Witchcraft

My outreach ministry partnered with a community in the Lower East Side to deliver an educational seminar on Obesity Prevention. I translated for the Chinese community in a very interactive manner and the children were so engaged! After our very successful event, I was chauffeur-driven to church.

There is a tendency to be extreme in our thoughts of sin. When the minister announced on Saturday night that he was going to be discussing “Witchcraft”, various images flooded my mind including ones of witches floating on brooms, the “obeah” woman or voodoo lady sticking pins into a doll, the Ouija board, etc. I was quite surprised when I realized that witchcraft by its very nature is much more habitual that sporadic occult practices.
Witchcraft is simply controlling people to conform to a false sense of authority. We are no longer enslaved, our choices should not be dictated because we have freedom. Witchcraft interferes with someone’s ability to choose. Witchcraft’s MO (modus operandi):
1. Manipulation - covert
2. Domination – overt (mainly by the use of guilt)
3. Intimidation – overt (mainly by the use of force)
The list below is not exclusive and one display should not be chalked up to witchcraft. Here are some tools of witchcraft. If someone is practicing witchcraft on you, they will seek to:
• Isolate you from your loved ones and insist that the two of you have a “special connection” that “no one else understands”
• Slander other’s reputation in an effort to draw you closer to them
• Use guilt as a tool of controlling you
• Create an atmosphere of dependency where they act as your only source
• Use fear (off an outcome- threats) as a mechanism to force you to act, usually by providing ultimatums
• Employ subordination and allow you to feel that no matter what you do, you can’t measure up or it is not enough
• Use religion as a tool to control you – legalism
Be careful that you are not practicing witchcraft in people’s lives. Know where your authority ends, be aware of what you can and cannot say and do not use force (manipulation, domination or intimidation) to try and dictate how people should live their lives. More importantly, do not allow someone to control your life, do not give them that influence.
Scripture References: Galatians 5:19-21 | 1 Samuel 15:23 | Deuteronomy 30:19 | 2 Corinthians 3:17