"If I shut up the heavens and there is no rain; if I command the locusts to ravage the land; or if I let loose pestilence against My people, when My people, who bear My name, humble themselves, pray, and seek My favor and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear in My heavenly abode and forgive their sins and heal their land."
II Chronicles 7:14;
|
by Ken Graydon and Charles Voss
What is you personal feeling about playing with things like Ouija Boards, Tarot Cards, astrology, horoscopes, or Crystal Balls? Is there anything wrong with having your fortune told by someone looking at your palm, tea leaves, the stars, or chicken entrails? What about voodoo dolls or attempting to talk with people who have died? Do these things matter or are they just magic tricks and amusements? They may not matter to you--but they do matter to our ETERNAL CREATOR and He speaks out about using magic!
In trying to solve the problems we face each day, we the people are looking for answers in all the wrong places. The truth, the complete answers to the problems of life and death that we face and their solution are clearly spelled out in the Hebrew Scriptures. However, there is an opposing alternative to dealing with life, it is called magic. Notice what the American Heritage Dictionary states about magic:
-
1) The art that purports to control or forecast natural events, effects, or forces by invoking the supernatural. 2) The practice of using charms, spells, or rituals to attempt to produce supernatural effects or control events in nature. 3) The exercise of sleight of hand or conjuring for entertainment. 4) A mysterious quality of enchantment.
When used as an adjective: Of, relating to, or invoking the supernatural. Possessing distinctive qualities that produce unaccountable or baffling effects. Pertaining to magic, bewitching, and witching.
When used as a noun: The use of skillful tricks and deceptions to produce entertainingly baffling effects, conjuration, legerdemain, or prestidigitation. The use of supernatural powers to influence or predict events, sorcery, conjuration, witchcraft, witchery, wizardry.
And Webster's adds "intercourse with the devil" and thus our participation in any type of magic is viewed by our loving CREATOR as spiritual adultery.
Have no doubt about it--magic exists and it works. This is real power, this is not make believe. Things like, some of the "healing" by a "faith healer" are truly real, but use satanic power to perform them. The reason that we are not appalled at its use is that satan has palmed itself off as a comic character in red leotards. However, it is totally opposite to the expressed words and actions of ETERNAL. A Scriptural example using magical powers is Pharaoh's wise men and sorcerers who could imitate some of the signs that the Mighty One gave through Moses.
Whether you are watching 'Harry Potter' or 'Lord of the Rings,' participating in Halloween, sitting in the television audience for any of the many programs about magic, joining a coven to cast spells on your neighbors, or attending a church that practices "faith healing." If so, you are part of the opposition to the CREATOR of the Universe. There are no acceptable degrees of disobedience note that in the next verse:
Zechariah 10:21 For the teraphim [idols consulted for oracles] spoke delusion, the augurs predicted falsely; and dreamers speak lies and console with illusions. That is why My people have strayed like a flock, they suffer for lack of a shepherd.
The forces of magic will delude you and take you away from the truth. The priests, ministers, pastors who tell you that a small glass of wine and some wafers will become flesh and blood in your mouth are deluding you. As the Tanakh is very specific that we must not eat blood. 2
When ETERNAL sent Moses, to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, he was opposed by a group of magicians who were able to imitate some of the plagues brought upon the land. How? By calling on the satanic powers of darkness.
Magic was and is now a potent force, but it is a force that deludes. It has been said of the "Harry Potter" stories that "good" wins over "evil." 3 But at what cost? Children are seen to be wise; adults are, at best foolish, or at worst cruel. In addition, fantasy and escapism are used to deal with problems. It is this desire to escape from problems that has brought about the growing evil of drug addiction into everyday living in a world gone wild.
ETERNAL is not surprised that many people turn to one of the many available forms of magic. However, He is disappointed in those who do. Even when we change the form of a word, so that attempting to call up the dead becomes "channeling." Wicked once meant evil, but now by today's usage, it means 'good' and Isaiah spoke of these days:
Deuteronomy 18:9-13 (TLB) When you arrive in the Promised Land you must be very careful lest you be corrupted by the horrible customs of the nations now living there. For example, any Israeli 4 who presents his child to be burned to death as a sacrifice to heathen gods must be killed. No Israeli may practice black magic, or call on the evil spirits for aid, or be a fortune teller, or be a serpent charmer, medium, or wizard, or call forth the spirits of the dead. Anyone doing these things is an object of horror and disgust to YHWH. And it is because these nations do these things, that ETERNAL your SOVEREIGN will displace them. You must walk blamelessly before ETERNAL your SOVEREIGN.
Isaiah 47:10-15 (TLB) [ETERNAL speaking] You felt secure in all your wickedness. "No one sees me," you said. Your 'wisdom' and 'knowledge' have caused you to turn away from Me and claim that you yourself are gods. That is why disaster shall overtake you suddenly--so suddenly that you will not know where it comes from. And there will be no atonement then to cleanse away your sins. Call out the demon hordes you have worshiped all these years. Call on them to help you strike deep terror into many hearts again. You have advisors by the ton--your astrologers and stargazers, who try to tell you what the future holds. But they are as useless as dried grass burning in the fire. They cannot even deliver themselves! You will get no help from them at all. Theirs is no fire [for you] to sit beside to make you warm! And all your friends of childhood days shall slip away and disappear, unable to help.
