The Real Danger of Using a Fortune Teller Isn’t Just The Fortune You Pay

The Real Danger of Using a Fortune Teller Isn’t Just The Fortune You Pay

Church of the Undead

The Real Danger of Using a Fortune Teller Isn’t Just The Fortune You Pay

Two psychics drained their victims of over $600,000 by claiming to remove deadly curses, but the real danger wasn’t supernatural at all.

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Listen to “The Real Danger of Using a Fortune Teller Isn’t Just The Fortune You Pay” on Spreaker.

I hand over another envelope. Inside, $3,000 in cash this time. Naomi takes it without counting, her rings catching the light as she tucks it into her desk drawer with all the others. She’s already explained why she needs the money. The curse blocking my marriage is stronger than she initially thought. More powerful. More ancient. It requires rare materials, specific rituals, items that hold spiritual significance.

I’ve given her jewelry. Concert tickets I had intended to give my spouse for our anniversary. Gift cards. That expensive Christmas gift I’d planned to give our son for Christmas. My grandmother’s wedding ring. She promised everything would be returned once the curse lifted. That was eight months ago.

My marriage still feels fragile. My business still struggles. The happiness I’m desperate for still hovers just out of reach. But Naomi assures me we’re making progress. These things take time. Spiritual warfare isn’t won overnight. The darkness fighting against my future won’t surrender easily. I just need to be patient. Have faith. Trust the process. She’s seen cases like mine before, she says. They always work out. I just need to keep going, keep believing, keep investing in my spiritual freedom.

The frustration gnaws at me some days. Shouldn’t I see results by now? But then I remember what Naomi said: doubt is exactly what the curse wants. Skepticism feeds it. If I lose faith now, everything I’ve invested will be wasted. So I push the questions away. I write another check. I gather more items she requests. I wait. I believe. I trust that my answer will eventually come.

I just need to be patient and have faith.

The story I’ve just told you is not my story – but it is a true story that happened not to a man, but to a woman… desperate, fragile, and easy pickings for a skilled con artist. But more than the money that she spent, there is something a lot more valuable that this woman has been spending on the psychic.

We live in a world where people are searching. Desperate, sometimes. Looking for answers about tomorrow, about love, about whether things will turn out okay. And there are always people ready to take advantage of that desperation. Today we’re going to talk about two of them, what happened to the people who trusted them, and what God’s Word has to say about the whole mess.

A Simple Phone Call

Now for the true story that I based my introduction upon.

September 2022 in Pennsylvania. A woman picks up the phone and dials a number for Jenkintown Psychic Visions. She wants a reading. Nothing unusual. The business operates out of 475 Old York Road, charging $75 for a phone consultation. Seems reasonable if you’re into purchasing that kind of thing on a regular basis.

The woman on the other end calls herself Naomi. Her actual name is Gina Marie Marks. Marks reads tarot cards during these sessions, but she’s also using something called cold reading. This isn’t magic or supernatural power. It’s psychology, plain and simple.

Cold reading works by watching how someone responds to vague statements. The reader notices body language, listens to speech patterns, picks up on what makes a person react. When something resonates, they dig deeper. When they miss, they move past it quickly enough that the client forgets. Done skillfully (and Gina Marie Marks is, indeed skilled), it creates the illusion of reading someone’s soul when really the reader is just observing reactions.

Over several sessions, Gina Marks learns everything she needs to know about her client. The woman is in love. She desperately wants her marriage to work. She has fears, hopes, anxieties that she can’t quite articulate.

Gina finds the pressure point. Gina Marks has an appropriate surname – because Marks just found another mark.

The Diagnosis

After those initial readings, Gina Marks (whom I’ll just refer to as Gina from now on) delivers her verdict. A powerful curse is blocking the woman’s path to happiness. Love keeps slipping away because of this curse. Worse, if nothing gets done, the curse will destroy her marriage, wreck her business, tear apart her family.

The woman believes her.

For the next 11 months, Gina demands payment after payment. Money, obviously. But also jewelry. Clothing. Concert tickets. Gift cards. Gina explains that these items hold “power” and serve as conduits for removing the evil. She needs personal belongings to complete the rituals. Don’t worry, she says, everything will be returned.

Nothing ever gets returned.

Partway through this nightmare, Gina tells her client that the case is too complex to handle alone. She brings in her partner, a man she calls Stephan. His actual name is Steve Nicklas and he lives at the same Old York Road address where the business operates. Some of the money and luxury items go directly to him.

This continues from September 23, 2022, to August 31, 2023. Nearly a year of curse cleansings and spiritual interventions and protective rituals.

Total amount taken from this one woman: $595,959.

Where the Money Goes

Montgomery County detectives eventually pull financial records from Cash App and Nicklas’ Navy Federal Credit Union account. They discover deposits flowing in from the victims, then flowing right back out in predictable directions.

