OVERCOMING WITCHCRAFT IN THE CHURCH
(week 08/11)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Witchcraft is listed as one of the lusts of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21 NIV: The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; (20) idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions (21) and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Witchcraft is satanic power operating through Christians by the lusts of the flesh to give them physical and material blessings that are not the will of God for them at a particular stage of their spiritual development.
While the physical or material blessing may come it always adds ‘leanness to their souls’: it takes away from their spiritual growth.
Psalms 106:14-15 MKJV: but they lusted greedily in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. (15) And He gave them what they asked, but sent leanness into their soul.
This satanic power is allowed by God because the people do not want the truth which would either deny or delay the physical blessing they want:
James 4:3 MKJV: You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it upon your lusts.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 MKJV: (9) whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, (10) and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so that they might be saved. (11) And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.
This truth is exemplified in the story of the lying spirit that was allowed by God to deceive king Ahab to go to battle at Ramoth in Gilead where he was killed.
1 Kings 22:19-23 MKJV: and he said, Hear therefore the Word of Jehovah: I saw Jehovah sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left. (20) And Jehovah said who shall entice Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth in Gilead? And one said this way, and another said that way. (21) And there came forth a spirit and stood before Jehovah and said, I will entice him. (22) And Jehovah said to him, With what? And he said, I will go forth and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said, You shall entice him and succeed also. Go forth and do so. (23) And now, behold, Jehovah has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets, and Jehovah has spoken evil concerning you.
The lesson here is that if you become obsessed with doing or having what is not the will of God for you at a particular level of your spiritual development so you can use it to gratify the lusts of the flesh, the eyes and the pride of life, God will allow Satanic power to operate through you and give you the ‘blessing’ to deceive you.
This type of witchcraft is what I call ‘passive’ witchcraft because you are not actively going to Satan to get this power but you are allowing him to give it you by default through your rebellion, stubbornness and covetousness which is New Testament idolatry.
1 Samuel 15:23 MKJV: For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idol-worship. Because you have rejected the Word of Jehovah, He has also rejected you from being king!
Colossians 3:5 MKJV: Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness (which is idolatry).
If, like Saul, a person continues in ‘passive’ witchcraft in order to gratify his covetousness, when they become desperate for immediate supernatural power they will, like Saul who consulted a witch, ‘graduate’ to ‘active’ witchcraft.
1 Samuel 28:6-7 MKJV: and when Saul inquired of Jehovah, Jehovah did not answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. (7) And Saul said to his servants, Seek me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servant said to him, Behold, there is a woman who is a medium, at Endor.
God in this 3rdday of the perfecting of the Church, through prophetic messages like this one, is exposing the operation of witchcraft in the Church, so that those who have been involved with it, either passively or actively, may repent of it, as God is bringing forth a perfect church without spot, wrinkle or any such thing (Eph. 5:27) to fulfill:
Isaiah 35:8-9 MKJV: And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called, The Way of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. But He shall be with them; the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err in it. (9) No lion shall be there, nor any beast of prey shall go up on it; it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there.
The ‘unclean’, the ‘lion’ and the ‘beast’ (Dan. 7:3-7; Rev. 13:1-2) here typify the operation of witchcraft through the sin nature and the power of evil spirits.
It is crucial NOW to repent and forsake this sin of witchcraft in order to receive God’s mercy like, Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah did after God had afflicted him for his witchcraft and idolatry.
2 Chronicles 33:1-3 MKJV: (1) Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. (2) But he did the evil in the sight of Jehovah, like the abominations of the heathen whom Jehovah had cast out before the sons of Israel. (3) For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for the Baals, and made Asherahs, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them.
2 Chronicles 33:6 MKJV: And he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. He also practiced secret arts, and used fortune-telling and used witchcraft, and dealt with mediums, and with soothsayers. He did much evil in the sight of Jehovah in order to provoke Him to anger.
2 Chronicles 33:11-13 MKJV: (11) And Jehovah brought on them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with chains and carried him to Babylon. (12) And when he was in affliction, he sought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. (13) And he prayed to Him, and He was entreated of him, and heard his prayer, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. And Manasseh knew that Jehovah is God.
James 4:8-10 MKJV: Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners; and purify your hearts, double-minded ones. (9) Be afflicted, and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. (10) Be humbled before the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Not to repent now is to invite a certain fiery judgement and punishment from God as He cleanses and perfects His Church:
Isaiah 4:3-4 MKJV: And it shall be, he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem; (4) when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from its midst by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
Malachi 3:5 MKJV: And I will come near you to judgment. And I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those who extort from the hired labourer’s wages, and turning away the widow, and the orphan, the alien, and not fearing Me, says Jehovah of Hosts.
Malachi 4:1 MKJV: For behold, the day is coming, burning like a fire pot; and all the proud, and every doer of wickedness, shall be chaff. And the coming day will set them ablaze, says Jehovah of Hosts, which will not leave root or branches to them.
So let us flee rebellion, stubbornness and covetousness which are the gateways to the spirit of witchcraft in the Church; let us inherit the promises of God through faith and patience and not be in a hurry to be rich.
Hebrews 6:12 MKJV: that you be not slothful, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Proverbs 28:20 MKJV: A faithful man shall overflow with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
