Probably a tragic death of a close family member. The allure of the possibility of speaking to the dead, especially if it is a child or spouse and there’s a lack of closure, is very powerful. Once hooked, its difficult to break away, like an abused spouse.
Decades ago, the Guiness Book of Records noted the difficulties of deciding what was the biggest religion in the world. In Asia many people practice two religions. At the time, I thought that this was totally crazy. But, as more than one writer has pointed out, plenty of "modern" western people adopt different belief systems for different parts of their lives. The Catholic Herald has recently got excited about people in Catholic heartlands like Italy and Ireland using psychics, fortune tellers, etc on a huge scale and paying piles of money. Some may have abandoned Catholicism. But are an unknown number going both to Mass and fortune tellers?
This seems to check out with most scams with a skilled manipulator backed up by organised crime. Those bastards hit the jackpot! You can have all the checks and balances, even banks themselves trying to protect their clients, but if it all has the correct permissions, they banks have to follow protocols and do their job.
I’ve seen it in an individual cases where the poor victim was called repeatedly via her bank as she went half a million dollars into debt in a bitcoin scam. She was so deep in that she thought the bank informing her were scammers! Her children (she was elderly) were helpless to stop her either.
The fact that a senior executive was a client of a fortune teller tells me there was a deep spiritual problem too that left the person psychologically and spiritually open to predators. I hope he or she is getting real care in the spiritual department given the stakes of mortal sin.
"The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so." 18:14 (RSVCE).
Of all the reasons not to consult fortune tellers (it's a lie, a waste of money, it opens you to the occult, etc.), "your employer might get hacked by the Bulgarian mob" really takes the cake.
If only Saul of Tarsus was there, he could have blinded the fortune teller as he did Elymas the Magician/Bar-Jesus and broken the link to the Bulgarian mafia.
Acts 13:9-11
But Saul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all that is right, full of every sort of deceit and fraud. Will you not stop twisting the straight paths of [the] Lord? Even now the hand of the Lord is upon you. You will be blind, and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately a dark mist fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.
// The Catholic Herald has recently got excited about people in Catholic heartlands like Italy and Ireland using psychics, fortune tellers, etc on a huge scale and paying piles of money. //
As seems usual for these stories, things keep getting weirded and weirder.
Presumably the financial director is Catholic. Why on earth would they be going up a fortune teller in the first place?!
Probably a tragic death of a close family member. The allure of the possibility of speaking to the dead, especially if it is a child or spouse and there’s a lack of closure, is very powerful. Once hooked, its difficult to break away, like an abused spouse.
Decades ago, the Guiness Book of Records noted the difficulties of deciding what was the biggest religion in the world. In Asia many people practice two religions. At the time, I thought that this was totally crazy. But, as more than one writer has pointed out, plenty of "modern" western people adopt different belief systems for different parts of their lives. The Catholic Herald has recently got excited about people in Catholic heartlands like Italy and Ireland using psychics, fortune tellers, etc on a huge scale and paying piles of money. Some may have abandoned Catholicism. But are an unknown number going both to Mass and fortune tellers?
https://catholicherald.co.uk/italian-catholics-reverting-to-ancient-roman-gods-seers-and-sorcerers/
This seems to check out with most scams with a skilled manipulator backed up by organised crime. Those bastards hit the jackpot! You can have all the checks and balances, even banks themselves trying to protect their clients, but if it all has the correct permissions, they banks have to follow protocols and do their job.
I’ve seen it in an individual cases where the poor victim was called repeatedly via her bank as she went half a million dollars into debt in a bitcoin scam. She was so deep in that she thought the bank informing her were scammers! Her children (she was elderly) were helpless to stop her either.
The fact that a senior executive was a client of a fortune teller tells me there was a deep spiritual problem too that left the person psychologically and spiritually open to predators. I hope he or she is getting real care in the spiritual department given the stakes of mortal sin.
"The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so." 18:14 (RSVCE).
Of all the reasons not to consult fortune tellers (it's a lie, a waste of money, it opens you to the occult, etc.), "your employer might get hacked by the Bulgarian mob" really takes the cake.
I really wish Hollywood was capable of making a decent movie about this scandal. A clairvoyant linked to Bulgarian mobsters?! Where's my popcorn?
Bulgaria - where Angelo Cardinal Roncalli was exiled by incompetent mobsters in the Roman Curia. Talk about karma 🤣
This development was not on my bingo sheet.
Definitely dating myself here, but is the spirit of Miss Cleo asking people to "Call me now!"
If only Saul of Tarsus was there, he could have blinded the fortune teller as he did Elymas the Magician/Bar-Jesus and broken the link to the Bulgarian mafia.
Acts 13:9-11
But Saul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all that is right, full of every sort of deceit and fraud. Will you not stop twisting the straight paths of [the] Lord? Even now the hand of the Lord is upon you. You will be blind, and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately a dark mist fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.
// The Catholic Herald has recently got excited about people in Catholic heartlands like Italy and Ireland using psychics, fortune tellers, etc on a huge scale and paying piles of money. //
Why "excited about"?