Integrity Ideas are specific actions a leader can consider during the Re-Align step of Integriosity^®–actions that will begin to Re-Align the organization with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.  You can find more Integrity Ideas at Integrous | Integrity Ideas (integriosity.com)

INTEGRITY IDEA: Shun Sorcery in Business

“Shun Sorcery in Business” is about faithful leaders looking to prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in making decisions, including hiring decisions, rather than turning to modern “sorcery”

We are not talking about consulting Ouija Boards and Magic 8 Balls in the boardroom. A recent Wall Street Journal article titled “How Flunking a Personality Test Can Cost You Your Dream Job” reported on employers using tools like handwriting analysis, personality tests, and even numerology and astrology to evaluate applicants.  Famous “psychics” like Kate Tomas and Laura Day (who calls herself an “intuitionist”) are apparently hired (at astonishingly high cost) to advise CEO’s of major corporations on business and investment decisions.

Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization.  We believe some are critical (and necessary) steps in the RENEW/RE-ALIGN/RE-IMAGINE/RESTORE process.  Others are just ideas to be considered if they feel like a good fit based on what leaders prayerfully discern is best for stewarding the organization toward its WHY.  We believe “Shun Sorcery in Business” is firmly in the “critical” category.

Sorcery in Scripture

The Bible is clear: God’s people are not to dabble in sorcery, divination, or fortune-telling.  Consider these passages and warnings:

There shall not be found among you anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)

Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:31)

So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.” For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. (Jeremiah 27:9-10)

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. Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them. (Isaiah 47:13-14)

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. (Acts 19:19)

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21).

Moreover, Saul famously paid a very high price for dabbling in these forbidden areas.

So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. ¹⁴ He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse. (1 Chronicles 10:13-14)

“Shun Sorcery in Business” recognizes that some of these forms of modern day sorcery may look scientific, others may look mystical, but they are all counterfeit substitutes for God’s wisdom–relied upon when a faithful leader has not yet crossed the Sacred/Secular Gap, does not believe God cares about business decisions, lacks trust in God’s willingness to provide wisdom, or has been deceived by spiritual forces of the kingdom of the world.

Modern Day Sorcery

The temptation to rely on astrology, numerology, handwriting analysis, psychics, or even AI and personality tests in decision-making and hiring is real—but faithful leaders pursuing faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing must recognize that these can be modern forms of sorcery.

To be clear, we view AI and personality tests in a different category from things like astrology and psychics. While some personality tests do appear to have their roots in the occult (e.g., Meyers-Briggs and the Enneagram), as a general matter, we believe AI and personality tests become “sorcery” when a faithful leader relies on them for decisions rather than using them to inform prayerful human inquiry and discernment. The trouble comes when their use becomes an idol rather than a way to love your neighbor, be a good steward and glorify God.

The uses of modern-day sorcery highlighted in the WSJ article and the seemingly thriving practices of people like Tomas and Day aren’t eccentric outliers in obscure industries. They are reminders that when business divorces itself from Biblical wisdom, it often fills the void with counterfeit voices–counterfeit substitutes for God’s wisdom as revealed through the prayerful discernment of God’s image-bearers.

A faithful leader may turn to counterfeit voices for various reasons. It may be that the leader has not crossed the Sacred/Secular Gap and doesn’t even see a connection between their faith and their work. Or the leader may not believe God cares about business decisions, let alone day-to-day decisions like hiring. Oswald Chambers observes and warns:

In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives.

Don’t plan without God. . . . We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him—that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives.

It might be that the faithful leader lacks trust in God’s willingness to provide wisdom, despite promises in Scripture that God will provide:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1:5)

And it could be that the faithful leader has been deceived by spiritual forces of the kingdom of the world into believing that use of these “tools” is harmless or even that evil spiritual forces do not really exist. Scripture is clear about the nature of Satan as a deceiver (starting with the deception of Eve), about the risk of the faithful being led astray, and about the deceptive nature of sorcery.

