Date: November 8, 2018 ()

Bible Text: |

Series:

Today we are discussing a very interesting topic – what the Bible says about witchcraft, sorcery, and mediums. In today’s world, all over the world, people are looking for answers. They tend to think that the Bible is old fashioned. It does not fit in with the modern world and is not relevant for today. They think God is outmoded. That is not true, and you and I know that. However, these people still have answers. Everyone has problems in their lives. Everyone encounters situations that they think, “I don’t know what to do. What am I going to do? How do I know if I make the right decision? What is going to happen? If I could just see the future, I would know.”

In Africa, the cities that I go to are very progressive cities. There are a lot of people working on their doctorates and masters degrees. They are going to seminaries. There are doctors, lawyers and business people. I meet a lot of people like that. I asked one of the pastors, “How much does witchcraft play a part in what goes on in Africa today, witch doctors and all of that?” I expected him to say, “In the villages we have a lot of it, but in the cities people don’t have anything to do with it.” That is not what he said at all. What he said instead was, “Yes, it is in the villages, and yes there are witch doctors and people do go to them. However, you can go into a modern office building in one of these cities, open a drawer of a man’s desk and you might find some beads and feathers there. If you saw that, you would know for sure that that man had been to the witch doctor to get wisdom and advice.”

It goes on everywhere. You think, “Yes, but that is Africa,” but it goes on in every country, and it certainly goes on in America. The area of Texas in which I live, in the panhandle, for years has been a haven of witches’ covens. That is unknown, but it is the truth. They even had a witches’ convention there one time. People are just looking for answers. They are hoping that maybe their horoscope can tell them something. They are hoping that some person who says they are a medium or an authority can tell something. They are false and God says to avoid them at all costs, do not have anything to do with them. In fact, the Lord says, “I am against them.” We are going to discuss it from the Bible today. I want you to get your Bible, a piece of paper, and a pen. We are going to talk about how witchcraft is in the world, in the modern world today. (Look at these pictures. There are three types of witchcraft that you see there. There is what you think of as the standard witch thing, and the people actually being involved in it.)

Are you aware that the Bible says witchcraft is a sin of the flesh? Did you think it was the devil? I did, but it is not. The Bible says it is a sin of the flesh. Galatians 5:19-21 says, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious.” You see, it said “sinful nature.” It did not say “the acts of the devil.” “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious, sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” That is a very powerful statement. That is coming straight out of the Bible. It is the apostle Paul talking to the Galatians. Who are these Galatians? They were Jews that had found the Lord and had found the new way. They were walking in the new way, but they tended to have a problem of wanting to go back to the old ways. Paul had to keep saying to them, “How did you get free? How did you find the Lord? How did you find the power of the Holy Spirit? Keep walking in what God has shown you.” Yet, he still had to warn them about all of these sins, this sinful nature, that is in man. When you looked at that list, were you surprised to see witchcraft in there? The first time a pastor read that verse and I saw that, I was shocked. How could witchcraft be a flesh thing? It is because it wants answers from anything other than God, to control people, to know the future, to feel power and authority, and to be like God yet not having to serve God. That is a human condition, is it not? People are like that.

There are several different types of witchcraft that people can get involved in today. One is just called witchcraft. You hear people say that they do white magic. That is not the same as black magic, but it does not even matter because God says do not have anything to do with any of it. It says in Leviticus 19:26, “Do not practice divination or sorcery.” It does not say whether it is white or black magic, it says do not do it.

A definition in the dictionary of witchcraft would be the use of sorcery or magic to communicate with the devil or a familiar spirit. What is a familiar spirit? A familiar spirit is something that is in your family or associated with you that is an evil spirit or a demonic spirit. However, you are so used to having it around that to you it just seems like family. “We just have our little family ghost, family voice, or a family thing that our family all knows about and we kind of keep it a secret.” Sometimes, really good people can be influenced by a familiar spirit because it just has been there so long. That is why it is called a familiar spirit. It has been there so long that it feels familiar. What is that spirit? It prompts an individual to do things, and the individual thinks they are being prompted by themselves. In associating with a medium or in a séance, it is the spirit of a dead person that supposedly is called up by a medium to advise or prophesy to you.

