The Bible and...: Part 11: The Occult

The Bible and...: Part 11: The Occult
Wednesday, August 28, 2024 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Contemporary issues / Spiritual deception / Spiritual warfare / The church / Thought for Today

Mixing the Bible and the occult. For most Christians, that sounds patently absurd, doesn’t it? After all, God warns us repeatedly to avoid witchcraft, divination, soothsaying, necromancy, and the like.

Deuteronomy 18:10 (NAU): There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

Listening to soothsayers, diviners, false prophets, and others like them is precisely what got Israel into trouble.

Jeremiah 27:9: But as for you, do not listen to your [false] prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers or your sorcerers who speak to you, saying, “You will not serve the king of Babylon.”

Those very practices brought God’s judgment against the Canaanites, the people groups Israel was to drive out of the Promised Land.

God stated in Deuteronomy 18:14 (NAU), “For those nations, which you shall 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.”

God, Himself, makes fools out of diviners, of those who boast in esoteric “knowledge”:

Isaiah 44:24–25 (NAU): Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone, Causing the omens of boasters to fail, Making fools out of diviners, Causing wise men to draw back And turning their knowledge into foolishness,”

God warns us, Jeremiah 29:8 (NAU): For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream.”

Simply stated, listening to those who practice the occultic arts, or when one decides to dabble in them are both open door to demonic possession.

One of the more “interesting” books is: “Jesus through Pagan Eyes.” It takes a look at Jesus from blatantly pagan viewpoints—what you’d expect based on the title.

Many of the contributors, though not all, came out of an Anglican—especially on the United States side, Episcopalian—background. Sadly, given the present state of much of Western Anglicanism and the Episcopal Church in the U.S. in particular, that is not a shock. Some were still involved in formal “Christian” ministry. Others never were Christians. Many spoke of how they could mix Christianity and their paganism, whether it be wicca, druidism, or some other practice. Needless to say, their “Jesus” is not the Jesus of the Scriptures, certainly not the unique Son of God, the only means of salvation and forgiveness of sin.

Scripture warns us over and over again to not be deceived. We will reap what we sow. God is not mocked. He isn’t a “killjoy” seeking to ruin our “fun.” He well knows that those who get involved in occultic practices end up hurting and destroying themselves. Sadly, wicca is currently one of the fastest growing religions. The number of parallels between Jeremiah’s day and ours should give us pause.

2 Corinthians 6:14–15 (NAU): Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?

The Bible and the occult do not mix. Combining them leads not only to personal deception, but also to ultimate spiritual ruin, and barring repentance, eternal Hell.

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