It is most unfortunate that most of us Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians do no prefer the use of the Psalms as prayer types that can help solve our everyday problems. We rather resort to only personal verbal prayers whose power intensity does not equal that of the Psalms which were mostly composed by holy men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

In the light of this, it is always better to use the appropriate Psalm to combine with our verbal prayers during our private devotions for a more rapid and effective prayer response.

One thing is that almost all sects of the Christendom use the Psalms; even many esoteric groups use them; and Muslim mystics take them up in their prayers. But ironically, out of all the 66 books of the Holy Bible, these Psalms appear to be the only scriptural set that has been brutally subjected to confusing mystical interpretations, some of which even border on the occult. And anything occult appears to be satan-inspired.

Presently, lots of 'Psalms' booklets, which are detached from the mainstream Bible, are circulating as special Psalters containing assumed 'miracle' formulae intended perhaps to bring quick prayer results. For this reason, most of such Psalters bear the titles: 'Uses of Psalms' or 'Mystical Powers of Psalms.''

The Psalm pieces in these Psalters have special directions as to what each can do, and in most cases, certain rituals and holy names go by them. The 'uses' of the psalms run the whole gamut of luck, love, travelling and healing matters down to child birth, protection and victory issues.

The list is interminable, or so comprehensive as to entice the reader to search through for where his specific problem-solving Psalm lies.

For instance, psalm 127 is reputed to be for the survival of a new-born child, or against what the Akans term, 'nnawotwe - annto - wo'' syndrome—infancy tetanus! The Psalm is to be written 'upon a parchment' made into an amulet which is to be hung around the neck of the infant. How can a holy Psalm deal with amulets? Isn't it self-contradictory?

Psalm 128 is similarly to be transcribed on to a parchment and rolled into talisman for the neck for 'safe delivery'—that is, for easy labour of pregnant women. Whether or not it is also a prescribed psalm to be observed by doctors, obstetricians and midwives so as to pre-empt caesarean operations is a matter of one's guess.

There is the Psalm for students also. That is, the second division of Psalm 119(Beth). As to this Psalm prescription, it is guesstimated that the most asinine classroom dead-brains or stupid students who cannot 'decipher' from lecture notes have to write the Psalm on boiled eggs, as well as inscribe Deuteronomy 32:4 and Joshua 1:1-8 and the names of angels Chosniel, Schrewniel and Mupiel on them and eat them. That presumably will kick off the lazy brain to get cracking. Can this be true? Are the names of those angels prescribed in the Bible?

With old men who have some waist troubles, 'Magical knots'' are to be made on drinking water with Psalm 119:169-176. And for those who want to be favourably received by top men, Psalm 34 with the holy name Pele (not Abedi Pele) is to be pronounced. Perhaps it is also suitable for journalists who want easy going interviews with some high officials! Possibly any such journalist may have more 'soli' or goodwill benefits to line his pocket.

But for those who want to ward off evil spirits who are chasing them, Psalm 29 is there to be prayed on a mix of 'seven splinters of osier and seven leaves of (virgin) date-palm into a pot of water'' which is to be poured at the victim's door. But are all these credible prescriptions? Aren't they occult and satanic?

There is indeed considerable scepticism as to what true divine inspirations informed the compilations of the 'uses', rituals and holy names of the 150 psalms, since the authors of the Psalms themselves never specified any such things in their compositions.

Over this question, one Bible scholar quotes the Jewish scribe, Isaac Loria, as having formulated most of the holy names, uses and rituals. But his method is largely disputed and hence described to be occult, and therefore not of God. Other Psalters are honest to admit that some occult Kabbalists had a hand in their compilations, thus making them occult or merely superstitious.

For example, Psalm 91 has been code-named the Vihi-Noam (a never-failing) prayer.

It is said to have the mystical make-up of specially attached prayer, rituals and the 'El'' holy name that can bring protection and any success.

Of course, strictly speaking, one would say that the authors of the Psalms themselves seem to have used the Hebrew appellations of God in certain parts of their prayer compositions such as in Psalm 68:4 where Jah ('extol his name Jah…'') were retained by the (Greek) Septuagint translators. Jah is a contraction of the Hebrew 'Jehovah' and 'Adonai' together.

But scholars of Textual Criticisms of the Bible have agreed that Yaweh (Jehovah ) and Elohim were the only two 'holy names' found to be generally ascribed to the Psalms, the one from Psalm 1 to Psalm 41, and the other from Psalm 42 to 72.The rest are silent, without holy names.

Thus, such Hebrew names as El Elyon, (the most high God, Genesis 14:18) El Shaddai, God Almighty (Genesis 17:1), El Hai, the living God (Joshua 3:10), etc are all held to be transplanted into some of the Psalms as Holy names only to give semblance of divine holiness to the many occult-formulated holy names like Vean, Imi, Lir of Psalm 91.

Lastly, it is held by many Christian theological scholars that since all the 73 Psalms of David, all the nine by sons of Korah, the eight by Asaph, the two by Solomon (Ps.72 and 127), the one each by Moses (Ps.90), Heman (Ps.88) and Ethnan (Ps.89), and the 49 anonymous Psalms can be used according to occasions as the Psalm contexts dictate, there can be no fixed 'uses'' nor rituals for any.

In this dispensation (age) of Christ, it is a well-known fact that the only powerful holy name is Jesus. It is indeed the consensus of several theologians that there is no need for the use of any holy name for any Psalm except Jesus. And Apostle Peter attests to this fact by saying that 'there is no other name under the heaven given among men whereby we must be saved'' except Jesus. (Acts 4:12) In this connection, such rituals as using parchment paper for talisman, making magical knots etc. are not necessary. The use of the holy name 'Jesus' in place of 'my lord', backed up by firm faith, will bring sure results.