The spirits behind the occult are real. They are active, they’re malevolent, and they’re out to do us harm. Seances and astral projection, past life readings and psychic readings and Tarot cards should not be dismissed as colorful pastimes or casual games. They are serious. They are used to create misinformation by very powerful sentient beings whose skill and weaponry is primarily in the realm of deception. Even if they fail to possess those who mingle in their midst, they provide ideas that lead people away from Christ, away from appreciation for their sin and need for a Savior.
There are more witches today in England and America than there ever have been before. There are many Christians today who will come to the defense of the Harry Potter series, justifying it as a fun epic story with no real witchcraft in it. That may be so, but it has successfully removed the stigma associated with witches and witchcraft, which is dangerous. Harry Potter might be an exciting story that doesn’t teach children any real spells, but it has given many children the desire to be a witch. There are children all over the place now that long to go to school at Hogwarts. They might not be able to do that in real life, but they can certainly go learn to be witches. Witchcraft is real.
Wicca and witchcraft have grown in popularity since the 1970s. Wicca is seen by many as a harmless Earth-first, nature loving religion. Practicing witches go out to be one with nature and enjoy Mother Earth and celebrate solstices and equinoxes and full moons. It’s a modernized version of an old system of worship. The Wiccans are essentially getting back to very ancient pagan basics with nature and mother goddess worship and the use of magic arts and rituals from eastern occultism. They deny that they have anything to do with Satanism or devil worship, and most embrace the Wiccan Rede, which states “If it harm none, do what you will.”
Yet, Wiccans are seeking to access powers in the self or in nature and to draw that power into themselves. They do not believe in a personal God, but they do seek to tap into spirits and powers in order to manipulate circumstances in their lives. They believe that the deity is within, that we can be gods and goddesses. The deity is both within and without. They do not believe in evil or sin, which leaves Wiccans very susceptible to evil spirits who have dressed themselves to look good. Wiccans purposely open the door for spirits to come in without knowing the true nature of those spirits.
We all want to be able to fix the problems in our lives. We all want to have more power, more control. That’s a common human desire. The allure of witchcraft is that it offers people the power to effect changes through rituals and magic. Of course, all that comes with a price. Unclean spirits do not offer their assistance for free and inviting them into one’s life is a good way to get chained and ultimately controlled by them.
Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:31
God’s way is the opposite. He asks us to humble ourselves when we come to Him, to recognize both our own sin and His power and authority. His purposes for us are the opposite of Satan’s as well. Satan seeks to enslave us, but God’s great desire is to set us free from the power of sin and death over our lives and to make us His children and heirs.
Charles Manson is dead now, but I suspect his name will remain notorious for many years. I remember well the events surrounding his murder of Sharon Tate and the bloody mess of slaughters Manson and his “family” members committed in the summer 1969. Manson’s girlfriend Susan Atkins was also arrested and kept in solitary confinement, but she asked to see me because she had heard my Bible study tapes.
Susan Atkins previously followed Anton LaVey, the head of the Church of Satan, but had come to give her life to the Lord Jesus Christ. She wrote a book called Child of Satan, child of God, and naturally I read her book and did a little homework in preparation to go see her.
On the book, they had a picture of her when she was arrested: a frail, gaunt, haggard, tragic looking figure. When I met with her, the difference in her physical appearance startled me; I found a gal who was petite, attractive, fresh, crisp and clean. I was prepared for a change, because she’d come to the Lord Jesus Christ, but I was startled to realize how pervasive the change had been.
Satan tears down and destroys. He might not make his move immediately but, in the end, he always seeks to humiliate and devastate his victims.
Many witches, and people in general, believe that there are good witches and bad witches, as though we live in the land of The Wizard of Oz. They believe in white magic, which is good, and black magic, which is evil. The problem is that whether the witch has good intentions or not, witchcraft itself is always evil. It’s not because the witch wants evil, because that might not be the case; the witch might want good things. The problem is that witchcraft seeks to access powers that are not of God, which only leaves one alternative. This re-packaging of witchcraft, with the deception of white magic versus dark magic, is one of the reasons for the success of witchcraft in Western culture. Few people want to choose evil; but it’s easy for even well-meaning people to be deceived if they don’t know the truth.
Kelly Segraves, the one-time administrator of the Creation-Science Research Center of San Diego, often gave talks and, somehow, he was invited to be a speaker at the annual Los Angeles witchcraft convention. Kelly thought it would be a great idea to present the Gospel at this convention. He developed a talk that started out spooky, but his ultimate aim was to present the Gospel. However, when he stood up before this crowed, every time he started to speak, he heard a loud screaming. He kept looking around, trying to figure out where it was coming from, and he noticed that the audience wasn’t looking around like he was. He finally realized the audience couldn’t hear it, and he knew he was in over his head. Dealing with demons isn’t something any one of us should get into unless the Holy Spirit is calling us to it. As Walter Martin used to say, “I’ve never met a demon I really liked.”
Halloween is one of the Wiccan religion’s most significant nights of the year. It was a high day for the Druids and it’s still a high day today. It’s a day Wiccans can ask off from work as a religious holiday. Tragically, the witches are messing with powers they don’t understand, and they have turned their back on the true source of life and peace and love.
There is a day of judgment, and in that day, the works of the occult will not be able to save anybody. Isaiah warns Babylon of this in Isaiah 47. Babylon, the city of Nimrod the warrior who led the great rebellion against God after the Flood, is portrayed as the city of witchcraft and sorcery. Isaiah 47, Jeremiah 50-51, and Revelation 17-18 all describe a time of judgment that will mean the utter destruction of Babylon, and there will be no saving her. Isaiah tells Babylon:
Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth… Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall
not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
Isaiah 47:12-14
This article is a short excerpt from Dr. Chuck Missler’s book Halloween, available from our online store https://store.khouse.org. Also available as a 2 hour presentation.
