Know Your Foe, Volume 5: Witchcraft - Church, Come Out Of Your Slumber - We Are The Watchmen Weekly - November 3, 2023
You Have To Name Your Enemy In Order To Defeat Them. In This Edition: Witchcraft. Read, Share, & Subscribe - WeAreTheWatchmen.org
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Church, Come Out Of Your Slumber… You’re The Frog In The Pot
In the spiritual war that’s taking place, we have to remember that the enemy (that would be Satan and his demon minions) knows scripture better than we do.
And they exploit that fact constantly.
We had the opportunity to watch the movie, Nefarious, again this week, which we strongly recommend if you have not seen it (Click Here to stream the movie.)
The plot provides powerful insight into spiritual warfare in a way that a non-believer will watch, and a believer will learn from. Throughout the dialogue, the demon character walks through how humanity, made in God’s image, is easily swayed by the idea of power… in particular being god… and how it’s allowed those evil forces to numb us so much, that we miss evil that’s right in front of our face.
In our presentations to churches and Christ-led organizations, we discuss the church abdicating leadership of the culture in our society, because words matter.
Here’s the definition of abdicate:
When we renounce our place as a representative of God, what you get is sin dictating the terms.
Isaiah 3:6-9 shows us what that looks like:
6 A man will seize one of his brothers
in his father’s house, and say, “You have a cloak, you be our leader;
take charge of this heap of ruins!”
7 But in that day he will cry out, “I have no remedy.
I have no food or clothing in my house; do not make me the leader of the people.”8 Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling; their words and deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence.
9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.
Over time, the cumulative sins of a nation's people pile so deep that their weight drags down the whole nation.
And we’ve been the frog in the pot.
We’ll take a look at a dangerous foe… Witchcraft, in a moment.
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Foe #6: Witchcraft
Strengths: Ability to masquerade as “spirituality,” pushes for wide acceptance through inclusivity as “entertainment,” big pushes from popular culture.
Weaknesses: With oversaturation in the culture, it becomes more of a novelty, Christians speaking out on how/when demonic forces work.
Their Talking Points: “You’re making us out to be the devil when we’re not!” “We are able to answer people’s questions, instead using a made up book.” “You don’t really understand how it works.”
This week, we take a hard look at the commercialization of witchcraft, via The New York Times (Click Here to read the full article.)
“When Maira Khan’s boyfriend left her last year, she was desperate to win him back. “I knew he was seeing someone else, but I didn’t know how serious it was,” said Ms. Khan, an influencer in Toronto. “I kind of just wanted her gone.”
At a loss, she decided to consult the occult. “The first spell I bought was a cord cutting spell, which for me was about removing a third party,” Ms. Khan, 28, said. She found a witch through TikTok who only required the former couple’s name to perform a candle ritual: tying a length of twine around two candles and letting the wicks burn down until the string is broken by the flames. “She said that it went well,” Ms. Khan said.
It’s a good time to be a witch. Those steeped in the “craft” are part of a $2.3 billion industry in the larger psychic-services universe, a field that includes palm reading (palmistry), tarot cards (cartomancy) and astrology.
People aren’t dialing psychics from the phone book or knocking on witchy storefronts and back rooms for their fortune anymore — supernatural entrepreneurs have set up shop on TikTok and Etsy. There are nearly 36,000 Etsy sellers offering “psychic readings” and related paraphernalia like enchanted candles, apothecary kits, ritual oils and voodoo dolls.”
Hard Stop: Commentary
This is a great example of how the enemy seeks to devour. Someone who is emotionally and spiritually lost misses out on two keys to defeating the enemy: Knowledge and Order.
In Hosea 4:6, the Lord teaches us about knowledge:
6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
“Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
I also will ignore your children.
Lack of knowledge carries a heavy cost.
As does order. God is a God of order, as He is a God of covenant. In a fallen world, one of the hardest lessons for all of us is the lesson on vengeance.
As we are taught in Deuteronomy 32:35:
35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip;
their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.”
And in Proverbs 20:22:
22 Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!”
Wait for the Lord, and he will avenge you.
When you miss these two, the door is wide open for the enemy.
Know Your Foe.
Let’s continue.
“The business of witchcraft is nearly as old as the practice itself. In Europe, “Witchcraft offered women in the Elizabethan period up to the 18th century a good and sometimes lucrative way to make a living,” said Marion Gibson, a professor of Renaissance and magical literatures at the University of Exeter in England, who wrote “Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials.”
Poor people would often visit witches and other “magical people” — like soothsayers and conjurers — in times of sickness or a bad crop year. It was expensive but often cheaper than seeking medicine and doctors or buying new tools.