Thousands of dollars went to FanDuel, the sports betting site. ATM withdrawals at Parx Casino totaled $17,000. The curse removal business, apparently, funded gambling habits and personal spending sprees.

These two are claiming they can see the future, predict outcomes, tap into supernatural knowledge about what’s coming. And they’re spending the money on sports betting? And the lottery? If you can actually see the future, you don’t need FanDuel. You just need a bookie and a really good lawyer. And if you could predict the lottery numbers, what are you doing charging $75 for a phone reading out of a strip mall office? You’d be on a yacht somewhere, not running a curse removal business in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. The fact that they’re gambling tells you everything about their psychic abilities.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Pennsylvania, a woman who gave away nearly $600,000 still believes she paid to save her marriage.

The Second Target

The Montgomery County Detective Bureau gets wind of this on Christmas Eve 2024. Detectives opening case files while the rest of us are opening presents. That’s dedication right there.

As they dig into the case, the police find another victim.

This woman first contacts Jenkintown Psychic Visions on June 10, 2023. That’s while Gina is still working the first victim. Apparently when you’re running a curse removal business, you can multitask.

Gina tells her new client to send photographs and personal details. The sessions run from June 2023 through February 2024.

The photo requests get increasingly personal. Marks makes what investigators later call “unorthodox requests” for rituals. When law enforcement has to use the word “unorthodox” to describe your spiritual practices – especially if it involves photos, you’ve probably crossed a line somewhere.

Then come the demands for cash. And a Chanel purse. Because apparently curses are very fashion-conscious and won’t respond to just any accessories. The demons have standards, ya know.

When the woman hesitates, Gina threatens her. Your reputation will be ruined, Gina says. There will be untold personal and tragic consequences. Very ominous… but very unspecific. Which is odd, if they can see the future.

This victim loses $18,000.

How We Fall for It

Before we get too high and mighty about how these naive women got scammed, we need to understand something. This works because we’re all vulnerable in certain ways. Every single one of us is naive in some area of our lives.

The Barnum effect describes how people accept vague personality descriptions as uniquely applicable to themselves, even when those same descriptions could fit almost anyone. Gina can say, “At times you feel confident, but other times you doubt yourself.”

Who can’t relate to that? It’s the emotional equivalent of saying “you’re a human being who experiences the full range of human emotions.” Groundbreaking insight.

Next time someone says they got an incredibly accurate horoscope reading, ask to see it. Then read it while pretending it’s your sign instead of theirs. I guarantee it’ll feel just as accurate for you. That’s because it’s written like a fortune cookie – vague enough to apply to everyone, specific enough to feel personal.

A skilled cold reader starts with broad statements and watches for micro-reactions. A flicker of recognition in the eyes. A shift in posture. A change in breathing. They elaborate on what lands and glide past what doesn’t. The client (or mark) remembers the hits and forgets the misses. Over time, this creates a powerful illusion of genuine supernatural insight.

If I make ten predictions and two of them are right, you’ll remember those two and tell all your friends about how I knew things I couldn’t possibly know. You’ll likely forget the eight times I was completely wrong. That’s not psychic ability. That’s selective memory combined with confirmation bias. We all do it.

The industry itself is massive. The psychic services industry in the United States generates approximately $2.3 billion in annual revenue. That’s billion with a B. For context, that’s more than the entire global revenue of fortune cookies, which is ironic considering they basically do the same thing.

According to a Pew Research Center survey, over 20 percent of Americans consult a psychic or fortune-teller, and 41 percent of Americans believe in psychics.

We’re talking about your neighbors, your coworkers, maybe your family members. Possibly the person sitting next to you right now, maybe you… though I can’t be sure because despite what some people think, pastors don’t actually have psychic abilities. They just pretend they can read minds during counseling sessions. And I’m not a real pastor.

Most psychic businesses offer harmless entertainment or guidance. But the same psychological techniques that make a reading feel authentic can be weaponized.

John Livingood, a former police chief who investigated dozens of fortune teller fraud cases, told NBC10 that historically, most psychic fraudsters who were arrested or charged got minimal consequences. A slap on the wrist, maybe probation. Actual jail time was rare unless the dollar amounts got high enough to make headlines.

Many simply moved to a new city and started over. Which is impressively bold when you think about it. “Sorry, got caught scamming people in Cleveland. Time to set up shop in Pittsburgh under a slightly different fake name. I’m sure nobody will notice.” And apparently, nobody did.

The Pattern

Fortune telling fraud follows a consistent structure. The classic version goes like this: the fortune teller tells the mark that the curse lives in their money. Bring cash in a bag, we’ll cast a spell over it. The mark leaves with a bag of worthless paper. Of course, that only works if you’re not planning a long con and have bus tickets to leave immediately after your client’s hour is up.

Gina and Stephen are much more sophisticated.

I don’t know if they used this method, but sometimes the con artist “proves” a curse exists on the client through sleight of hand, often involving an egg that gets cracked open to reveal rot or disturbing symbols.

