What Does the Bible Say About the Occult?
What does the Bible say about the Occult?
RESPONSE:
Old Testament
Exod 22:18
18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Deut 18:10-12
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.
Lev 20:27
27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.
1 Chr 10:13-14
13 So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it;
14 And inquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.
New Testament
Acts 8:9-24
9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:
10 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.
11 And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
Acts 16:16-18
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
So let’s define some of these words from Nelsons Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Copyright 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers) and apply them to our current world:
MAGIC, SORCERY, AND DIVINATION WitchcraftThe practice of witchcraft, or divination, was a means for extracting information or guidance from a pagan god.
* In the case of Joseph’s divining cup, the diviner apparently interpreted the shape of a puddle of oil floating on the water in the cup .
* describes the king of Babylon as he tried to decide which way to approach Jerusalem. It portrays him as throwing down a handful of arrows, hoping that a certain one will point to a route which he believes is the will of his god.
* It also records that “he consults the images, he looks at the liver” . Reading and interpreting the livers of sacrificial animals was another form of determining the will of the gods.
(Modern day black 8 ball, Water Witching, Burying a statue of Joseph upside down in the front yard to sell a house )
Soothsaying
Soothsaying, the practitioner of which is also described by the KJV as “observer of times” .
Because it sounds like a Hebrew word for cloud, some scholars believe it refers to cloud reading.
(Modern day Tea Leaf Reading, Palm Reading, Astrology, Horoscopes, Biorhythms, Fortune Cookies, etc.)
Necromancy
Calling Up the Dead. The Bible gives us no indication that we can expect to talk with people who have died.
(Modern day “Praying to the Saints” in the Roman Catholic Church. This is also includes Seances, and Oui-ja Boards.)
Drugs-Sorcery
Still another New Testament word translated sorcery comes from the same Greek word as our English word, pharmacy. Quite obviously this has to do with drugs; a more relevant and contemporary application could hardly be found. The denunciations contained in ; and <22:15> apply to those who use drugs to bring on trances during which they claim to have supernatural knowledge or power.
(Modern day marajuana, LSD, cocaine, heroine, amphetimenes, high powered diet pills, valium.)
The Bible is very clear in what God calls in Deuteronomy 18:12 “abominations unto the Lord.” The harsh words about the occult are found in both the Old and New Testament. God has not changed his position on this in how much He hates these things. We must remember that this is sin, no matter how harmless WE may feel any of the above activities are.
A sample prayer below may be useful to sever all contact with these practices:
“In the Name of Jesus Christ I now renounce, break and loose myself and all my descendants, from all psychic heredity, demonic holds, psychic powers, bondage, bonds of physical or mental illness, or curses which may be upon my family line as a result of sins, transgressions, iniquities, occult or psychic involvement of myself, my parents, or any of my ancestors (my spouse, any and all ex-spouses, or their parents, or any of their ancestors).
In the Name of Jesus Christ I now renounce, break and loose myself and all my descendants from all evil curses, charms, vexes, spells, jinxes, psychic powers, bewitchments, witchcraft or sorcery which may have been put upno me or my family line; from any person or persons, or from any occult or psychic source. I renounce all connected and related spirits and command them to leave me now. I thank you Lord Jesus for setting me free. Amen.”
(Prayers taken from “Principles of Deliverance & Mass Deliverance, Booklet 27,” Pastor Win Worley, 1983, pg. 19)
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