Magi Kings: Good or Bad? Recently I have a doubt related to the Three Magi Kings. Although, we all know that there are &quot;denominations&quot;that celebrate a special day in honor of them, there are others that do not.
In Matthew 2: 1-8 it says:

And, having gathered together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, He began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born. They said to him: &quot;In Bethlehem of Judea; because thus it has been written through the prophet:
'And you, O Bethlehem  from the land of Judah, you are by no means the most insignificant [city] among the governors  of Judah; for out of you will come one who rules, who will shepherd my people, Israel. '&quot; Then Herod secretly summoned the magicians and carefully ascertained from them the time when the star had appeared;and, when he sent them to Bethlehem, he said: &quot;Go and make a careful search of the little boy, and when you have found him, come back and inform me, so that I may also go and pay him homage&quot;.

Also in Matthew 2:11 he mentions:

And when they entered the house they saw the little child with Mary his mother, and, falling down, they paid him homage. They also opened their reasures and presented gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

From what I understand, what Matthew 2:11 says is the reason why some &quot;denominations&quot; celebrate a special day of &quot;Magi Kings&quot;, giving gifts to children.
However, if I do not misunderstand the scriptures, they clearly condemn any kind of magic, as well as the Babylonian practice of trying to obtain information from the stars.
Deuteronomy 18: 10-12 says:

No one should be found in you to let your son or daughter pass through the fire, no one who uses divination, a magic practitioner or anyone looking for omens or a sorcerer, nor one who binds others with curses or anyone who consults a spiritualist medium or a professional event forecaster or anyone who asks the dead. For everyone who does these things is something detestable to God, and because of these detestable things your God is going to drive them out from before you.

Isaiah 47:13 mentions:

You have grown weary with the multitude of your counselors. Let them stand, now, and save you, the worshipers of heaven, the contemplators of the stars, those who spread knowledge in the new moons about the things that will come upon you.

The revelation that those men received did not have good consequences. Aroused the jealous anger of the evil King Herod, which, in turn, led to the flight of Joseph, Mary and Jesus to Egypt and resulted in the murder of all male children of Bethlehem &quot;from two years of age to below&quot;
Is this the reason why some &quot;denominations&quot; do not celebrate the day of the &quot;Three Magi Kings&quot;?
People sometimes make the assumption that the Bible divides everybody - or even every thing - into either 'good' or 'bad'. However that is not the case. The Bible realistically understands that everybody (excepting God himself) is neither perfectly good nor unutterably evil. People can do a mixture of good or bad things. Because some people did some good things (went to worship Jesus at his birth) that does not imply that everything else they did was also good.

Some examples:


Rahab was a prostitute (Joshua 6), but in the book of Hebrews she is commended for her faith, and in the book of James she is "listed among the righteous". That doesn't mean the Bible approves of prostitution, it just means she did some bad things as well as the good.
King David committed adultery and murder, yet was called "a man after God's own heart". That's not to condone adultery and murder, it just means he did some bad things.
Abraham lied about his wife on at least two occasions, saying she was his sister. Again that does not imply that lying is approved of.


On the celebration of the feast of the Magi, the denominations I have been associated with that do not celebrate it have done so simply because it is a lesser festival, and they tend not to celebrate many. They can and do use the story of the Magi for teaching, and there is no thought that their visit was evilly inspired.