Ancient mystical rituals apparently involve rotten eggs. Very spiritual. Very powerful. Also available at any grocery store where they don’t rotate their stock properly.

A 1996 court decision from Hawaii called this “a centuries old confidence game that victimized the elderly or those with emotional problems.” The wording of that judicial opinion (‘centuries old confidence game”) reveals just how long courts have been dealing with these cases. People have been running this scam since before America was a country. It’s been around so long it probably qualifies as a tradition at this point. Give it enough time and we’ll probably have a “national psychic day”. Oh… wait… it does exist? It’s the first Sunday in August each year? We Americans will celebrate anything, won’t we? Is there a national con-artist day too? Never mind, I don’t want to know. On the plus side, every May 8th is Scam Survivor Day – so… anyway.

In 2002, two California psychics faced federal mail fraud charges after convincing people to pay for bad karma removal. I’m pretty sure that’s a great way to get bad karma.

In 2006, two women in Connecticut told another woman that God would kill her unless she paid them to perform rituals, including chicken sacrifices. A Texas woman got two and a half years in federal prison for running a psychic hotline that collected counseling fees while also convincing clients to send money and property for spiritual cleansing. I hear she’s getting out the first Sunday of next August.

The targets are always vulnerable. Grieving people. Lonely people. People facing financial stress or relationship problems. The con artists exploit the exact circumstances that drove victims to seek help in the first place. They build trust through the illusion of special knowledge, then leverage that trust to extract escalating payments.

There’s a psychological trap involved too. Once someone has invested emotionally and financially, it becomes harder to walk away. They’ve already put in so much. Surely it will work if they just give a little more. This is the sunk cost fallacy, and scammers exploit it ruthlessly.

Same reason we keep watching a terrible movie just because we’ve already invested 45 minutes in it. “Maybe it gets better in the third act.” No it doesn’t. It’s terrible. But we’ve come this far, so we might as well see how it ends. Except with psychic scams, the ending costs you $600,000 and your grandmother’s wedding ring.

The Arrests

Gina Marks and Steve Nicklas were arrested in New Jersey in late September 2025. They got extradited to Pennsylvania earlier this month on October 7. The next day, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Jenkintown Police Chief Thomas M. Scott held a press conference announcing the charges.

The list was substantial: Corrupt Organizations, Dealing in the Proceeds of Unlawful Activities, Theft by Unlawful Taking, Theft by Deception, Receiving Stolen Property, Conspiracy to Commit Theft, and Fortune Telling.

That last one is interesting. Fortune Telling remains a criminal offense in Pennsylvania. Most jurisdictions treat fortune telling itself as protected speech under the First Amendment – you can tell people whatever nonsense you want about their future as long as you’re not actively defrauding them. The line into criminality happens when practitioners make specific false claims about their abilities, threaten victims, or engage in clear fraud for financial gain.

So basically, you can tell people they’re going to meet a tall dark stranger and find true love. That’s legal. But you can’t tell them they need to pay you $50,000 or the tall dark stranger will actually be the Grim Reaper. That crosses the line.

Both defendants were arraigned on October 7 before Magisterial District Judge Jodi L. Griffis. Gina’s bail got set at 10 percent of $50,000. Steve’s bail was 10 percent of $25,000. They both posted bail and walked out. They had the money, after all.

Lauren A. Wimmer, Steve’s attorney, released a statement. “Mr. Nicklas denies any involvement in this alleged scheme and maintains his complete innocence. We intend to challenge the accusations vigorously in court, where the facts, not assumptions or headlines, will speak for themselves.” I guess there’s no honor among thieves after all.

District Attorney Steele put it plainly: “These defendants, through their con scheme, preyed on people who were looking for help, guidance and hope, exploiting them for financial gain. They are now going to be held accountable for their actions.”

Detective Jonathan Kelcy’s affidavit laid out the emotional manipulation in stark terms. “Worst of all, Gina Marks allegedly used the victim’s love for another and desperate desire to remain married, to emotionally abuse her, to mentally weaken her and to expertly steal her money.”

The Uncomfortable Questions

Defense attorney Robert Gottlieb once represented a psychic accused of fraud in a different case. During an NPR interview, he asked something that makes people uncomfortable: “What’s the difference between what a psychic is doing for people who voluntarily pay good money for peace of mind and what a televangelist provides?”

Eww… That one stings.

It’s a fair question, even if no one wants to answer it. And as a fake preacher, I’ll tell you: there’s a massive difference, but only if the person claiming to speak for God is actually teaching God’s Word correctly.

If someone is using God’s name to manipulate people, take their money, and give them false hope? That person is doing exactly what the psychic is doing, just with a Christian wrapper. And God will hold them accountable even more severely, because they’re not just scamming people, they’re blaspheming God’s name while doing it.. and putting people’s souls in jeopardy.

