Contending For The Faith---Part 48

 

In St. Jude 1:3, we read, "Dearly beloved, taking all care to write unto you concerning your common salvation, I was under a necessity to write unto you: to beseech you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." [Emphasis mine]. Contending For The Faith is a series of posts dedicated to apologetics (i.e.,  the intellectual defense of the truth of the Traditional Catholic Faith) to be published the first Monday of each month.  This is the next installment.

Sadly, in this time of Great Apostasy, the faith is under attack like never before, and many Traditionalists don't know their faith well enough to defend it. Remember the words of our first pope, "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..." (1Peter 3:16). There are five (5) categories of attacks that will be dealt with in these posts. Attacks against:

• The existence and attributes of God
• The truth of the One True Church established by Christ for the salvation of all 
• The truth of a particular dogma or doctrine of the Church
• The truth of Catholic moral teaching
• The truth of the sedevacantist position as the only Catholic solution to what has happened since Vatican II 

In addition, controversial topics touching on the Faith will sometimes be featured, so that the problem and possible solutions may be better understood. If anyone had suggestions for topics that would fall into any of these categories, you may post them in the comments. I cannot guarantee a post on each one, but each will be carefully considered.

Digital Occultism

As I've written about many times, the "Occult Invasion" began in the wake of Vatican II. With the advent of AI and technology, occultism is spreading error and evil faster than ever. This post will serve as a warning of the new dangers that arise with new tech. (N.B. I have collected information from multiple sources, both online and in print. I take no credit for the information herein. All I did was condense the material into a terse and readable post, and adding some commentary.---Introibo). 

AI Meets Tarot Cards and Astrology

From an occult-friendly website:

AI Tarot Decks → Neural networks generating entirely new symbolic decks, trained on thousands of illustrated archetypes.

Algorithmic Astrology → Platforms mapping planetary alignments with predictive analytics, some even gamifying daily horoscopes.

Occult Chatbots → Digital familiars trained on magical texts, offering guidance, affirmations, and spell recipes in real time.

Skeptics roll their eyes—what can a machine know of spirit? But the occult has always evolved with tools of the age. Astrology once used clay tablets, later telescopes. Tarot’s evolution has included woodcuts, photography, even VR. Why not AI?

The digital cauldron is bubbling, and witches, seekers, and the simply curious are stirring it. Neural nets become oracles. Algorithms become star charts. Spellcraft meets system design.

The question isn’t whether AI can be mystical—it’s how we choose to enchant the machine

(See honeysucklemag.com/ai-tarot-algorithmic-astrology-mystic-tech; Emphasis mine). 

There are astrology apps where you can access your charts online for free — you no longer need to call the Psychic Friends Network. There are dating apps that check to see if your stars align with potential mates. You can even download personalized Spotify playlists based on your astrological sign. The occult is alive and well online. TicTok, the most popular social media platform among pre-teens and teenagers, has easy accessibility to Wicca (witchcraft). Magic and witchcraft are featured prominently on TikTok. Whether you’re looking at #witchtok or #newage, you’ll find help with crystals, guided meditation, manifesting, Tarot cards, and hexing (i.e., casting spells on people). 

This type of behavior is not benign; it is dangerous. Viewers are also learning how to cast spells, create their own Tarot decks, charge their crystals, and write their own book of shadows and instruction manual for magick rituals. There are even those claiming to be "Christian Witches" to entice those who would normally stay away from the occult due to their religious beliefs. One TikToker, Stephanie (@thecelticsbrew), was asked if someone could love Jesus and witchcraft, and she said:

Witchcraft is using nature and other tools to manifest your desires by working with a higher power or deity. I personally believe someone that wants to use a higher power, say words, incantations, or prayers to manifest their desires, then that’s okay….The Bible now today says that witchcraft is a sin after hundreds of years of it being translated by man — not by God. So yes, you can love Jesus and witchcraft. If God really did make all the world, I don’t think that He would be against you using nature with metaphysical properties to help manifest or help things in your life. God and Jesus are just deities.

