In popular culture in America witchcraft is all about old crones or warlocks, bats, spiders, "death head" skulls and broomsticks. Magic circles, and pentagrams, daggers and candles are frequently seen in pop art and media. Monsters, vampires, werewolf costumes are seen at Halloween on toddlers and tykes.

Witchcraft in Scripture however is presented as attitudes and spirit. Read thus in 1 Sam 15:22-23: "Then Samuel said: "Has 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 heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he also has rejected you from being king." (NKJV)

Witchcraft is in its essence the spirit or attitude that rejects the authority of God and seeks to replace it with another power or authority. It is the ultimate outworking of any idolatry.

In the Garden of Eden, God and Adam worked side by side to establish the man's authority over creation. God brought the animals to Adam, and Adam named them, thus establishing Adam's authority over the beast. God concurred with Adam, thus approving and empowering Adam with God's own blessing or favor in the matter. It was God who initiated the work and established it through His own power. It was Adam's part to exercise the delegated authority under God's supervision. This same pattern was manifest in Jesus Christ as Second Adam.

"Witchcraft" cuts God out of the picture in one of two ways. One, by substituting the power of another "spirit" or "force" for the power of God. This being done by various means of contact with the spirit world or "forces of cosmic energy". The second is by circumventing the supervision of God and establishing autonomous "spiritual authority" in God's or Jesus' name.

The first we are familiar enough with whether by "black magic" and it's destructive, or covetous use of spirit forces for establishing dominion over other beings by means of spells, incantations, talismans, fetishes, curses, etc. or by "white magic" and it's use of healing spells, "scripture luck charms" or similar devices meant to "protect" and bring "blessings".

The second, we need to pay closer heed to in this day. It too is a form of witchcraft. I speak of the use of Scripture and "Believer's Authority" independent of the will of God actually revealed in Scripture. The Christian Believer does not have a self governing authority. For instance, a believer praying for something contrary to scripture, such as the destruction of or calling of harm to another person, or the use of "faith confessions" to feed avarice, or covetousness; both are a use of "authority" seeking to gain control of God's power independent of the supervision or actual mind of the Holy Spirit. One Minister was reported to have taught the students at his "Bible College", "If the Apostle Paul had known what I know, he would never have had to suffer the way he suffered." The implication was that Paul could have circumvented the plainly stated will of God for his life through the use of "proper confession."

This is a form of witchcraft. A deadly form that has robbed the Pentecostal Church of the true source of its power which is the true, faithful, prayerful, obedient surrender and consecration to the will of God, as revealed by the actual Presence of Christ walking daily with us and closely supervising every work we do by the Holy Spirit's True Anointing in accordance with the truly revealed truth of Scripture.

By: Pastor Paul Ratliff
Wynnewood Assembly Of God
Wynnewood OK 73098
E-mail: wynnewoodaog@att.net

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