Deuteronomy 18:14 (NAS) “For those nations, which you will dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.”
Years ago, I remember one evening the Lord told me to go outside and find a small tree branch. I obeyed and brought it indoors. And the Lord spoke into my heart that while in prayer I must break the branch. As I did so, the Lord said He is going to break the branch of paganism and witchcraft in the Church. Why? This form of the occult is deadly and allows the devil plenty of legal right to destroy. It is deadly because we are in perilous times where some in the church, even those in spiritual positions of leadership, have merged the world of light and darkness. Satanic agendas have been mixed into the true faith of our God.
On Friday evening, November 20, the Lord spoke that the staff of Moses will always devour the staff of the sorcerer. Yes, the power of God is always greater than the power of the devil. The devil’s power can never withstand or supplant the true power of God. And for those who truly move in the power and authority of God, the staff of the sorcerer – thus the evil, wicked and devilish deeds, and acts – will never prevail. For indeed, God is our rod and staff (Psalm 23) and the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. Yes, witchcraft is prevalent and very evident in churches, but God is calling those disciples who walk in His authority and power to arise, to no longer make excuses or to tarry, but to confront the satanic agenda, suggestions, and afflictions.
The witchcraft we see in churches today is nothing new. It is an extension of the same rebellion practiced by Israel. We read for example in Hosea 4: 11 “Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart. 12 My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, and their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, and they have played the harlot against their God. 13 They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit harlotry, and your brides commit adultery.”
The idolatry and the practices of witchcraft caused Israel to be likened to a harlot – thus a prostitute – by God. Remember Gomer? She was the wife of the prophet Hosea (8th century BC), mentioned in the Book of Hosea (1:3). Hosea 1:2 refers to her alternatively as a “promiscuous woman” (NIV), a “harlot” (NASB), and a “whore” (KJV) but Hosea is told to marry her according to Divine appointment. This was of course a prophetic action that even though Israel fell into harlotry, God will not break His covenant with her. Yet there are always consequences to our actions. Only two tribes – Judah and Benjamin – really returned to Israel after captivity at the hands of Babylon. The other ten tribes who were taken captive by the Assyrians years before Babylon’s siege of Jerusalem were left to be scattered across the world. Yes, there are consequences to our idolatry, to our witchcraft, and to our spiritual promiscuous behavior as we flirt with the devil while supposedly loving God.
Take note of Deuteronomy 18: 9 “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. 10 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, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 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. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.
Such practices were deemed an abomination, therefore a thing that causes disgust or loathing. Such vile practices are disgusting to the Lord, yet Israel often fell victim to abominations despite the warning. And still today, little has changed in the church. As Ezekiel saw such abominations taking place in the inner sanctuary of the Temple, so in the inner chambers of the churches and the chambers of the hearts of followers of God there lurks spiritual fornication, idolatry, and acts of abomination. And so it says in “Matthew 12:35: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things” and also “Matthew 15:18: But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.”
There have been increasing testimonies of church leaders who for example say that there is nothing wrong to speak to God and to the dead. What blasphemy! Yes, the great falling away is upon us, which is marked by great deception and delusion. Of late, one prophet said he has the right according to his office to leave his body and to ‘visit’ people in their homes to see what they are doing. It is called astral traveling, and it has nothing to do with the office of the prophet! As a prophet or as a child of God, you have no right to travel out of your body and to invade someone’s privacy! This is witchcraft.
Astral projection (or astral travel) is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional out-of-body experience that assumes the existence of a soul or consciousness called an “astral body” that is separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside it throughout the universe. Those in the occult and in witchcraft use such methods to regularly separate their astral body from their physical bodies, while traveling to apparent celestial planes of existence, interacting with a vast array of higher dimensional beings. It is also reported that those who travel in such a manner are also able to maintain conscious awareness during their nightly astral projections. Now, where does it state in the Bible this is something one is allowed to do? Where does it state that a prophet is allowed to leave his body to roam the earth? This is an abomination as mentioned in Deuteronomy 18. It is witchcraft, and yet some think this is some sort of power or gift God bestows upon His people, especially prophets. What nonsense and rubbish!
Regarding the prophetic, there is so much divination being practiced by the church. Divination is simply the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means. Yes, you tap into a demonic source. It is thus the practice of attempting to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge by occult or supernatural means. We read in “Acts 16: 16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” 18 And this she did for many days. but Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.” Take note that the demonic entity within the girl said that these are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim the way of salvation. The familiar spirit was thus accurate, and a reminder that demons are not totally clueless. Yet Paul dealt with divination as we all should be doing by delivering the girl from the demon. Paul did not entertain witchcraft but dealt with it in the authority of God.
It says in “Jeremiah 14:14: And the Lord said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart.” And also “Leviticus 19:26: ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying.” The occult is marked of course with practices that include blood sacrifices and blood oaths and covenants, Yet such practices are creeping, and concernedly more boldly of late, into the churches where divination, and not the word of God, is spoken and where people practice soothsaying (which is also the ability of prophecy (or the pretense of prophecy) by supernatural means). Indeed, these are very perilous times where divination abounds, disguised as the prophetic, and where Christians advocate witchcraft without the fear of God.
