And the Spirit and the Bride say, "Come". And let him that hears say, "Come". And let him that is thirsty come. And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely!                                                                    Rev. 22:17

 ~ REBELLION ~

REBELLION

1 Samuel 15:23 (NAS) "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry..." King Saul 1kings Spirit of rebelion is the spirit of witchcraft

Witchcraft: Wanting to be a spiritual "mover and shaker" without submitting to God. Witchcraft is rebellion coupled with a desire to "stay in the game", to be a spiritual player. John 8:44-45 (NIV) "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire... When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!"

  All supernatural power comes, ultimately, from either God or Satan. God gives power to those who believe the truth. To approach God, truth is the cost of entry.

  But it is the opposite with Satan, whose nature is deception. Satan gives power to those who believe a lie. Believing the lie is the cost of entry to access Satan's power. Witchcraft bolsters up the lie with: mystery, pseudo-science, ancient knowledge, new knowledge, etc.... The more absurd the lie, the better. The lie acts as a distracter.

  If we mix certain ingredients in a drink... If we eat a special herb... If we arrange candles in a certain configuration... If we stare into a crystal ball... If we turn over Tarot cards... If we "read" the stars... If we speak a certain phrase, or mantra... If we have secret knowledge... If we draw certain symbols... then spiritual forces will come into play.

James 3:15 (NIV) Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.

  Witchcraft starts with a heart of rebellion and works by focusing on a distracter, a lie, which is some technique purported to release power. It is important to have "faith", to trust in the technique and not God. Believing in lies is an "acceptable sacrifice" to Satan, the father of lies, who honors his children with real power. The irony is, that due to the inherent deceptive basis of witchcraft, the practitioners of it often think they are serving God, while accessing a power from below (earth)--not from above.

  For the purpose of this study, we are defining witchcraft as a desire to be a spiritual free agent without submission to God or regard for His word.

1 Samuel 15:23 (NIV) "For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you..."

Psalms 107:11 (NIV) For they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.

Nehemiah 9:26 (NIV) "But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they put your law behind their backs. They killed your prophets, who had admonished them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies."

FOOLS DESPISE WISDOM AND INSTRUCTION

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:20-33 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

Proverbs 5:3-5 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

Proverbs 5:8-13 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

Proverbs 9:7-8 He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

Proverbs 12:1 Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.

Proverbs 13:1 A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.

Proverbs 15:10 Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.

Proverbs 15:12 A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise.

Proverbs 17:10 A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.

Proverbs 18:1-2 Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom [NKJV: A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment].
2 A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself [RSV: but only in expressing his own opinion].

Proverbs 23:9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

Proverbs 27:22 Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.

Proverbs 29:1 He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

Proverbs 29:9 If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he [NKJV: the fool] rage or laugh, there is no rest.

Ecclesiastes 4:13 Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished.

Isaiah 26:10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

Isaiah 29:20 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

Jeremiah 2:30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.

Jeremiah 7:23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
28 But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

Amos 5:10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

Amos 5:13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

John 7:7 The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

DOES WITCHCRAFT WORK?

  Even though Satan is usually the furthest thing from the mind, the "father of lies" honors the self-delusion inherent in witchcraft by occasionally releasing power, even doing supernatural miracles for those who have rebelled against God and yet still want to be spiritually effective. By this means, real power can be exerted to achieve health, beauty, enchantment, supernatural sensitivity, "insight" through drugs and experiences, oracles and visions, and the like. In this sense, witchcraft works.

Exodus 7:22 (NIV) But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

Exodus 8:7 (NIV) But the magicians [Jannes and Jambres] did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

  Witchcraft is characterized by belief in "knowledge from below", and rejection of "knowledge from above". In it's more advanced and powerful stages, delusion and belief in what is clearly not of God is key. Satan's tacit "deal" is: if you sacrifice truth on his altar, he will give you power for what you want now. But lies are flimsy things to put your trust in...

Exodus 8:18 (NIV) But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals.

Isaiah 47:12 (NIV) "Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror."

WITCHCRAFT IN THE CHURCH

Deuteronomy 18:14 (NAS) "For those nations, which you will dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so."