When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)

For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. (Matthew 24:24)

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Revelation 12:9)

So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more . . . for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. (Revelation 18:21-23)

Sorcery in Hiring

While we do not expect calling out the use of astrology, numerology, psychics or even handwriting analysis to be met with much resistance by faithful leaders, calling out as modern day “sorcery” the reliance on personality tests and AI in the hiring process is likely to be quite controversial.

It is worth noting that reliance on counterfeit voices like astrology, numerology, psychics or handwriting analysis carries with it an added danger–the need for dishonesty. The WSJ article highlights that employers using these methods feel the need to lie to applicants about why they were rejected.

Personality tests are widely used in hiring, and there is a big consulting industry built around them.  AI is increasingly used to filter resumes, and people are getting more and more comfortable with AI.

The reliance on personality tests and AI for hiring is closely related to the topic of our most recent post #290 (Don’t Turn People Into Numbers).  That post focused on turning people into “headcount” and “FTEs” when making decisions about workforce resizing. From the standpoint of people, “Shun Sorcery in Business” is focused on turning people into “numbers” in the hiring process.

By their nature, personality tests and AI algorithms are dehumanizing, because they reduce people to numbers, letters, categories or types to be sifted, sorted and labeled. For Meyers-Briggs and DISC, it is four letters. For the Enneagram, it is one number (with lots of other connected numbers). For AI scanning a resume, it is the result of a complex algorithm trained on a lot of data (all of which is necessarily reduced to zeros and ones).

In evaluating whether the use of AI or personality tests have crossed the line to idolatry, it is useful to run them through the filters of the bigger WHYs for an organization pursuing faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing and through the key Biblical principles that must guide work and business.  Is their use Humanizing People, Beautifying the World and Glorifying God?  Is there use consistent with Imago Dei, the Creation Mandate, the Golden Rule and the great commandments to love God and love your neighbor.

Use of AI. Way back in post #151 (Integrity Idea 018: Use Tech “Whysely”), we asked ChatGPT about the limits of AI.  It said:

They do not have the ability to form and test hypotheses, to evaluate evidence and arguments, or to draw conclusions based on a deep understanding of the subject at hand. In other words, they do not have the capacity for knowledge or wisdom. . .. But we should not mistake their ability to organize and categorize data for true understanding or insight. Only humans have the ability to truly know and understand the world around us.

As God’s image-bearers, job applicants deserve to be evaluated with “true understanding and insight” by other image-bearers.  Anything less is dehumanizing.  Using AI as counterfeit wisdom to reject applicants is very different in our view from using it as a source of information and data to help guide and inform prayerful human inquiry and discernment that reflects God’s wisdom.  The former is dehumanizing “sorcery”. The latter may be wise stewardship of time and resources, as long as it is not at the expense of the dignity of another person created in God’s image.

Use of Personality Tests.  This is likely to be the most controversial area of this post, because personality tests are so widely used. Personality tests may appear more respectable than horoscopes, but many fall into the same trap: reducing people to number, letters, categories or types instead of recognizing them as image-bearers of God.

• A person is not their Myers-Briggs letters.

• A person is not their Enneagram number.

• A person is not their DISC chart.

Faithful leaders should be cautious of substituting metrics and formulas for real discernment of character, gifts, and calling.

We would like to distinguish among four uses of personality tests. The first is relying upon them in the hiring process as counterfeit wisdom to disqualify or qualify applicants.  The second is using them in the hiring process as a source of information and data to inform and guide prayerful human inquiry and discernment. The third is offering them as a resource to help people determine the position in which their gifts will bring the most flourishing.  The fourth is people using them personally to gain an understanding of how they engage the world and how their gifts can be used to bring the most flourishing.

The first use is the one that we believe crosses the line into dehumanizing “sorcery” that should be avoided by faithful leaders pursuing faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing.

