Witchcraft is an abomination unto God.

[ananda]

In this modern world its surprising to find that many people still secretly rely on Witchcraft and Mediums for their life guidance.

Deuteronomy 18:
10 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,
11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 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.
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If you visit a fortune teller /a medium you will find behind the closed door there are many many people in queue, they have their absolute freedom to do so.

However, listen to what God has to say :
Deut 18:20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall DIE.

A medium with many clients

Fortune teller


Spiritual possession for giving "protection"

Summoning spirits to come


Implantation of gold powder/needle as charmer into the skin which will be invisible


Sword with spirits stand by itself deemed as protectors

Has "the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee", from your community?

 

[Zoness]

On an only somewhat related note, I'm not really sure why people are so scared of pentacles. They're such an aesthetically pleasing symbol.

At any rate, I would not worry too much about witchcraft. We have so many more pressing matters in the world. Besides at least from my personal experience, the hedge witch who runs the local spiritual bookstore in town is a wonderful person. She'll be the first to tell you that Tarot readings and the like are more akin to psychological tools for individuals, especially since the universe does not appear to be deterministic. She does make a mean stew and has the best incense I can find anywhere!

 

[Zoness]

Good post but why put the pictures up and place those abominable images in the minds of the saints? Once they are there they don't go away.

Who are the saints, like the Catholic Saints? Symbols are powerful but people forget them all of the time. I have a book of about 1200+ that I use to keep track of them!

 

[cloudyday2]

Who are the saints, like the Catholic Saints? Symbols are powerful but people forget them all of the time. I have a book of about 1200+ that I use to keep track of them!

I think I can answer that (in case nobody else gives you an answer):
The "saints" in the Bible are all the Christians that will be redeemed by Jesus. Certain extremely devoted Christians are declared to be "saints" by the Catholic Church, but that is more like awarding a medal.

@Ken Rank was probably using "saints" to mean all genuine Christians. That is how I interpreted his post anyway.

 

[cloudyday2]

On an only somewhat related note, I'm not really sure why people are so scared of pentacles. They're such an aesthetically pleasing symbol.

Here is an article from a Christian website discussing the Christian usage of the pentacle in its early history. Basically the pentacle has been used by lots of different religions throughout history.

In Christian symbolism, the basic pentagram (without a circle) was originally used to represent the five wounds of Jesus Christ. It was soon supplanted by the symbol of the cross, but the pentagram was still recognizable as a Christian symbol for a few hundred years after Jesus’ resurrection. Some say that the continuous line was also considered symbolic of the Alpha and Omega.

What is the origin and meaning of the pentagram?

 

[dlamberth]

I love how the tree of Seasons has been worked through this pentacle image. To my eyes, that added touch makes the sacredness of the pentacle much more sacred.

 

[Another Lazarus]

@Another Lazarus , are you familiar with the urim and thummim

That practice seems to have evolved elsewhere, such as the practice of asking answer from Goddess by shaking a drum containing bamboo sticks at temples.


Look at the yellow and red wood used to ask
permission from Goddess, which is somehow similiar to Urim and Thummim

 

[Another Lazarus]

Has "the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee", from your community?

God still gives them a chance to repent.

I have seen some very powerful spiritual teachers, who died a sudden death. Though God did give them some years to repent.

Do you know at the time before Noah Flood devastated our world, fallen angels came to copulate with women and taught people magic.
Read the Book of Henoch.
The Book of Enoch: The Book of Enoch: Chapter I

Dont be happy if you can use "God and Goddess" power to foretell future and read people situation.

Deut 18:20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall DIE.

 

[Ken Rank]

I think I can answer that (in case nobody else gives you an answer):
The "saints" in the Bible are all the Christians that will be redeemed by Jesus. Certain extremely devoted Christians are declared to be "saints" by the Catholic Church, but that is more like awarding a medal.

@Ken Rank was probably using "saints" to mean all genuine Christians. That is how I interpreted his post anyway.

If I used the word "saints" I would have meant anyone who belongs to God, one of His people of children if you will.

 

[Ken Rank]

Who are the saints, like the Catholic Saints? Symbols are powerful but people forget them all of the time. I have a book of about 1200+ that I use to keep track of them!

People of God.... the set apart ones... his church (to use a common Christian word, though I prefer His "Israel"). The context should have been clear enough... of my concern is putting pagan images in the minds of the saints, then that would at least have been non-pagans attached to the God of the bible.

 

[Another Lazarus]

Good post but why put the pictures up and place those abominable images in the minds of the saints?

Saints came from different background, some came from occultism, withcraft, black magic.

 

[Ken Rank]

Saints came from different background, some came from occultism, withcraft, black magic.

Christians come from every background... I agree. But we are to fill our minds with pure thoughts, righteousness, not images of paganism. I can show you a verse that supports what I am saying if you wish.

 

[Rajni]

On an only somewhat related note, I'm not really sure why people are so scared of pentacles. They're such an aesthetically pleasing symbol.

I like them.

Ancient Christianity used the symbol as well, to represent the five wounds of Jesus.

-

 

[dlamberth]

People of God.... the set apart ones... his church (to use a common Christian word, though I prefer His "Israel"). The context should have been clear enough... of my concern is putting pagan images in the minds of the saints, then that would at least have been non-pagans attached to the God of the bible.

You do know that your in a non-Christian subgroup? If non-Christian pictures offend, than perhaps this isn't the best group for you to visit. It's not uncommon for some of us to post non-Christian pictures here.

 

[Ken Rank]

You do know that your in a non-Christian subgroup? If non-Christian pictures offend, than perhaps this isn't the best group for you to visit. It's not uncommon for some of us to post non-Christian pictures here.

