrifice on the cross. Um, but at the same time, obedience is the fruit of the of that belief, of that faith, of that um, you know, indwelling of the Holy Spirit, because it says when we are, when we believe, like we're sealed with the Holy Spirit, and when we're baptized, we're sealed with the Holy Spirit. But it's important to remember that in John 14, 15, Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. The the fruit of faith, the fruit of a relationship with Jesus, the fruit of loving Jesus is quite literally obedience. And again, that's it's like a it's a proof of an inner faith. And you can read that in the book of James as well. Um, I can't remember the exact um the exact passage, but it does show that like faith without works is dead. And basically what that means is that if we're not walking as though we're saved, then like there's real reason to question our salvation because it is impossible to truly know Jesus and to not be spiritually transformed on the inside, and that's not legalism, that is quite literally like the depth of love that causes us to change our ways. Um, it's kind of like think of like a a toxic boyfriend or something, and you know, you we've all been in a relationship that was probably less than healthy, and um, you know, something they do something and they they commit an offense against you, and you're like ready to walk out the door, and they're like, No, no, no, please, like, I'll change, I'll change, I'll change. And that's that cycle just repeats over and over again, and they never actually change. And they've just they're showing you their true colors. What they're showing you is that they don't actually love you, and maybe they're not capable of loving you. Um, and so obedience for us is the sign of change. It's I love you, Jesus, and I will follow your will because I know that your will is good for me. I know that everything that you have done for me came at a huge cost. Like, you bought me for a price, and I'm going to obey you to the best of my ability. And again, like the beauty of the gospel is that there's nothing we can do to earn it, right? So it's okay to mess up, it's okay to make mistakes, it's okay to not have it all figured out all at once. I mean, my journey has been unfolding this entire time, you guys, and I am nowhere near like righteous, right? But the the point is the heart posture. And when you really love and care about somebody, when you really believe that they are the only way, the only life, as it says in scripture, then you start to behave accordingly because your heart is changing, and that is sanctifying you and convicting you along the way, and that's how that goes. Like that's just the two go together. But that's not legalism, that is doing our best to uphold his word because we believe in who he is, we believe that he is our savior, we believe that he is the son of the God of the universe, that he is God. And um, quite frankly, Jesus didn't say, if you love me, reinterpret what I said until it fits what you want to keep. It says, if you love me, follow my commandments. Um, and Jesus even says that there will be people who will call out to him, Lord, Lord, and not do what he said. And if that and he'll turn around and say, like, I never knew you. Right? So if we're not pursuing that righteousness and we're not pursuing a relationship with him through our actions, through following like the true Jesus and what he actually told us, um, then we never knew him. And and that really calls our salvation into question. And that's such a like sobering reminder because so many people want a Jesus who affirms them without confronting them. And that's really what what the world has made Jesus out to be. That's what New Age has made Jesus out to be, is like someone who is just he's loving and he he ate with sinners and he whatever, and like yes, he did. Um, but when he says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom, that should be a wake-up call. That no, we need to get to know the real Jesus. We need to build a real relationship with the real Jesus who really lived and really died and really rose from the dead because we really needed him. Um and so, like essentially, it's a warning that spiritual language, supernatural experiences, and even signs can exist apart from obedience, and that spirituality is not the same as holiness. Last point is about like legalism, which I wholeheartedly agree that we should not fall into legalism. And what legalism is, is just like basically obedience to the law or obedience to the commands without the heart posture reflecting it. And so in in the Bible, um, the Pharisees are guilty of this. Jesus calls out the Pharisees multiple times and honestly makes a mockery of them because they've got rules on rules on rules on rules, and they'll like make a rule and then they'll you know have a document with like 600 other interpretations of how that applies, like the applications of that rule. Like it was insane. But at the end of the day, they were spiritually empty, they were not embodying the heart of Christ. I mean, they didn't they didn't believe that Christ was the Messiah, but even the heart of God, the God that they worshipped, right? Um, He did not rebuke them because they took God seriously, he rebuked them because they added mad man-made burdens, uh, performed righteousness outwardly, but were completely disconnected from the heart of God. And so the truth is the spirit of the law does not cancel the holiness of the law. Um, what it does is it internalizes it. So, like I was saying, like we need to be walking in obedience, not because it's a set of rules that we have to follow, but because it's a reflection of the inner transformation that we went through. Um, you know, and this is gonna be some extreme examples, but like um Jesus didn't say murder is fine if your heart's in the right place. Um He didn't come to loosen God's standard, he actually deepened it. Um, so the spirit, like following the spirit of the law, does not give you permission to disobey, it's internalizing that obedience into like letting it penetrate into your heart and soul and the way that you act and think. Um and so I went pretty hard in this in this podcast episode because these are like deeply troubling um belief systems that we really need to call to light, that we really need to look at and say, okay, um, you know, what what does scripture actually say? And I mean there's gonna be those who are like, oh, I I channeled Jesus and I whatever, and I'm gonna come back to my argument that Jesus is not Netflix and you can't channel him on demand. And so I would argue that you're practicing divination, which is exactly what God warns us against in his sacred texts, and um that you are channeling a counterfeit, Satan disguising himself as an angel of light type of Jesus, as opposed to the real Jesus, because Jesus cannot be uh channeled. He reveals himself to us on his own accord, he does come to us in dreams and visions and um divine revelation. We do have the Holy Spirit as believers that, you know, guides us and things like that, but um it's very different from the mystic Jesus channelings that I'm referring to here. Um but I needed to come down hard on some of this because it's stuff that I see all the time, and I need to be explicitly clear because when I was like a lot of these points that I'm arguing are things that I wrestled with myself. They're things that I used to tell myself about scripture, and the reality is I hadn't ever actually read scripture in context. I didn't understand the character of God, I didn't understand the New Testament, the Old Testament, how they point to one another, the fulfillment of prophecies. Like, you guys, the Bible is like a perfect work of art. It is incredible, and um, you can't deny that it's divinely inspired, but more importantly than that, you can't just take one verse in one thing and take it out of context of the entire Bible and all of the books and the way that they all piece together um in order to prove a point. Like you really have to look at what does the Bible truly say about this topic, and um it's it's sobering when you stop looking for um how can I make the Bible fit my view or what I want it to say, and you start looking at what does the Bible say, and then and then how do I bring my life in line with that, um, that's where you know that you're really capturing the heart and soul of God as you journey with this. So I I come to you saying all of this with humility because I literally defended some of these things too. And I understand why they feel meaningful, I understand why they feel insightful, I understand why people want to believe they can be redeemed by putting God first on top of all of these other practices. Um I literally had to walk away from an Oracle deck contract for a deck that was already printed and in circulation, and there's nothing I can do about that other than remove myself from the promotion of it. Um but at some point we have to ask the harder questions. Did God actually authorize this, or am I trying to keep something that He asked me to leave behind? Um, you know, Jesus calls us to die to ourselves, He He calls us to pick up our cross and follow Him. And if a practice requires you to soften, reinterpret, or explain away clear biblical warnings in order to keep it, that should really tell you something about um the actual energy behind it. Um and one last thing I'll leave you with is like I the Bible has an answer for literally everything. Like it is when people say it's the living word, I used to think that is like so such a weird thing to say. It's so like uh you're so like churchy. Um but it truly does. Like every time that I have struggled with with something, especially leaving behind um the new age practices and things like that that I that I tackled in this episode, it's like every single time the Bible had an answer and it anticipated where I was going to go sideways before I was even born. And that's really incredible. And that shows us that God knows. He knows everything, he predicts everything. And uh so I'll leave you with that, and I will catch you in the next episode. Bye for now.