Witches, Wizards & Halloween

Hello, and thank you for listening to the Testing the Spirits podcast. In this episode, I'm going to be talking about witchcraft and Halloween. Should a Christian participate in Halloween? Is that wrong, or is it a Christian liberty issue?

Are you free to do it? And what about this thing where churches are now holding what is called trunk or treat? Is that a good idea? Well, let's first talk about witchcraft. Most people, when they hear the word witch, they think of something like the Wizard of Oz, you know, a woman in a black outfit with a pointy hat, you know, and she rides on a broom and listen, that's not what a witch is.

Witchcraft as Occult Power and Biblical Condemnation

That's the cartoon version of a witch. That's the Disney version of witchcraft. And people look at that and they think, oh, this is all make believe. And they think it's harmless because, well, it's just all, you know, fairy tales and it's not real.

Well, here's what you need to know. Witchcraft is definitely real. Now it's exaggerated. What you see in Harry Potter and the things they do, that's not real, obviously, but witchcraft itself is real in the way the Bible defines it and portrays it.

It's basically Satan's counterfeit form of spirituality. So witchcraft is simply any way of seeking supernatural power, any way of having supernatural experiences through some method that God does not endorse.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 18, 9 through 12, the Lord speaking to the children of Israel, he says, when you come into the land, which to the Lord your God has given you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire or one who practices witchcraft or a soothsayer or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer or one who conjures spells or a medium or a spiritist or one who calls up the dead for all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord.

And because of these abominations, the Lord your God drives them out from before you. So very, very clear that the Bible condemns witchcraft and all these associated practices, which really all fall under that banner.

So a witch is any woman who is involved in occult practices, a psychic medium, seances, palm reading, any of that kind of a thing. So when a woman does this, she's called a witch. When a man is involved in this, he is called a wizard or a warlock.

But for whatever reason, this does seem to be far more common among women. So they're trying to find some supernatural power, have some supernatural experience outside of biblical Christianity. And God says, anyone who does this is an abomination.

Okay, now don't get mad at me. That's what the Bible says. So if you're a Christian and you believe the Bible, there's no room for witchcraft or any of these practices. They are to be completely avoided.

And you know, sometimes people will see these shops that are set up in tourist areas, right? Where they practice one thing or another. They have palm readings for $29 .99 or they'll hold a seance. They claim to be able to contact the dead.

And listen, I realize most of them are con artists, but you know, that doesn't make it okay because witchcraft is real. And if anyone is in contact with a spirit, the scripture says that would be an unclean spirit, something like, aka a demon, basically.

It's definitely not your deceased loved one they're getting in contact with because human beings either die. When they die, they either go to heaven or hell. So these practices and all of this, you know, witchcraft, necromancy, the whole idea of ghosts contacting spirits, it's all part of the occult.

It's all witchcraft. Human beings cannot contact spirits or they cannot contact spirits of the departed. You know, their loved ones who have passed on, you can't reach out to them, but that's the lie that witches will use to draw people into the dark arts.

The scripture says about the dead in the book of Ecclesiastes nine, verse five, the dead know nothing of everything that happens in this world, or as Solomon puts it, of all that is under the sun, the dead are unaware of everything.

They're not accessible to us. There's no way to contact them. They know nothing about what's happening here on earth. You might not like that, but that's what the Bible teaches. And some of those who can't accept that and they just want to contact their deceased loved.

One.

So what do they do?

They seek out witches. They seek out mediums. They seek out necromancers to try and make contact with the spiritual realm. This along with many other forbidden practices, this is what scripture calls witchcraft.

And under the law of Moses, not only is it called an abomination, this was a crime punishable by death. So you can tell how the Lord feels about it. And in the New Testament, it's strictly forbidden as well.

Here's a segment from the article put out by gotquestions .org, the ministry got questions. They say in the New Testament, sorcery is translated from the Greek word pharmakia, from which we get our word pharmacy, Galatians 5 .20, Revelation 18 .23.

Witchcraft and spiritism often involve the ritualistic use of magic potions and mind-controlling drugs. Using illicit drugs can open ourselves up to the invasion of demonic spirits. Engaging in a practice or taking a substance to achieve an altered state of consciousness is, according to gotquestions, it is a form of witchcraft.

There are only two sources of spiritual power, God and Satan. Satan has only the power that God allows him to have, but it is considerable, Job 1 .12, along with 2 Corinthians 4 .4. To seek spirituality, knowledge, or power apart from God is idolatry closely related to witchcraft, 1 Samuel 15 .23.

That verse says, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Witchcraft is Satan's realm, and he excels in counterfeiting what God does. When Moses performed miracles before Pharaoh, the magicians did the same thing through demonic power, Exodus 8 .7.

At the heart of witchcraft is the desire to know the future and to control events that are not ours to control. Those abilities belong only to God. This desire to have or take that control has its roots in Satan's first temptation to Eve in Genesis 3 .5, when he says, you can be like God.

Isaiah 8 .19 says, and when they say to you, seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter, should not a people seek their God? So clearly Christians should have nothing to do with this practice.

Halloween, Trunk-or-Treat, and Christian Liberty

Now what about Halloween? So this is kids dressing up, going door to door, churches doing trunk or treat, anything.

Like that.

Typically in evangelical churches, it's the general consensus. This is a Christian liberty issue, meaning churches leave it up to the individual to decide. But with that said, I'll close by playing clips from two well-known Christian teachers.

First Mike Winger, who takes a softer approach, but still has some real concerns. And then I'll close with what Pastor John MacArthur has to say about Halloween. So let's listen in.

Mike Winger on the Complications of Halloween

What I won't do is I won't, I won't say that, that this day of the dead person, that who's contacting and doing a seance to contact the dead relative. But I'm not going to say that they're, they're doing the same thing as this little girl dressed up like a princess going door to door.

Like we cannot say these are the same things, but they sure do all happen around the same time, you know, and they, and they do somehow start to mingle in some places. And so it becomes complicated. You don't want to demonize this little girl yet.

You don't want to create a bridge to something weird for believers. And I mean, if I have my opinion as a pastor, if I could just like snap my fingers and make Halloween go away, I absolutely would do it in a heartbeat.

It would just be like, Oh, good problem solved. But I would never get up and preach that you can't take your kid out to get candy because some Satanist is doing a ritual that day. Like that's just, that doesn't connect.

John MacArthur on Avoiding Halloween

Do you think Christians should celebrate Halloween?

No, it's just ridiculous.

What is it? What is it about?

It's just a bunch of feels more demonic every, every year and, and, and you know, they start pumping out all these books and all these movies and all these television programs that are just Satanic fantasies of horror and just awful.

No, just avoid it.

Okay.

There you have it. Some people agree, some won't, but that's the podcast. Thanks for listening. And until next time, may the Lord be with you.

Have a great day.