Is Witchcraft Attacking You?

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Charismatic Christianity and the Problem of Undiscerning Theology

Compromise. Radio ministry. It is Tuesday, therefore we have Mr. Tuesday Guy. Buenos dias. How did you ever get that name, Tuesday Guy?

Well, you know, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, they would usually say, �You know, Steve, you�re just really below average. And I said, �Well, I must be the Tuesday.

Guy. So, well, what our listeners don�t really know behind the scenes, we started having Steve on every day, but I don�t know why the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday shows just seemed to bomb. They tanked, yeah.

But the Tuesday ones when you were on, there was really no difference, but it seemed like there was an effect. Yeah. Okay, now the truth.

A young man down in Virginia, you know, nicknamed me the Tuesday Guy, listened to the podcast and nicknamed me the Tuesday Guy, and so it just kind of stuck.

I think probably we could set up the podcast in such a way that only Tuesday shows are delivered to the podcast, to your iTunes.

I think that�s the way most listeners would prefer it.

You know what? You probably just take my voice right out of the whole thing because I listen to something more than classical music.

Well, you know, you�ll get over it. You�ll repent someday.

Steve, would it be fair to say that modern evangelicalism is dominated by charismatics?

I think so. I mean I think there are more charismatics than there are well, than people who are not charismatic. I had to kind of think about how I was going to phrase that. Yeah, I�d say there are more charismatics.

Now, if you ask me why, I would say because I think it�s easier to look for signs and to feel spiritual than it is to actually dig through the Bible. How would you define a charismatic? A charismatic is somebody who believes that the at least some of the gifts, if not all the gifts, I mean specifically usually speaking in tongues, but other gifts too as outlined in the New Testament are still existent today.

Prophecy maybe. Errant prophecy. You know, so you�ll hear things like, �The Lord told me. Right. OK.

I can go for that. Matt Chandler, David Platt, Sovereign Grace. Beth Moore. C .J. Mahoney. All the great teachers. There are a lot of people who are when you are in India and you meet a Christian and Evangelical, somebody who�s born again, nine times out of ten, they�ll be a charismatic.

Yeah? Mm-hmm.

Still going to heaven though? Well, yeah, they just haven�t received the real second blessing yet.

Is there an extreme version of charismatic theology, kind of don�t touch, don�t taste, let�s stay away from this style?

Yes. OK. Yeah, name it and claim it. You know, the whole charismatic thing. You know, I was just, a couple weeks ago when I was preaching in John 10, when Jesus speaks of the abundant life, you know, this is the kind of thing where, in fact, I saw something, I think it was Creflo Dollar the other day, you know, it�s this idea that the abundant life speaks of the here and now, that you�re supposed to be wealthy now, and that�s what Jesus wants.

That�s why he came to this earth, so that Christians could be wealthy, and I�m like, really?

Is that why he came? Steve, I just looked down at our digital recorder, and we record for 24 minutes and 30 seconds, then we put the bumpers on, and I looked down at the recorder and it said 0316. That�s a sign.

It is a sign. Seriously. I looked down and it said 316. Yeah. And did you feel like? When I was in seminary, I ministered to a guy, and he would go through all the Bible. He�d say John 316 is very important, 1 John 316 is very important, Galatians 316, Ephesians 316, going through all the 316.

So maybe we could have a 316 club. How about a 316 conference? You know, that�s a great idea. I�d like to know what the honorariums are for those speakers. Now we are discussing charismatic theology because I have a mainstream charismatic magazine�s article in front of me, and it�s called Charisma Magazine.

This happens to be charismamag .com. Did you ever read Charisma Magazine? Negatron. Negatron. Wow. Do you remember? What was the show? Something about Tron. Was that a Disney movie? Tron? It was supposed to be really cool, but it wasn�t really that good.

I never saw it. You never saw Tron? No. Wow. Okay. I think I did, but I was probably doing something at the same time. Charisma Mag, it is a magazine that pretty much has zero discernment, right? There will be a real evangelical article in there, something about the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus, and then there�ll be some kind of whacked out stuff.

In fact, their tagline is �Leaving discernment at the door. Yeah. Always biblical.

Always undiscerning. Always not in the reverse sequential order. Discernment. Who needs it? October 13th, 2015, Jennifer LeClaire writes for charismamag .com a fascinating article, and I love the article because it�s wonderful fodder for No Compromise Radio.

You�re going to love this, Steve. Well, I see the title and I�m like, �Okay, that doesn�t look like a witch. That looks like a Roman warrior or something else.

Five clear signs. Are we clear? We�re clear. Five clear signs witchcraft is attacking you right now. Right now. Right this minute. Right now. Okay. Before we examine the article, we would have to concede that there is spiritual warfare, correct?

