Why feng shui is unprofitable
To know the one true God is to worship Him. God created everything we behold and established all the laws of time, space, and energy. He holds the winds (風/风) in His fists and wraps up the waters (水) in His garment. He is present everywhere and gives strong support to those whose hearts are blameless towards Him. Feng shui (風水/风水), on the other hand, has turned mankind’s focus onto elements of energy as a source of well-being, comfort and protection. This is a deception from Satan’s kingdom of darkness. God is generous, everything he gives us is for our good. Satan’s only aim is to kill, steal and destroy.
(See Chinese versions: 简体中文 > 为什么看风水是没用的 | 繁體中文 > 為什麼看風水是沒用的)
Proverbs 30:4-5 ESV Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know! Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
2 Chronicles 16:9 ESV For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”
John 10:10 ESV The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Mankind’s deep desire for fulfilment
In every human being is a deep sense that there must be more to life than what we can see. This is a yearning for our invisible Creator, Provider, and Protector. But when we don’t personally know God’s love, provision and protection, this innate yearning can turn to anxiety.
So we try to determine our futures using feng shui instead, in the hope that it will bring us money, health, happiness, love or career prospects – blessings that only God can determine and dispense.
Proverbs 16:1-4 ESV The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
With each new location, new year or new event, we return to feng shui masters to arrange our lives. We lose our own power of discernment and falsely believe we can actually control our futures through good luck charms. As the desire for more prosperity grows, the fear of missing out also increases. Like all those who believe in superstitions and fortune telling, we seek “many counsels” but never truly find rest for our souls.
Isaiah 47:13 ESV You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you.
Reasons we turn to feng shui
Feng shui can never provide indescribable joy, remove all fear and anxiety, miraculously heal the sick, or cast out demons. Only Jesus’ followers can, when we have God’s Holy Spirit inside us. This is made possible through repentance and obedience through Jesus.
Sadly, many miss out on this abundant life that God has in store for us and here’s why.
1. Cultural impact
Many Asians grow up hearing about “unlucky” business locations or homes as a result of “bad feng shui”. Because their family, friends and employers practice feng shui, they hardly question its true origins and may even be surprised to find that it involves witchcraft and divination.
Feng shui began in China when the superstitious orientated buildings and tombs of the dead for the “best” wind and water elements with the view of blessing future generations, hence the name “feng shui”. It is closely linked to Taoism and its philosophy of “qi” energy and yin-yang forces. (For more, see Qi energy leads us away from God.) Over time, many new feng shui schools and techniques have emerged and evolved. Ironically, there is no single truth to feng shui.
2. The desire for wisdom and our pride
God’s Word teaches us that it is good to desire wisdom that is from Him. There is also a type of wisdom that is demonic, particularly when it is grounded in jealousy and selfish ambition. Feng shui would fall into this category. Selfish ambition leads us to believe we are better and wiser than others and blinds us to our pride and lack of fear of God Almighty. These are the same reasons for Satan’s downfall.
Proverbs 4:7 ESV The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.
James 1:5 ESV If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
James 3:15-16 ESV This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
3. Fear and anxiety
No human being can control our future. When we don’t rest in the power and assurance of our Creator’s love and protection, this creates a lot of fear and anxiety. Such fears will lead us to look for promises of extraordinary results through extraordinary means. This is how witchcraft, fortune telling, and feng shui trap many people. It promises something that looks appealing, but the source is not from God. It is from Satan. No matter how many feng shui plans we make, we cannot escape God’s ultimate purpose for us.
Proverbs 19:21 ESV Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
4. Jealousy and greed
As we envy other people, we will be tempted to find a way to gain an advantage over them. This is one of the lures of feng shui. It appeals to the desire to gain more material things and personal benefits.
The Bible warns us not to be too smitten with the things of this world. One day, we will all have to stand naked before the same Judge to give an account of our lives. All our wealth, health, relationships and possessions will be utterly meaningless and useless then.
1 John 2:15-16 NLT Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
We are much better off using our time and energy becoming more godly like Jesus. He is the only Truth and Way to true peace, joy and hope.
1 Timothy 4:7 ESV Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;
John 14:6 ESV Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Turning to God, the one true Source of fulfilment
When we compare feng shui to the pure worship of the Holy and Powerful Creator of this entire universe, we will find that feng shui is not only unprofitable, it is highly offensive to God.
Thankfully, God is patient and compassionate and will readily forgive us when we repent. It does not mean we just stop practising feng shui. Spiritual repentance involves turning away and cutting off the past completely. Hence, it is important to remove all feng shui lucky charms and objects, burn all books, remove all digital traces, cut spiritual ties with feng shui masters and places of worship, and ask God for forgiveness for all our past feng shui activities. Last but not least, command all evil spirits attached to and which are related to the fengshui you were involved with to leave you and immediately go to the pit of fire in Jesus’ name. Ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse and strengthen you. We can rejoice that God is always ready to give us a fresh start!
Like Loretta Leung, a former devoted feng shui follower, true joy is freely given to all those who turn to God with their whole heart, soul and mind. Loretta shares her story below.
Galatians 4:8-11 ESV Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
Testimony: Enslavement to feng shui
“I studied feng shui for four years before I came to Christ with the hope of improving my life. At first, I found it quite fascinating. Everything seemed to be so scientific and logical.
The feng shui technique I studied was called “Xuan Kong”, a sub-branch of the “flying star” family. It comprises complex formulas and Taoist philosophies, where the stars should move within nine square boxes according to the Chinese calendar, which includes the 24 solar terms and eight trigrams (Pa Kua). I thought I could be in charge of my own life and felt great.
I learned that the flat I owned for less than two years had “bad feng shui”. Because I was in a bad relationship that made me want to commit suicide at that time, I believed that the flat was bad luck and sold it. Thinking that my place had bad feng shui brought a lot of fear and worry, but my life didn’t improve after I sold the flat. Looking back, I was actually cursing myself and inviting ungodly spirits into my life, so that eventually, bad things did happen. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Whenever things turned out the way I wanted, I would give the credit to feng shui. If things didn’t go my way, I would just dig deeper and buy more feng shui objects or make some adjustments, in the hope that I would get it right this time. However, the deeper I got into feng shui, the more my desires grew. I was stuck in a vicious cycle where I was going around and around, desiring more and more. There was no true happiness or joy.
Mark 8:36 ESV For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
After I became a Christian, I started to realise that true joy is not from an object or from controlling my own life. The only source of true joy is God. The feeling of being so loved by God and be able to love others is where I have finally found true joy. Feng shui doesn’t teach us any of these things.
In fact, there is NO scientific evidence that feng shui works. There are so many techniques and schools of feng shui. There is really no one dominating school or technique that is proven to be correct or the “truth” behind feng shui.
Feng shui just encourages us to idolise Taoism as well as our own pride. When we become so used to taking matters into own hands, we will find it hard to submit ourselves to God and let Him take control of our lives. Feng shui is just another scheme that Satan uses to prevent people from seeing the love and grace of God for themselves.”
2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
May this sharing be a blessing to you as you seek to love God with all your heart and turn from the deception of feng shui for good.
Special thanks go to Loretta Leung for her insights and help with this post.