This Week in Witchcraft (S1 E3)

Welcome to this week in witchcraft the elements have been conquered with intense heat and witchcraft has become more cosmopolitan

Can you spot it out in the wild? I'm Dylan Hamilton and with me are

Michael Dear David Kasson and Andrew Hudson, and I believe Superdave has our witchcraft that he's found out in the wild for us this week so for this week

I watched a News story. This is from Los Angeles the

LA District Attorney George Gascon's policies regarding justice

We're shown it in stark relief when James Tubbs was arrested on child molestation

Charges and this is a large bearded man He has a deep voice and he's talking to his father about Mocking the

DA and his policies that he's going to be treated as a kid he's going to be in a juvenile facility all he has to do is just basically start calling himself

Hannah and He's going to be able to get off because he is in a different category

He is now in the trans category and all throughout the news report Initially, they said

James and every single newscaster was in referring to this individual as Hannah and she

He called himself this and you can see him mocking he's mocking the mocking the district attorney this is not somebody who is, you know suffering with the

Psychological category of gender dysphoria. He's he's not that's it doesn't actually think he is one way when he is

Another he's just mocking it and the DA knows what's going on.

But His policies are Essentially, he wants to end mass incarceration was to pursue police for misconduct that he set the tough on crime positions, especially for gangs in in flaming on and inflating our prisons and they want to move away from this kind of retribution retaliation and revenge style of justice to restoration rehab and Redemption so all this individual had to do all

James had to do is start calling himself Hannah And then he wasn't gonna have to register as a sex offender now, of course 97 % of the

DA's in Los Angeles County want George Gascon removed So they understand they could see that his policies are not working

Not because they are pro or you have some kind of biblical idea of justice, but with the soaring crime

They are all gonna be out of a job So they could see that it is not working. So Gascon's ideas of justice seemed to be

Importing new meaning onto this term. He's changed the definition of Justice from what we know to be just to his new version of it.

He is enchanting it with new meaning He's changing it from one to another. So what I put to you guys is is

George Gascon's View of justice it definitely anti biblical, but is he engaging in witchcraft as he's selling this he's saying this justice is going to be

Restorative it's going to be redemptive. It's going to be rehabilitative and that will help solve the problems in our society

So is he engaging in injustice or is he engaging in? witchcraft right, so Gascon obviously is

Preaching hot gospel and salvation comes through the state. Okay, so Restoration redemption everything comes through the state and what was his name

Bob? Who became Hannah? His name is James Tubbs James Tubbs, right?

So so James Tubbs, here's this hot gospel about salvation through the state and he's in a lot of trouble

And so he walks down the aisle and asked the state to come into his heart Okay He just repeats after what the state sells him

Z say these lines or pray this prayer and guess what you are now gonna be Saved you're gonna be restored.

You're gonna be Redeemed your things are gonna be made right in you because you repeat after me and say the magic words

Witchcraft is the praxis of paganism and paganism always puts forth the state as the

Savior So what we have here is something that of course in the name of justice that Gascon is gonna do what he's gonna do

But Exodus 23 as God deals with Moses in the setting up of a state for his people to be organized

Says in Exodus chapter 23 and verse 2 Everything around it's great.

I'm just gonna read verse 2. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil Should not follow a crowd

To do evil, right? So even though there's a whole bunch of people saying something you don't you don't go along with it

I nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice

The word pervert means, you know the twist to the bend to to do anything but hold it straight

Okay, and this is always a temptation it is always a temptation to pervert justice for the sake of the many for the sake of a crowd for the sake of Those that you believe would be pleased with what you are saying but if you have someone who has

Molested and therefore raped a child if you have somebody who has done wickedness and evil justice is defined not by The saving work of the state because the state was ordained by God as a sword to execute vengeance of God upon evildoers

Justice would be that justice is defined by God and his holiness Usually in our day and age because of what's been going on Whenever you express what justice would be the first expression you get from people is that's not fair But it's exactly

Fair justice is always fair, but not what people want.

So then what it was the what would be the biblical standard for what should happen to James for the

Rape of a child according to the law of God, you know, what what case law could we cite?

What does he owe God was he owe the state? What would he owe the families? Is there right?

You know, what does the Bible have to say about true justice if we can agree that what's happening is absolute injustice?

100 % Is there what then which should be the model? Well good news for Gascon.

It would end mass incarceration The mask incarceration is also injustice according to the scriptures restoration does need to be made

But it's supposed to be made according to the law of God rightly applied through Christ into the world today

What would that look like? well in this case the Bible says the death penalty is was required in this case and if if if the family desires mercy the state can

Declare how that's going to happen and provide the way forward but restitution should to be made

But if the family said this was proven, this is the case. This is what happened. This man needs to die

Well, then that's what would be just in the sight of God and God God hasn't changed his character

He hasn't changed his will hasn't changed his word. I hasn't changed any of that. And so God says this is how states operate

We should pay attention He said that mass incarceration is unjust

Absolutely. So when someone steals then

They shouldn't be imprisoned According to the biblical standard if someone steals what should they do?

it depends on what they stole and for how long they had it and what kind of damage it did to the people and There's also it's a case law that says hey, you know, they should be they should repay

Okay, Proverbs says no one despise a man for stealing bread when he is hungry But if he's caught if he's caught well

Then he's got to repay that if he can't guess what you get to go work for that person and make rest or restoration Directly where that person doesn't treat him, right?