Yes. Yes. Why would we concede that? Because Ephesians chapter 6 tells us, 2 Corinthians chapter 10,. �Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness. Sounds like a good book title by Peretti. �Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

It�s a very bad title. I believe in spiritual warfare. I believe demons exist. Do you? Yes, I do. Yeah. Yeah. Just not in the Peretti sense. I saw Peretti play the banjo, I think, one time. Did you?

Yeah. That was fascinating. Was he in the spirit? Well, it wasn�t classical music, so I knew it was sinful. See how that works? Five clear signs witchcraft is attacking you right now. What some of our listeners don�t know is Steve and I live fairly close.

Relatively close to Salem, Massachusetts. And when people think of Salem, Massachusetts, we know that they�re typically ungodly because they immediately think of witchcraft when they should be thinking that Adoniram Judson was sent from Salem, Massachusetts to go be a missionary to those in Burma.

That�s exactly what they should be thinking.

Absolutely. You go to the port there and there�s a statue of Adoniram Judson. Right? What�s Burma called today? Myanmar or something? Yeah. Myanmar or Myanmar. Yeah. Okay. I think if you repeat that fast enough, you might get the gift.

I don�t even want to try. Five clear signs. Witchcraft is attacking you right now. Let�s go through these. And it says in the beginning of the magazine article, welcome to witchcraft season. This is the season of the witch.

Welcome to witchcraft.

What�s the season of the witch song? I don�t really know. Oh, okay. I thought you were going to sing it there for a second. I was going to sing welcome to the witchcraft season or whatever. Before you start that, can I just say spiritual warfare has nothing to do with the Peretti model and demons and all that fighting back and forth and us praying and the demons being driven back by our prayers.

It really has to do it�s the battle of ideas. We take 2 Corinthians 10 verse 5 and 3 to 5 and it just talks about we take every thought captive. Though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

It�s not the idea of capturing spirits and binding demons and all that stuff.

What would you send them by the way if you could capture them? Probably Los Angeles. It�s a pretty bad place to me. My brother-in-law Steve, he does sheet metal for very expensive houses in Northern California and many of these rich people, Steve, they put certain types of crystals and prayer flags in their foundations near the furnaces in the basement, the bottom level, and they refract and reflect any evil spirit away from their house.

So Steve said to one of the owners, �Oh, that�s interesting, but it seems to me that this crystal�s making the demons and the spiritual warrior people, ghosts, go to your neighbor�s house. So how kind is that that they�re shooting them away from your house onto your neighbor�s house?

How loving is that?

I know. Come on. I just put a statue of Joseph out in my yard, so that�s� Upside down, Barry.

LeClaire writes at the beginning of her article, �This is the time of year when people start attacking and accusing you for no reason, rebelling against authority and otherwise walking in the flesh. Take authority over it in the name of Jesus.

Don�t bow to the intimidation and manipulation. And she�s going to write about this more week. Now, if you had to talk about witchcraft from the Bible, Steve, what would be your take? You want to do a little topical Bible study on witchcraft.

Can you think of any way that you would go about it?

Well, I could talk about the witch and endure, but, you know, it�s. And that would be a great place to go. And, you know, it is condemned in the New Testament and the Old Testament. But it usually has to do, you know, necromancy and that kind of thing.

I�m glad you talked about the witch of endure. We should probably do a show about that witch someday. Was it a real witch? What happened conjuring up? We know witchcraft isn�t good. And here�s how this lady, Jennifer LeClaire, on Charisma Magazine, here�s how she gets to witchcraft.

Are you ready? Mm-hmm. The Bible warns us not to be bewitched. Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth. Before your eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified.

Galatians chapter 3, verse 1.

That is so bad. I mean, she just explained to us in, you know, a single sentence why she should not be writing an article like this or trying to teach anybody. So, you know, thank you very much for that.

Really appreciate that. Who has bewitched you? Who has fooled you? It has nothing to do with witchcraft. They�d been duped into believing some false things, you know, a false gospel.

Steve, maybe you�re the one that�s got the problems because she writes that witchcraft releases strong confusion against our minds so that Jesus is not the clear focus of our lives. See, this is the problem.

I have a bigger realm of thought right now, Steve. I love to read books, been reading a bunch of books lately at night and I need to be taught and I need to be under other gifted people as I learn and study and research.

But blogs and magazine articles, I�m pretty much done with them unless I need fodder for no-go.

Well, and, you know, this is just indicative really of a poor mindset, a poorly educated mindset, biblically, I�ll just say, illiterate mindset. Look, this is like a yin and a yang kind of an Eastern mysticism view of the world.

You know, there are these evil forces and our good has to outperform the bad. That�s just not how it works. There�s not an equal evil force opposing an equal strong force and, you know, we just have to push harder with it or whatever.

This is nonsense. Witchcraft can�t do, well, I mean it can do some things because it�s demonic, but she�s just missing the whole point. Witchcraft isn�t going to attack me.

