Witchcraft in the Ranks

When you think of witchcraft, what comes to mind? The Halloween imagery of black hats and broomsticks? People or objects being levitated through the air? Appearances being transformed into something new before your very eyes? You may have different thoughts when it comes to witchcraft, but let’s look at what witchcraft looks like in the midst of God’s people. Could there be witchcraft in the ranks at your church or home group meeting?

            The apostle Paul pointedly confronted the Christians of Galatia in his epistle bearing their name:

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

(Galatians 3:1-3 KJV)

Certainly if the witchcraft in their midst had been overtly manifested, they themselves would have recognized it. But as it is so many times in the church, subtlety (a distinction that is difficult to make but is important) wins out in the congregations of Galatia. Here is what John Gill’s Exposition of the Whole Bible says about this witchcraft at Galatia:

“Who hath bewitched you? some false teacher or another had, or it cannot be conceived how their heads should ever have been turned this way; which must be understood, not in a literal and proper sense, as Simon Magus bewitched the people of Samaria with his sorceries, but in a figurative and improper one; that as sorcerers and enchanters cast a mist before people's eyes, or, by some evil arts or juggling tricks, deceive their sight, and make objects seem to appear which do not, or in a different form than they really do, so these deceitful workers, who had transformed themselves into the apostles of Christ, as Satan sometimes transforms himself into an angel of light, had set this doctrine in a false light before them, thereby to corrupt their minds from the simplicity that is in Christ. Though the apostle reproves the Galatians for their folly and weakness in giving in so easily to such deceptions, yet he imputes the chief fault unto, and lays the greatest blame on the false teachers; whom he represents as sorcerers and enchanters, and their doctrine, particularly that of justification by works, as witchcraft; it being pleasing to men, a gratifying of carnal reason, and operating as a charm upon the pride of human nature.”

I’d like to expound on several things Gill’s brings out about this witchcraft and then make some closing remarks.

            First of all, there were teachers in their midst that were, in effect, setting doctrines before them in a false light. Jesus says in Matthew 6:22-23, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” A false light is darkness. It may look the same on the surface, but the illumination it brings is deception. These two verses are set in the middle of a text dealing with treasures and motivations of the heart, the inability to serve two masters. False teachers have a false light coming from lust for false treasure and false motivations. Sometimes their treasure is control over people. Their motivations oftentimes revolve around building their ministry, their kingdom, and of course collecting subjects to do their bidding. This is not the Mosaic Law but it is legalism none the less.

            Secondly, this deception comes about by the subtle exercise of the sorcerer’s art. Not upfront and blatant, as with Simon Magus, but nevertheless seeing the same outcomes. Let’s look first at juggling tricks. The scriptures are, in our days, being juggled to bring about any outcome one may desire. Safeguards are being thrown aside in the name of one “new revelation” or another. Hell is no longer really hell or eternal separation from God, but a place of refining. Homosexuality is no longer an abomination to the Lord and those who stand against it are “haters.”  Out of balance doctrinal stances are no more than juggling acts, mesmerizing the people of God. When one follows the lift of the juggler’s hand releasing the newest, hottest trend in Christendom, it’s easy to forget the foundational truths that keep us grounded in truth. And how about deceiving their sight, making objects seem to appear which do not, or in a different form than they really do. Is this no more than distortion of the truth? Can we not see this in soul-based prophetic words, and dreams and visions that call not to the hidden things of the heart, but to the earthly things of the soul? Find what people want and then “prophesy” to that want and of course tell them that you are their gateway to fulfilling that want. This is sorcery at its finest and it happens all around us, not just on Christian television.   

            Lastly, can we see witchcraft as “it being pleasing to men, a gratifying of carnal reason, and operating as a charm upon the pride of human nature”? Here again is that soul connection; the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Paul speaks in his second letter to Timothy, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables (2 Timothy 4:3-4 KJV). Charismatic witchcraft will always play in the soul realm. Soul-based prophetic words do no more that reinforce that soul-based lust in the hearer, bringing it front and center, displacing the spiritual desires of God for one’s life. Many lust after a word from God rather than the Word of God. I’ve known and counseled people who could not receive counsel unless it was given in a prophetic word. Good, sound scriptural counsel (The Word) was rejected in place of “the word”, usually spoken through someone willing to connect to them on a soul-based level.

            In closing, as Gill says, “Though the apostle reproves the Galatians for their folly and weakness in giving in so easily to such deceptions, yet he imputes the chief fault unto, and lays the greatest blame on the false teachers…” The apostle Peter has a final word on this as related in 2 Peter 2:1, saying, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”

            Are you with leaders that stroke your carnal desires? Do they tell you what you want to hear rather than what God says in His word? Do they counsel you out of a motivation of control, manipulation, and witchcraft? Are they out to build their kingdoms of sand or are they equipping you to be a builder on the Rock? Don’t waste your time, effort, finances, and peace of mind following the sorcerers. Only Godly counsel, firmly based on the Word, and delivered with no hidden motives, can bring you to wholeness.