If you’ve ever watched one of those prosperity gospel preachers on TV promising that if you just send them money, God will make you rich – that’s the same scam in a different costume. “Sow your seed faith gift of $1,000 and watch God pour out blessings!” That’s not the gospel. That’s a fortune teller with better production values and a tax exemption.

But when someone teaches the Bible faithfully, points people to Jesus, encourages them to seek God directly rather than depending on any human intermediary? That’s the complete opposite of what a psychic does. A faithful teacher says “don’t put your trust in me, put your trust in God.”

That’s why I start these weekly messages by saying, “don’t take what I say as gospel; dig into God’s word yourself for confirmation, inspiration, and revelation.”

A psychic says “you need me to access spiritual truth.” Which brings me to the whole point of telling you this long, drawn out story.

Jesus never took money to tell people’s fortunes. He gave His life to save people from their sins. That’s the difference.

I’m a fake pastor of an online cult of Weirdos in Christ, and I don’t know next week’s lottery numbers. I can’t tell you who you’re going to marry or when you’re going to get that promotion. I don’t have a hotline to heaven where I can call up deceased relatives for a chat. If I did, I’d have some questions for that John guy about a few confusing passages in the book of Revelation, but that’s not how any of this works.

The legal system generally protects fortune telling as free speech. Proving criminal intent is challenging. Victims have to be willing to come forward and testify, which many won’t do. Embarrassment is part of it. But also, some victims just never stop believing (and I apologize for that Journey song now being stuck in your head). The victim was convinced the practitioner had real abilities, that the rituals were genuine, that they just ran out of money before the cure could take effect.

Montgomery County authorities think there might be more victims in this particular case. They’ve asked anyone who dealt with Gina or Steve (or as their clients would know them, “Naomi and Stephen”) to come forward.

And that’s the tragedy here. Somewhere out there, someone is still trapped in that lie, still believing they need what only God can provide. Still handing over money. Still waiting for a breakthrough that will never come from that source.

What God Says About All This

Let’s talk about what really matters. Because whether Gina and Steve had any real supernatural abilities or whether they were pure frauds, God’s Word is crystal clear on this subject. And it might surprise some people to know that the Bible actually assumes some of these practitioners might have real power. The question isn’t always whether it’s real. The question is where that power comes from.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 says, “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord.”

Notice the language. God doesn’t say “don’t do this because it’s fake.” He says don’t do this because it’s detestable to Him. There’s a difference.

And if you’re a practitioner listening and your angry with me right now – just know that this is not me and my opinion. That’s God, and I’m just quoting Him. Your issue is not with me, it’s with your Creator. My opinion matters not.

Likewise, if you are listening and not a practitioner but angry with me right now because I shared that – just know that this is not me and my opinion. That’s God, and I’m just quoting Him. Your issue is not with me, it’s with your Creator. And I say this not to shut you down, but because I care enough to tell you the truth – which is what the rest of this message is about.

In Acts 16:16, Luke records encountering “a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.” This girl had real abilities. Her ability to penetrate mysteries was due to a demon that controlled her. Paul eventually cast out that demon, freeing the girl from spiritual bondage.

Some psychics are absolutely con artists, plain and simple. They’re using psychological tricks, cold reading, vague statements, and manipulation. They have no more supernatural power than your average telemarketer. And honestly? Those folks might be in better shape spiritually than the ones with real abilities, because at least they’re not actually trafficking with demons. (Although that is borderline if they are a telemarketer.)

If you’re pretending to have powers you don’t have, you’re just a regular liar. Not great, but manageable. But if you actually have supernatural abilities that come from demonic sources? That’s like being upset that your counterfeit money got rejected, and then being told “actually, that money IS real, but you stole it from the mob.” Congratulations, your situation just got exponentially worse.

But some practitioners might have real supernatural abilities. They might genuinely see things, know things, predict things. And that’s actually more dangerous, not less. Because divination in any form is sin. It is not harmless entertainment or an alternate source of wisdom.

If you’re getting genuine supernatural information from a source that isn’t God, you’re getting it from somewhere else. And there are only two teams in the spiritual realm. There’s God’s team and there’s the opposition. There’s no neutral Switzerland in spiritual warfare. You’re either getting your information from heaven or from hell, and if it’s not coming from God, well, that narrows down your options considerably.

Scripture explicitly forbids divination, sorcery, and other occult practices because these acts demonstrate a lack of trust in God’s sovereignty and provision.

The Christian’s Response

If you’re following Jesus, this gets even more serious. We’re not just supposed to avoid this stuff because it’s dangerous. We’re supposed to avoid it because we have something infinitely better.

God desires His people to seek HIM for wisdom and guidance rather than turning to fortune tellers or other ungodly practices. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Consider what we’re saying when we consult a psychic, use a Ouija board, check our horoscope, or get a tarot reading. We’re saying “God, I don’t trust You enough to guide my life, so I’m going to ask this other spiritual source instead.” And that breaks God’s heart, because He loves us and wants to lead us.