Five Supposed Signs of Witchcraft and Why They Fail Biblically

Five clear signs witchcraft is attacking you, Steve, right now. It�s not going to attack me. Number one, confusion, questioning yourself, question your friends, question your leaders, question God. When witchcraft attacks, it�s difficult to make sound decisions.

Now listen, I�m not kidding you when I read this. You may forget your keys or you may forget important appointments or even forget what the word of God says.

Yeah, I think that�s called being human.

I think it�s called 55 years old.

Yeah, I mean this is just what happens. You know what? Even when I was 15 years old, there were still times where I forgot things. Otherwise, guess what? I never would have missed a single question on a single exam because I always knew I just forgot things.

Listen, there are things that cause us to make wrong decisions and stuff like that. We call them sin. We have a sin hangover. Even as a believer, we sometimes sin. Well, why is that? Because we�re not perfect.

She quotes 1 Corinthians 14, 33, �For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. I didn�t know that context. Was the season of the witch.

I mean this is also typical of charismatics, proof texting, yanking something out of context, never explaining the context. I�m not saying she is a member of a cult. But this is what cultists do. Take one verse, import into it a meaning that it never had and then build a whole theology about it.

Steve, do you think it�s fair to say that charismatics have a hard time critiquing charismatics? They have a harder time than we have critiquing cessationists. So if there�s a King James only crazy person and they�re a cessationist, well, then I�m going to critique them saying these people are crazy when it comes to their views of scripture and this is why we don�t believe that.

But, you know, the Michael Browns of the world, I wonder if he would defend this in any way, shape or form.

When you have no defined set of hermeneutics that cannot be broken, in other words, a set of rules that you apply to Bible interpretation that you do not break. If you don�t have a set like that, then you can do, wow, there�s something in the background.

Then you can do anything and you can make the Bible say anything. So if you�re going to critique it, then you have to look and go, well, I guess they have a different set of hermeneutics than I do. So what can I say?

I guess, you know, their interpretation is as valid as mine.

Steve, I was looking on my phone for that song and then the ad came up. That was my problem. And so you do know the song,.

Donovan�s Season of the Witch. You know, my stepmom, whom I love deeply, she used to listen to Donovan but I don�t even remember that one. Mellow Yellow. You know, Sunshine Superman, I think, you know.

The sunshine came softly through my window today.

Can you imagine? All right, number two, Mike Apendroth with Steve Cooley on No Compromise Radio. Five clear signs witchcraft is attacking you right now. Number two, trouble paying attention. What?

Are we going to call this show, by the way, Donovan Debunked or something? Yeah.

When witchcraft attacks, she writes, it can feel like your mind is scrambled like an egg. Sometimes. But what would it mean if my mind felt poached? Because my mind's usually not scrambled.

It's usually poached. Listen, you know, when your mind feels scrambled, when there's a great big traumatic incident in your life, you know, somebody close to you dies, something like that, there's going to be a time where you just go, I don't even know how to respond.

I don't know how to think. I don't care how solid you are. Everybody's going to have a moment in their life where they're just, you know, devastated. And for a minute, two minutes, 10 minutes, an hour, a day, you know, you can't really get your thoughts together.

And I don't think it has anything to do with witchcraft. I mean, if you're constantly like that, well, there might be some witchcraft because the New Testament also associates witchcraft with getting into an altered state of consciousness.

So if you're, you know, if you're doing drugs, then you might not be able to focus or think.

But I like St. John's Wort. Okay. She also writes, it says at the bottom, you can read my article if you want to learn more about battling witchcraft. This tells us a lot, Steve. These are some of her other pieces.

Overcoming witchcraft attacks against your mind and body. Satan's deadly trio defeating the deceptions of Jezebel religion and witchcraft. She is the senior editor of Charisma, director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, co-founder of AwakeningTV .com and on the leadership team of the New Breed Revival Network and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God and Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakenings, Mornings with the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the Still Small Voice of God, The Making of a Prophet, and Satan's Deadly Trio.

You can visit her website here. Why is it always mornings with the Holy Spirit? You know, Benny Han had good morning, Holy Spirit. Why isn't it in the evening?

I kept thinking. I've got Robin Williams saying instead of good morning, Vietnam.

Good morning, Holy Spirit. Like Benny Han. Yeah.

Okay. Well, this is just like when it comes to are you depressed? Do you have anxiety? And you go to the DSM IV and you have four out of eight and then you can get medicine. Well, what do I have so far?

I'm often confused, so I'm one for one. You're being attacked by witchcraft. Number two, I often have trouble paying attention. Witchcraft. So what am I going to do? These are like the five points of witchcraftism and I already got two.

Yeah, you're smoked. All right. Number three, this one. I'm telling you, you're in big trouble. Number three, wanting to hide in your cave.

