There are several people who look for rahukalam or muhurtham-the auspicious time for a wedding, house warming, laying of the foundation stone and for every such occasion. There are couples who wait for the rahukalam to be over to enter the Church and, after the wedding, wait on the road for the auspicious moment to step into the house. Who is the saviour for such people? Is Christ a stranger to them? Time and season are all his. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end"(Rev 21:6). Biding one’s time for every little thing! The word of the diviner is the criterion to gauge life’s ills! If he says the position or site of the house is not correct, all the problems thereafter are attributed to this verdict.

Do people, who build houses or flats on two or three cents in the cities, consult a diviner? There are others who put their trust in what the stars foretell or the horoscope or palmistry. They are ready to shell out huge sums for these purposes. Such people are eager to know the future – when will the wedding or the construction of the house take place, at what age will they die and similar matters. When parents are told that their life span will be shortened because of the horoscope of the newborn child, the infant certainly becomes a curse to them.

We see some scarecrows placed in front of palatial buildings under construction, and in fields where there is promise of a good crop. They are meant to keep off the evil eye. The building may collapse because of the poor material used or the lack of expertise of the workers and not because of anyone’s envy. When there was a good harvest, the poor neighbour must have innocently remarked, "There’s a good crop this year!" If the crop has been insect-infested, the blame is put on the neighbour’s evil eye! Again, to counteract this menace some decayed fruits are placed publicly on the crossroads. Naturally, when trees bear fruit, insects and flies abound and deposit their eggs which, in due course, breed worms. Use of insecticides, when flowering time comes round, can prevent this sort of disaster . It is no use blaming the neighbour.

To another category belong people who are mentally tortured. They take an abdominal pain to be the result of witchcraft and sometimes after years of enduring the pain, go to sorcerers to vomit the charmed morsel of food. All food stuff naturally gets digested and is thrown out in 24 hours. How can witchcraft succeed in retaining the particular food item for so long?

At times mental illness, leprosy or skin ailments are attributed to the discovey of hidden treasures. Centuries ago, people had no safety measures like banks to preserve their wealth. Perhaps these treasures must have been buried in jars and hidden in the earth. If, by happy chance, you dig the ground and discover a pot of gold, why should the Lord punish you for it ? If you come to know it belongs to someone, you should not make use of it, but return it to him. Some who bear the burden of such a discovery go to diviners, accept their advice and cooly divide the treasure between themselves giving one share for the church or temple!

Let us see what the Bible says to those who are thus misled: " You shall not practise augury or witchcraft" (Lev 19:26). "Do not turn to mediums or wizards; do not seek them out, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God"(Lev 19:31). "If any turn to mediums and wizards, prostituting themselves to them, I will set my face against them, and will cut them off from the people"(Lev 20:6). "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel"(Num 23:23).

Even those who claim to be firm believers, go astray and fall into erroneous beliefs in the midst of suffering. The Lord says to such people who, like the house of Israel, shall be ashamed for they "say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth’. For they have turned their backs to me, and not their faces. But in the time of their trouble they say, ‘Come and save us!’ But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them come, if they can save you, in your time of trouble; for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah" (Jer 2:27-28). Perhaps each of the Lord’s words, is in a sense, being fulfilled in every retreat centre today. It is a common experience to see people flocking to the Lord when medicine and witchcraft fail.

In some places there are amusing superstitions in vogue. If someone dies on a Tuesday, he will take another person with him . Therefore, to avoid a second death, a cock is killed and placed near the hearse and buried with the corpse! The dead wife will come in search of the husband and so the husband changes his abode for one night! These are only a few examples.

If only people knew such superstitions are against the first commandment! "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deut 6:4-5).

The people of God should try to be delivered from such erroneous beliefs and attain the new heaven and the new earth and journey towards the heavenly Jerusalem where there is no death or illness, pain or weeping (cf Rev 21:1).