QUESTIONS: Re Mind-Reading & Bach’s Flower Remedies

I received the following questions from Marilyn via our church webpage, http://www.plymouth-church.com.

I have friends in a Pentecostal church who can can read minds etc. Is this Biblical? I thought that kind of thing was forbidden. Also can a Christian use Bach’s flower remedies. I have been told that they are demonic.

Dear Marilyn,

Thank you for your questions.

First, is mind-reading Biblical?

I know of nothing in the Scripture that would suggest mind-reading is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit – unless it would be the gift of “distinguishing between spirits” (1 Corinthians 12:10).

I understand this, not to be mind-reading, but to be discerning whether a “spirit” is from God or from the Devil. We are urged to “test every spirit to see if it is of God” (1 John 4:19). We test spirits by the tests Moses gave for false prophets and that Jesus gave for fruit-inspection:

1. Does the prophet speak in the name of the Lord?
2. Do the prophet’s words agree with the known words of God?
3. If the prophet predicts the future, does what he say will happen actually happen?
4. What is the “fruit” of this person? Is it good or evil?

You can see these things discussed in the Scripture in Deuteronomy 13:1-5 & 18:21-22 as well as in Matthew 7:15-21. Galatians 5:22-24 describes the fruit of the Spirit, which should be in a man who is following the Holy Spirit of God. A contrast between the fruit of God’s Spirit and the fruit of other spirits appears in James 3:13-18.

Contrary to teaching mind-reading, the Bible says:

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him. In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. – 1 Corinthians 2:11

We cannot know the mind of God unless God reveals it to us. We cannot know what a man is thinking unless he reveals it to us by telling us what is on his mind.

Showmen who claim to be able to read minds use tricks and codes of various kinds to narrow things down to where they can say things that make it appear they are reading minds – but they are not. They work with an accomplice who feeds them the information in coded format.

Second, are Bach’s flower remedies demonic?

I had never heard of Bach’s flower remedies until I received your question. With a little research, I learned some of the claims made for these “remedies” that are made by boiling flower petals in water, allowing sunlight to pass through the water and then diluting this “essence” many times and possibly mixing it with brandy.

Retail price: $15.70 Our price: $9.18

Wickipedia reports, “Vendors claim that the remedies contain “energetic” nature of the flower and that this can be transmitted to the user.” [Emphasis added.] Note that the claims come from people who hope to profit greatly from the easily manufactured product.

In this, the claims appear to be similar to those made for concoctions used by witches to cast spells. As such, it would tend to have a similar theoretical foundation as some demon-inspired things: that is that physical elements have power over a person’s spirit.

Is this Biblical? Paul wrote meat offered to idols as offered to demons. Worshipers of the idols, or demons, would eat the meat in worship to those idols. Paul did not want the Corinthians to be participants in such worship (see 1 Corinthians 10:18-20).

Yet, as he continued in this context, he said,

“Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for ‘the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it‘” (1 Corinthians 10:25-26).

In other words, when you go to the market, you do not need to ask if what you are buying had been sacrificed to an idol.

On the other hand, if you are dining with some one who tells you that the food he is serving has been offered in an idol-temple, then you should abstain – not because you think an idol is anything, but because of the conscience of the man who offers it to you thinking that in eating it, you are worshiping the idol. See 1 Corinthians 10:27-30.

There is really nothing it the Bach’s flower remedies that make them sinful. If someone thinks, though, that these crushed flowers give them some spiritual power that does not come from their fellowship with God, then to whom do they attribute this power? If it is not from God, then it is from the devil – and we need to avoid that.

The problem here is not in the flowers – but in the user’s attitude toward the flowers that would make their use into a form of sorcery. See Deuteronomy 18:9-13 for God’s warning to Israel against such things.

My wife often buys flavored waters – peach, cherry, lime, etc. These partake of the flavor of the fruit, which she enjoys. As such, these flavored waters are harmless. If, however, she began to think that these waters possessed some “spiritual power” that would make her a stronger or better person than she could be without them, that would be a different story.

I believe we can say the same thing of the use of Bach’s flower remedies. Ask, “What are they remedying? How are they remedying it?” The answer you give should tell you if you are looking to these to do what God should be doing for you. If you are using them as a substitute for God, then to you they are demonic.

I hope that these few thoughts will be of some help to you as you pursue your walk with God.

Respectfully yours,

Jerry Starling