Witchcraft & Sorcery
The Forbidden Arts

I feel compelled in the Lord to write this article because we have had many requests lately for information about ouija boards and communicating with the dead. (Ouija is pronounced We-Gee). These are subjects that seem to strike fear in the hearts of Christians everywhere. But many Christians do not believe that they should be spoken about from the pulpit and so they are discussed in the dark corners of churches by people who, for the most part, have no idea exactly what they are talking about. We need to drag these subjects out into the light of Christ where they can be examined and shown for what they really are - Tricks of the devil!

This article will probably offend some people, so consider yourself warned. Some people seem to feel that we should leave well enough alone, that it is not right to talk about things like these openly. Well I am here to rock the boat! Hosea 4:6 says that God's people are "destroyed for a lack of knowledge" and 2 Corinthians 2:11 tells us not to be ignorant of the devices of the devil. So in obedience to the word of God it is time to stand up and be a true man of God or get out of the boat. There are too many preachers in the world that refuse to preach the severity of God. They seem to be afraid that they will offend someone. Jesus and His apostles offended almost everyone, especially the established church of that time! If we are to be called true men of God then we must preach the whole truth of serving a jealous God, not just the good bits.

Many of the requests for information we receive are from people that have a loved one that is involved in these forbidden practices. In order to answer these questions I found that a deeper study was needed. It is useless to try to attack a fortress by knocking the top off one of the towers. It is better to undermine the foundation and then all the walls will collapse. Before we go any further I should clarify a few things. This article will cover more than these two subjects because the Bible does not use occult, ouija, necromancy or similar words. These are modern words used to describe variations of sorcery and witchcraft. However the Bible does use the words sorcery, sorcerer and witchcraft. Everyone knows that sorcery has to do with magic and spells but let us see what more the Bible has to say.

We are told in Revelation 21:8 that sorcerers shall have their part in the "lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.

"The original Greek word for sorcerer is pharmakeus which means "an enchanter with drugs." This, in turn, comes from the word pharmakeia from which we get our modern English word pharmacy. The word in its original Greek means the occult, sorcery, witchcraft, illicit pharmaceuticals, trance, and magical incantation with drugs.

Why does God condemn those that practice these forbidden arts? To find the answer to this question we must return to the Word of God. 1 Samuel 15:23 says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Why does God equate the sin of witchcraft with the sin of rebellion? After all it is not murder or rape. To learn why, we must look at what witchcraft entails. It does not matter what you call it, witchcraft, sorcery, necromancy, tarot reading, horoscopes, ouija boards or any one of a hundred other names, witchcraft is rebellion and therefore is a sin against God. The purpose of any one of these forbidden practices is to seek knowledge over and above that which is allowed by God, whether it be to foretell the future, to have power over others or to control things that belong to God. In short to be as God Himself. Our God is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14). In Deuteronomy 6:15-16 it says;

In Exodus 17:7 we are told that at Massah the Israelites rebelled against the Lord God saying "Is the Lord among us or not." God created us for His pleasure. What right do we have to rebel against Him and put our trust in things other than what He allows? We do not have the right to do this. As 1 Corinthians 6:20 tells us:

God is telling us right there in His word that we are to put our trust in Him alone and to have faith that He will supply all of our needs, as He has promised. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the "substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." We are to have enough faith that God, the creator of the entire universe, knows what is best for us, even if at times it does not seem like it to us. If we do not have enough faith to believe that God can supply our needs then how dare we call ourselves children of God? Jesus said that if we have the faith of a mustard seed then we can tell a mountain to move and it will (Matthew 17:20). How much faith then does it require to trust that God can look after our needs? Our lack of faith and trust in Him is why God condemns the sin of witchcraft so strongly. In fact God condemns it so much that the Old Testament punishment for witchcraft was death. Exodus 22:18:

The sin of witchcraft is not a new sin; in fact it is almost as old as creation itself. It began in the Garden of Eden with Eve. Genesis 3:6 says:

Eve desired to be as wise as God and the spirit of rebellion and witchcraft entered the world. This spirit has been with us ever since and is growing stronger and stronger. These spirits are overtaking us. Eve initiated this sin and this is one of the reasons why those that practice the sin of witchcraft are predominantly women. There are a number of Christians out there that do not understand the dangers of witchcraft and rebellion. They even go so far as to believe that things like horoscopes are fun to read even though they know that they are not real, but they are involved in the sin of rebellion and are in a very real danger of hell! I know that some of you reading this will think that I am being too harsh or too rigid. These are not my rules people! These are directly from the mouth of God Himself. It is all in His Word.

If we open ourselves up to the devil just once he will take advantage of it. The devil is evil - not stupid. It might just be reading the horoscopes today and then, out of idle curiosity, you get a personalized horoscope done. Then you get a tarot reading. The next step after that is ouija boards and consulting mediums to communicate with the dead. This is direct rebellion against the Word of God, and it does not have to be anything as overt as this. Remember God calls rebellion as the sin of witchcraft. Any time you are not obeying God, you are being rebellious and you are opening yourself up to the spirits of witchcraft and all that comes with them.

Witchcraft normally begins with the sin of curiosity, which in turn is born out of pride (this was the sin of Eve). This comes about because pride tells us that we have a right to know something when the Bible tells us that we are to place our trust in God and lean not to our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). Remember, we have already established that we were bought with a price. So if we are no longer our own but belong to God, what right do we have to try to find out about the forbidden knowledge? How dare we put ourselves in the place of God! Where is our trust? This is very important so let me repeat it. What right do we have to do our own thing when we belong to God? None. We have no rights, we are slaves to Christ, and we are to do His will. I know that I have already said this, but this point is so important that it bears repeating. 

Now there are probably still some people reading this complaining that this is too rigid, that a loving God would not do this. It is because He is a loving God that He has set down rules. We set rules for our children because we love them and do not want to see then get hurt. God disciplines us for the same reason, as He shows us in Hebrews 12:5-11:

This spells it out very clearly that God sets rules for our benefit and if we break those rules then God loves us enough to tell us that we must get right or go to hell. Verse 11 tells us that if we endure the correction then it produces "the peaceable fruit of righteousness".

God has set down rules for us to follow, (as is His right to do,) but because of His love for us, He does not leave us without warning signs. That is what Hebrews 12:5-11 tells us. The things forbidden by God include more than has been mentioned. It also includes astral travel, mantras and chanting, astrology, shamanism, Wicca, white, black or gray magic, belief in and communicating with fairies, imps and spirits, divining, aura reading, animal and human sacrifice, self mutilation, psychics, role playing games, card, board and Internet role playing games, and many more too numerous to list. All of these practices and more come under the broad heading of witchcraft. They are the ways that people use to try to take the place of God and gain unnatural control over their own lives and the lives of others.

I will expound on these subjects in future articles. These are subjects that need to be exposed and not feared because we are to have only a holy fear of God, not of man, not of the devil, not of the things of this world. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

If you are unsure if you are involved in any area of witchcraft then you need to pray, read the word of God and ask for His guidance, because if you sincerely seek Him, you will find Him.

Please feel free to contact us for any questions on this article.