Why It  Stands Condemned

Tarot cards and astrology, whether by using a physical deck, or an AI algorithm, is an attempt to know the future. Divination has existed in all cultures throughout history. Its basic idea involves foretelling the future or accessing occult information by various means. Traditionally, the person who practiced divination was regarded as having supernatural powers. Despite its frequent modern reformulation in psychological or parapsychological terms (e.g., receiving information from “the unconscious” or “higher” mind), historically, divination has always been an attempt to communicate with the supernatural or “divine” realm in order to secure information from the “gods.” Its fundamentally pagan and spiritistic nature has never changed, regardless of how “modern” its practices have become today. 

The reason that divination is forbidden is quite simple: Almighty God forbids it and finds it detestable. Some people claiming to be "Christian" or "Catholic" will (similar to Satan in the desert with Christ) quote from Scripture to justify their divination practices. They reject and/or purposely misinterpret Church teaching and the Bible's clear prohibitions on such wickedness. In the Old Testament, there were times when God had to communicate His will for specific reasons, and He chose particular methods. Thus, in the Bible, certain exceptional methods were used to discover God’s specific will, such as the Urim and Thummim, dreams, through the Old Testament prophets, and casting lots (See Exodus 28:30; Acts 1:24-26). These methods are replaced by other means (See Hebrews 1:1-2). We now have everything we need to know via the Deposit of Revelation and the Magisterium.

 As Traditionalist Catholics, we are to trust in Christ's Church and in His sovereignty over future events, both in our own lives and in the final outcome of human affairs. For very good reasons, God has not and does not reveal our specific, individual futures. For example, no one likes pain, and if we knew the future, most of us would try to avoid unpleasant situations, suffering, and tragedy. These things may be God’s will for us, and we are avoiding what God has wisely deter­mined is best for us from the eternal perspective. People grow in their faith and in their ability to endure things. God’s Will that cannot be endured at one point in life, may be able to be endured or accepted at another.

The condemnation of divination comes to us from the passages of the Bible (as rightly interpreted by the Magisterium) and the Church of Her own authority. According to theologian Slater:

On Divination. We here suppose that the devil, a wicked spirit of great intelligence and power, but subject to God, exists and continually interferes in the affairs of men in order to ruin them. This truth belongs to the Catholic Faith and cannot be denied without sin. The sin of divination is committed when the devil is invoked expressly or tacitly in order to discover what is secret and hidden. There is express invocation of the devil when his aid is expressly implored. The devil is tacitly invoked when altogether inadequate means are used to find out what is occult [hidden], means which are not sufficient for the purpose naturally, and which have not been ordained by God for that purpose. The devil is eager to be appealed to in order the more easily to attain his own ends, and anyone who uses such inadequate means  to find out hidden secrets virtually appeals to the devil to help him. A great variety of such means of divination has been in use from the earliest times among all nations; and periods which have witnessed a decay of faith have also witnessed a recrudescence [recurrence] of these superstitions...The devil sometimes takes possession of the body of a human being and manifests what is secret through it; this was called pythonism. The devil had his prophets as God had. In necromancy the devil answers through the dead called to life again...Divination is mortally sinful, for it is a great insult to God to hold intercourse with and seek aid from the devil, His bitter enemy; and besides, it is most dangerous to the parties concerned. He is wont gradually to insinuate himself until he has his victim within his power, and then he works on him his evil will. (See A Manual of Moral Theology, [1925], 1:141-142; Emphasis mine). 

The method of divination (e.g. a deck of cards or virtual cards by AI) matters not; it is sinful in the very intention.  According to theologian Jone, "Spiritism claims to be able to communicate with the spirit world and endeavors to establish such commerce with it. Although spiritism is for the most part fraud, still the intention alone to enter into communication with spirits is gravely sinful. Therefore, it is mortally sinful to conduct a spiritistic seance or to act as a medium." (See Moral Theology, pg. 100; Emphasis mine). Furthermore, as theologian Slater reminds us, the intention to invoke the devil may be tacit. (op. cit.).

