Just for fun?

Reading time 6 minutes

Aktualisiert – December 10, 2024

One Sunday, sermon. We had different pastors in the Protestant church in Krefeld, today it was the turn of one whose sermons occasionally made you smile - and think - so they weren't boring.

He talked about his school days, which must have been before the First World War. There were pranks like that at school fire tongs punch concocted. And because a student had played a prank that went beyond the scope of such a prank, there was a corresponding thunderstorm.

The student in question justified himself with “It was just fun…”.

The teacher then took the lid off the inkwell on his standing desk, which was still in use at the time, raised the index finger of his left hand in the air and said, “I’m going to dip this finger into the inkwell just for fun.” He then raised the index finger of his right hand and said, “and now I’m seriously going to stick it in the same one.” He then raised both fingers high in the air and asked the students, “And what’s the difference now?!”

Finally a sermon where you don't count the minutes, I thought, smiled and was excited to see what would come next.

He talked about three girls. One of them had a birthday and invited her two friends. There was a circus in town for the week and the three of them decided to mix in with the colorful crowd. As was common at that time, a wagon with a gypsy woman and fortune teller could also be found among the stalls and wagons.

One of the three said, “Come on, let’s go in there!” The birthday child didn’t find the idea that exciting and made little attempt to accept the suggestion. But the other one was immediately on fire, took her in her arms and pulled her towards the fortune teller's car. “It's just fun. And besides, what she says isn’t true anyway!” The first of the three came out a few minutes later and giggled, immediately blurting out what she had been told. The second one laughed loudly and also came out grinning broadly. Now it was the third one. She reluctantly allowed herself to be pushed into the door and came out again a few minutes later - deathly pale. The two friends looked at her questioningly and tried to cheer her up on the way home. When she got home, the third member of the group sobbed and said she had been told that she would die on her next birthday. The pastor paused for a moment and surveyed his congregation below and in the gallery...

I felt hot and cold running down my spine. That was more exciting than any crime thriller!

... and continued: The next year, after the previous year's visit to the fortune teller had long since been forgotten, they celebrated their birthdays again, together with a few other classmates. It was already late, after 11 p.m., and people gradually said goodbye. Finally, one of the two friends wanted to leave when she remembered what the fortune teller had told her friend about her next birthday and said to her flippantly, “Do you remember, back at the circus, a year ago, what the fortune teller told you? “At that moment her friend fell to the ground – dead.

If I didn't know the pastor, I would have said, great story, he thought it out well. Unfortunately, I knew he didn't tell fairy tales. What he reports is true!

Astrology – just another type?

Many years later, when the first programmable calculator was released by Texas Instruments, I sat in front of the newly acquired part and wondered what could now be programmed. It had magnetic cards and even more extensive programs could fit on it. So, that had to be something real, bigger.

A friend of mine brought up astrology and horoscopes. A friend of hers has a horoscope drawn up almost every week. Sure, I thought, you know the newspaper horoscopes, there's something for everyone. Almost like the weather forecast, which is sometimes right and sometimes not. But wait, of course, that's it: calculate the positions of the stars at the time and place of your birth! I had the idea for my first major program.

At the next meeting I mentioned that I had written a program. and she immediately said, you can get started, she'll pay for it too. Well, a paid order wasn't really important to me, but I was curious about the result, especially since she had a lot of experience with horoscopes, which would allow me to estimate the quality of my statement.

Of all things, it was quick, the program ran perfectly, great! Marked as well. But where should I get the evaluation now? So I looked for relevant literature, at that time it was still in the library and bookstores, there was no Internet or even Google yet.
There were a number of books. Since I didn't know which one to choose, I decided to buy two large and one three-volume works, evaluate the horoscope with each of the three and see which evaluation was the most accurate.

It was interesting that the two thick books were partly contradictory in their interpretations. So I picked up the first and second volumes of the three-volume work. Here some of the statements from both big books came together and I had the impression that the interpretations were much more differentiated. So I gave this version to my friend to pass on to her friend. It was a so-called annual horoscope with reference to the events in the annual cycle.

Several months, a little more than a year, passed before we met again. The friend casually mentioned that I had written the horoscope for her friend back then. It was more accurate than any other before. Some events, such as the birth of a child in the third week of November, but not from the boyfriend at the time, changing careers, moving within the same city, etc. had exactly occurred.

Coincidence, I thought, what influence should the positions and relationships of the stars have on our fate?! Nonsense. So another attempt: horoscope created for another person, without their knowledge and without knowing the result. This meant that it could at least be ruled out that knowledge of the content could possibly cause the so-called self-fulfilling prophecy.

However, the horoscope revealed an unexpected peculiarity: a birth was indicated on a certain day and a death a short time later. The latter event is considered taboo among astrologers to tell the person concerned. Now of course I wanted to know exactly, that wasn't something to be trifled with, not even without telling you. So I calculated the daily horoscope and got the hour of the event. Since these were still months in advance, time passed and I didn't think about them anymore.

A few years later the conversation turned to these events and I remembered the calculations. So I rummaged through the now dusty folder because it was no longer used and looked for the horoscope. Since I was now informed about the exact times, I could subsequently see how accurate the calculation was.

The accuracy was 100 percent. Now it was clear to me why the first horoscope had been so comprehensively accurate. The “source” was the solution to the puzzle, the three-volume work. I understood that the darkness was the carrier of every information in these books.

So I took all the books related to it, including the file folder, and burned everything.

No, it's not fun to get involved in such things!

The adversary knows exactly how to deceive people, how to lure and manipulate them. He himself tried it with Jesus, although in vain, because Jesus knew his Father's word exactly. Satan sometimes leaves out just one word in order to deceive people about God's Word, distorting facts and presenting false facts.

How does he know what will happen to man? Well, he was ultimately one of God's angels and therefore had all the knowledge and skills like all other angels. While the Word of God clearly states that anyone who engages in such things is an abomination to God, the Adversary promises to reveal the secrets - and he does it through people who have dedicated themselves to him and accepted his service.

Damit bringt er die Menschen unter seine Macht. Natürlich begeistert es den Menschen Einblick in die Zukunft zu erhalten. Wer ist nicht neugierig, wer möchte nicht JETZT wissen, was ihn erwartet, um entsprechend gewappnet zu sein oder Situationen vermeiden zu können!? Letztlich aber werden sie in Angst und Schrecken versetzt, sobald sie ahnen, dass es hier (doc) nicht mit rechten Dingen zugehen kann.
They soon become addicted, become delinquents or commit suicide after taking refuge in white, supposedly good, magic in the hope of escaping this vicious circle. For example, they draw circles of light around themselves to escape the powers (demons) of darkness until they have to realize that there is no escape.
Only very few people make the jump through great and long struggles, psychological and physical, back to Jesus, the ONLY Savior from such hardships.

I have met such people and experienced many things that I would not wish on anyone. It's really no fun - and sometimes ends fatally.

Therefore: when you are in trouble, the only thing that helps is Jesus' blood, which was shed for the forgiveness of ALL sins, so that we sinners can be righteous before God's eyes and be able to be with Him in eternity. Amen.