James 1:5 states, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” We have direct access to the Creator of the universe. Why would we settle for knocking on the devil’s door?

We’ve got the Holy Spirit living inside us if we’re believers. We’ve got the Bible, which is God’s actual Word to us. We’ve got prayer, where we can talk directly to God anytime, anywhere. And yet we’re tempted to pay $75 to have someone read tarot cards over the phone?

We have a smartphone with unlimited data, but we’re choosing to use a pay phone that only connects to a telemarketer. We have a direct line to the CEO, but we’re getting our information from the sketchy guy in the parking lot who claims he knows the CEO’s cousin. We own a Michelin-star restaurant, but we’re eating out of a dumpster behind a gas station.

Actually, that last one might be too generous. At least dumpster food is free. This costs you money AND your spiritual health.

I know what some folks are thinking. “But it’s just for fun. I don’t really believe in it.” If you went to a church that taught false doctrine, would you go “just for fun”? If someone invited you to a satanic ritual, would you attend “just to see what it’s like”?

“Oh, I don’t actually worship Satan, I just enjoy the ambiance. The candles are nice. The chanting is catchy. Basically like a really intense karaoke night.” No. Absolutely not. We wouldn’t do that.

Christians should avoid any practice related to divination, including fortune-telling, astrology, witchcraft, tarot cards, necromancy, and spell-casting.

The Bible is specific about this. Not vague. Not ambiguous. Specific.

Ephesians 5:8, “For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!”

Grace for Those Who’ve Been There

If you’re listening to this and you’ve consulted psychics, used tarot cards, messed with Ouija boards, followed astrology, or gotten involved in any occult practices, I want you to hear this clearly: God offers complete forgiveness and freedom from all of it.

In Acts 19, the New Living Translation states, “Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. A number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars.”

These early Christians had been deep into the occult. And when they came to Jesus, they didn’t hide their past. They confessed it, renounced it, and publicly destroyed the tools they’d used. The value of those books was several million dollars in today’s money. That’s how serious they were about breaking free.

These people took books worth millions of dollars and set them on fire. They didn’t try to sell them on eBay. They didn’t donate them to a museum. They didn’t keep them “just in case” or as “conversation pieces.” They burned them.

That’s commitment. Someone today taking their $50,000 sports car and pushing it into a lake because they realized they’d been using it for drag racing and it represented their old life. Most of us can barely throw away expired coupons, and these people are having million-dollar bonfires.

And what happened next? 1 Corinthians 6:11, “Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

That’s the power of the Gospel. It doesn’t matter how deep you’ve gone into darkness. Jesus’ light is brighter. His blood covers every sin. His grace is sufficient for every mistake.

I don’t care if you’ve been to every psychic in your state. I don’t care if you’ve got a room full of tarot decks, crystal balls, and Ouija boards. I don’t care if you’ve been practicing witchcraft for 30 years. Jesus can save you right now, this moment, and wash all of that away.

Grace is free, but it’s not cheap. It cost Jesus everything. And when we receive it, we’re called to turn away from the old life and walk in newness of life. James 4:7-8, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you.”

If you’re serious about following Jesus, you can’t keep one foot in the occult “just in case.” You can’t have Jesus on Sunday and your horoscope app on Monday. You can’t pray to God but also light candles to other spirits. It’s all or nothing. Pick a team.

A Word for Practitioners

If you’re listening to this and you work as a psychic, medium, astrologer, tarot reader, or any other form of divination – I know you’re angry right now. You might be thinking “I’m not like those scammers. I genuinely help people. I have integrity. I charge fair prices. I’m sincere. And you’re a judgmental idiot!”

Well first, it’s not me that’s judging – it’s God. And second, yes, I’m an idiot – but that has nothing to do with this message.

I believe you probably are sincere. Most of you are NOT con artists. You’re not Gina Marks or Steve Nicklas deliberately destroying people’s lives for casino money. You genuinely believe you’re helping people find peace, comfort, and guidance. Your motives are pure.

But sincerity doesn’t make something right. As the cliché goes, “You can sincerely believe in something… and you can be sincerely wrong.”

Here’s what I’d ask you to consider: WHERE is your power actually coming from? Not where you THINK it’s coming from or what you’ve been told – but where is it REALLY SOURCED?

If you have genuine supernatural abilities – and some of you might – they’re not coming from a neutral universe or from “the light” or from departed spirits trying to help. There are only two sources of supernatural power: God or demons. And God has explicitly forbidden these practices, which means if the power is real, it’s not from Him.

That’s a hard truth. But consider this: Have your abilities brought you peace? Deep, lasting peace? Or do you struggle with anxiety, depression, spiritual oppression? Do you ever feel drained, exhausted, or disturbed by what you see or sense? That’s not what comes from God. What comes from God renews you – it refreshes you.

Here’s my advice: Ask God to show you the truth. Really ask Him. “God, if what I’m doing is wrong, show me. If this power comes from darkness instead of light, reveal it to me.” And then be willing to accept the answer, even if it costs you your livelihood.

