How to Recognize Witchcraft in the Church (Charismatic Witchcraft)

Wiccan symbol over a cross

When you hear the word witchcraft, many of us may think of green skinned women wearing black hats riding on broomsticks or people who wave magic wands, cast spells, make potions and have special powers. Almost every year, Hollywood releases some movie about witchcraft or magic or some other inexplicable event that connects with some invisible/spiritual realm. 

When I was travelling in Tanzania, I came across witch doctors who had some special token or amulet that people could buy and wear for whatever ailed them. When I was in Taiwan, I saw my fair share of fortune tellers and palm readers who claimed to be able to foresee the future for a small fee of course. All across America and Europe (and many other countries) there are New Age shops where you can buy crystals and talismans or pay for a psychic reading. All of these have the same root in common and that is control. 

Witchcraft is about control where people seek to control anything and everything through rituals and formulas to achieve personal desires. Why do people seek after control? It is usually out of fear and anxiety. These are the main motivators when it comes to witchcraft. People typically go see a witch doctor, shaman, fortune teller, psychic out of fear and the desire to gain control of what is happening around them, be it people or spirits, because they think "If I can somehow get in control of whatever is causing me anxiety and fear, than I will be safe and secure."  

Derek Prince says, "When the human race turned from God in rebellion, the power that moved in was witchcraft. Different people groups practice distinctive forms of witchcraft..."  

Whenever any religious activity seeks to control other people, the influence of witchcraft is probably at work. A term that has been coined recently is Charismatic Witchcraft which has different aspects to it (maybe, I will write another post on this, maybe but I wouldn't hold your breathe). But, I will only highlight one marker here, the misuse of the Name of Jesus in an almost magical way. Jesus addresses this in Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV). 

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' 

Wow! Those are some intense words from Jesus. But, what I want to highlight here is that 1) Jesus states that He does not know them, meaning they do not have a personal relationship with Jesus and I would question if they are even saved. 2) Even still, they are in fact performing supernatural works in Jesus' name. 3) Jesus calls them "evildoers" another translation says "workers of lawlessness" (ESV). And lastly, 4) regardless of who is using the Name of Jesus, It is powerful, period. Whoa! What an eye opener. 

After you get over your shock (it may take a few seconds). Here's a teaching by John Eckhardt on recognizing when there is excessive control in a church and if witchcraft is in operation. 

Whoa. Pretty intense stuff. To highlight a few points, the source of witchcraft can come from the flesh, but can also be demonic in origin. There are three main characteristics of witchcraft control: 1) domination, 2) manipulation and 3) intimidation.  

1. Domination: Ruling over others through excessive pressure and power. It is about controlling people or circumstances through loud outburst of anger and frustration and threats and ultimatums.  
2. Manipulation: The misuse of a position or the use of emotional means to get their way. It is about controlling people or circumstances through indirect, unfair, or deceptive means to gain the advantage over others.   
3. Intimidation: The abuse of authority in making people feel small or insignificant, causing them to feel condemned or shamed if they don't agree with or go along with their plans. It is about controlling people or circumstances through the use of fear tactics with the motive of scaring others to bend to their will.

If you are currently or have been in the past under leadership or been part of an organization that had a culture involving these 3 characteristics. I pray healing and freedom over you right now. I pray the blood of Jesus to cleanse you and I command every demonic spirit connected to witchcraft to leave you right now. I speak grace, goodness, love and blessing over you all in the mighty Name of Jesus. May the love, truth and power of God set you free! 

Creative Honesty (Plumb: Lord, I'm Ready Now)

This song is honest. It's raw and real. There's something inviting about it's genuineness and openness that resonates with my own heart. Lately, I've been exploring my creative side (something I have not done in many, many years), reminding me of my university days at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I remember it being a chaotic time of self exploration and discovery. A time full of loud music, raw emotions, drugs and lots of drinking. I was in pain and sought to both numb this pain and to express it through music and art. 

I've always believed that artistic expression should come from the deep places within us. Art should express who we are at that moment in time because creative art often involves the retelling of specific moments and narratives from our life. This is why I believe that true art is honest. I remember sitting in a drawing class critique session and one of my fellow students showed one of his art piece and the first thing he said was that he really didn't care about what we said because the piece didn't really mean anything to him. I remember the whole class unanimously responded by saying "well, if you don't care about your own work, then why should we. If you're not emotionally invested in your work, then we're not going to be either."

