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WITCHCRAFT IN THE CHURCH
Do witches really exist? There are many people today who deny the existence of witches, but there is also a growing number of people who are professing themselves to be witches and who claim to have supernatural power. A pamphlet from the School of Wicca, a school that teaches witchcraft courses, says:
They don't hunt down Witches and burn them at the stake any more, but that doesn't mean Witches don't exist. Witches do exist. And they're just as powerful today as they were hundreds of years ago. Witches are coming out into the open today. Celebrities are speaking out about their psychic experiences. Listen to the lyrics of today's rock music. The revolution is here and YOU can be part of it [emphasis in the original].
Nat Freedland in The Occult Explosion, explains:
Only a few years ago, witches were believed to be as mythical as vampires and werewolves. But with the coming of the occult explosion, suddenly thousands of Americans and Europeans were announcing themselves as witches__and redefining witchcraft as a religion for the practice of magical techniques which produce paranormal but natural psychic powers.
Webster tells us that "witchcraft" is "the use of sorcery or magic." The witches themselves agree. In a New Age magazine, Llewellyn's New Times, we find that "Magick has always been a part of witchcraft...."
What do witches profess to believe? Another issue of Llewellyn's New Times has an ad which states: "With witchcraft you don't have to grovel or pray to God for help." We see that witches do not rely on God for their source of help but feel that they can accomplish what they want without God. A letter from the Church and School of Wicca tells us that witchcraft is the oldest religion on earth. Their letter continues: "We recognize the universal life force through which we gain serenity, health, and prosperity....We have no fear of the Christian hell...."
Llewellyn's New Times explains that the witch's "path is one which reveres a Heavenly Mother as well as a Heavenly Father, cherishes all that lives, accepts Divinity within ourselves [we are God] as well as without, and embraces the belief in reincarnation." An ad for witchcraft in their magazine says: "It is unfortunate that many people associate witchcraft with devil_worship. Most witches don't even believe in the Devil!"
Witchcraft is a religion, but it is a polytheistic one__a religion with MANY gods, such as the Horned God of Nature and the Goddess of Birth and Rebirth.
Since witchcraft is claimed to be the oldest religion, where and how did it originate? In The Occult Explosion, Nat Freedland tells us that the witches today "claim that their religion is the only survival of a powerful body of occult knowledge. The source of the knowledge is suggested to have been the REBELLIOUS ANGELS called Sons of Heaven [emphasis mine]...." The Bible speaks of these rebellious angels in Genesis 6:
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man....And God saw that the WICKEDNESS of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually....And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth (Genesis 6:1_7, in part).
When Satan (Lucifer) fell from heaven, one_third of the angels also fell. It is believed that it was these angels that came in unto the daughters of men and began to multiply the evil children of Genesis 6. Because of this great wickedness, God destroyed the entire earth with a flood. This wickedness was nothing to brag about, yet the witches believe that their knowledge has been derived from these REBELLIOUS ANGELS, and they boast about it!
God is very displeased with those who are witches. One king of Judah, Manasseh, "observed times, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards [male witches]: he wrought MUCH EVIL in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger." Deuteronomy 18:10_12 says:
There shall not be found among you ANY ONE that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, OR A WITCH, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a WIZARD, or a necromancer. For ALL that do these things are an ABOMINATION unto the Lord....
God proceeds to warn us that:
[1]fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, WITCHCRAFT, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like...THEY WHICH DO SUCH THINGS, SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD (Galatians 5:19_21).
Revelation 21:8 enforces this warning by stating that "the fearful, and unbelieving, and the ABOMINABLE, and murderers, and whoremongers, and SORCERERS [witches], and idolaters, and all liars, SHALL HAVE THEIR PART IN THE LAKE WHICH BURNETH WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE."
It is evident that God is not pleased with those who practice witchcraft. It is also evident that those who do such things will not be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven UNLESS they repent of their evil deeds.
Now, you may say that witchcraft is terrible and that you would never be proud about something like this, yet this SAME SIN is in our churches in another form and has been overlooked, and even pampered, by many people. You may ask "Is witchcraft REALLY in the church? I certainly don't hear anyone talking about it nor do I know of anyone who is worshipping other gods nor am I aware of anyone who attends our church and denies that there is a literal hell or Satan." What, then, is this sin that is as witchcraft that is in our churches?
The answer is found in I Samuel 15:23: "For REBELLION is as the sin of WITCHCRAFT, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." REBELLION is JUST AS BAD as witchcraft. Let's see why Samuel spoke these words. The people of Israel were begging Samuel for a king. God was Israel's king, but the Israelites wanted a king like the other nations, so because of their insistence, God "gave them their request; BUT sent leanness unto their soul" (Psalm 106:15).
Saul, Israel's first king, followed the commandments of the Lord for a while, but after he reigned about two years, a war took place between Israel and the Philistines. Samuel told Saul to wait for seven days until he could come and offer the burnt offering, for only the priests were allowed to do this. As the seven days came to an end, Saul became very impatient and he offered the burnt offering (I Samuel 13:9). As soon as Saul ended the offering, Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him. Samuel asked Saul why he had not obeyed him and Saul said that the Philistines were getting ready to come down for war and that supplication had not been made unto the Lord, so he "forced himself" to offer the burnt offering. Samuel rebuked him and said: "THOU HAST DONE FOOLISHLY: thou HAST NOT KEPT THE COMMANDMENT of the Lord..." (I Samuel 13:11_13).