Whatever you have been using, or believing, which is not the actual word of ETERNAL, will let you down. The events of September 11 in New York and October 12 in Bali were evils that came upon us suddenly. No matter how good, how nice, or how blessed we thought we were, we could not appease the forces of evil. The peddlers of horoscopes or of false religions, who offered the illusion of security or protection, do not have any answers. They too, are victims as they wander off to some other deception. ETERNAL says there is only one way, His way, which offers security. Anything else is a delusion. ETERNAL explains that simply trying to contact ghosts or spirits defiles you.
Leviticus 19:31 Do not turn to ghosts and do not inquire of familiar spirits to be defiled by them: I ETERNAL am your CREATOR.
Guilty people will have caused their own death:
Leviticus 20:27 (TLB) A MEDIUM or a wizard--whether man or woman--SHALL SURELY BE STONED TO DEATH. They have caused their own doom.
Using magic in any of these forms is bad, nay even worse, an abomination. It is the same as murdering your own children by sacrificing them to a pagan g-d. The punishments are not only on the guilty individual but also on all the country.
Micah 5:11-13 (TLB) "At that same time," says ETERNAL, "I will destroy all the weapons you depend on, tear down your walls, and demolish the defenses of your cities. I will put an end to all witchcraft--there will be no more fortune-tellers to consult--and destroy all your idols. Never again will you worship what you have made, for I will abolish the heathen shrines from among you, and destroy the cities where your idol temples stand. I will pour out My vengeance upon the nations who refuse to obey Me."
ETERNAL will act against you for your involvement in magic and idols of various kinds. The New Testament church developed from the practice of magic and pagan beliefs. The idea of worshipping on Sunday is perpetuating the idea of worshipping the Sun.
Constantine who is given the 'credit' for making Chr-stianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, still had inscriptions to the sun g-d on his coins and sacrificed to "Jupiter." The 'birthday' of the sun g-d was December 25th. The priests and magicians of the cult of "Mithra" were able to meld together the sun worship, anti-Semitism of Roman beliefs, Neo-platonic philosophy from Greece, and the sorcery of Simon Magus to produce, what is now, the church in Rome. Even the statue of "Peter" in the basilica named after him is really of "Jupiter." 5
Easter is a pagan festival, which is described as an 'abomination' in Jeremiah verse 7:10-18. It is a fertility festival, hence, the egg and rabbit symbols (I challenge you to check that statement out in an encyclopedia and in Scripture. Don't be afraid, you know you are right).
|
|
The miter worn by bishops is the same shape as the headpiece worn by the priests of "Dagon" the fish g-d. The fish symbol is another sign of Dagon. The name ICHTHUS 6 is one of the names of "Tammuz." This worship is strictly forbidden:
Deut 4:15-19 But beware! You didn't see the form of YHWH that day as He spoke to you from the fire at Mount Horeb, so do not defile yourselves by trying to make a statue of YHWH--an idol in any form, whether of a man, woman, animal, bird, a small animal that runs along the ground, or a fish. And do not look up into the sky to worship the sun, moon, or stars. ETERNAL may permit other nations to get away with this, but not you. ETERNAL has rescued you from prison--Egypt--to be His special people, His own inheritance; this is what you are today.
This is a call for a remnant people who will read the truth in the Hebrew Scriptures and act upon it. Against this are arrayed the collected forces of magic, money, religions, superstition, and power. It is simple, but not easy. ETERNAL calls us to a standard of obedience that sets us apart, because He has chosen us 7 to do a job.
If you have the courage to read this truth (and investigate it, do not take the word of any man, study the Scripture) do you have the courage to step out and demonstrate your calling? Worshipping on the Sabbath (sunset Friday to sunset Saturday) is the first sign of "apartness," get that right and ETERNAL will reveal much, much more to you.
Whatever you do, for your own sake, stay away from the practice and promotion of magic whether it is in film, television, magazines, games,or your local church.
[ "The Hope of Israel" index page ]
Footnotes
1.
Scriptures are from the Tanakh unless noted.
2.
How could ETERNAL have even conceived of an idea to break His law? He did not, satan did.
3.
In actuality, as demonstrated by voodoo enthusiasts, the forces of evil are masqueraded as 'black magic' or 'white magic,' yet both forces stem from the same satanic realm.
4.
This is not referring just to Jews, but to all 13 Tribes of Israel. See our booklet on "The Two-fold Aspect of the Promises to Abraham, Judah's Scepter and Joseph's Birthright; The United States, Britain, and the Jewish People in Prophecy."
5.
That is the statue that people kiss the foot of - and have nearly worn away the big toe.
6.
Webster's (ikhe ik) adj. of or characteristic of a fish or fishes.
7.
Any who believe and practice the Abrahamic Hebrew Faith of the Hebrew Scriptures.