Well, the state gets involved and takes care of that What if he doesn't do what he's supposed to do? Well, the state gets involved and takes care of that as God's agent servant deacon to handle those things but God laid it all out mass incarceration is just one more evidence of those who have exchanged the truth for the lie and in worshiping creatures become beasts themselves and and Throw humans into cages.

That's not justice according to the scriptures. You know, that's it. That's man's folly That's a please they just they do it in the guise of being the

Savior Right like like where we're going to we're going to take them into these prisons and mass incarceration in order to reform restore

Dispense justice and mercy and so it's the state overstepping its bounds where those things belong to God They are supposed to execute punitive penalties rather than dispense these things like restoration or Some sort of redemption for these men who have committed heinous crimes

They can help facilitate it. But if someone's you know stolen it really would be

Restorative to have that person work for the people that that they stole from and replace it.

It's not gonna cost a single tax dollar At least not in prison and so that there's just some good examples of Biblical justice so that and we can definitely see the difference between the two

So what elements of witchcraft had I seen, you know, obviously calling a man a woman who's not

Calling justice something that is is not so how is that? Witchcraft, how is that the praxis of paganism?

well, well what you have here is the demonic appropriation of alternate authority and so we're gonna redefine good what good and evil are and You know, he redefines the role of the state

He's an enchanting state with a new definition other than what God said it was he's enchanted the word justice

Okay, this is what justice is. But again has put a new definition underneath that very honorable and good word

But now he's changed the definition of it. This is the most common form that we have but of course there's the the invention of new terms the the magic and the actual magic of creating new terms when a man dresses up like a

Woman and pretends to be like a woman even if he's just dressing himself with only the claims that he's making Okay, the

Bible calls that cross -dressing Right and completely forbids that okay, but coming with a new term makes it sound better Saying that you know, he's trans or something like that makes it sound better somehow.

So that's trying to obscure What that actually is? so you have all of that then you have a lot of confusing rhetoric that just kind of muddles everything up and This kind of witchcraft is not is not meant for clarity

It's not meant for clarity. It's called soothsaying and it just as a bunch of jargon mumbo -jumbo

People get accused of word salad Right where it doesn't make any sense what they just said, you know

They're did you answer the question and then they just kind of give a word salad and what is what is that?

Well a lot of time that's just soothsaying where he just makes it all as confusing as possible So nobody can figure out what to say about it any other thoughts

I was just gonna take a moment to to think about maybe even to just audibly lament the state of the state

Yeah to be talking about restorative justice for someone who harmed a child in such a way and that I That there are those who accept such statements.

Well, they deny Christ, right? They look at Jesus of Nazareth and they say he's no

Savior, right? They can't leave the child molester or they can't leave the the sodomite who goes and rapes another person

They can't leave that person to face the law of God and and hear preaching of the

Word of God From from the Saints from the from the chaplain or from the church who declares, you know, that is a sin but God Has sent his son

Jesus Christ to die for the likes of you and me And many in your case have been redeemed and brought once you deny that Jesus Christ is

Savior He's no longer Savior and sovereign well then the state has to be Savior and They can't just do the limited job that God said they had to do now.

They've got to do God's job, too And they do it really badly And in Romans 1 they're the they're provers of evil things and giving giving hearty approval of those who do and support to those who do evil things

Talking about inventing new ways of evil Right. All right. Well now that we've had our fill of what's a trying content

Let's go ahead and suggest some content for our listeners out there that they may be able to listen to during the week Michael we'll start with you.

Well, I picked up a new monograph from Joe boot for the kingdom monograph monograph as they say and in his weird

UK Canadian some of the things that he says, oh my goodness, this makes me laugh But anyway, he knows he sounds funny and hadn't enjoys that.

So but anyway, I'm I'm still reading through it It's very dense as all his writings are but very helpful as it puts into context all the efforts of man to bring about that which only

God can through his son Jesus Christ and if we can recognize the efforts of the state to displace

Christ Then we can be forewarned in this for armed to to deal with those manifestations.

So for the kingdom monograph by Joe boot David I Reread a book recently.