This was Saul's first act of REBELLION, but it certainly wasn't the last time. Later on in King Saul's reign we find that God told Saul to smite the Amalekites "and utterly destroy ALL that they have, and spare them not" (I Samuel 15:3). This may sound like a harsh command from God, but the Amalekites were very wicked people, and there was a good possibility that there were venereal diseases present. If this were the case, the best thing to do would be to destroy ALL people and ALL cattle, so that the Israelites would not become infected by the diseases that the Amalekites would transmit to them. Regardless of the situation, God commanded that ALL things were to be destroyed, and He surely had a reason for what He said.
Well, Saul went to fight against the Amalekites but "Saul and the people SPARED Agag...and ALL THAT WAS GOOD, and WOULD NOT utterly destroy them..." (I Samuel 15:9). Saul again disobeyed, but when Samuel came to meet him, Saul said: "I HAVE PERFORMED THE COMMANDMENT of the Lord." We now see that Saul has lied to Samuel, but Samuel, who was not deaf, heard the sheep bleating and asked Saul what the bleating of the sheep meant IF ALL things had been destroyed as he had been commanded. At this point Saul puts the blame on the people and said that they had kept the best things for a sacrifice unto the Lord.
Samuel, who had been greatly grieved over Saul's disobedience, had spent the night crying over him (I Samuel 15:11), and then proceeded to rebuke Saul by asking:
Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to OBEY is BETTER than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. FOR REBELLION IS AS THE SIN OF WITCHCRAFT, AND STUBBORNNESS IS AS INIQUITY AND IDOLATRY (I Samuel 15:22_23).
From this point on, Saul committed one sin after another until God would not answer him any more. By now Samuel had died and Saul wanted to know about the future. Another war was coming up with the Philistines, but Saul could not receive an answer from God, so he went to the witch of Endor and asked her to contact Samuel for him. You see, REBELLION IS AS THE SIN OF WITCHCRAFT, and after many years, Saul's REBELLION actually led to the very sin of WITCHCRAFT! He went to this witch to try to receive some insight into the future, but this war was Saul's final war, for in this battle, he was killed. Saul, a man who once had ANOTHER HEART (I Samuel 10:9), a man who was once saved, died and went to hell because of REBELLION!
This SAME SIN OF REBELLION is very prevalent today. People are unwilling to SUBMIT to authority. An employee is REQUIRED BY THE BIBLE to SUBMIT to his employer AS LONG AS the employer does not make him compromise on his convictions or the commands of God. Even though you may have a BETTER way to perform a task, IF the employer asks you to do it his way, you are to SUBMIT to his rule.
Children are to submit to their parents "in the Lord" (Ephesians 6:1). As citizens, we are required by God's Word, to OBEY the laws of the land. We may not like the laws, BUT AS LONG AS these laws DO NOT CONFLICT with the Bible, we are REQUIRED to abide by them. "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers" (Romans 13:1).
The same thing is true in the church. WHEREVER and WHENEVER ANYONE is in the position of rule or authority, those under him or her are to SUBMIT themselves, especially within the church, for Hebrews 13:17 says: "OBEY them that HAVE THE RULE OVER you, and SUBMIT YOURSELVES: FOR THEY WATCH FOR YOUR SOULS." Paul told the Thessalonians to "know them which labour among you, and ARE OVER YOU IN THE LORD, and admonish you; And to ESTEEM them VERY HIGHLY IN LOVE for their work's sake" (I Thessalonians 5:12_13).
Those people who refuse to SUBMIT to those in AUTHORITY and to those who HAVE RULE OVER THEM, are JUST AS GUILTY as those who practice witchcraft and worship other gods. In God's sight there IS NO DIFFERENCE for REBELLION IS AS THE SIN OF WITCHCRAFT, and those who practice witchcraft, as well as those who WILFULLY REBEL and DISOBEY those who are in authority (as long as it is not in conflict with God's Word), cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
If you remember what I said earlier, you should be able to see the connection between rebellion and witchcraft. After all, the witches claim that their knowledge has come from the "REBELLIOUS ANGELS called the Sons of Heaven." Witchcraft is rebellion, for it is a rebellion against God and His Word. By practicing witchcraft you refuse to worship the one and only God, thus rebelling against God's authority. Rebellion in the church (or anywhere else) also is rebellion against God for you are refusing to obey the one whom God has told you to obey. Rebellion is only one step in the direction of the ACTUAL practice of WITCHCRAFT! It took Saul MANY years before he actually went out to seek the advice of the witch of Endor, but nonetheless, his rebellion resulted in him seeking out the same type of person that at one time he had destroyed.
Are you rebellious? Do you resent those who have rule over you? Are you disobeying rules that you have promised to obey? If so, you are acting in REBELLION, and you are on dangerous ground. You may not have realized the seriousness of your rebellion and you may never go as far as to practice witchcraft, but you are JUST AS WRONG in God's sight as those who practice witchcraft. Remember, REBELLION was Adam's and Eve's downfall, it was Manasseh's downfall, it was Jeroboam's downfall, it was Saul's downfall, and it was Israel's downfall. Will REBELLION also be your downfall? Why not repent now BEFORE it is too late, for "REBELLION IS AS THE SIN OF WITCHCRAFT, AND STUBBORNNESS IS AS INIQUITY AND IDOLATRY."
__Dr. Cathy Burns
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[1] .the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery,