boy he is a hard read... and I hate how he said things, and how he uses his words.. he at first appears to be just another "witch burner" or " prophet stoner ". until he gets to the very last statement.
Personally, I love the article (even though I haven't finished it yet). I didn't see anything about "witch burning" or "prophet stoning" like you mentioned. I found the entire thing totally relatable to my situation, and I thought it was a really good read.
In the beginning, when he talks about Christians who come out of paganism wanting to keep magic practices because they think they need it to protect themselves from evil spirits or are worried about things like fate and destiny, I agree with that. Before I was saved, I used to use divination a lot because I was so dependent on it. I found out about horoscopes when I was little from a Barbie coloring book, and ever since then I started reading them every morning in the newspaper. I wanted to know how my day would be - what I should do and not do. When I got a little older, I started checking 3 horoscopes a day on the internet, then 6, then 10. I kept tabs open on my laptop every night, to websites that told me my horoscope (Chinese zodiacs as well as the traditional ones). One day I was checking my horoscope on Facebook, and unlocked points to try other apps related to that one. I clicked on something called "Chien Tung" which is Chinese fortunetelling by throwing sticks.
I got hooked on that, and eventually looked up more sites that would also let me play Chien Tung. Through those I found out about Tarots, Runes, IChing, Mahjong Tiles, Playing Cards,etc. All the answers I got from using divination were so accurate, that's why I always went back to using them. I wouldn't make a single decision without consorting some kind of fortuneteller because I was fearful of making the wrong decision and ruining my life. I used it to know what I should do, where I should go, who I should date, what I should wear, etc. It got out of control, but I couldn't even see how bad it was. When I got saved, I didn't want to stop using divination, so I figured it was okay to still do it, as long as I addressed my questions to God. So instead of asking the cards something like "What should I do with my life?" I asked "What does God want me to do with my life?". I started getting mixed answers when I did this and eventually all the answers were telling me that God wanted me to kill myself.
I talked to a group of people who were Christians about this, and asked them if God was mad at me for some reason because my tarot cards told me that He wanted me to kill myself, and one of the girls who heard that got really freaked out and told me that God wasn't talking to me through those cards, but demons. She showed me a website that taught me how to cast out demons, and while I was reading the prayers, I felt a lot of stuff coming out of my body. That was the same day I received the Holy Spirit. At the end of the prayer, it said "Ask God for the Holy Spirit", I didn't know what that would do, but I prayed for it anyway, and before I finished my sentence, I felt a strong wind come over me and go inside my body. After that I received the gift of spiritual discernment(being able to see angels and demons), prophecy, and healing.
Even though all these amazing things happened, and I knew divination was wrong after that, I still went back to it every now and then. I was used to asking a question and getting immediate answers, being told what to do in every situation, and the constant assurance that things were going to be okay. I didn't really feel like I got all those things when I became a Christian. I prayed for an answer about things, but I didn't always get an answer. A few times, by the Spirit, I did; but not for every thing, and that frustrated me. So I went back to fortunetelling to get answers about things that God wouldn't tell me or was taking to too long to tell me. That only opened more doors to evil spirits, later, and most of the answers I got weren't even true. I eventually got delivered from my addiction to it, and I had to learn to really trust God. That was one of the hardest things I ever had to do in life, but the Bible really helped me in this. There were so many promises in the Bible that comforted me and let me know that I didn't need to worry about things because God was handling my life for good, even if it didn't look like it. I think that's kind of what the article is about.
Paul was comforting people who came out of things like this, who had a dependence on magic and reading their destiny in the stars. He was letting them know that it doesn't matter what the stars say about their fate because God had already predestined them to salvation and a good life.
Also the author talked about using magic to keep evil spirits away. I can kind of relate to that, since I basically used to do the same thing. I didn't know that it was magic when I was doing it, but I got a lot of suggestions from Christians to keep demons away by using salt, holy water, olive oil, burning sage, covering myself in a tallit, etc. None of those things are biblical, but I would have done anything to keep demons away, so I adopted all of the suggested practices. I started looking for new ways to keep demons away and came across sites that used spells, incantations, rope rituals, and amulets; and I decided to Christianize it to make it "acceptable to God". Eventually, God led me out of all these things to realize that what I was doing was wrong, and I haven't gone back since.
I don't know if I could be called a "witch burner" for agreeing with pretty much everything stated in the article, but I do agree that depending on magic/shamanism/star reading/ and any other spiritual practice found outside of the Bible can be dangerous; and it isn't necessary if we are in Christ.
Thanks pomegran for introducing me to this article