Hocus Pocus: Selfish Focus
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”
- Exodus 22:18
Ephesians 5:8-11 - For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth); Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
As seen in Galatians, witchcraft is a work of the flesh. This means it is unregenerate man’s natural disposition to rebel against God and seek to dominate others by various means. You don’t need to be hooked up with a bunch of demons to be a witch. All you have to do is learn how to control and manipulate others. Look at the picture of any abusive or manipulative person you’ve known. Now, look at the small child throwing a tantrum. Even further now, examine your own idol factory of a heart and ask God to show you how you have practiced this work of the flesh. Again, witchcraft, sorcery, whether it’s used by drugs, divination, mind-control, seduction, domination, or what have you, the heart and root of it is - doing anything one can to promote, advance, or preserve SELF.
But what is Jesus’ command at the front? What is the call of the Gospel? DENY YOURSELF!
Is the light of God’s Word now beginning to penetrate your calloused heart? Are you beginning to be convicted of your sorceries? Do you see how deeply rooted this is? Do you see how evil and detestable this is? Are we to go out and hunt for witches and burn them alive? O what hypocrites we would be if we did not bind our own hands to the posts and drop the match on our own lap!
NO! This is not for us today, for if we were to kill all the witches we found, we would have to kill ourselves also. And though we see we deserve this death, we should not now seek to be justified by our works - but to rather to surrender and submit to delight in the law of God as the lamp unto our feet and the light unto our path, to plead for his mercy and grace to give us the gift of faith and repentance to turn from these wicked practices - to be rid ourselves of this gall of bitterness, to be loosed from this bond of iniquity, and to find our rest and reconciliation at the nail-scarred feet of the Risen Crucified Savior!
There is room enough at the cross for thee, my dear! Put to death the deeds of the body - by the Spirit, not by the flesh - and you shall live! Walk in the freedom wherewith Christ has set you free and be not entangled again by a yoke of bondage!
Father God in heaven, Lord now by Your Spirit of Grace, we come to your throne boldly to find help in time of need. We repent now of our manipulative tactics. We ask for your forgiveness of our grave transgressions. Grant unto us the faith to believe and behold your Son who shed his blood for us, who died and was buried and who rose again the third day for our justification. Free us now from these chains of self-preservation. Deliver us from trying to build our towers and making a name for ourselves. Help us to walk in sacrificial love, overflowing out of appreciation of the work of love you have wrought in and for us, By Your Blood. Amen.
Furthur Scripture Study:
1Samuel 15:23 - bitterness, rebellion - where witchcraft stems its ugly head
Galatians 5:19-21 - the works of the flesh
Genesis 10:9-10 - Nimrod, the first king
Genesis 11:4 - The ROOT of it ALL
Isaiah 14:3-32 - God’s answer to satanic strategies of oppression
Proverbs 6:16-19 - What does the Lord hate?
Mark 10:42-45 - Not to be served, but to serve.
Luke 13:10-17 - What was this ruler afraid of?
Acts 8:9-23 - gall of bitterness = poison of rebellion, bond of iniquity = enslaved to sin
3John 1:9-10 - Who’s kingdom was Diotrephes building?
Revelation 2:20 - not taking the call to holiness seriously - antinomianism
1Kings 16:29-22:40 - details of the reign of Ahab & Jezebel, the fruit