Art is about the process. If we realize it or not, each moment of each day we are changing and growing. We are ever in process. Our interactions with people, the things we watch and listen to each day, the organizations that we are a part of, the different cultural expressions we encounter, our life experiences all have the power to impact us in transformative ways. Sometimes they go by seemingly unnoticed. At other times, we are deeply moved and changed. A wise person once told me, "Gerry, always keep creating. Let your art be an expression of your process." 

Because process is often messy and can be volatile at times, even chaotic. There is the temptation to wait until one has finished a season of process to create because it is more comfortable to create from a place of greater clarity, understanding and peace. But, I would encourage you to create both after you're done processing and while you're in those messy, volatile and chaotic times because I believe people are not only interested in seeing both, but can also be deeply blessed by seeing our process. But this will take courage, vulnerability and honesty. 

So this is my prayer: That God would give you the courage to create from the deep places within you with great honesty and inspiration. 

Safe in the Father's Arms

One of the highlights of the current season of life that I'm in has been seeing my daughter become more and more familiar with our friends. She is beginning to remember and recognize them. I love watching her interact with them. She is slowing becoming more and more comfortable about being around them. There are still times where she will often look to make sure my wife or I are nearby because we are her security. As long as she can see us, she feels safe. 

I've been a father for a whole 21 months now and this journey of fatherhood has been one of growth, learning, challenge and of course great joy. My continued prayer is that the Holy Spirit would help me be a good father that accurately reflects the heart of God to my daughter. To me this means making sure I instill within her a deep sense of security that I will always be there for her and that she can count on me to be there when she is in need. For me, this is a foundational truth about God, that He is always faithful. 

If I can get this right now, when my daughter gets older and begins her own relationship with God, the better the chances are that it will be a healthy one. Too often, what happens if a person grows up in a home with an absent father or a harsh or abusive one, when they begin a relationship with God, they believe that God is absent or harsh, even abusive. A father's role in a person's life has great impact on their understanding of what God is like and in turn this affects how they interact with Him. 

In reflecting on my walk with God, there have been many seasons He has brought me through, but if I step back and survey the last 15 years of walking with Him what I see is a unique Trinitarian journey of first encountering and experiencing the Holy Spirit (first 5 years) and then walking with Jesus through the Word of God and joining Him on His mission (last 10 years) and now I feel I am coming into a season of knowing and experiencing the Father (present). But, all through these last 15 years, if there is one thing that I've been growing in understanding and embracing is that God is faithful. He will never leave me, nor forsake me. He is my helper (Hebrews 13:5-6). I am safe with Him and I pray that I can model this kind of safety for my daughter. 

Do you really believe God will not allow people who are not Christian into heaven?

If you are a Christian for any amount of time, you will undoubtedly be confronted with this question. "Do you really believe God will not allow people who are not Christian into heaven?" Usually most Christians may stumble in giving a loving, compassionate truth-filled answer. Oftentimes, we may dance around the question, even try and dodge the question or we may react with an overly heavy-handed response. Is there a better way? I believe there is. 

First, we need to clearly define the word heaven. What is heaven? Most people believe heaven is a place of happiness, where there is no pain or suffering. A place of bliss and peace. A place where we escape the trouble and heartaches of this world and enter into a place of continual pleasure and endless celebration. All of which do describe some truthful aspects of heaven. 

Some may even go so far as argue that if God truly was a God of love, how could He withhold heaven from people because they failed to believe, trust and follow Jesus. How could this be loving? In all of this, the one crucial thing that people fail to understand and recognize is that what makes heaven, heaven is the presence of God. If we were to boil it all down, we could say that heaven equals forever living and being with God, for all eternity. 

I mean if you really think about it, if those people who don't want anything to do with God here on earth, do you really think they could stand living and being with God for all eternity? I really doubt it. In fact, I think heaven would probably be the last place they would want to be because that is where a holy God lives. And heaven is a place for people who have through Jesus Christ died to sin and have become alive to God (Romans 6:11). 

I've heard it said that, "the fires of heaven may well be hotter than the fires of hell" (Dallas Willard). In heaven there is no sin, and the bible says that "no one can see God's face and live" (Exodus 33:20). There is a great and grand holy purity that permeates all of heaven because it is a holy God's dwelling place. All through the bible whenever a person encounters an angel from heaven, they faint and fall to the floor like they were dead and this is just an angel. Just imagine what being in the presence of the Almighty Creator and Judge of all things would be like. (If it wasn't for Jesus in my life, I would be absolutely terrified.)  