I don't really have a cave, but I guess if I did,.

I mean, my dog likes to hide. When Jezebel sent a messenger of fear with the word curse, threatening Elijah's life, he ran scared and left his servant behind set in a cave.

And wished he was dead. That's a witchcraft attack. I, you know, I want to be kind and charitable, but it's really hard. You've got to be cruel to be kind, I think, Nicholas. Do you like rock pile at all?

Yes. I just have in my mind, I have, you know, I almost feel like I've met this woman. Right? And I mean, I could hear her speaking and instantly when I hear her voice in my head, I want to run the other way into my cave.

So because I know exactly what I'm in for. It's a bunch of spiritual claptrap and, you know, and exactly what she does here. A bunch of, you know, excising of biblical texts and slapping them together and trying to form a coherent narrative out of it.

And cessationists do the same thing here. When they go to the Old Testament, yank something out of context to fit what they like and then start making it some principle or takeaway or something else and it's not even seen in the narrative of the Davidic covenant or something else.

I think this is awful. This is a Beth Moorish when she needs to have a number 12 and she goes to 2 Samuel 12 and then she figures out 12, 12. We're back to the 316 thing again. All right. Numerology in the Bible.

Five clear signs witchcraft is attacking you right now. Confusion, trouble paying attention, wanting to hide in your man cave. Oh, sorry, wanting to hide in your cave. Number four, forgetting who you really are.

Here's what she says. What's your legal position? You are a child of the King. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. Are you? You are the righteousness of God in Christ, Jesus. I am. Uh-huh. That's good.

But when witchcraft attacks, you feel like a worthless worm. You feel like kind of Romans 7 wretched man that I am. That's what you feel like. Oh, so Paul was being attacked by witchcraft. That's right.

Oh, see? That's nice. Uh-huh. Yeah, we have an example right there. Actually, it was a python spirit that came out of the sticks. The stick that looked like a snake, the snake that looked like a stick, it came out in Acts 27 and 28, attached itself to Paul.

They thought, are you a god or are you a witch? A python spirit. I mean, that's a... But it had to be a python. Couldn't it be a habu? You know, that's the Okinawa, local Okinawa snake. Oh, it is? Yes.

Okay. Yeah. It's a viper. We used to have two-step habus because they bite you and you take two steps.

And then you're dead. Was it a real snake? No. I mean, the habu was, yeah, but the two-step was just something we told the new guys. Watch out for the... You may feel guilt, condemnation, or self-pity.

Look, this could be, you know, this could be anything from wrong theology. You know, you could feel guilt wrongly, but it could also be like David. You realize that you've sinned and so you then feel guilty.

That is good and right and, you know, it should drive you to repentance. So that has nothing to do with witchcraft. So you sin and you feel guilty and everything and you go, oh, wait, that's witchcraft.

I need to get rid of that. No. No, that's the Holy Spirit, you know, shaping and molding you. By the way, for a special limited time, you can get 40 issues of this magazine for only $40. Stop.

40 days of purpose and 40... Where's my checkbook? I know. Number five, the five clear signs witchcraft is attacking you right now, Charisma Magazine, Jennifer LeClaire. Number one, confusion. Number two, trouble paying attention.

What was number one again? Number three, wanting to hide in your cave. Four, forgetting who you really are. And number five, discouraged, depressed and ready to quit. You want to just give up and the promises that you'll reap a harvest if you don't give up, so hang in there, baby.

Well, again, this is just, this is just life. We're all going to have times of discouragement, you know, so what do we do then? What do we do when we're discouraged? Do we just go, oh, yeah, it's witchcraft.

I better, you know, undo that, go see my anti-witch doctor.

Steve, I feel really, really ripped off. She says at the very end, I'll share three more signs you may be under a witchcraft attack and give you a list of specific scenarios for this, but for the sake of space, I'll have to tell you later in my book.

Oh, yeah, it's going to cost you $8 .95 plus shipping and handling, which is about 14 bucks. Steve, I say to myself, it is true that we, 1 Peter 5, 8, are to be sober and watchful. Satan, the adversary, walks around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, but I do think to myself, what God has done in Christ Jesus is irrevocable and I, whether I'm attacked, oppressed, pursued, I don't know who it is.

I don't know if it's my own flesh. I don't know if it's the world system. I don't know who it is, but I know the remedy for how to walk in the spirit and how not to.

Fulfill the lusts of the flesh, deeds of the flesh. And the remedy is to fight witchcraft. I think, you know, there's so much value in good theology, I can't really, you know, I mean, this kind of thing and this kind of thinking, this may be, it may appeal to some people, but this is, it is just unbiblical and just not right thinking.

All right, we suggest you read Ephesians chapter 6 and 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and chapter 10 and you will know how to think about witchcraft. Preach. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text. Please come and join us.

Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff, or management.