Cults and the Occult
Part 3
“Witchcraft And Other Occult Practices”
Deut. 18:9-14 “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10 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. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.”
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Here in Deuteronomy we have a list of the various occult practices God clearly forbids His people from being involved in.
Now, if these practices weren’t genuinely dangerous,
God would not forbid them. If they didn’t open doors to evil spiritual connections then they wouldn’t be mentioned. The fact is these practices bring bondage, demon possession, demon oppression, confusion, irrational fears, and worst of all, they are Satan’s counterfeits for connection to the true and living God through His Son, Jesus Christ!
Occult practices are gateways to the dark side described by Paul in Eph. 6:11-12, “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
So as we begin our study on the occult, here are the facts:
#1. Satan and demons are real
#2. The occult provides illegitimate contact with Satan’s kingdom
#3. Occult practices are strictly forbidden by God
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So first, let’s define occult:
The word “occult” comes from a Latin word for “hidden.”
OCCULT–practices involving the action or influence of supernatural or supernormal powers or some secret knowledge of them.
The occult promises that humans can tap into a supernatural world.
Once connected to this other realm, various rituals and special knowledge are used by those involved in the occult to gain abilities and power they would otherwise not possess.
–Biblically, the occult is any practice that tries to gain supernatural power, abilities, or knowledge apart from the creator God.
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Now let’s look at the list found in Deuteronomy and define them:
WITCHCRAFT: kah-sahm’ is the attempt to obtain supernatural power apart from God. It also refers to the act of divination or seeking to predict the future or gain hidden knowledge through supernatural means. It is to turn to a spiritual source other than the true God for power, direction, guidance, and wisdom. Witches and witchcraft were very serious sins in the Bible.
Exodus 22:18 “Do not allow a witch to live.”
Those practicing witchcraft in the Bible were often possessed of familiar spirits, and conversed with them to receive knowledge of many things relating to persons. They performed many strange and surprising feats, like raising the spirits of departed persons to converse with them and gain knowledge by them, as did the witch at Endor with the spirit of Samuel.
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SOOTHSAYER: kin to witchcraft, soothsaying involves interpreting omens, consulting spirits, or using objects like bones or entrails to make predictions. Soothsayers claimed to foretell future events without divine aid or authority, unlike genuine Biblical prophecy.
Today, soothsayers may use crystals, numbers, Ouija boards, horoscopes, weather patterns, solar events, and so on to predict the future. The Bible explicitly prohibits these practices, emphasizing reliance on God’s guidance and the revelation found in His word over alternative attempts to control or predict the future.
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OMENS: naw-khash’ to observe signs, to enchant, to hiss, whisper a spell, to prognosticate (predict the future). A corresponding Greek word is φαρμακεία, from which we get the word pharmacy. I’ve said many times that illicit drugs are the gateway to hell.
The hallucinogenics like LSD or peyote open the mind up to the powers of darkness. Drug addiction reduces a person to a shadow of their former self and does exactly what Jesus said is Satan’s forte’–to steal, kill, and destroy!
Pharmakia is often translated in the NT as “sorcery” or “witchcraft,” referring to the use of magic or enchantment. Another word in the same family is μαγεία, mageia meaning “magic” or “sorcery,” similar to divination.
–Essentially, an omen is a sign claiming prophetic significance that predicts an exceptionally notable or disastrous event. Natural phenomena, strange birth defects, or animals acting in unexplainable ways are historically commonly seen as omens.
In our day preachers and Christians fall into the trap of making omens out of weather and solar phenomena like the infamous blood moons, solar eclipses, or increases in cataclysmic events like tornadoes, floods, and so on. You have to be careful with this. How many preachers and Christian representatives made huge predictions and omens out of the blood moons?
For instance, there was the recent total eclipse on October 14, 2023. All kinds of wild predictions and spiritual meanings were attached to it, right down to they predicted the outcome of American elections. And NONE of it turned out to be anything of great spiritual significance. After the eclipse not one thing was different.
Meanwhile, the ones making the predictions go right on down the road with no apology, no “oops, I missed it,” no clarification, nothing. And next time around its the same bad actors making predictions again.
In the Bible, omens are closely tied with fortune-telling and divination, as the omen must be “read” or “divined” by someone who knows how. In our day, numbers must be interpreted, or signs in the sky, or other newsworthy events must be interpreted by those that have a special connection with God.
But the Bible expressly forbids divination of any kind: “Let no one be found among you who . . . interprets omens.” (18:10-12)
We do not live by superstition, and we should not be searching for good or evil omens. Our understanding of the spiritual world does not come through the occult. God has given us the ultimate sign of His goodness, love, and grace in Jesus Christ (1 John 4:9). The Bible is our source for spiritual insight (2 Peter 1:19–21).
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SORCERER: kaw-shaf’ To use witchcraft, to whisper a spell, to enchant, to practice magic. Sorcery often refers to the use of drugs, potions, or spells. This is the wicked practice that had gripped the city of Samaria when Philip arrived to preach the gospel.
“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.” (Acts 8:9-11)
So a very demonic individual had bewitched an entire city with sorcery and magic. But once they got saved, all the people of the city renounced it!
And again much later in Acts, Paul visits Ephesus and there is a massive revival where “Many of the believers who had been practicing black magic confessed their deeds and brought their incantation books and charms and burned them at a public bonfire. Someone estimated the value of the books at $10,000.”–Acts 19:18-19
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A CONJURER OF SPELLS: khaw-bar’ means to join, unite, bind together, ally, to fascinate, to glue or cleave. The idea is that a conjurer joins you to something evil through fascination. We would say a person is “spellbound” by a conjurer. Paul asked the Galatians, “Who has bewitched you?”
I would argue this is what cult leaders do. We say of someone involved with a dangerous person or group, “They’re under his or their spell.” Or, “He’s got them spellbound.”
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MEDIUM: ohb (obe)–necromancer, spiritist, ghost, familiar spirit.
A corresponding Greek word is δαιμονίζομαι, daimonizomai: To be demon-possessed or influenced by a demon.
So a medium is one that claims to contact the dead, or that they can put the grieving in contact with the departed spirit of a loved one. This happens in seances, or even by way of a Ouija Board where supposedly the departed loved one is communicating by writing on the board.
This is what the witch at Endor that Saul consulted was supposed to do. And God allowed it, though it wasn’t the medium’s power that did it. God did it in order to speak to Saul.
“Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation.”–Numbers 27:16
When a person consults a medium, if a supernatural connection is made you can know for certain it’s a demon spirit, not the person you’re hoping for!
–Remember, the occult is any practice that tries to gain supernatural power, abilities, or knowledge apart from the creator God.
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SPIRITIST: is an individual that claims to have special knowledge or insight, often through communication with spirits or the dead. I think of a fortune teller sitting in front of a crystal ball claiming to see things about you and your future. A spiritist and medium are essentially the same thing.
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So these are the definitions of occult practices condemned by God. Next time we’re going to look at how some of these practices have found their way into churches, usually under a different name!