The second use of personality tests uses them as tools to guide human wisdom and discernment. The third and fourth uses of personality tests provide them as a tool for the person to understand things about themselves. That person can choose not to use them, can choose to ignore the results, or can choose to pray about whether the results reveal a “blindside”.  It is not dehumanizing because the test is not being used to evaluate or categorize or reject another human.

Again, is the use consistent with the three bigger WHY’s of faithful integrity and key Biblical principles such as Imago Dei and love your neighbor.

We do urge any faithful leader considering the use of a personality test to take the time to understand its roots and prayerfully assess whether the foundations of the test are consistent with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities. This website may be of assistance in that process.

CONTINUUM: Practices

The Integriosity model organizes “heart change” along six Covert-Overt Continuums.  There is nothing magic about these categories, but we believe they are helpful in thinking about practical execution of a Re-Imagined Purpose, Re-Imagined Values and a Re-Imagined Culture.  The Continuums are Prayer, Proclamation, Policies, Practices, Products, People.

Each Continuum represents an area in which leaders can begin to think about, plan and institute Re-Alignment changes to the heart of the organization.

“Shun Sorcery in Business” is on Practices Continuums.  Practices reflect, and at the same time help shape and reinforce, an organization’s culture.  Purpose and values define the culture of an organization; the culture shapes the behavior of the people in the organization; and the behavior of the people drives the results of the organization.  On the Practices Continuum, “Shun Sorcery in Business” reinforces the importance of prayer and trust in decision-making. Because “Shun Sorcery in Business” recognizes Imago Dei and counsels against seeing people as numbers, letters, categories or types to be sifted, sorted and labeled, in the area of hiring it can help reinforce a culture that Humanizes People, Beautifies the World and Glorifies God by prioritizing relationships, community and human dignity.

COVERT-OVERT RATING: Highly Covert

The Integriosity model breaks the Covert-Overt Continuums into six gradations–from Highly Covert to Highly Overt–that we believe are helpful in beginning to pray and think about what is most appropriate for an organization at a particular moment in time.

Most Integrity Ideas will have one place on the scale.  Some can vary depending on how they are implemented.  “Shun Sorcery in Business” can be Highly Covert (an action that would be taken by a secular company), because it is primarily about not pursuing unconventional avenues of guidance.  Even in the area of personality tests and AI, it can be justified on the basis of not putting people into boxes or not removing the human element from evaluating fellow humans. “Shun Sorcery in Business” can move to the overt end of the Continuum if the leaders of the organization choose to explain it in terms of faith and Biblical principles.

STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Kingdom, Employees

When we categorize faith-based actions, we also consider the stakeholders principally impacted by the action: Employees, Customers/Clients, Owners, Suppliers/Vendors, Community and Kingdom.

“Shun Sorcery in Business” is primarily about choosing and honoring the ways of the Kingdom of God over the ways of the kingdom of the world.  Particularly in the area of hiring, it also reinforces to employees a culture that Humanizes People, Beautifies the World and Glorifies God by prioritizing relationships, community and human dignity.

IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation of “Shun Sorcery in Business” is rather straightforward.  Don’t do it. Any method of decision-making that replaces God’s wisdom–as expressed through relational, prayerful discernment by God’s image-bearers–with reliance on “mystical” practices (however ancient), counterfeit wisdom, or a dehumanizing use of tools is akin to modern sorcery.

Do not consult astrologers, numerologists, graphologists, psychics, “intuitionists”, or any other person pedaling counterfeit substitutes for God’s wisdom. Do not rely on AI or personality tests to substitute for prayerful human understanding and insight when evaluating another human being.

Again, the appropriate filter is the three bigger WHYs of business a better way and the key Biblical principles on how we are to live and work with other image-bearers.

If you are doing it, follow the example of the early Christians as described in the book of Acts. Stop–no matter the cost.

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. (Acts 19:19)

Of course, the other side of “don’t do it” is what you should do.  It is what we have counseled in many posts.  Rather than pursuing counterfeit substitutes for God’s wisdom, follow the advice of post #245 (Integrity Idea 063: Seek Vertical Counsel).  When using AI, remember post #151 (Integrity Idea 018: Use Tech “Whysely”).  In all things, remember to Keep First Things First–the four key Biblical principles that form the foundation of Integriosity and are embedded in the word itself–Integrity (and its components Righteousness and Kingdom) and Generosity (and its components Love and Humility).

