It is written:
“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)
Many of the people that we work with in Hazard practice various forms of witchcraft and sorcery. The question often is asked, “Where does the power of occultism originate?”
Setting aside the differences between magic trickery (illusionism, sleight of hand, etc.) and true occultism, let’s consider the power source of witchcraft.
Ken Johnson, in describing the wizard known as Balaam, teaches us about the pagan sorcery prevalent in the land of Canaan to which this passage in Deuteronomy applies.
Drawing from the book of Jasher, Johnson writes:
“Balaam was the only recorded prophet in the Bible who used sorcery. He rebelled against God. In these passages we can see he used divination, which required a trance or altered state of consciousness. “Angeas said unto Balaam, Conjure for us, I pray thee, with the witchcraft (sorcery), that we may know who will prevail in this battle to which we are now proceeding. And Balaam ordered that they should bring him wax, and he made thereof the likeness of chariots and horsemen representing the army of Angeas and the army of Egypt, and he put them in the cunningly prepared waters that he had for that purpose, and he took in his hand the boughs of myrtle trees, and he exercised his cunning, and he joined them over the water, and there appeared unto him in the water the resembling images of the hosts of Angeas falling before the resembling images of the Egyptians and the sons of Jacob.” Jasher 61:9-10 “Zepho said unto Balaam, Try by divination for us that we may know who will prevail in the battle, we or the Egyptians. And Balaam rose up and tried the art of divination, and he was skillful in the knowledge of it, but he was confused and the work was destroyed in his hand. And he tried it again but it did not succeed, and Balaam despaired of it and left it and did not complete it, for this was from the Lord, in order to cause Zepho and his people to fall into the hand of the children of Israel” Jasher 64:27-29 Balaam also interpreted dreams correctly, according to Jasher 70:5. Balaam was called a magician, sorcerer, artificer, and a user of divination. He was not classified as a necromancer, wizard, or one with a familiar spirit. This shows a clear distinction between the two theories of magic. The theory holds that there are two kinds of magic: ceremonial magic and non-ceremonial magic. Ceremonial magic would be when you do some ritual to make contact with a spirit and then the spirit is supposed to do something for you. Non-ceremonial magic is defined as a human doing a ritual, not to bring up some spirit, but to use the psychic power of his own human spirit.” (Ken Johnson, Th.D., Ancient Paganism: The Sorcery Of The Fallen Angels, 63-64 (Kindle Edition).
While many in the world teach that there is “light” magic (i.e., forms of sorcery which God approves of), we can clearly see that this is not true. People need to repent of sorcery (Galatians 5:19-21). Indeed, the example of Simon the Sorcerer clear demonstrates that even one deeply involved in the occult can be saved:
Acts 8:5-13-Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city. 9 But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, 10 to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” 11 And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. 13 Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.
Why not obey God’s plan of salvation today?
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