Witchcraft and the Church

Part 5 – The Forbidden Fruit of the Forbidden Tree

               In the last four parts of this series, we have discussed witchcraft in the Body of Christ, spirits of witchcraft, and even gone into some depth as to how witchcraft enters the Body. To fully understand how witchcraft operates, and how it manages to enter into the Body, I think it is extremely important to discover how witchcraft deceives individual believers, and how it enters the lives of our people as individuals. In order to do this, we will travel back to the very first time the Bible records witchcraft being employed against the people of God – in the Garden of Eden.

               The Bible gives us a very detailed account of the events in the Garden, and there is much we can learn from this account. For instance, in Gen. 3:1 we read: “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, ‘Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the Garden?’ “

               The first thing we need to understand about this passage is that the serpent is the universally recognized symbol for witchcraft. Secondly, notice how the text describes the serpent, the symbol of witchcraft, as “more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.”

               So right off the bat, we understand that the serpent, the symbol of witchcraft, was not a creature God created. At least not in the form we see it represented here. Second, we are told that the serpent is very subtle; more so than any creature on earth. In this sense, “subtil” (Strong’s #H6175) means “shrewd, crafty, or sly”.  So now we know that God did not create this serpent in its present form, and that this serpent, the symbol of witchcraft, is the craftiest, the slyest creature on the earth.

               How does Eve respond to this sly creature? “And the woman said unto the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the Garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the Garden, God hath said ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die’ ‘ “ (Gen. 3:3).

               Right away, I can see three major problems, here. First of all, Adam and Eve were given authority over every living thing that moved upon the earth (Gen. 1:28). Why doesn’t she just use that authority to tell this wily beast to stop tempting her? After all, she certainly had the God-given authority to expel it from the Garden, but she didn’t. I’m not sure why she didn’t use that authority, or why we still aren’t using our authority today. We have the same authority over witchcraft, but we make the same mistake she made – we negotiate with it and become deceived.

               The second problem here is that she does not answer truthfully. Check out Gen. 2:17. “But of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” She has perverted the Word of God in her own mind. She has in fact created the world’s first religion. God says don’t eat from the tree; her religion says don’t touch the tree. As in most religions, she has added to the Word of the Lord, rendering the Word of God useless when combating the enemy. Now she has given this serpent room to prove to her that God is a liar. Hang on just a moment and we’ll see this in action.

               The third problem I see here is this: God wanted a relationship with Eve, but in her own mind, she created a religion. Relationship is the way that God reaches out to man on His terms. Religion is the way that man tries to reach out to God on man’s terms. And boy, does it get her into trouble!  But here is the problem with Eve’s religion: relationship is a covenant with God; religion is a broken covenant. Even before the serpent successfully tempted Eve, the relationship had already been replaced in her heart with a religion; a religion of works. It is the broken covenant with God that really gets Eve into trouble, here.

               So witchcraft has begun its’ operations in the heart and mind of Eve. It has exposed the fact that she does not have a relationship with God, but a religion. It has worked its’ way past her defenses, and now is going to negotiate with her. She has given up her God-granted power over the entire earth, and her relationship with God, and is now going to seek illegal power in the form of a forbidden fruit. Sounds a lot like Jezebel, doesn’t it?

               And the serpent said unto the woman, “Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:4, 5) The first point that needs to be made here is that she was already like God. She already had what the serpent was promising her. And what’s more, she already had the knowledge of good and evil within her in the form of the Holy Spirit. She didn’t need a conscience of good and evil, because the Spirit of the Lord provides that service for all of God’s children.

But this is the promise that witchcraft makes to all of us. God is lying to you. I can show you how to attain enough power that you will be a god in your own right. And what’s more, she has given the serpent room to prove what he is saying by allowing the lies of religion to replace her covenant relationship with God.

               And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat (Gen. 3:6).

               Can you picture the scene? The serpent says she won’t die. Her religion says that if she touches the tree she will die. So she hesitantly reaches out to touch the tree, and guess what? She doesn’t die! God has lied to her, and this wonderful new friend of hers has pointed it out, exposing God for the liar that He is!

               This is religion at work. Instead of giving our people the truth of God’s Word, we give them religion and denominational rules that God never intended for us to be bound with. As a result, we give the serpent the opportunity to deceive our people because we have deceived them first. And they blame it on a lying God, when in fact it was us all along. And witchcraft wins again. Sure wish someone had told us that was going to happen!

               And notice what Eve was pursuing in her quest for god-like power: she was pursuing knowledge. I am not saying that the pursuit of knowledge in itself is a bad thing. It is when we get the idea that knowledge is power that the pursuit becomes a manifestation of witchcraft.

               Eve already had the Spirit of the Lord within her. He would have convicted her of any wrong doing. Instead, she needed to satisfy some inner need for power over her own circumstances; to be like God. We do the same thing every day.

               Let’s take one very well known example. Albert Einstein began to pursue the science of the atom in the hopes of developing technology for medical science. After some advances in his studies, he is approached by the U.S. government to develop the technology for them. Well, we all know how that turned out. The x-ray machine was developed, and so was the nuclear bomb. The pursuit of nuclear technology for use in a bomb was witchcraft. The pursuit of the science of the atom for medical use was godly wisdom. The knowledge gained was the same. It was the intent for which it was gained that makes the difference.

               Eve does the same thing. She does not desire knowledge to live a godly lifestyle. She desires knowledge to replace the godly lifestyle she has already been living. After all, if you have become like God, why would you need to obey all those silly rules?

