Against Witchcraft
Anyone who dies a practicing witch is going to lose their soul. There is no question about it.
The Apostle Paul placed witchcraft in his list of the damned. He writes:
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21).
We see from the above passage that witchcraft is NOT spiritual; it is a work of the flesh that bans people from heaven. It warrants severe punishment, because its practitioners are in extreme rebellion against God, as is anyone in the occult.
"But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (NIV, Revelation 21:8).
One of the most powerful biblical passages condemning the occult is Deuteronomy 18:9-12:
"When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee."
This Old Testament prohibition was not revoked in the New Testament. Witchcraft is still hated by God.
MORE SCRIPTURE
God sets his face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists. (Lev.20:6-7)
Divination condemned in Jer. 29:8; Deut.18:9-12.
Why consult the dead on behalf of the living (Is.8:19)
God is against magic charms (Ezk.13:20)
Do not practice divination or sorcery (Lev.18:19-26)
Witchcraft, divination and the practices of mediums and spiritists are evil (2Chron 33:6)
God will destroy your witchcraft (Micah 5:2)
Witchcraft destroys peace (2Kings 9:22)
It enslaves people (Nahum 3:4)
Witchcraft is a sin. (1 Samuel 15:23).
Witchcraft is a barrier to entering the Kingdom of God (Gal.5:19-21)
Renounce any involvement with the occult (Acts 19:18)
Remove all objects related to the occult (Acts 19:19).
EXAMINATION OF SOME BIBLE PASSAGES PROVING THE DEFINITION OF RELEVANT WORDS
Exodus 22:18: witch (kashap)= to practice magic or sorcery, to enchant, or to use witchcraft. (see, Brown Driver and Briggs Hebrew English Lexicon, s.v. 3784; International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 3; Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, vol.1, s.v. 1051).
Deut. 18:10: divination (qesem)= divination, augury, witchraft, sorcery, fortune telling, omen, lot, oracle, decision (see, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol.1; Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, vol. 2, s.v. 2044a).
Deut. 18:10: observer of times (anan)= divination, spiritism, magic, witchcraft, sooth saying (see, Strong's Concordance # 6049; Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, vol. 2, s.v. 1656).
Deut. 18:10: enchanter (nahash)= to practice divination, divine, practice fortune telling, observe signs or omens, or learn by omens. (see, Brown Driver and Briggs Hebrew English Lexicon, s.v. 5172; Strong's Concordance # 5172).
Deut.18:11: charmer (chabar)= casting a spell or tying up a person by magic. (see, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, vol. 1, s.v. 598).
Deut: 18:10: witch (kashap)= to practice magic or sorcery, to enchant, or to use witchcraft. (see, Brown Driver and Briggs Hebrew English Lexicon, s.v. 3784; International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 3; Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, vol.1, s.v. 1051).
Gal. 5:20: witchcraft (pharmakeia)= sorcery or magic. (see, Thayer's Greek Lexicon, p. 649; Strong's Concordance # 5331).
Rev. 21:8: sorcerers (pharmakos)= a person that practices magic arts. (see, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 3, Strong's Concordance # 5333; Thayer's, p. 650).
Rev. 9:21: sorceries (pharmakeia)=sorcery or magic. (see, Thayer's Greek English Lexicon, p. 649; Strong's Concordance # 5331).
CHURCH FATHERS AND ANCIENT WITNESSES AGAINST WITCHCRAFT
St. Ephraim the Syrian: "Regard not spells and divinations, for that is communion with Satan."
St. Cyril of Jerusalem: "Also give heed neither to observations of the stars nor auguries, nor omens, nor to the fabulous divinations of the Greeks. Witchcraft, and enchantment, and the wicked practices of necromancy, admit not even to a hearing."
St. Cyril of Jerusalem: "The watching of birds, divination, omens, or amulets, or charms written on leaves, sorceries, or other evil arts, and all such things, are services of the devil; therefore shun them."
Canon 36 of the Council of Laodicea states: "That members of the Sacerdocy and Clerics must not be magicians or enchanters, or mathematicians (i.e., numerologists), or astrologers, or make what are called amulets, which are shackles for their souls; accordingly, we have bidden those wearing these things to be thrown out of the Church."
St. Basil's canon 65 states: "As for anyone practicing incantation or sorcery, he shall be allotted the time of a murderer, it being proportioned to him in such a manner as though he had convicted himself of each sin for a year."
St. Basil's canon 72 states: "Anyone who places himself in the hands of fortune-tellers or any other such persons professing to foresee future events or to discover the whereabouts of lost property, of persons in hiding, etc., he shall be sentenced to the same penalty as is prescribed for murderers and shall do the same length of time and the same penances."
Canon 24 of the council of Ancyra states: " As for those who are practicing divination and continuing the customs of the heathen, and who are introducing persons into their homes with a view to discovering sorceries, or even with a view to purification, let them fall under the Canon of five years in accordance with the fixed degrees; three years of kneeling, and two years of prayer, without oblation."
Canon 92 of the Regional Council of Carthage states: " It has pleased the Council to decree that a request be presented to the most glorious Emperors in order to have the remains of idolatry, not only as regards those embodied in images of idols, but also those in any kind of places, whether groves or trees, by all means wiped out."
Canon 6 Against Origen: "If anyone says that the sky, and the sun, and the moon and the stars, and the waters above the heavens are certain living and material powers, let him be anathema."
