Burn the Witch

You’ve gotta love catchy titles. They usually draw your attention to a subject by projecting a hint of truth as to the topic of a subject. So about this article? Is it about burning Witches? In a sense, yes.

Ask a person what their definition of a Witch is, and you’ll get plenty of answers; dresses in black, Goth, casts spells, black cats, dancing naked in the moonlight, pointy hats, satanic rituals, regular cult stuff. Ask a Christian though, and you’ll almost always get the same answer; someone who worships Satan. It would surprise many, Christians included, to know all of these are false. Yes, ALL of them. Now, I’m not talking about Wicca, a division of witchcraft first emerging in full force about 50 years or so ago. (Wicca is a mixture of New Age stuff and traditional Witchcraft with really no strong religious foundation (for the most part. There are Wiccans which have a strong belief foundation, but many do not)). I’m speaking of a much older form, one which has strong Celtic roots with over centuries of practice. There are many divisions of Witchcraft, though the mainstream is the worship of nature, and of the Mother Goddess and Horned God, who (as Witches believe) gave life and cares for all life on Earth. In essence, the Mother Goddess is nature, hence Mother Nature or Earth Goddess. Some sects of Witchcraft also have deities which are who worshipped, but essentially all worship stems back to the Mother Goddess and/or Horned God. Spells are used as means of prayer, wishes to the Goddess and/or Deities using rituals and certain mixture of plants to commune their wishes and prayers. It’s using nature to communicate with nature. There are two forms of Witchcraft at its heart; black and white. White communicates with the good spirits of nature and the Mother Goddess, black with the darker spirits of chaos and destruction. Again, there are many different sects of Witchcraft, but this is the most popular among devout, practicing Witches and also the two forms I practiced for about three or four years.

Yes, you did read that last sentence correctly. I practiced (unknown to friends and family, including my parents) both white and black magic. But I didn’t stop there; I threw in some New Age stuff a bit later on to keep it interesting (so more of Wiccanism).

Very cool, very dangerous.

Spells, Ouiji, Tarot, Séances, summonings (séances with only 1 person), channeling, voluntary possession, Voodoo, astral projection, rituals, spells . . . been there, done that, have the spiritual scars to prove it. And why has Witchcraft lasted for hundreds of years compared to many Western sorcery-based religions? Why is New Age so popular and continually growing? BECAUSE IT WORKS! These religions wouldn’t be so popular and gaining momentum if they didn’t work! It’s a continuously growing problem in today’s society that most churches and those in spiritual ‘authority’ are uncomfortable and avoid discussing. We are told how these religions are growing but never why they are growing or how to properly minister to them. How can we properly minister to these people if we are under the assumption they willingly worship Satan and are evil? Most people approach it with the Fire-And-Brimstone approach, hoping to instill the fear of God in them and expose the Devil for what he really is. You can’t scare someone about an afterlife when they already have such strong convictions about their own afterlife. Christians need to prepare and also protect themselves. Mystic religions aren’t like most monotheistic religions; Mystic religions can levitate an object in front of you, cast a spell and see immediate results (often within days, or even hours , compared to monotheistic prayers which can often take months, years or even decades), and present spirits even to non-believers. How can the average Christian compete with something like that if they aren’t prepared for it? How do you deal with those kinds of situations? In actuality, many Christians find themselves sucked into these New Age and different sects of Witchcraft just for this reason. It doesn’t have to be something as sever as a complete conversion, but as innocent as starting to do Tarot readings, or trying a séance just once. How do you minister to people who believe in God, believe in Jesus but just use Tarot to communicate with them? How do you minister to people who believe in God and Jesus, but believe that after the Fall, God put the Mother Goddess (in some sects thought to be God’s daughter, and even wife in others) in charge of nature since man’s relationship was shattered with nature and they would no longer be able to care for it properly and these people are merely those chosen by the Mother to help her continue the task given to her by God? How do you minister to someone who believes that the Mother is the true creator of all things and God is actually an evil spirit set on leading the world astray from the Mother and using Jesus and the Bible as guises? Unless Christians are prepared for these things, these ideas, they fall victim to it.

It seems that just as ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’ have become taboo in the secular world, so too has the talk of mysticism and real spiritual warfare become taboo in the Christian family, school and church. The Bible tells us these things are out there and that they are dangerous. “For our struggle is not against the flesh and blood but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12) Jesus exorcized demons and unclean spirits (Mathew 9:28-34, 12:22, 18:14-20), so we know they do exist and directly affect people’s everyday lives. Jesus gave the gift to His disciples to exorcize spirits (Mathew 9:8, Mark 9:14-29) and are told about how some require extra effort to expel (Mathew 18:14-20). One of the spiritual gifts is discernment (1Corinthians 12:10) and we are told how to test spirits for those who do not have this spiritual gift (1John 4:1-3). So if the Bible tells us these things are out there, why aren’t we better prepared mentally, emotionally and most importantly, spiritually to confront and deal these issues? The church and those within the church need to get out of their comfort zones and begin addressing how to both minister to these people as well as how to protect ourselves while we minister just as the Scriptures tell us (Ephesians 6:10-17).

It’s time to speak out and help ourselves and others fulfill the commission Christ gave to us all. Rather than throwing Witches into the fire, let’s help them out.

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