Scripture calls faithful leaders to pray continuously, God is the source of all wisdom, and God will give wisdom to those who ask.

Because people of Biblical faith are citizens of the Kingdom of God living in exile in the kingdom of the world–in the world but “not of the world”–leading with faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing will inevitably encounter resistance and dilemmas and require taking risks.

Faithful leaders must trust that the same God who calls leaders to challenge the ways of the world and lead with faithful integrity in alignment with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities toward Biblical flourishing will be present to guide, equip and protect those who are called.

In hiring, treat people as names instead of numbers.

• Use In-Person Assessment: Another recent WSJ article (“Ai Is Forcing the Return of the In-Person Job Interview“) highlighted that “virtual interviews have become the new normal.” A Zoom screen or AI algorithm cannot reveal a heart. Hiring should involve face-to-face meetings, eye contact, and relational cues that come only in person–one image-bearer to another. People are names, not numbers or data points.

• Identify Biblical Priorities. In post #265 (Integrity Idea 072: Seek “Moses Managers”), we urged faithful leaders to implement recruiting, hiring, and selection practices for managers that prioritize the qualities Moses used when recruiting chiefs in Exodus 18:21-24.  Look for Biblical excellence, Biblical diversity, cultural fit and character. These qualities should not be left to identification by astrology, numerology, psychics, AI algorithms, or personality tests.

Instead of turning to stars, psychics, or charts, faithful leaders should look people in the eye, not just on a screen, call on the Holy Spirit in prayer, not on systems of counterfeit wisdom for shortcuts, and remember that people are image-bearers, not categories or letters or numbers.

PERSONAL NOTE (from PM): I use ChatGPT extensively to learn and to inform my thought process. I have also taken plenty of personality tests over the years.  I have a file with my Meyers-Briggs letters, my DISC Profile, my Enneagram number, my Clifton Strength Finder results, my Crystal assessment, my Emotional Intelligence Appraisal score, my Hartman Value Profile, my HEXACO Personality Inventory scores, my Intentional Creation assessment, my Kolbe A Index, my Big Five result, my Success Factor Compass zone, my StandOut assessment, my Gallup Signature Themes, my The Call scores, and my TruCenter motivational ranking.

To be honest (one of my qualities they say), I don’t remember when or why I did most of these or what they said about me. For some, I have a very distinct recollection. I did find most of them interesting, generally affirming, and even helpful as tools of self-reflection.

Each was interesting in its own way, but I wouldn’t rely on AI or any of those tests to judge someone else or decide whether or not to hire them.

ESSENCE:  Integrity Ideas are specific actions a faithful leader can consider in leading faithfully through business a better way.

INTEGRITY IDEA: Shun Sorcery in Business

“Shun Sorcery in Business” is about faithful leaders looking to prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in making decisions, including hiring decisions, rather than turning to modern “sorcery”. We are not talking about consulting Ouija Boards and Magic 8 Balls in the boardroom. The temptation to rely on astrology, numerology, handwriting analysis, psychics, or even AI and personality tests, in decision-making and hiring is real—but faithful leaders pursuing faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing must recognize that these are or can be modern forms of sorcery. “Shun Sorcery in Business” recognizes that some of these may look scientific, others may look mystical, but they all are, or can become, counterfeit substitutes for God’s wisdom as expressed through the prayerful discernment of God’s image-bearers. While some are, by their nature, sorcery, others like AI and personality tests can become sorcery when their use becomes an idol rather than a way to love your neighbor, be a good steward and glorify God–when a leader relies on them as counterfeit wisdom rather than to inform prayerful human inquiry and discernment.

COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action):  Practices

COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt):  Highly Covert

STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Kingdom, Employees

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