               We do the same thing every day. We don’t need to trust in the Lord to supply all our needs. We can work and save our money and put our trust in Charles Schwaab. We don’t need to have faith in God to heal us. We have health insurance. We don’t need the Spirit of the Lord to lead and guide us, we have that Ph.D. in Divinity gathering dust up on the wall.

               Don’t get offended with me, yet. There is nothing wrong with saving your money, having health insurance, or seeking higher education. That is not what I’m saying. What I’m trying to get across, is that those things can replace God in our lives, and it is at that point that they become witchcraft. Understand?

               How many times have we turned on a Christian Television Network to hear a fire and brimstone sermon promising hellfire and damnation if we don’t repent. I must have gotten saved over fifty times before I truly sought out a relationship with God. Fear is a great motivator; it is also witchcraft. Every time we hear one of those sermons that scares everyone to the altar, we have seen witchcraft in practice in the Church. Don’t tell them about the love of Christ. Don’t tell them about God’s grace. Don’t trust the Spirit of God to bring them to the altar. No, play God yourself. Scare them to the altar. It’s for their own good, anyway. I know it sounds silly in this context, but it happens worldwide every Sunday morning.

               So the lack of truth in Eve’s religion has left an open door for the enemy. She has taken the forbidden fruit. What next?

               And (she) gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat (Gen 3:6f). There we go. Witchcraft strikes again. Wait a minute! What did that say? She gave also unto her husband with her? Adam had been there all along? Yep. Good old Ahab (Adam) was afraid to use his authority to slap that serpent, and then he followed Eve straight into hell!

               One more thing we need to make a special note of here. Witchcraft always works in pairs. One partner will always be the dominant personality and will lead the other around by their nose. In this case, it is the spirit of Jezebel leading the spirit of Ahab. It does work the other way also, though with Ba’al and Ashteroth.

               And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sowed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Gen 3:7) Witchcraft always exposes the ugliness of the flesh; the shameful things. We are lied to and deceived; told that if we do this or do that, we will have more power. The truth of it is that all of our power will be taken from us, leaving us exposed to the ugliness of our flesh; filled with shame.

               Before this encounter, Adam and Eve already had all authority on earth, just as Jesus did when He came to earth as a man. How much more power can a person need? Regardless of the fact that they already had what they were seeking, they were deceived. They failed to be wise and vigilant. They stepped into witchcraft without truly thinking it through.

               We do the same. We have all power on Heaven and on earth (Mat. 16:19). We have been sent to this world, just as Jesus was sent to this world (John 20:21), with all the same authority. Yet, most of the Body struggles with witchcraft in one form or another. Just like Adam and Eve, the pursuit for carnal knowledge has surpassed the pursuit for godly wisdom. The pursuit for power over the Church has surpassed the pursuit for brotherly love. The pursuit of religion has surpassed the pursuit for relationship. Need I continue?

               The serpent dangles something in front of us that we have already been given, and we choose to bite. We choose to manipulate the pastor into doing things our way. We choose to use fear tactics to run our home or discipline our children. We choose to lead others astray in our religion instead of leading them down paths of righteousness. We get together on Sunday afternoon and choose to tear up Mr. so-and-so behind his back because he is obviously a sinner and not worthy to be in our midst. We choose to take the Word of God out of context in order to condemn or exclude others. We choose to look down our noses at that young teenage girl who “got herself” pregnant.

               And what is the price for our choices? God is casting down witchcraft. He has declared war on the trespasser in His Garden, and He is going to be rid of it. Those that choose to continue practicing idolatry with witchcraft may find that God turns a deaf ear to them until they repent. They may find that things in their lives don’t go so well until they stop using their mouths to hurt the anointed of the Lord. They may even find that, for a time, the Lord allows them to reap what they’ve sown.

               Ministers that choose to continue to minister through fear and condemnation may find that the Lord dries up their ministries. They may find their own sin issues exposed. They may find that the Lord makes good on His promises to cast Jezebel down from the pinnacle of her temple; their temple. They may find that the fires of God come down and consume everything they’ve built in the name of Ba’al. It might just happen in front of a whole crowd of onlookers or a television audience.

               This is the time to repent and come out of agreement with witchcraft in all its forms, and turn our hearts back to the Father. This is the time when the fear of the Lord will be manifested in the true Body of Christ; those that are Spirit fed and Spirit led. This is the time to search our hearts and ask the Lord to reveal our sin covenants so that we can serve Jezebel and Ba’al a notice of divorce and come back into covenant with Christ. This is that time.

               When God visited His Garden He cast out those that practiced witchcraft and sent His Son to bruise the head of the serpent. If we are saved, living by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, we are in the Garden and the serpent has been cast out. Why are we allowing a half dead snake to poison our Body? This is the time to kill it. God is doing just that. In this season, witchcraft is a dead thing, and the dead cannot affect the living. Let’s act like it.

               Let’s truly become the Church, the Body of Christ. Let’s come back into a state of unity with God and with one another. It’s that time. It’s about time, isn’t it?

               I encourage all of my readers to simply ask the Lord to reveal to you if there are any sin covenants in your life. Then confess your sin and repent. Don’t make excuses. Don’t hide from God. Cast the serpent out of the Garden, and walk with God in the cool of the day once more. It’s time.

               The love of God is greater than any sin you have committed in the name of witchcraft. Don’t make Him come looking for you. You cannot hide from Him. He sees you as you are: His child in need of love and restoration. Accept His love. Ask for restoration. He’s there for you. It’s time to accept His forgiveness and move past witchcraft. It’s time to move back into full blood covenant with Christ Jesus. It’s way past time.