Council of Elvira, A.D. 305: "It has been decreed that those who in adult age after receiving Baptism shall go into the pagan temples to worship idols, which is a deadly crime and the height of wickedness, shall not be admitted to Communion even at death."
St. Gregory of Nyssa's canon 3 discusses those who go to sorcerers or soothsayers.
St. John the Faster's canon 32 deals with people professing enchantery or sorcery.
Canon 61 of the Council of Trullo deals with people who consult soothsayers, fortune tellers, enchanters and amuletics.
The Didache: “The second commandment of the teaching: You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child” (Didache 2:1–2).
The Apostolic Constitutions: “Thou shalt not use magic. Thou shalt not use witchcraft; for he says, ‘You shall not suffer a witch to live’ [Ex. 22:18]. Thou shall not slay thy child by causing abortion, nor kill that which is begotten. . . . [I]f it be slain, [it] shall be avenged, as being unjustly destroyed” (Apostolic Constitutions 7:3 [A.D. 400]).
Theophilus of Antioch (2nd century) wrote three books that attack pagan idolatry. (see To Autolycus).
Athenagoras (2nd century) wrote against paganism and idolatry. (see Apology).
Augustine wrote against paganism. (see The City of God, Books 1-10).
RECOMMENDED BOOKS AGAINST WITCHCRAFT
Witchcraft: Exploring The World Of Wicca, By Craig Hawkins;
Goddess Worship, Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism, By Craig Hawkins.
FOR SATANISTS
Confronting the Devil: Magic and Occult, by Vassilios Bakoyiannis;
The Devil and Magic, by Hieromonk Benedict of Holy Mount Athos;
Talk 58: Magic and Demonic Influence - Part 1, by Priestmonk Kosmas.
Ready to Fight Your Demons?
https://www.unseenwarfare.net/
DON'T FOLLOW THE BEAST (ANTICHRIST)
Heaven is inhabited only by those who are written in the book of life (Revelation 21:27).
The followers of the beast are not in the book of life (Revelation 13:8; 17:8).
Everyone not in the book of life is thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:12, 15).
THE BIBLE WAS NOT TAMPERED WITH
Witches sometimes claim that the Bible was edited or tampered with. This propagandistic conspiracy theory is an attempt to avoid the obvious biblical teaching against witchcraft. Whenever anyone claims that the Bible was changed or tampered with, ask them how much textual criticism they have studied. There is no evidence that the Bible was edited or tampered with.
G.D. Kilpatrick of Oxford said, "no one has so far shown that the New Testament is contaminated with the grammar or orthography [spelling] of a later period." (Wenham, Christ and the Bible, p. 179).
John Warwick Montgomery said: "the time interval between the writing of the New Testament documents as we have them and the events in Jesus' life which they record is too brief to allow for communal redaction [editing or tampering with] by the Church." (Montgomery, Where is History Going? p. 50).
John Warwick Montgomery also stated: "Modern archaeological research has confirmed again and again the reliability of the New Testament geography, chronology, and general history"...(see Montgomery, Human Rights and Human Dignity, pp. 143-144).
John Wenham writes: "The interesting and important thing about the late-second-century text is this: at the early date there was already a wide diversity of variants. These variants were of course mostly quite minor in character, but they show that there had been no recent systematic editing of the documents to make them conform to some standard version." (Wenham, Christ and the Bible, p. 178).
Sir Fredrick G. Kenyon, director and principal librarian of the British Museum said about the existing Greek manuscripts of the New Testament: "The interval then between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established." (as quoted in Montgomery, Where is History Going? p. 45).
Sir Fredrick G. Kenyon also wrote: "The number of manuscripts of the New Testament, of early translations from it, and of quotations from it in the oldest writers of the Church, is so large that it is practically certain that the true reading of every doubtful passage is preserved in some one or other of these ancient authorities. This can be said of no other ancient book in the world." (Kenyon, The Bible and Archaeology----, Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, 55).
The Harvard law professor, Simon Greenleaf, credited with writing the standard study of legal evidence, wrote: "copies which had been as universally received and acted upon as the Four Gospels, would have been received in evidence in any court of justice, without the slightest hesitation." (Greenleaf, The Testimony of the Evangelists, 9-10).
RECOMMENDED BOOKS ON THE TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Early Text of the New Testament" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), by Hill and Kruger;
"An Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament”, 2nd ed (New York; Doubleday, 1928), by Robertson;
"The Text of the New Testament" (London: Macmillan, 1961), by Taylor.
CONVERT TO CHRIST AND THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
I want to encourage witches, occultists and pagans to renounce these things and to call upon the name of the Lord. Pray: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." And join the Orthodox Church. We have everything your soul needs: exalted spiritual teachings, salvation, icons, incense, candles, chanting, and the truth. And for those interested in a feminine presence, we have the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary) and numerous female saints. We also have angels and numerous saints, including patron saints you can work with for special needs.
God only gives people so many opportunities. The book of Proverbs states: “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” (Proverbs 29:1). If people persist hard-heartedly and repeatedly in following sin over a course of time, God will eventually “give them up” to greater and greater sin. (see Ps. 81:12; Rom. 1:24, 26, 28). St. Paul warns that those who persist in unbelief are simply storing up more wrath for themselves: “By your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up more wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom. 2:5). On the day of judgment “every mouth” will be “stopped” (Rom. 3:19). Unbelievers are “enemies” of God (Rom. 5:10; cf. Col. 1:21; James 4:4). They are “by nature the children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Eph. 2:3).