A Psychic Minister?

The Christian Post recently reported that The Vision Church in Atlanta, GA has added a psychic medium to their staff. Lakara Foster claims to commune to the dead for the staff of the church. The article states, “She is also the creator and star of the YouTube series “The Gift,” which she argues God told her to do. It follows her life as a medium, minister, and spiritual teacher.”
Some people will immediately question this. Passages of the Bible may come to mind about psychics, mediums and communicating with the dead. For instance in Deuteronomy it says, “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you.” (Deut. 18:10-12) So how can Lakara say that it is ok for her to be a medium, especially a medium for God?

She answers her critics stating, “God told me to do the show. Honestly, I was reluctant at first because I felt very vulnerable and thought I would get a lot of pushback and negative feedback being a minister and a medium. I thought people wouldn’t understand but I knew I still had to do it. I knew I had been called to do it. When I asked God, ‘Why this gift? Why not singing? God said, ‘I promised my people eternal life. How will my people know that I’ve kept my promise if you don’t demonstrate your gift?’” The article also states, “Foster argues that psychic mediumship should be included among the spiritual gifts of the modern Church because James 1:17 teaches that ‘every good and perfect gift is from above.’”

So is she right? If God did tell her, how can she disobey His command? Doesn’t her gift come from above, from Him? Shouldn’t she allow God to use her as He wants to use her and not question Him? The short answer is...no. Let us take her argument piece by piece.

First, she states that, “God told her”. But how? By Him directly speaking to her. But is that the primary method of God communicating to His people? No it is not. God speaks to us through His Son, who is the Word of God. (See 2 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 1:2 and John 1:1-3) This is why the Bible says it is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). Because He is speaking to us in the present through the Word. It is not something that was written ,but how He communicates to us now. Lakara only referenced one verse to support her belief. That verse she grossly misinterpreted, which I will cover in a minute. But God speaks to us primarily through His Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, too many people take internal feelings as communication from God which is very dangerous.

Second, even if I was to agree that God spoke to Lakara directly, would He ever do anything contradictory? I already referenced one verse, but there are many others in the Bible that condemn this practice. Why would God speak out of both sides of His mouth? Why would He allow her to participate in something He says in an abomination? She is unfortunately taking the Lord’s name in vain. She is saying “God said…” when He never did. This then leads people into sinful practices and away from God.

Third, she states that God told her, “I promised my people eternal life. How will my people know that I’ve kept my promise if you don’t demonstrate your gift?” To think God would ever say this is beyond comprehension. She is basically saying that God needs a psychic because He did not plan ahead for a way for people to know about eternal life. Does that sound like the God of the universe who is all knowing, powerful and mighty? Does that sound like a god you would want to worship? But God has made sure people know about eternal life. He has preserved His Word, which clearly states how someone can be saved. Also, He has the faithful obedience of His people evangelizing to the lost. Why doesn’t Lakara just witness? Why does she need to perform psychic powers so people can know about eternal life?

Finally, the Bible verse she references to support her practice. Yes every good gift comes from above. But there is a word in that verse that she apparently overlooked, “good”. How can we say her psychic powers are good when the Lord has already said they are an abomination? But there lies the problem. She has mistaken something for God speaking to her. When she should have gone to the Bible from the beginning to know exactly what God says. Instead she has mistaken something else for God speaking to her which has led her to sin. I would go as far as to say who she heard from was the devil and his demons. For the Bible (again what we know for a fact God says) clearly teaches two things on this; 1. That the devil masquerades as an angel of light and 2. That psychic powers are evil and a demonic power.

This is the problem when people try to hear from God through other mediums (pun intended) besides the Bible. People try to hear from God internally, through dreams, visions, prophecies, being given a word etc. Instead of assuming God has told you something, go to what you know for a fact is from Him. Then you will never be wrong, you will never assume, you will never second guess and you will be confident you are following His instruction.