Many Americans put a great deal of faith in so-called psychics, astrologers, modern day prophets, or fortune-tellers. Perhaps the most famous of all those professionals in the 20th century was Jeane Dixon (AKA: Lydia Emma Pinckert – 1904-1997). Dixon claimed that from an early age she was aware that God had given her a special gift to discern spiritual truth and to predict the future. Millions of Americans read her daily columns and horoscopes. Many celebrities, business people, and even politicians, for fifty years, regularly consulted her (at a hefty price) for advice on making important decisions. Dixon was a life-long devout Roman Catholic, despite that church’s reluctance to embrace occult concepts.
Perhaps she is best known for her claim to have predicted, and her futile attempt to prevent, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Even today, more than two decades after her death, followers of New Age and occult movements still study her writings for insight into the future of the world. This is much like how some people still analyze the writings of Nostradamus (1503-1566) and Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), believing they could foresee events years before they happened.
So what are we now to make of Jeane Dixon many years after her passing? Was she really a divinely inspired prophetess and seer who could see into the future? In this two-installment article, we will attempt to answer that question biblically. To do so, we first need to consult the Bible as to how to evaluate whether a person is an authentic prophet or just one who is a fake, deluded, or maybe even demonically possessed?
When the people of Israel left Egypt, they followed the guidance of God through the prophecies of Moses. However, when the time drew near for them to occupy the promised land, they began to wonder how they would survive without the divine inspired leadership of Moses. One of the dangers the Israelites faced was that they might adopt some of the occultic practices of the pagan nations they were soon to replace. In Deuteronomy chapter 18, Moses was told by the LORD that certain of those practices were abominable to Him.
9 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 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, 11 or one who casts a spell (charmer), or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead (necromancer). 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so. (Deuteronomy 18:9-14 NASB)
Clearly, God prohibited His people from engaging in these occultic activities which were common among the pagan nations. Unfortunately, they did not always obey this command. In fact, King Saul was condemned when he consulted a medium to bring up the spirit of Samuel (1 Samuel 28). Later, other kings and Israelite people compromised their dedication to Yahweh by allowing pagan rites and the worship of false gods to corrupt their lives.
That being said, the LORD then tells the Hebrew people that He will not leave them without a word from Himself. He promises that He will provide a prophet like Moses to communicate His will to them.
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. 16 This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ 17 The Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.
He then gives them the principles by which they will know if a prophet is authentic in his or her proclamations.
20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:15-22 NASB)
Notice in this passage God lays out two specific markers by which to judge if a self-proclaimed prophet is false.
1. The prophet is false is he or she speaks in the name of any other god or gods than His (Yahweh). As we said, idolatry was a constant temptation to which God’s people often fell victim. It was, of course, a gross violation of the First Commandment God had given them (Exodus 20:1; Deuteronomy 5:7).
2. The prophet is false if he or she makes a prediction and it fails to come true. The point here is that if any man or woman arose among the people speaking what he or she claimed were prophetic utterances in God’s name (Yahweh), and the predictions he or she made failed to occur, then they would know he or she was a counterfeit.
Notice also what the LORD said was to be the penalty for false prophecy and/or idolatry: death (vs. 20)! I am not suggesting we should execute false prophets today; we don’t have that kind of authority in this secular society. Nonetheless, these verses certainly indicate how serious are the sins of occultism, false prophecy and false teaching. Those detestable activities are rampant even in America today and Christians should be vocal in their opposition to them.
So, how does this all relate to Jeane Dixon? In 1969, she wrote a rather ambitious book titled Jeane Dixon: My Life and Prophecies – Her Own Story as told to Rene Noorbergen (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1969). The book relates Dixon’s own story of her early life and realization of her spiritual gifts. It also attempts to buttress her claims with numerous Scriptures comparing her to Old Testament prophets.
It is now more than fifty years after the book’s publication and twenty-three years since Dixon’s death. Actually, the book provides us more than enough evidence to determine if she was indeed a divinely inspired prophetess as she and her devotees believed. In part two of this two part series, we will examine in detail Jeane Dixon’s predictions that were documented in this book, and then arrive at our conclusions based on the standards specified in Deuteronomy 18.
© 2020 Tal Davis