I want to give you an example. I am a makeup artist. In 1998, I was asked to do the makeup for the Oprah Winfrey Show when Oprah Winfrey was involved in a trial in Amarillo, Texas. She had to do her show there for six weeks. My job was to do the makeup on all of these people, movie stars and people in the news, that were on the show. Every night we got the name of the person that we were supposed to be making up for the night. I recognized one of the names. It was a man I had seen on Larry King and he was a medium. He said, “Oh yeah, I can contact people, I can give all kinds of information. A lady could not find her glasses or her husband’s glasses. I talked to the husband and found out where the glasses were and told her.” It feels real normal to have this comforting, familiar spirit come and say things to you that are intimate, personal, and no one could know but that spirit. However, you have to remember that God says, “It is not for you to know the future. I know the future. I want you to know me. I will lead you into the future. I will protect you and I will help you.” Always in the back of people’s minds it is, “If I could just know what is going to happen, I could figure out what I was going to do.” I saw this medium get ready to be on the show and I thought, “He is going to do a lot of destruction. It is going to be really serious because millions of people all over the world watch this television show. God, you have to help me. You have to tell me what to do.” As I did the man’s makeup, I was very courteous to him. You are supposed to be courteous to everyone. In my head, I was binding every spirit that could work through him and every spirit that could try to lead people astray. When he got on the show, an amazing thing happened. He basically was shut down. He was not able to do what he went on the show to prove that he could do.

Look at the second Scripture in Isaiah 8:19, “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God. Why consult the dead on behalf of the living.” Listen to what God is telling you, “Shouldn’t you inquire of m e to know what I want you to do?” If you go on through verse 22 in that section, it tells what happens to people when they consult mediums and spiritists. At first there might be answers, teasers and some truth. The end result is what you need to pay attention to. No light, just fear and distress. You become hungry for more. You turn on God and Sget confused about God. You begin to see distress, darkness and gloom. It has a fearful end because it is not inspired by God. God’s ways end in peace and this does not. Is this what is going on in your life right now? Listen and think about it. Are you caught up in this? Is it something nobody knows that you are doing? Just listen to what God said. This is a very serious message. Many people want to be drawn to this to get answers. What is the answer right now? You need to repent. It is very serious. You need to get away from it. What does repent mean? It means that you are going this way, but the way you should be going is the other way. God says, “Repent, you are going the wrong way.” You get it, turn, go the other way and you never go that way again. Repent, turn away from it.

The next one is sorcery. Sorcery is the use of power gained from the assistance of or control of evil spirits, especially for divining. Write down 2 Chronicles 33:6 and look it up in your Bible. It talks about Manasseh, a king, “He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.” This is the leader of a country and he was provoking God to anger. There is no telling how many leaders of countries are involved in things behind the scene that we have no way of knowing. God knows and God is watching. The things Manasseh did happened thousands of years ago, and it is still happening today. We had a U.S. president once whose wife was involved in all of this. She was so sure that this was the way to go.

What is divination? Divination is the art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell events, discover hidden knowledge usually by the interpretation of omens or by the aids of supernatural powers. Witchcraft may be a sin of the flesh, but the devil loves to get in on it. The devil loves to heighten it. The devil loves to make it attractive so that he can seduce you into his kingdom and the works of his kingdom.
What would be an example of divination that even kids can get involved in? Ouija boards. I played with a Ouija board as a kid, thinking “Look at this. Can you believe this thing talks and does all of this stuff.” When I read that and it said this can be part of it, I was horrified. I remember when I was a little kid we used to have this black eight ball called Super Eight. You could ask it questions, turn it and it would come up with an answer. You would be shocked at how it seemed a little bit accurate, but you did not think there was anything wrong with it. That is the way we are when we are looking for answers in the wrong places. The first things that come to us are designed to be simple and people say, “That’s just kid stuff.” Another thing is a fortune teller. I can remember being in junior high and people saying, “Did you know there is a fortune teller right over here by the school? You can pay her $5 and she will tell your fortune.” “We are doing it, Betty. Come on.” Finally I went. I do not remember anything the lady said. What I want to tell you is when the Lord showed me in his Word ,“This is sin,” even when it seemed like something innocent that a little child was doing, I repented to my toenails. I said, “Lord I am sorry. I didn’t know you felt this way about it. I didn’t know you said this in your Word about it. I had never seen it in your Word.” I had been in church every Sunday all my life and I never was taught that. That is why I am teaching this lesson today. Maybe you have never been taught where it says it in the Bible. I said, “Father, I repent of ever going to that fortune teller’s house. I repent of playing with that Ouija board. I repent of playing with that Super Eight ball.” I almost felt a little bit embarrassed. I was not embarrassed in front of God, but for thinking, “This probably really isn’t that big a deal.” I did not care what I felt. God said it was wrong and that was good enough for me because I am going to obey God. That is what He wants for you.

In Leviticus 20:6 God said, “I will set My face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them and I will cut him off from his people.” If God says He sets His face against the person who does that, think about it, the people are going because they want to hear God-type answers. As a Christian, you want God’s help. You want all the help you can get from God. You pray all the time, “God help me with this. God help me with that.” God says, “Then do not do this, it is prostitution.” It is selling yourself to the wrong person. God says, “I will cut him off from his people.” What does He mean by that? When you get involved in all of this and get into it deeper and deeper, you will find yourself separating from regular people because you think, “They don’t get it; they don’t get the real stuff.” I will tell you how serious it was to the Lord. In the Old Testament, He said, “A man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them. Their blood will be on their own heads. You will not be held at fault.” That is really serious. I always wondered, when you see the fortune teller’s house, or whatever one has as an advertisement in the front yard, why is it always the house that is unpainted and kind of broken down. If the fortune teller can tell the future and get all of this great news, why are they not rich?

