Many today are engaging in witchcraft and superstitious conduct in one way or another, consulting mediums, or believing in the reliability of horoscopes. They may think that this is harmless or even beneficial and desirable.
Let us ignore what man may think about this topic and see what the Word of God has to say on this matter. After all, it should be the guide for all who claim that they follow the Judeo-Christian faith, but sadly, history and experience show us that that is not the case with so many.
In the Statements of Beliefs of the Church of the Eternal God and its international affiliates, we read the following:
“Our doctrines and practices are based upon a literal understanding of the ‘teachings revealed in the entire Bible. We believe that the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments are God’s revelation of His Will to man, inspired in thought and word, and infallible in the original writings; that said Scriptures are the supreme and final authority in faith and life, the source of Truth and the foundation of all knowledge.’”
Let us now concentrate on wizards, witchcraft and related concepts.
What is a wizard? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary has this definition: “one skilled in magic: SORCERER”. Dictionary.com has this definition: “a person who practices magic: magician or sorcerer.”
The Easton’s Bible Dictionary say: “A wizard is a pretender to supernatural knowledge and power, ‘a knowing one,’ as the original Hebrew word signifies. As we will see from the Word of God, such was forbidden on pain of death to practise his deceptions.”
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary gives several definitions, one of which is “One devoted to the black art; a magician; a conjurer; a sorcerer; an enchanter.”
In the Englishman’s Concordance, we read that this word is translated as spiritist and wizard. We should know that the Word of God clearly forbids Spiritism and we are not to make any attempt to contact spirits.
There are 11 Old Testament references to “wizard” in Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, noting that the word used is yiddeoni. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance states that this is “from yada, properly, a knowing one; specifically, a conjurer; (by impl) a ghost — wizard.”
And so, let us look at some of these references which many do not take into consideration, thinking that they no longer apply today or they may not simply be aware of them. But we must remember that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).
All of the following quotations are from the King James Bible or the Authorized Version (AV), unless noted otherwise:
Leviticus 19:31: “Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.”
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers observes:
“Neither seek after wizards.—The expression ‘wizard,’ which in old English denotes ‘wise man,’ ‘sage,’ is almost the exact equivalent of the word in the original. These cunning men pretended to tell people their fortunes, where their lost property was to be found [etc.] According to ancient tradition, these wizards took in their mouth a bone of a certain bird called yaduā, burned incense, thus producing fumes which sent them off into an ecstacy, and then foretold future events. Hence their name, yidonee, as it is in the original. It occurs eleven times in the Bible, and always together with the word translated ‘familiar spirit.’”
Familiar spirit is always a reference to demons. They are called “familiar” spirits because they want to familiarize themselves with us and engage us in conversations with them, such is the case when we consult mediums, wizards, sorceries or other persons involved with the “black art.”
Leviticus 20:6: “And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.”
bibliaplus.org observes: “Witchcraft, being connected with idolatry, was ranked among the crimes which involved treason against Israel’s king, and hence, the severity of the punishment denounced against it…”
Leviticus 20:27: “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.”
Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament write: “But because Israel was called to be the holy nation of Jehovah, every one, either man or woman, in whom there was a heathenish spirit of soothsaying, was to be put to death, viz., stoned (cf. Leviticus 19:31) to prevent defilement by idolatrous abominations.”
Deuteronomy 18:9-12, sub-headed “Avoid Wicked Customs” in some renditions of the New King James Bible: “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving 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 (AV: “a consulter with familiar spirits”), or a spiritist (AV: “a wizard”), or one who calls up the dead (AV: “a necromancer”). 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” (New King James Bible).
This passage does not say that one can indeed call up the dead. Rather, it is a warning not to do so, as one may come in contact with demons who might pretend to be that dead person who is being “consulted.”
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary points out: “Was it possible that a people so blessed with Divine institutions, should ever be in any danger of making those their teachers whom God had made their captives? They were in danger; therefore, after many like cautions, they are charged not to do after the abominations of the nations of Canaan. All reckoning of lucky or unlucky days, all charms for diseases, all amulets or spells to prevent evil, fortune-telling, [etc.] are here forbidden. These are so wicked as to be a chief cause of the rooting out of the Canaanites. It is amazing to think that there should be any pretenders of this kind in such a land, and day of light, as we live in. They are mere impostors who blind and cheat their followers.”
Isaiah 8:19: “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?” The New King James Bible translates: “Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?”
We read in The Pulpit Commentary: “Verses 19-22. – ISAIAH RECOMMENDS LOOKING TO GOD AND THE REVEALED WORD RATHER THAN TO NECROMANCY. AFFLICTION WILL BRING ISRAEL TO GOD. Isaiah returns, in ver. 19, to the consideration of his disciples. In the terrible times impending, they will be recommended to have recourse to necromancy; he urges that they should look to God and the Law. He then further suggests that, in the coming affliction which he describes (vers. 21, 22), men will generally turn for relief to the same quarter (ver. 20). Verse 19. – Seek unto them that have familiar spirits. In times of great distress the Israelites seem always to have been tempted to consult those among them who pretended to magic and divination. So Saul in the Philistine war resorted to the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:7-20); Manasseh, threatened by Esar-haddon, ‘used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards’ (2 Kings 21:6). Israel generally, oppressed by Syria and Assyria, ‘used divination and enchantments’ (2 Kings 17:17). There was the same inclination now on the part of many Jews.”
According to britannica.com: “Necromancy, communication with the dead, usually in order to obtain insight into the future or to accomplish some otherwise impossible task. Such activity was current in ancient times among the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Etruscans; in medieval Europe it came to be associated with black (i.e., harmful, or antisocial) magic and was condemned by the church.” This is not something to be involved with!
We read in Isaiah 19:3: “And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.” The New King James Bible says: “… And they will consult the idols and the charmers, The mediums and the sorcerers.”
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges points out: “the spirit of Egypt shall fail… lit. be poured out, cf. Jeremiah 19:7. ‘Spirit’ is here used of intellectual power, as ‘heart’ in Isaiah 19:1 denotes courage. I will destroy or ‘swallow up,’ ‘annihilate’… In their desperation the Egyptians betake themselves to incantations, a sign in Isaiah’s view of hopeless intellectual embarrassment; ch. Isaiah 8:19. The word rendered charmers means “mutterers” (of magical spells)…”
There are further passages of Scripture that are in accord with those which we have already covered, please see 1 Samuel 28:3, 9; 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Kings 23:24 and 2 Chronicles 33:6.
It is interesting that there are those who were initially against approval of witchcraft but who mellowed over the years. Is that what true Christians, the people of God want to be involved with? The answer should be obvious.
Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)