@Another Lazarus lists himself (assuming a "he") as a Christian. So, I am speaking to a Christian about sharing imagery that doesn't offend me, by the way.... but that Scripture states we shouldn't share. You're welcome to live your life anyway you want... my comment was to him alone because I don't believe Scripture supports sharing things like that where other Christians can take it in. If that offends... not my intent. Shalom.

 

[Zoness]

People of God.... the set apart ones... his church (to use a common Christian word, though I prefer His "Israel"). The context should have been clear enough... of my concern is putting pagan images in the minds of the saints, then that would at least have been non-pagans attached to the God of the bible.

I figured that's what you meant but I thought I should clarify, you never know.

At any rate, this thread and the world are full of occult symbolism. You can find it just about anywhere, it hasn't caused a ton of harm until this point, it seems a minor concern to me but that's just my opinion. *shrug*

 

[Another Lazarus]

the world are full of occult symbolism. You can find it just about anywhere,

Yes, many people bring with them amulets or talismans or keeping "sacred" gems, knives, swords, statues etc which is filled with spirits as protectors and charmers.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Isn't the abomination the belief that witchcraft exists? You seem to believe that it exists...

For most of Christian history the belief in witchcraft as a real, objective power has been considered heretical because it attributes certain power to beings that aren't God--whether attributing that power to devils or fairies, it doesn't much matter; the point is that attributing to anything other than God divine power is blasphemous and heretical.

In the middle ages both Church and State fought against witchhunting. The Frankish Council of Paderborn dealt with the Christianization of the Pagan Saxons who had been conquered by the Franks, and it regarded belief in witchcraft to be a pagan belief which was condemned along with idolatry; the Council of Frankfurt, another local Frankish council declared witch-hunting a criminal offense worthy of the death penalty and reaffirmed that the superstitious belief in witchcraft was idolatrous, blasphemous, and heretical. This opinion was consistent throughout the Christian West in the middle ages, not just within the Frankish lands, but throughout Europe. Time and again the Church explicitly teaching that witches and witchcraft do not exist, and that these are nothing but a pagan superstition, making it--as stated already--idolatrous, blasphemous, and heretical.

This view only changed with the end of the medieval period and the onset of the early modern period, with the publication of the Malleus Maleficarum, one of the chief purposes of the text was to try and change Church opinion. And it is noteworthy that most witch-hunting takes place in the modern period, and largely by Protestant authorities--the Salem Witch Trials are not an abnormality here; it is not some bizarre vestigial holdover from the middle ages, but representative of the shifts in thought in Western Europe, beginning just prior to the Reformation and following--in which Protestant kingdoms were among the major perpetrators of witch-hunts and executing those accused of witchcraft.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[awitch]

Yes, many people bring with them amulets or talismans or keeping "sacred" gems, knives, swords, statues etc which is filled with spirits as protectors and charmers.

The tools we use are symbolic.

They are not inherently magical, nor can you bind spirits to physical objects. That's Hollywood.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Usually I get a response when I say things like I do above, "What about Jannes and Jambres?" I think it worth quoting St. John Chyrostom here, who mentions them indirectly here in his commentary on 2 Timothy,

"If any now takes offense at the existence of heretics, let him remember that it was so from the beginning, the devil always setting up error by the side of truth. God from the beginning promised good, the devil came too with a promise. God planted Paradise, the devil deceived, saying, 'You shall be as gods.' For as he could show nothing in actions, he made the more promises in words. Such is the character of deceivers. After this were Cain and Abel, then the sons of Seth and the daughters of men; afterwards Ham and Japhet, Abraham and Pharaoh, Jacob and Esau; and so it is even to the end, Moses and the magicians, the Prophets and the false prophets, the Apostles and the false apostles, Christ and Antichrist. Thus it was then, both before and at that time. Then there was Theudas, then Simon, then were the Apostles, then too this party of Hermogenes and Philetus. In short, there was no time when falsehood was not set up in opposition to truth. Let us not therefore be distressed. That it would be so, was foretold from the beginning." - St. John Chrysostom, Homily 8 on 2 Timothy

The devil is the architect of lies and deception--the devil has his words, but he is not a god.

I would further argue (and have made this argument in other discussions on these topics) that if one is going to use the example of Jannes and Jambres as an example of the devil being able to do great feats of power then this is exceptionally problematic: for in the story the magicians of Pharaoh's court are said to have turned their staves into snakes, in imitation of Moses. If we say that, in fact, they did this and they did this by the power of the devil then we are attributing to the devil, or to some other power, the power of life.

I am simply unable and unwilling to attribute the power to create life to anything other than God. If, therefore, you were to ask me how then did Jannes and Jambres turn their staves into snakes, I would respond that they didn't. It is possible they made it appear so, I've seen stage magicians do all sorts of things, making a dove appear seemingly from thin air. What Jannes and Jambres had was the power of theater and slight of hand, which they used as con-artistry.

If there is anything diabolical here, it is the diabolical use of deceit. Christ says the devil is "the father of lies"; the devil is himself a con-artist, a liar, a thief. To believe the devil is indeed a great and powerful being who can perform divine feats is to believe in his lie. But the devil is not strong, St. Paul writing, "Resist the devil and he will flee", and Martin Luther having once said, "I chase the devil away with a fart." For such a "roaring lion" he is certainly a coward; but then he is a defeated dog, bound and shackled, Christ having trampled and crushed him.

"When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe. But when someone stronger attacks him and overcomes him, he takes from him his whole armour in which he trusted, and divides his spoils." - Luke 11:21-22

"I believe in the Lord Christ, God's Son, our Lord, dead, buried, and descended into hell ... and we simply believe that the entire person, God and man, after the burial descended into hell, conquered the devil, destroyed the power of hell, and took from the devil all his might." - The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, Article IX

-CryptoLutheran