It's by John Currid called Against the gods. This is a thesis is that the

Old Testament has Especially others large sections of the Old Testament that are polemical

In nature that is they are specifically speaking against the

Gods of the Canaanites or the for example the the way that God chose to do the ten plagues in Egypt Targeted different aspects of Egyptian culture and perhaps even a specific gods

He does not go so far as to say which gods in Egypt, although you could make some comparisons

And we're not trying to get that specific But the charge especially in liberal circles, is that the

L Aloha or the the Elohim of the

Old Testament is really just the Canaanite God L that was just kind of passed along and then

Israel came in and they incorporated some of that and that's really where you get some of these stories and you get that the

Noah story is really just a retelling of the epic of Gilgamesh and That's the the current, you know thesis and he goes through these

Amazing stories. I mean if you've never read the epic of Gilgamesh do so if you've never read some of these old stories

I have a book on my shelf of Nestorianism that I'm gonna go back over as well But as you read the

Old Testament, it is impossible not to See how God is specifically speaking against some of these areas and say, you know

That's not how it happened. This is how we're gonna do it This is how it happens for example The epic of Gilgamesh and these flood narratives you see throughout the ancient

Israelite the ancient cultures that surrounded ancient Israel Gives some historical credence to the idea that something happened and they all have these flood narratives

But there's something different about the one with Noah They all have this idea that the gods kind of came in and it was chaotic and and there was sort of a boat involved

But it like in the case of the epic of Gilgamesh the gods were so upset that that this giant flood had come

Because they weren't getting their sacrifices. They were not getting the food that they needed

So when Gilgamesh came out of the boat, he had a they sacrificed and then these gods and goddesses descended upon it like flies

They were dependent and you see those kinds of common ideas in the rest of the

Canaanites and the rest of these surrounding cultures But what was different about the noetic story is when

Noah? Gave the sacrifice It was a sweet pleasing aroma to the

Lord. He wasn't dependent on it. God was completely in control the entire time and that is contrary

Specifically contrary to all the other stories that currid cites So you can take that Multiply that is to the

Exodus accounts and the other various various accounts and that the way God chose to reveal himself

Oftentimes was in direct contrast to some of the stories surrounding

Israel so that they could see that God was very different From the gods of Egypt or the gods of Canaan or the gods of the

Assyrians and it was written in specifically in a polemic Against those gods.

So John Currid against the gods if you love ancient history as I do It was an interesting take on it one.

I hadn't really thought of before So I enjoyed that would you say that he highlights the fact that they may have a few of the facts of the story?

Correct, but the meaning is completely being repudiated by the meaning in Scripture for all these texts

Yes He also does a really good job of seeing how cultures that really didn't interact with each other are separated by time and space kind of came to some of those same conclusions because they

Had the same concepts of these gods who are really just just super super humans

These guys like the the gods of Greece are very much like the gods of Egypt they're just really powerful humans, but they're like humans as Opposed to and then the chaos that surrounds all of them the gods are really really powerful, but nothing survives chaos the death is the most powerful as Opposed to the biblical account the

God of the Bible is so different from every other ancient culture surrounding it God was in control

Start to finish and is not dependent on anything in Creation is not dependent on any of the humans doing sacrifices and was certainly not surprised

With chaos of the of the flood or anything else. He is the master of chaos so using that you know charts of The Gilgamesh story and the new edict story or this story and then the biblical account and he shows

How some of those things mesh up, but it always comes down to God is God and we are not and God is different from every other

Story that was was around during that time and his thesis is that the way

God chose to reveal himself speak specifically against that Andrew Graham Goldsworthy's according to plan currently reading it is a primer primer primer on Biblical theology and a

Christocentric hermeneutic. It's very interesting reading it Ten years ten years ago.

I would not have understood what this book was really about but through personal faith journey after reading the scriptures

More in depth and studying them and coming to a conclusion that I was not Putting Christ first and in my life at that time

It affected also the way I read and so as part of my faith journey, I came to understand things through reading the

Bible that reinforced the idea that I should be Reading the Bible with a Christocentric hermeneutic.

So this book has been a very thorough Beginning for me to put my finger on how it all began for myself as whereas where I should continue to be going

With biblical theology All right. Well, I'm going to recommend the temple by George Herbert, he was a 17th century believe you he was some sort of evangelist and pastor in England the temple is a collection of Poems that he wrote throughout his time and he was a small -time pastor and a small -time poet

Even though he was I think at least moderately celebrated during his time He has a lot of interesting work that could be considered

Groundbreaking for structure form and meter to what he did because he was very playful with the

English language But I recommend it solely just for sitting down and considering things about I mean, he's got things about the church he's got things about the

Incarnation and most of his poetry is About some sort of biblical doctrine or his thoughts and meditations on the word and on Jesus So just sitting down with a couple of lines of his is usually enough for a day because there's a lot loaded in there that you can read and then

Consider and then go back and read it during the day as you should with poetry to see if you got something

Different on the second go -around, but I recommend this work the temple and I haven't got to look at any of his other works

But so far I would assume that They are on par and I consider him one of the great

English poets, so that's my recommendation for the day And that wraps it up for today

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