Acts 8:9-11 (NIV) Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, "This man is the divine power known as the Great Power." They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.

Jeremiah 5:23 (NIV) But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.

  It is sobering to see how similar modern witchcraft (Wicca, or "white witchcraft") is to modern Christianity. Self-aware witches bless as well as curse, 'bind and loose', prophesy, pray, lay hands on, anoint with oil, etc. Some even consider themselves Christians with a superior understanding and power. A few even worship Jesus--along with a pantheon of other gods and goddesses--but totally reject the reality of Satan.

  This should not surprise us, it was the same in Jesus' day; nor should it poison our desire to practice real spiritual gifts. But given the similarity, how does one tell the difference? More importantly, are we dabbling with witchcraft?

Isaiah 30:9 (NIV) These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction.

2 Timothy 3:6-8 (RSV) For among them are those who make their way into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and swayed by various impulses, who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth. As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith.

Deuteronomy 18:10-11 (NIV) Let no one be found among you... who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or cast spells, or who is a medium or spiritist.

JESUS, MIRACLES AND TECHNIQUES

  In one situation, Jesus spits in the dirt and rubs it in someone's eye

 (John 9:6). In another, He touches the person (Luke 5:13), or from a distance speaks a condition of obedience (Luke 17:12-14). Sometimes He speaks calmly (John 4:50), sometimes He yells (John 11:43). Jesus was not relying on technique; He was relying on, and submissive to, His Father (John 8:28-29). The specifics of how the miracles were performed varied. It is almost as if God was trying to make the point: trust in Me, not the procedure.

  Are we relying on God or technique? If God, then the technique may change. In one case the Spirit may lead us to help someone believe with some physical act, like anointing with oil. In another, the Spirit may lead us to do something which may make it harder to believe, like rubbing dirt in someone's eye. Clearly, the technique is not the important thing, it is more like a Spirit-inspired sermon that accompanies the miracle.

  Jesus' miracles were done out of love in obedience to the Father. He did not do "miracles on demand" (see the temptation of Jesus in Mark 4:1-12. The temptation to "do a miracle" without God's leading is apparently for advanced, not carnal souls.) or boast of great power. He even told many He healed to "keep it secret" to thwart the adulterous spirit of fascination with "signs and wonders" of which He warned. But heal He did, and told us to do likewise.

  To be sure, some common techniques do emerge from Scripture: like the laying on of hands or anointing with oil. But these are meant to be symbolic of where the power really comes from, not to be believed in superstitiously as a power unto themselves. These techniques, even if "authorized" by Scriptural precept and example, will never work--by God's power anyway--if done by rebellious "free agent" human and not Divine will. They are not needed for God to move, except as an act of obedience when the Spirit leads. For the Holy Spirit never leads us into superstition, indifference to God's will, or self-glory.

Isaiah 2:6 (NIV) You have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and clasp hands with pagans.

  When we start relying on technique and not God, then we are flirting with witchcraft. Miracles may be done, supernatural power may come into play. But if the soul doing these works is not yielded to God's will, then it is an act of rebellion. The witch in all of us wants God "on a leash". God must perform a trick for us when we jerk His chain. Like Satan, we twist Scripture: "But doesn't God say...?" (Matthew 4:5-6, Genesis 3:1)

  The destiny of those who continue to practice witchcraft as "free agents" from God is certain, even if their miracles are "good works".

Matthew 7:22 (NEB) "Many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out devils in your name, and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them to their face, 'I never knew you; out of my sight, you and your wicked ways!'"

Exodus 20:7 (NIV) "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."

Revelation 22:15 (NIV) Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Revelation 21:8 (NIV) But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.

Colossians 2:8  ⁸Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

ARE WE GETTING AWAY WITH THIS?

Isaiah 57:1-5 (NIV) "The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. But you--come here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes! Whom are you mocking? At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue? Are you not a brood of rebels, the offspring of liars? You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree..."

Isaiah 57:7-8 (NIV) "You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill; there you went up to offer your sacrifices. Behind your doors and your doorposts you have put your pagan symbols. Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed, you climbed into it and opened it wide; you made a pact with those whose beds you love, and you looked on their nakedness."