As to the rant of Stephanie the Witch, she makes several glaring errors about being a witch and "loving Jesus." 

• Stephanie argues that witchcraft is communicating with a higher power, and because God is a higher power, witchcraft is fine. She demeans God as being on par with other so-called gods. Witches use God at their own whims through demonic means, and frankly, many could take Him or leave Him, willingly swapping Him for any other "deity." Sheer blasphemy

• Stephanie doesn’t trust the Bible — Scripture is a translation of a translation passed down by men over time. She doesn't know the Church as the Guardian of Scripture and the massive amount of evidence the Catholic translations today are accurate

• Stephanie argues that God made everything, so He wouldn’t be against us using witchcraft. By that logic, all evil actions are okay with God, too, since they proceed from people who God made, ergo we shouldn’t punish murderers, abusers, or rapists.

AI and Necromancy

Now we are told that we can use AI to alleviate the pain of death and separation. “AI ghosts (also called deathbots, griefbots, AI clones, death avatars, and postmortem avatars) are large language models built on available information about the deceased, such as social media, letters, photos, diaries, and videos,” which are created and marshalled to interact with interested parties for a fee.

(See thehastingscenter.org/griefbots-are-here-raising-questions-of-privacy-and-well-being). 

This new AI technology allows for video of a person to be stored then redeployed after that person’s death through an avatar that speaks for the dead person. It is a deep fake that is known to be fake but is supposed to provide advice and solace, nonetheless. Both the Church and Bible strongly condemn necromancy: "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD; because of these same detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you." (See Deuteronomy 18:10-12; Emphasis mine.) 

The same prohibition would rest upon digital necromancy. I offer four (4) reasons:

1.  Digital necromancy takes us to the wrong place to find counsel and fellowship.  It is a world of pseudo-enchantment, the digital masquerade of the dead appearing to be alive for the sake of the living. If these griefbots offer advice, it may be acted upon. You are relying on technologically produced "spirits" instead of seeking solace in prayer and the sacraments.
2. We must face death in Traditionalist Catholic terms. It is faith in the living Christ that lessens this sting of death, not AI impersonations.
3. Digital necromancy assigns to an impersonal computer program the challenging human work of memory, appreciation, judgment, and imagination. We should prayerfully reflect and not simulate.
4. To assign this work of reflection and judgment to an AI avatar is to cheapen the memory of our loved ones, and to reduce them to algorithms. 

Texting with "Jesus" and..."Satan"?

According to one source:

The app Text With Jesus uses artificial intelligence and chatbots to offer spiritual guidance to users who are looking to connect with a higher power.,,

Text With Jesus offers users an interactive experience with a religious deity. In other words, users can text questions to Jesus and get a response. (Premium users can also converse with Satan.)...

"Who am I really texting with when I text with Jesus?" Thomson asked.

"Well obviously you're talking to an AI chatbot," the app's creator said, adding that the bots are "pretending to be Jesus or any of the apostles."...

(See today.com/news/religious-chatbot-apps-rcna243671; Emphasis mine). 

The problems should be obvious:

• We lift our minds and hearts to God in prayer. It is blasphemous to take time away from God and treat an algorithm as Our Lord
• Do you act upon advice given by a machine as coming from God? More blasphemy
• Texting with Satan? The mere intent to enter into communication with the devil is seriously sinful; why would anyone one do that? Vain curiosity, or far worse. Play with fire, you'll get burned. Invite evil into your life, you can be sure it will take you up on your offer.

Conclusion

The days are evil. The Occult Invasion continues unabated. The rise of new technology makes the occult ever more accessible, and will draw in the curious. Be aware and warn people you know of its dangers. Don't "text with (so-called) Jesus," pray to the real Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother. Respect the deceased and do not attempt "digitalized communication" with computerized versions of them. Finally, as to divination, let us leave the future in God's Hands, Who Alone knows what it will bring. Be content with facing each day in Faith and hope being in sanctifying grace. God will take care of the rest. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (St. Matthew 6:34).