Where is Witchcraft in The Bible?
The Bible tells us a lot about the spiritual world. We shouldn’t be ignorant of the spiritual world, or pretend it doesn’t exist. I see a lot of people who are hungry for spiritual things dabble in witchcraft, and because many American churches ignore the reality of the spiritual world, witchcraft and magic fulfill people’s desire.
The Bible takes a bold stance on witches, wizard, and witchcraft. The Bible makes it obvious that Christians should not participate in witchcraft, and that it can cause a lot of trouble in our life. There are verses in the Old and New Testament that warn us about witchcraft.
You might laugh and think that witches and warlocks are just like fairytales, but that’s not the case at all.
There is a very real spiritual world that has a good and evil side. The Bible also tells us that we’re in the middle of a spiritual war, which means we need to understand what’s going on.
The Bible condemns witchcraft
The Old Testament laws are very harsh on people who practice witchcraft, even to the extent of commanding them to be killed.
"When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you."
Deuteronomy 18:9-12 NIV
"You must not allow a sorceress to live."
Exodus 22:18 NLT
“A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.”
Leviticus 20:27 NIV
"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.”
1 Samuel 15:23 NKJV
As you can see, God takes a strong stance against any practice of witchcraft. Some pastors will tell you that it’s fine, but most won’t mention is. We think of Hollywood witches that are brewing bright green potions and spells, but it’s more common and subtle than that.
Anyone practicing fortune telling, palm reading, tarot cards, horoscopes, Ouija boards, casting spells, or communicating with dead people is practicing a form of witchcraft. The Bible says that Satan has blinded the mind of unbelievers, so the people practicing these things are mostly unaware of what they’re doing and the consequences. Of course, the New Testament answer is not to harm these people. But, we need to understand that practicing these things or supporting them is ungodly.
If you’ve practiced witchcraft, knowingly or unknowingly, recognize that it goes against God’s commandments and repent. This can be causing a lot of problems in your life without you even knowing it. The practice of witchcraft often runs in families, and can be referred to as familiar spirits.
Why is God against witchcraft?
There are only two sources of power in the spiritual world: God and Satan. God is the all-powerful force in the universe, but there is an evil side that isn’t powerless. You don’t need to look too far to realize that the devil has some power in the spiritual realm.
In the New Testament, we read about quite a few people who are demon possessed. One man brings his boy to Jesus and explains how the evil spirits are causing harm to his son, throwing him in the fire, preventing him from talking, and foaming at the mouth, If we saw this today, we’d explain it away with “mental illness”. The Bible makes it clear that it was a demonic spirit causing that boy harm, not a mental or physical sickness.
The father tells Jesus, “The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him.”
The first reason why God commands us not to practice witchcraft is because it allows demonic spirits to influence our life. When we worship spirits that aren’t God, we invite them into our world and give them power in our life. These spirits aren’t friendly, and they don’t want to help you.
The devil’s only mission is to steal, kill, and destroy your life, and practicing witchcraft opens the door for him to do that.
God doesn’t want you dealing with the negative consequences that witchcraft causes.
Secondly, God doesn’t want anything to replace Himself. As Christians, we’re called the bride of Christ. Any husband would want his wife to stay away from other intimate relationships. Even more so when that other person is on a mission to steal, kill, and destroy the wife.
Witchcraft fulfills a spiritual desire that God is meant to fulfill. When people are hungry for spiritual things and don’t find it in the church, they turn to other things. Witchcraft connects people to the spiritual realm, but in the wrong way.
God’s ultimate desire is to have a relationship with humans. That’s why He first created us. The practices of witchcraft try to replace God by telling us the future, changing situations, or making us feel connected to the spiritual world. God’s desire is that we would look to Him for all of those things, as Isaiah explains here:
"And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?"
Isaiah 8:19 NKJV
How do we get free from witchcraft?
If you understand that witchcraft goes against God’s will and purpose for your life, you should want to get free from its power. If you’ve ever practice witchcraft, it can have a legal right to mess with you and negatively influence your life. It might not be as extreme as some Biblical stories, but Jesus offers you complete freedom and fullness of joy.
The first thing you should do is repent from witchcraft. It doesn’t matter why you chose to participate in it, but you need to accept that it was sinful. Repentance simply means that you’re making a decision to change your mind and turn from sin towards God.
We can see a great example of this in Acts 19:
"Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power."
Acts 19:18-19 NIV
You should openly confess what you did, ask God for His forgiveness, and get rid of any books or resources you have connected to witchcraft. The next thing you can do is seek prayer from a strong believer, and rebuke the spirit of witchcraft.
Together, you can command the spirits of witchcraft and familiar spirits to leave our life in Jesus’ Name. We see another example of deliverance from witchcraft in Acts 16:
"Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour."
Acts 16:16-18 NKJV
We should be fully devoted to God and turn away from the things that cause hinderances in our relationship with Him.