Isaiah 57:10-12 (NIV) "You were wearied by all your ways, but you would not say, 'It is hopeless.' You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint. Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have been false to me, and have neither remembered me nor pondered this in your hearts? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me? I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you."

Micah 5:12 (NIV) I will destroy your witchcraft, and you will no longer cast spells.

FALSE PROPHETS - BALAAM￿S ERROR

  Balaam was a prophet for hire, a "prophet for profit". We would never do such a thing, at least not for so large a bribe. Instead, we sell out for much less: To look good, to come off as "really spiritual", to have people believe in us. But it is still the spirit of Balaam which sells out to gain, even if the wage we get for our rebellion is cheap and ephemeral (lasts for one day only ￿ short lived).

2 Peter 2:15 (NIV) They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

Jude 11 (NIV) Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error.

Jeremiah 14:14 (NIV) Then the Lord said to me, "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds."

Deuteronomy 13:1-5 ¹ If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, ² and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, ￿Let us follow other gods￿ (gods you have not known) ￿and let us worship them,￿ ³ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. ⁵ That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.

Joshua 13:22 (NIV) In addition to those slain in battle, the Israelites had put to the sword Balaam son of Beor, who practiced divination.

2 Chronicles 33:6 (NIV) He... practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

Jeremiah 27:9-10 (NIV) "So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums or your sorcerers... Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have."

Isaiah 1:23 (NIV) Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them.

LYING DIVINATIONS

Ezekiel 13:6 (NIV) Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. They say, "The Lord declares," when the Lord has not sent them; yet they expect their words to be fulfilled.

Ezekiel 13:7 (NIV) Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, "The Lord declares," though I have not spoken?

Ezekiel 13:9 (NIV) My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.

Isaiah 47:9 (NIV) Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.

Malachi 3:5 (NIV) "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers..." says the Lord Almighty.

IT IS THE WITCH IN US￿ THAT MUST DIE!

Job 24:13 (NIV) "There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths."

  A.W. Tozer: "Christianity is so entangled with the world that millions never guess how radically they have missed the New Testament pattern. Compromise is everywhere. The world is whitewashed just enough to pass inspection by blind men posing as believers..."

  Consider and discuss these provocative suggestions of how witchcraft may have been repackaged to appeal to the rebellious hearts of Christians:

  Do we trust in God, or in our favorite "distracter"? Will we follow Satan's seductive siren song to spiritual power and become His possession, or will we follow the Holy Spirit into truth?

  Some simple questions to ask in discerning witchcraft: Is it based on the truth, or a distracter or outright lie? Is it "power of suggestion" or God's power? Are we blind not to see how similar it is to traditional witchcraft? Is it born out of waiting upon the Lord in faith, or out of impatience? Who is in control? Who gets the glory? In whom, or in what, are we trusting?

2 Kings 17:17 (NIV) ...They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

REPENTANCE

Deuteronomy 18:14 (NIV) "The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so."

  While some revel in witchcraft under a "Christian" banner, others see through this and are so disgusted that they are suspicious of real gifts of the Spirit. We need to be careful not to be spiritual prostitutes... or to become spiritually frigid.

Jeremiah 3:13 (NIV) "Only acknowledge your guilt--you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me," declares the Lord.

Acts 19:19 (Jer) Some believers, too, came forward to admit in detail how they had used spells and a number of them who had practiced magic collected their books and made a bonfire of them in public. The value of these was calculated to be fifty thousand silver pieces.

Hosea 14:9 (NIV) Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

Leviticus 19:26 (NIV) ... "Do not practice divination or sorcery."

DREADFUL THING TO FALL IN THE HAND OF A LIVING GOD

Numbers 16:32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that [appertained] unto Korah, and all [their] goods. 

Hebrews 10:31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Psalm 90:7-9 ⁷ We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. ⁸ You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.⁹ All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever. 

James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one [point], he is guilty of all.

Galatians1:6-8  ⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel￿ ⁷ which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God￿s curse!

 ALL SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED BY GOD

 2 Timothy 3:16¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

 2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

God￿s attributes. How He is merciful but also a consuming fire. Depending whether we are being obedient or not. That is the reason...

 GOD'S MERCY

2Chronicles 7:14 ¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.