Next is necromancy. What is necromancy? It is conjuring up the spirits of the dead for the purpose of magically revealing the future or influencing the course of events. Calling up the dead, a séance is like that. Did anyone do that in the Bible? Another king did. King Saul did it in 1 Samuel 28:6-16. He tried to obey God in the beginning. “Anyone who is a medium or a spiritist, you cannot do your work in this kingdom or you will be killed.” Everyone knew that. Saul got scared. He disobeyed the Lord so severely that the prophet, Samuel, had to come to him and say, “God is taking the kingdom away from you and giving it to another because you have disobeyed the Lord.” Saul thought, “How am I going to get my answers, what am I going to do?” I have depended on Samuel all of these years and now he won’t help me.” He disguised himself and took some men with him, and went to a witch. He said, “I want you to call up somebody for me.” She said, “You know Saul has said we can’t do this.” He said, “It’s okay, I will take care of it.” The witch said, “All right, who do you want me to call up.” He said, “Samuel.” As she began to do that, a spirit began to rise up and speak to Saul and the woman screamed and said, “You are Saul. What are you doing?”

It is very, very scary to step out of God’s will and to get over on that line that God says do not get on. I realize this is a very serious lesson, but I want to warn you, and I want you to warn other people. I want you to show them these scriptures. Other verses to look at are Exodus 22:18 and Deuteronomy 18:10-14. In Deuteronomy 18:10-14, “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, casts spells, or who is a medium or a spiritist, or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. Because of these detestable practices, the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You are to be blameless before the Lord your God. The nations you dispossess (this is talking about the children of Israel going into the Promised Land) listen to those who practice sorcery or divination but as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.”

What is the conclusion to all of this? There are two really. First, I want to talk to you if you have been tempted this way. God’s people are to trust God in times of stress. They are not to resort to other gods in an attempt to learn the future. God does not allow it. He says it is foolishness. It gives you false wisdom, false hope and it puts deep fear in you eventually. God is completely opposed to it. What do you do then? What are you going to do if you have done this stuff? I want you to bow your head right now, right where you are. I am going to lead you in a prayer. Just repeat this. “Lord, I have done these things. I am deeply sorry. I knew not to go that way and I did it anyway. I did not understand how serious it was to you. I repent, God, and I ask you to cleanse me of this unrighteousness. I ask you to forgive me. I ask you to make it correct anywhere I have influenced anyone to do this. I am so sorry, God. Please have mercy on me and forgive me.”

The next group of people I want to talk to are people who do these things. You are a medium or you do seances. I want to tell you there is hope for you. God loves you. God loves you so much that Jesus died for you. He died for any sin and every sin. He died for these sins. You can be forgiven; you can be cleansed. You can serve God. He can use your life in an incredible way. He can use your testimony. Right now I am going to lead you in a prayer if you will bow your head. “Heavenly Father, I call you Father because I want to come to You. I come in deep sorrow and deep repentance. I have led many people astray and I have been deceived myself. I repent of all of the practices that I have been involved in. I will not do them anymore. I will tell people why I am not doing them anymore. God, would You please forgive me and cleanse me. Every person that I have influenced in a wrong way, would You please tell them the truth and heal them. Dig up and destroy any bad seeds that I have done in the lives of others. I am deeply sorry. I know it is sin. I call it sin, God. I repent in the name of Jesus.” Right now ask Jesus to come into your life and be your Lord and Savior. Tell Him, “I don’t want to live like this anymore. I don’t want this anymore. I am sick of this. I am tired of being afraid. I am tired of not being able to make a decision until I run to them. Lord I am going to run to You now. I am going to run to You.”

God has spiritual gifts. He has the word of knowledge; he has the word of wisdom. He has the prophetic word. He has tongues and interpretation that the Bible says give a revelation, knowledge and teaching. God has His own ways of getting miraculous answers to you. He wants to help you. He wants to lead you in the direction of these things. You do not have to be afraid. When it is from God, it is wholesome and healthy. It inspires faith, but it is a good kind of faith. Remember the Bible says, “The lawless one is coming in the end times to deceive you.” Let your life change.

QUIET TIME QUESTIONS

1. What type of sin does the Bible say witchcraft is?
2. What are the different types of witchcraft?
3. How does the devil use witchcraft for his own benefit?
4. What scriptures help you to understand how serious God is about witchcraft?
5. What are we called to do if we have been involved in witchcraft of any type or if we are currently used any form of witchcraft?

Download Files Notes

Topics: