+JMJ+
May the word of the Lord be in our minds, on our lips and in our hearts.
Come Holy Spirit.....
A blessed evening to one and all, thank you for joining me tonight. As I sit here typing this, the full
"Supermoon" is shining like a large flashlight outside of my window. It is called a Supermoon because it is the closest the moon has been to earth since 1993, a phenomenon that happens every 17 years or so. It is truly beautiful. St. Francis of Assisi often called the moon, "Sister Moon." (Along with "Brother Sun.") Francis saw God in all of creation.
I am troubled, however, as right now, as I type this, Pagans and Wiccans are performing rituals, spells, etc. underneath this moon, believing it will increase the power of their so-called magic. Tomorrow night, when the Vernal Equinox occurs, they will also be engaging in their rituals.
Wiccans, Pagans, and other "earth-based" religions take their beliefs far beyond what St. Francis and others have done. They treat the earth, the moon and so forth as their God, deriving power from them and worshiping them, along with false gods and goddesses, rather than crediting the One True God with creation of everything seen and unseen. They also engage in things such as divination, sorcery, fortune telling, speaking with the dead, etc. Most witches and warlocks will tell you they practice "white magic" and are not affiliated with Satan, and therefore these activities are harmless. Some will even try to "cleanse" people and places of demons.
It's been reported that in recent years, there has been an increase in pagan and Wiccan participation, or at least in the interest of it. New Age is another name for some of these practices. Psychics and mediums are all over TV and in the media, as well. And astronomy is, sadly, still very popular.
So, does the fact that they are not "Satanic" really absolve Wiccans and pagans of any sin? Here is what God says about these practices:
"I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people."
"When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God. The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so."
"Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her. When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities."
"Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
It is obvious how the Lord views all of these practices. They are "detestable," and some translations call them "abominations" to the Lord. And in the book of Acts, we see that one poor girl's "psychic abilities" came from a demon, no less.
Pagan and Wiccan practices will be at an all time high, this weekend, due to the "Supermoon" and Vernal Equinox both occurring. We must pray for them, so that they will receive the Holy Spirit and see the error of their ways, and stop engaging in practices that are detestable to the Lord.
What about the rest of us? Those that call ourselves Christians? How often do we take part in some of these activities? We may not be crafting spells and magic, but what about using mediums and psychics to contact the dead? Or consulting astronomy to supposedly see our future? As we read in the bible, all are detestable to the Lord.
It's sad that so many people are turning away from the Lord and turning to these New Age/Pagan/Wiccan belief systems. And the Lord is sad about it, as He does not want this for His children. Satan is certainly behind the temptation to engage in these practices, because Satan will use anything that God detests as a weapon against Him and His people, and to turn us away from God. Pagans were among the very first enemies of the early Christian Church, so Satan has been using this false religion as a weapon against us for millennia.
Another danger: Those who study supernatural events (sometimes called "paranormal") will tell you that reaching out to supernatural forces that do not belong to God is inviting them into your life and even your body. Demons do not just randomly attack people, there has to be an opening for them. By engaging in occult activities, you are placing a target on your back for demons. Many church teachers now also agree with this assessment.
So, what about the witches and warlocks who try to "cleanse" someone from demons, using their white magic, rather than the name of Jesus Christ? I have personal experience with this, actually.
I am friends with a girl who used to be a Wiccan. Her fiance' seemed to be possessed at some point in time. She, and other witches, tried using white magic to cleanse him from the demon. The demon did leave him, but they heard the demon say, "I'll be back for him." Later, her fiance' and her were supposed to leave together in the car. She told me there was an unexplained force that physically prevented her from getting into the car with him. She just could not get into it. He could, and so he left on his own. As he was driving, for reasons authorities were never able to ascertain, he was killed in a one car accident. The demon kept it's promise. My friend left Wicca and started to get back to Christianity. Only God and Jesus have permanent power over demons and devils, no other sources of so-called power can do it.
Along with the aforementioned increase in New Age/Pagan/Occult religions, there has been enough of an increase in reports of demonic possessions that the Roman Catholic Church has called for an increase in exorcists world-wide. This is not a coincidence, trust me.
We must combat this increase in occult activity with fervent prayers of our own, and we must guard against the temptations to engage in even so-called "minor" practices that stem from these beliefs.
I pray that the Lord cleanses our world of all demonic activity, and that the Holy Spirit enters the hearts of those are have been lead astray by Satan's lies, so that they will reject him and the religions he tempts them with, in Jesus' Holy Name, amen.
Godspeed, everyone.
Great post, Eric!
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