Saturday, September 12, 2009

Was Edgar Cayce A Prophet?


The term "prophet" is thrown around very liberally. Prophets are often thought of people who can just tell the future or reveal knowledge from supernatural sources. Biblically, the job of a prophet is much more than that. A prophet was God's mouth piece. He or she (yes, there are a few female prophets in the Bible) spoke the words that God gave them to speak. Here is a documentary about Edgar Cayce.




If you look at the documentary you can see that Mr. Cayce seemed to be a nice and moral christian who was only interested in helping others. He also seemed to advocate the wholistic health practices that are so en vogue today and although this documentary focuses on his medical successes I have seen another documentary talking about his forecasts concerning the future.





So, was the man a prophet or not? The Bible does not tell us to use the fact that a person is nice and moral, or that they perform miracles, or that their predictions always coming true as proof that God sent them. The Bible gives us the criteria to use.

1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.

6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), 8 do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. 9 You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10 Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.

12 If you hear it said about one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you to live in 13 that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods you have not known), 14 then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, 15 you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, [a] both its people and its livestock. 16 Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt. 17 None of those condemned things [b] shall be found in your hands, so that the LORD will turn from his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, have compassion on you, and increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your forefathers, 18 because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes. - Deuteronomy 13


Cayce embraced reincarnation and I can find no documentation that he endorsed Jesus as the answer to sin and reconciliation back to God. Truth is, Cayce didn't even describe God as a transcendent being as the Bible does. According to the scripture package I cited there is no way, you can say that He pointed to God. The thing is that Cayce was in a trance when he did his thing and no prophet in the Bible is described being moved by God the same way. I don't think Edgar Cayce is a prophet.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]