Because here’s what I can promise you: Jesus can set you free from whatever spiritual bondage you’re in. He can give you a new purpose, a new calling, a new way to help people that doesn’t require trafficking with darkness. The early Christians in Acts 19 burned millions of dollars worth of occult materials because they discovered something infinitely more valuable – freedom in Christ.

You don’t have to keep doing this. There’s a way out. And it leads to Someone who actually loves you and wants what’s best for you, not what’s best for the kingdom of darkness.

Why We’re Tempted

Why are we tempted to use this stuff in the first place? Let’s be honest about it. We want to know the future. We want guarantees. We want control over our circumstances. And when life feels uncertain, the promise of supernatural insight feels comforting. My bride and I often joke that we’d really like to get an email or text from God to let us know what we’re supposed to do. That’d be cool – but that wouldn’t be faith. Getting instant answers on a whim isn’t how the plan typically works.

But what we’re really looking for: peace… security…. hope. The tragic irony is that we’re seeking those things from sources that can’t possibly deliver them.

Going to a gas station for a five-course meal. Sure, they’ve got food. They’ve got those hot dogs that have been rotating on the warmer since the Carter administration. They’ve got chips. They’ve got energy drinks that probably glow in the dark. But if you’re genuinely hungry and looking for nourishment, you’re in the wrong place.

Psychics can’t give you peace because they can’t control the future they claim to predict. They can’t give you security because their whole business model depends on keeping you insecure and coming back for more. They can’t give you hope because hope built on lies collapses the moment reality shows up.

“Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish,” says the Lord (Isaiah 46:10). God alone knows the future because He alone controls it. And He’s already told us everything we need to know.

Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

That’s better than any fortune teller could ever offer. Because God’s not just predicting your future, He’s actively working to bring about good in your life. He’s not a passive observer with a crystal ball. He’s not reading tea leaves to figure out what might happen. He’s a loving Father orchestrating every detail for your ultimate benefit.

And when we try to peek behind the curtain through occult means, we’re basically telling God “Your promises aren’t good enough. I need more information than You’re willing to give me.” That’s not faith. That’s the opposite of faith.

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Jesus said that in Matthew 6:34. And He didn’t say it because He doesn’t care about our tomorrows. He said it because He’s already got tomorrow handled, and He wants us to trust Him with it.

If you’re on an airplane, you don’t need to know how to fly the plane. You don’t need to understand aerodynamics or navigation or weather patterns. You just need to trust that the pilot knows what he’s doing. And if you spent the whole flight demanding that the pilot explain every decision, show you the flight plan, and prove that he can land safely, you’d drive yourself crazy and annoy everyone around you – and maybe cause the pilot to want to crash into a mountain just to get you to shut up.

God’s our pilot. We’re passengers. Our job is to trust, not to hijack the controls or demand constant updates on things we wouldn’t understand anyway.

The Real Danger

I want to make something clear. The real danger of the occult isn’t that it doesn’t work. The real danger is when it does.

Look at what happened to King Saul. He’d spent years consulting God and following His commands. But then he got impatient, disobedient, afraid. And in a moment of desperation, he did something he knew was wrong.

1 Samuel 28 tells the story. Saul went to a medium at Endor and asked her to call up the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel. And something actually appeared.

Scholars debate whether this was really Samuel or a demonic impersonation. I’ve been asked that myself and I really don’t have the answer. But what’s not debatable: Saul died for his trespass against the Lord, because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it, and did not inquire of the Lord. It doesn’t matter if it was truly Samuel or a demon – it was the act of asking for spiritual help from a medium… from the witch of Endor.

When this happened, God took Saul’s kingdom and gave it to David specifically because Saul violated this command. That’s how seriously God takes this.

Saul was the king of Israel. He had direct access to God’s prophets. He’d seen miracles. He’d experienced God’s power firsthand. And still, in a moment of fear, doubt, and impatience, he threw all of that away to consult a fortune teller.

It’s like having GPS with real-time satellite data showing you exactly how to get home, but instead stopping to ask directions from someone who’s been lost in the same area for three days. They don’t have the answers you seek… not the real ones. If they point you in the right direction, it’s purely coincidental. Meanwhile, the real GPS (God Positioning System) knows the right way anytime, every time, anywhere, everywhere.

And it’s not because God is some cosmic killjoy who doesn’t want us to have fun. It’s because He knows what we’re dealing with. These practices reflect a lack of trust in God and His plan, and they open doors to spiritual deception and bondage.

Satan is real. Demons are real. Spiritual warfare is real. And when we start playing around with the occult, we’re opening doors we don’t know how to close. We’re inviting influences into our lives that we don’t have the power to remove. We’re stepping onto a battlefield without armor, weapons, or training.

