Exposure

There is a sobering passage of Scripture in Isaiah 47, which cautions us to seek our wisdom from God, not from sources that stand opposed to His ways. We can read these words:
10 "For you have trusted in your wickedness; You have said, 'No one sees me'; Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you; And you have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one else besides me.'
11 Therefore evil shall come upon you; You shall not know from where it arises. And trouble shall fall upon you; You will not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, Which you shall not know.
12 "Stand now with your enchantments And the multitude of your sorceries, In which you have labored from your youth-- Perhaps you will be able to profit, Perhaps you will prevail.
13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels; Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, And the monthly prognosticators Stand up and save you From what shall come upon you.
14 Behold, they shall be as stubble, The fire shall burn them; They shall not deliver themselves From the power of the flame; It shall not be a coal to be warmed by, Nor a fire to sit before!

We have to be aware that at all times, we are in the presence of the all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful, Almighty God.  He does see us, and He desires for us to acknowledge Him and to seek His wisdom, rather than follow the world's ideas or to look to spiritual forces that would deceive us and draw us away from Him.  The enemy is at work, and His agenda results in the destruction of life - we can know true life, eternal and abundant, by walking with the One True God. 

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The Bible teaches us to look to the Lord as our ultimate source of wisdom. I think about a phrase I have heard - encouraging us not to look to the stars for answers, but to look to the One who made the stars. That is consistent with what we can read in Deuteronomy chapter 4:
19 And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.
20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day.

Tailah Scroggins was first introduced to astrology when she was in high school.  A CBN.com article, relating some content from a podcast interview, stated that:

She said she was first introduced to the New Age in high school when someone she trusted in her family told her about astrology.

“They had this big … textbook of everything astrology, and they were like, ‘This describes my personality so perfectly — look what it says about you,'” Scroggins said. “I was caught off-guard, and I remember … I was like, ‘But how can this be true? If God created all of us and he made our personalities, how can a planet dictate my future or dictate my personality?'”

She said this was the first “seed of deception” the devil planted in her life, and her perspective started to shift. With her family friend stating God created astrology as a system “He put in order,” she started down what she now believes was a dangerous path.

The article says that she was an astrologer for 11 years, but still attended church. It states:

Her spiritual immaturity also led her to join in on the party lifestyle. Scroggins said “the enemy lied” and she “took his bait” and began down a negative path, getting drunk every weekend.

“The more I rebelled and lived in this party lifestyle, the more I craved astrology, the witchcraft, the divination, and all of that,” Scroggins said. “It was like this hunger exploded … it was like this black hole … I needed to be consuming it.”

She said depression soon took hold and suicidal thoughts reigned. Scroggins would find herself crying for two hours every day for no reason, as she grappled with the emptiness left by the abandonment of her relationship with the Lord.

Scroggins added, “It was like I had no reason to live.”

But, God sent someone into her life to pray for her; the article used the word, "intervening," and this was a dramatic intervention. Recognizing the spiritual warfare in which Scroggins was involved, this family friend renounced the powers of darkness and prayed for Tailah's deliverance. She says, “The depression never came back, the suicidal thoughts never came back — ever,” adding, “It’s been over six years. I was delivered...," and that “God completely healed me, set me free.” CBN reports:

Over time, she abandoned her occultic practices and clung close to Jesus. A few years later, though, she found herself alarmed by how many others were being enraptured by the same world she had escaped.

She decided to speak out online and counter these viewpoints and practices that are contrary to Scripture. Her content has received millions of views. She says:

“I was like, ‘I’m gonna share my testimony, and I’m going to expose astrology. I’m going to expose the New Age, I’m going to expose all of it,'” she said. “And I just started telling people what I went through and what God saved me from. And what came into my life when I started doing those practices — and it was all evil.”

Tailah Scroggins was worshipping the wrong things: she had been exposed to the New Age and the occult early in life, and it deeply affected her - it led from astrology to other forms of immorality, and thankfully, Christ set her free.  As He will do as we surrender to Him.  Whatever we worship instead of the One True God can become a snare to us and place us in bondage.  When you examine the spiritual dynamics of these practices that are forbidden by Scripture, you open yourself up to destructive thoughts and habits.  

But, Jesus makes available the resources to overcome.  Sometimes it will take a person or persons to walk with you - to pray, to minister, to counsel, and to hold accountable.  Astrology teaches people that they can find answers to life through the stars, through created things...true wisdom comes through the Creator Himself, who recreates us in the image of Christ as we accept Him as our Savior.  The New Age is centered on what humans can do in partnership with spiritual forces that are not aligned with God; but the true light, the light of Christ, brings us reliable truth and power.