Traditions also grew from historical forces. Hoodoo — a spiritual practice started by enslaved African Americans in the Deep South — blends regional African beliefs, Indigenous customs and Christianity.
“I’m from Alabama, right next to Florida, so Hoodoo may look a bit different there than for Gullah Geechee people from South Carolina,” said Eve Hardy, a medium and Hoodoo practitioner in Atlanta.
Ms. Hardy began offering services like “road opening” rituals, which clear life obstacles, on TikTok and Instagram in February, and her client base ballooned. She doesn’t consider herself a witch, however, but rather categorizes hoodoo as a subset of traditional African religions — which can incorporate supernatural practices.
“It’s a lifestyle, and it’s a religion,” said Ms. Hardy, 26, who clarified that they could be considered “boo hags or priests” but not witches.
Witches also often play a dual role of occultist and confidant for customers, like Lavender Grey who operates Grey’s Witch Emporium from her home in Knowlton, England. “The actual casting is one bit, but the other half is just being there,” she said. “I’ll offer advice and guidance because if people go off and do something silly after a spell is cast, nothing is going to work.”
Rhiannon Headrick, the owner of All About Intentions in Rolla, Mo., said that a lot of requests can feel like a last resort for people — usually women — who are out of options and hope. “My wife reads the majority of our messages now, because I got to a point about eight months ago that it was just breaking my heart,” said Mx. Headrick, who uses they/them pronouns.
“We’ve done hundreds of legal cases, typically nasty divorces and custody battles where there’s one partner who is in control and has more access to the funds,” Mx. Headrick, 35, said. But it’s impossible to verify, they said, whether the spells are effective.
A “Winning Legal Matters” spell costs $75.55 from Mx. Headrick’s store, while a “group cord-cutting ritual” to facilitate harmonious co-parenting costs $45.55. Casting a curse on a defendant or plaintiff during a family court case is not illegal. However the sale of “metaphysical services” that guarantee outcomes has been banned on Etsy since 2015, causing an uproar in the witch community. The services of many Etsy witches and practitioners now have “entertainment only” qualifying riders.
Hard Stop: Commentary
Let’s hit the basics as we address these evil works, so that we have a foundation.
First, Isaiah 5:20:
Woe unto them that speak good of evil, and evil of good, which put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for sour.
See, Satan is a master of “small spaces…”
As soon as he sees any opportunity to insert evil… he’s all over it.
Then he uses weak and rebellious hearts and minds to stoke the fire.
Here’s a quick example of what you hear in witchcraft: “Listen to your heart!” or “What does your heart tell you?”
Sounds good at first, but what does scripture say? Let’s look at Jeremiah 17:9:
The heart is deceitful and wicked above all things, who can know it?
The word of God provides a simple clarity when you look to it for guidance on how to live, and good and evil.
Then, there this:
Poor people would often visit witches and other “magical people” — like soothsayers and conjurers — in times of sickness or a bad crop year. It was expensive but often cheaper than seeking medicine and doctors or buying new tools.
For centuries, Satan has been exploiting those in need under the guise of “helping” and he’s used willing vessels to do it. Naturally, that doesn’t end well.
As we’re told in Proverbs 22:22-23:
22 Do not exploit the poor because they are poor
and do not crush the needy in court,
23 for the Lord will take up their case
and will exact life for life.
Satan knows this… and he wants souls… lots of souls. And, there are multitudes of “witches” providing them in abundance.
And then there’s this:
Witches also often play a dual role of occultist and confidant for customers, like Lavender Grey who operates Grey’s Witch Emporium from her home in Knowlton, England. “The actual casting is one bit, but the other half is just being there,” she said. “I’ll offer advice and guidance because if people go off and do something silly after a spell is cast, nothing is going to work.”
First, let’s be clear on the definition of “occult:”
Notice how the word also describe a stealth disease and cutting off the view of something?
Words matter. A lot. They have power, and you have to understand that in this spiritual battle… there’s a reason “witches” use them so much.
What does scripture tell us about these types of situations? Let’s take a look:
In 1 John 4:1:
4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
And in Colossians 2:8:
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
As well as in 2 Peter 2:1:
2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
And in 2 Timothy 4:3-4:
3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Make no mistake: The enemy prowls like a lion seeking who they can devour, and doesn’t care how they get it done.
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We are in a VERY DANGEROUS time. Satan has largely unmasked himself and operates openly, as he believes that he’s deceived enough people and nothing can be done to stop him.
As he’s always done, he underestimates the power of God, and those who serve Him. As you have this conversation with people, share with them the simple and clear scripture that connects these dots. It may be the one thing that they hear that brings them to Christ.
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