I've also heard it said that "the door to hell is locked from the inside" (C.S. Lewis). Meaning, the people in hell have exiled themselves to be there and in essence what they seek is to lock God out. They've lived there whole life on earth denying God, blaspheming His Name, cursing Him, ignoring Him, etc. because they want nothing to do with Him. You see, what the people who ask the question "Do you really believe God will not allow people who are not Christian into heaven?"  fail to understand is that there is no getting away from God in heaven and if a person hated God here on earth, what would make you think that that would change in heaven? For a person like this to be in heaven would probably be eternal torture. 

Here's a excerpt from a teaching by John Ortberg which has influenced my own thought, but also further expands on this: 

Adopted: Freedom from a faulty theology of God's love

As a Christian, one of the most important things to truly understand and fully embrace is the truth that through Jesus Christ, a person becomes adopted into the family of God where God becomes their Father. In the past year, as I have been raising my daughter Seraphina, God has been bringing me revelation after revelation of His Father's heart for His children. It's been an amazing time! What I've come to realize is that certain relationships will bring a greater depth of understanding and experience of differing dimensions and aspects of God's heart more so than others which then better help draw certain things out of and put certain things into a person's heart. 

For me personally, I've sang worship songs, heard sermons on, and studied personally the Word of God in what it says about God being our Father, but it has been through personally having a child and becoming a father to her that the reality of some of things I've sang, heard and studied have in a sense come more alive and real to me through my relationship with my daughter. Even more so, the Holy Spirit has brought even greater depth and timely revelation of the Father's heart to me about how He loves and cares for me. 

One of these revelations happened in a moment when I had a completely free day with nothing planned and no responsibilities that needed my immediate attention. So, my wife went to the gym and I spent the next few hours with my daughter. It was in this unhurried time with her where I wasn't looking at my watch or thinking about what I needed to do that day or hurrying my time with her because I was trying to squeeze in time with her. No, I was fully present with her and was enjoying the time with her when the Lord spoke to me through the thoughts in my mind and I heard, "This is how I am with you, I am never in a hurry with you. I enjoy spending time with you and am always fully present with you." My heart soaked in this revelation like a thirsty dry sponge which has helped to soften my heart and bring greater healing to me while further reprioritizing my heart to mirror God's heart.

Then, building upon that revelation, the Lord began to remind me that it is through my example of a father to my daughter that will influence and shape how she will one day see Him as Father. It's funny, I know this. I've heard testimony after testimony. I've counseled and ministered to countless people who have had fathers who have been poor examples, neglectful examples, even abusive examples of what a father should be and how this has created walls and barriers within them in seeing God as a good and loving heavenly Father. Yet, it was in these moments that the reality of this truth found good soil and sunk deeper into my heart. 

This is a heavy responsibility, but the Holy Spirit continually reminds me that I am not in this alone, that each day He faithfully guides, leads, corrects and comforts me as He places His strength into my weakness and heals and redeems the broken areas within me. This is the one of the many great blessings of being an adopted child of God, the gift of the Spirit. The other is that it gave God great pleasure to do so.

"So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, 'Abba, Father.' For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children." (Romans 8:15-16 NLT)

"God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure." (Ephesians 1:5 NLT)

Wow! Such an amazing verse, "it gave him great pleasure." Let these verses marinate in your soul. Engage and meditate on them by asking the Holy Spirit to show you the truth of these verses. And wherever you're at in this journey with God, know that you truly and genuinely give Him great pleasure. If you don't know Jesus yet, I encourage you to spend some time seeking to know this kind of love and pleasure that God has towards you. Just know that at times it can be challenging and painful as He begins the process of removing the barriers that have been built up within you, but it is so that He can bring the revelation of the love we all crave so much and the healing we all desperately need. I guarantee that if He is real (which I know He is), He will reveal Himself to you and do this amazing good work within you. 

This is my prayer for you: "That the God of the universe would draw near to you and purposely intervene in your life in showing you His love for you and His destiny for your life. I pray the grace of God would begin to cover the many areas in your heart where a father has fallen short in loving you the way you needed and begin to bring the healing you need to help you to see in greater and greater depth God as a good, loving and caring heavenly Father. In Jesus Name, Amen"