It’s as if you’ve convinced yourself you can defuse a bomb because you watched a police procedural TV show that did it once. You think you know what you’re doing. You think you can handle it. You think it’ll be fine. And then you’re staring at wires you can’t identify, the timer’s counting down, and nobody’s coming to help because you ignored every expert who said leave this to professionals. Saying, “I’m not a real bomb technician, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night” doesn’t work in real life.

That woman in Pennsylvania who lost $600,000? She thought she was removing a curse. But the real curse was believing she needed someone other than God to fix her problems. And two con artists exploited that belief until they’d drained her dry.

Waiting on God’s Timing, Not Ours

That woman believed she needed patience and faith. And she was right about needing those things. She just directed them at the wrong source.

One of the cruelest aspects of these scams is how they weaponize spiritual concepts that are actually true. Patience is a virtue. Faith moves mountains. Persistence in seeking answers matters. Scammers take these legitimate spiritual principles and twist them into chains.

“Just keep believing. Just keep paying. Just have a little more faith. Your breakthrough is coming.”

Sound familiar? It’s almost the same language we use in churches. And that’s not an accident.

The difference is this: God never asks us to prove our faith by emptying our bank accounts. He doesn’t say “just keep paying”… he says “just keep praying.” He’s never going to tell you that just one more monetary transaction is going to give you the answer you’re looking for. He never holds our answered prayers hostage until we give Him enough stuff.

God’s timing is perfect, yes. We do need patience while we wait on Him. “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!” That’s Psalm 27:14. Waiting on God is biblical. Waiting while God works behind the scenes on our behalf is part of the faith journey.

But here’s how you know the difference between waiting on God and being scammed: God doesn’t require escalating payments while you wait. He doesn’t demand your grandmother’s jewelry. He doesn’t threaten you with worse outcomes if you stop giving. He doesn’t exploit your desperation.

In Matthew 11:28 God says “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” He doesn’t say, “come to me with increasingly expensive offerings and maybe eventually I’ll consider helping you.”

The patience God asks for looks different. It’s the patience of Abraham, who waited decades for the promised birth of a son. It’s the patience of Job, who lost everything but never stopped trusting God’s character. It’s the patience of David, who was anointed king as a teenager but didn’t take the throne until he was thirty.

Biblical patience trusts God’s character while waiting for His timing. Scam patience pays money while hoping for results that never come.

And what breaks my heart about that woman’s story: She had faith. She had patience. She had persistence. She had everything spiritually right except the most important thing: she placed all of it in the wrong hands.

Imagine if she’d invested that same faith in God. Imagine if she’d prayed with that same desperation. Imagine if she’d waited on the Lord with that same patience, trusting Him to work in her marriage, her business, her life.

She might still have had to wait. God’s timing doesn’t always match ours. But she wouldn’t have lost $600,000. She wouldn’t have been exploited and manipulated. And she would have had the peace that comes from trusting someone who actually loves her, rather than the anxiety that comes from trying to satisfy someone who’s bleeding her dry.

“Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31).

Real patience, biblical patience, doesn’t drain you. It renews you. It doesn’t weaken you. It strengthens you. It doesn’t leave you anxious and desperate. It gives you wings. It’s spiritual Red Bull.

Living in the Light

So where does this leave us? How do we live in a world where millions of people consult psychics, where horoscopes show up in every newspaper or are available on a mobile app or daily email, where tarot cards are sold as party games?

First, we recognize that we live in a spiritually confused culture. A Pew Research study found that 42 percent of Americans believe spiritual powers rest in physical objects like mountains, trees, and crystals. A third believe in reincarnation, while 29 percent believe in astrology. These aren’t fringe beliefs. They’re mainstream.

Your coworker might have crystals on her desk that she thinks are absorbing negative energy. Your neighbor might be checking Mercury’s retrograde before making major decisions. Your cousin is definitely reading his horoscope before going on dates.

We’re living in a world where people will spend $200 on a chunk of rose quartz because someone told them it attracts love, but they won’t spend $20 on a book about having healthy relationships. We’re living in a world where people believe the position of Jupiter affects their job prospects, but the idea that their work ethic affects their job prospects is apparently too simple.

And what’s really wild: many who hold these New Age beliefs also identify as Christians. The study found that 11 percent of Americans are “Diversely Devout” – they identify with traditional religion but also believe in psychics, reincarnation, and the spiritual power of crystals. We’ve got people showing up to church on Sunday with their lucky crystals, checking their horoscope before reading their Bible, and seeing no contradiction whatsoever. It’s ordering a BigMac at McDonald’s and being genuinely confused about why you’re not losing weight.

Slight rabbit trail here…reincarnation and Christianity are fundamentally incompatible. If you just keep coming back for do-overs until you get it right, then Jesus died for nothing. He was tortured, bled, and suffered a horrible death to pay for sins you didn’t actually need forgiveness for? That makes the cross pointless. The Bible is clear: “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27). One life. One death. One chance to accept or reject Jesus. No coming back as someone else to try again.

