Even if something gets a lot of publicity by setting a “world record,” it’s not necessarily the best thing for you.
That might seem obvious, but the editors at Geek.com might not have considered this when they recently touted a dubious achievement: the recent unveiling of the “World’s Largest Ouija Board” at an outdoor display in Salem, Massachusetts.
“What’s heavier than an elephant, longer than a Brontosaurus, and large enough to park five full-sized 18-wheelers?” asks the tech-focused website. “The world’s largest Ouija board, of course.” The creation is nicknamed “Ouijazilla.”
According to the news article, “The beast of a board weighs approximately 9,000 pounds, measures 3,168 square feet, and lives in the heart of the Salem Common park, where folks are invited to pose with the behemoth toy.” Salem, also known as the “Witch City” because of the “witch trials” held there in the seventeenth century, was the epicenter of Ouija board manufacturing from 1966 to 1991.
According to creator Rick “Ormortis” Schreck, who is a vice president of the Talking Board Historical Society, the goal was to make a board larger than the previous world-record holder, which sits atop a “haunted” hotel in Windber, Pennsylvania.
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Artist Was “Possessed” by Project
On the group’s website, one article states, “In the classic style of the original Ouija board, first patented in 1890, Ouijazilla is fully operational, 100 [percent] constructed of wood and hand-painted by renowned New Jersey tattoo-artist Rick Schreck. Possessed by the spirit of the project, Schreck has invested hundreds of hours over the past year, enlisting the help of his family … to finally realize his dream.”
The Geek.com article adds, “Introduced in 1890, the Ouija board was regarded as a parlor game unrelated to the occult. … American spiritualist Pearl Curran popularized its use as a divining tool during World War I. Now, every kid in the country has had a go on the planchette, waiting to see what words the board will spell (then arguing over who actually pushed the plastic piece).”
We’re not sure that “every kid in the country has had a go” at what is now widely regarded as a spiritualist divining game, but there’s no denying that the Ouija board is a fixture in popular culture.
According to Ripley’s Believe It or Not website, Schreck fully knew what he was getting into: “In 1985, at just 15 years old, Rick bought his first Ouija board. Infatuated with the idea and history of witchcraft, he turned to the library at Cedar Ridge High School for more information—because what high school doesn’t have a Satanism and Witchcraft section? As he continued to expand his knowledge of the subject, Rick’s social circle grew to include other like-minded individuals.”
Noting that actual mediums used coffin lids to construct their own “talking boards,” Schreck has a coffin in his workshop from which he hopes to create another board sometime soon.
Mediumship Is a Deadly Business, Bible Says
The readers of Geek.com and Ripley’s might get a chuckle out of “Ouijazilla,” but people serious about their faith shouldn’t laugh. The Bible warns, time and again, against mediumship and trying to find inspiration from anyone other than God.
Leviticus 19:31 says, “Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.” Such “familiar spirits,” contacts through a medium or through a device such as the Ouija board, would “defile” the person contacting them.
The Bible offers a better answer for those seeking to discern God’s will for their lives. “When they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:19, 20).
In Revelation 21:8, you will find a list of all sorts of people who will taste the “second death”—that is, eternal separation from God. On that list are “sorcerers” and “idolaters,” which suggests that involvement with the occult is not a good thing.
At this time of year, with Halloween taking such prominence in marketing and media, little attention is drawn to the spiritual consequences of such activities as mediumship and “talking boards.” As noted in a previous blog, an astonishing 24 percent of Christians who call themselves “evangelical” believe so-called psychics are genuine, revealing massive miseducation and a tragic lack of biblical discernment.
For those still seeking answers on what to do with psychics, mediums, astrologers and the like, our free online Bible study “Does God Inspire Astrologers and Psychics?” will be a helpful, easy-to-follow resource.
And this audio sermon on spiritualism, by Amazing Facts’ first speaker Pastor Joe Crews, will also offer useful guidance. His counsel: “The dead are sleeping. They are not conscious at all. There is no communication at all between the living and the dead. Don’t let anybody make you think there is.”
Can we talk to dead relatives?