Some of you might be thinking, “But I’ve heard stories of people remembering past lives with details they couldn’t possibly know.” Those experiences are real, but the interpretation is wrong. When people open themselves to spiritual experiences outside of God’s authority, they’re opening themselves to demonic deception. Demons have existed since before humanity began – they’ve observed countless lives and can feed convincing false memories to anyone who invites them in. That’s a topic for another Sunday, I think… I’ll just reiterate from earlier, “You can be sincere in your belief, but you can be sincerely wrong.”

So we can’t assume that just because someone goes to church, they understand what the Bible teaches about this stuff. We need to be clear, biblical, and loving in how we address it.

Second, we point people to Jesus, not away from their questions. When someone wants to know about their future, we don’t mock them. We’d all LOVE to know the future! We understand that desire… and redirect it to the One who actually holds the future. When someone feels lost and needs guidance, introduce them to the Holy Spirit, who will guide them to the truth.

We don’t say “you’re stupid for wanting to know what’s going to happen.” We say “I get it. I want to know too. But let me tell you about Someone who actually does know…”

Third, we take spiritual warfare seriously. John 8;12, “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.'” Following Jesus isn’t just a good life philosophy. It’s stepping out of spiritual darkness into light. It’s switching sides in a cosmic war.

And when we do that, we put on the armor of God. That means we pray. We study Scripture. We stay connected to other believers. We don’t mess around with things God has clearly forbidden, no matter how harmless they seem.

The Bottom Line

Gina Marie Marks and Steve Nicklas allegedly stole over $600,000 from vulnerable people by claiming to remove curses that never existed. They’re facing criminal charges, and they should. They exploited desperate people for financial gain, and that’s evil.

But whether they had any real supernatural abilities or not is almost beside the point. Because even if they could do genuine supernatural things, they were doing them through demonic power, not God’s power. And that makes it worse, not better.

The psychic industry generates billions of dollars a year by offering people something they desperately want: control over the future, insight into the unknown, connection with lost loved ones, answers to life’s biggest questions. The answer to life, the universe, and everything… which is not 42, despite what you’ve heard.

But God offers all of that and more, freely, through Jesus Christ. We don’t need to pay psychics to tell us our future when God has already promised to work all things together for our good. We don’t need tarot cards when we have the Bible. We don’t need mediums when we have the Holy Spirit living inside us.

And yes, that requires faith. Yes, that means trusting God even when we can’t see what’s ahead. Yes, that means sometimes living with uncertainty about tomorrow. But isn’t that what you’re doing with a psychic? You’re putting your faith in them? Trusting them when you can’t see what’s ahead? Living with uncertainty about tomorrow – hoping they have the answer? Why would you put all of that faith and trust into a human being, no matter how gifted they claim to be, when you can put that faith and trust into the one who created that human being in the first place? The one who created the universe.

But that’s what faith is. Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Not “trust in the Lord when it’s convenient” or “trust in the Lord except for the really important stuff.” Trust Him with all your heart. Don’t depend on your own understanding or anyone else’s supposed supernatural insight.

Because fortune tellers can’t actually change your fortune. They can only take your money and leave you worse off than before.

But God? God can change everything. He can take the broken pieces of our lives and create something beautiful. He can turn our sorrow into dancing. He can work miracles that no psychic could ever predict or produce.

The question is, who will we trust? Where will we seek guidance? To whom will we turn when life gets scary and uncertain?

Montgomery County authorities think there might be more victims in the Marks and Nicklas case. People too embarrassed to come forward. People who still believe the rituals were genuine, that they just ran out of money before the cure could take effect.

And that’s heartbreaking. Because somewhere out there, someone is still trapped in that lie, still believing they need what only God can provide.

If that’s you, hear this: you don’t need curse removal. You need Jesus. You don’t need a psychic to tell you about tomorrow. You need the One who holds tomorrow in His hands. You don’t need to fear what might happen. You need to trust the One who’s already overcome every power of darkness.

“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega – the beginning and the end,’ says the Lord God. ‘I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come – the Almighty One.'” (Revelation 1:8) One of those verses from Revelation I don’t need to ask that John guy about. It’s pretty clear what it means.

God was there at the beginning. He’ll be there at the end. And He’s with you right now, in this moment, offering you freedom from fear, freedom from deception, freedom from the need to control everything.

All you have to do is trust Him.

References

NOTE: Some of this content may have been created with assistance from AI tools, but it has been reviewed, edited, narrated, produced, and approved by Darren Marlar, creator and host of Weird Darkness — who, despite popular conspiracy theories, is NOT an AI voice.

Weird Darkness® and Church Of The Undead™ are trademarked. Copyright © 2025.

#WeirdDarkness #PsychicScam #ChristianSermon #FortuneTellerFraud #BibleTeaching #OccultDangers #SpiritualWarfare #TrustingGod #ChristianPodcast #FaithOverFear

Views: 34