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"O foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth,
crucified among you?" - Galatians 3:1 "For rebellion is as
the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as
iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word
of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king." -
1 Samuel 15:23
We live in a world today that is filled with witchcraft; it is everywhere
you look. Hollywood is overflowing with it; it's in the
schools, the government, society, religions and even in the
church (the true church, the bride of Christ). The Lord
asked the Church at Galatia, "Who hath
bewitched you?" The word "Bewitch" means 1. to fascinate, to
gain by charms or incantations. 2. to charm; to fascinate;
to please to such a
degree as to take away the power of resistance. The Bible
says they had been bewitched so that they would not obey the
truth. The church has been
fascinated, charmed, pleased to such a degree that she
cannot resist the witchcraft. Not obeying the truth - no
wonder the Word of God likens
rebellion to witchcraft in I Samuel 15. This topic is so
vast that we could spend days talking about it, but I want
to try to narrow it down to
how it pertains to us women. I have a feeling that this is
going to turn into a series of devotions because even the
topic of how the witchcraft
has influenced women is a very broad subject with many
different consequences. So, I ask you to pray for me as I
try to follow the Lord's
direction on this. First of all, I want to look at a
few more references about witches. Exodus 22:18 says, "Thou
shalt not suffer a witch to live." Deuteronomy 18: 10-12
says, "There shall not be found among you any one that
maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or
that useth
divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a
witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar
spirits, or a wizard, or a
necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination
unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD
thy God doth drive them
out from before thee." Witchcraft is a very serious sin, an
abomination to the Lord that carried the death penalty. The
word "Witch" means to
whisper a spell, to practice magic. The word "Craft" means a
skill or trade; deceiving, fraud, deceit, false, feigned,
guile..." Today, witches
call themselves Wiccans; the word "Wicca" means wise one;
prophet; sorcerer." Now let's look at some Scripture. II
Kings 9:22 says, "And it
came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it
peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the
whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel
and her witchcrafts are so many?" Now cross-reference that
with Revelation 2:20 - "Notwithstanding I have a few things
against thee,
because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth
herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to
commit fornication, and
to eat things sacrificed unto idols." Now let's look at Acts
8: 9-11 which says, "But there was a certain man,
called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used
sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out
that himself was some great
one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the
greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to
him they had regard, because
that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries."
Then lastly, Nahum 3:4, "Because of the multitude of the
whoredoms of the wellfavoured
harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations
through her whoredoms, and families through her
witchcrafts."
First, you have Jezebel, a very wicked woman who was very
involved in witchcraft and according to Revelation 2, called
herself a prophetess.
Her spirit is still around today and teaches and seduces
God's people away from the truth. Secondly, let's look at
Simon, who bewitched the
people making himself out to be something great and the
people listened to him and thought that he had the power of
God on him because he had
seduced them with sorceries. Then in Nahum, the wellfavoured
harlot is seducing nations and families through her
witchcrafts. I am telling you,
this is serious and it is a real threat to Christian women
everywhere. We need to take heed that we are not being
deceived and seduced by
Satan's charming. One way that I know that Christian
women are being seduced by the Devil through this witchcraft
is the attitude that many of them have toward the doctrine
of the Word of God concerning them. They want to rebel
against the role that the Lord has created them to fulfill.
If you will look back at the Scripture about Jezebel, the
Bible says that she calleth herself a prophetess (she is a
wise one that has knowledge that you don't and on a side
note: Charismatic means "gifted one" - they claim to have a
gift that you don't have. Look up the word gift and see how
many Scripture
references come up about those who boast of a false gift,
but that is a completely different topic that we don't have
time to get into here.);
today we have women standing in the pulpit, on the deacon
boards, in the Sunday School classes teaching men and taking
roles of authority in every
aspect that they have no authority to take. Why? They have
been bewitched and they think they have some great Spiritual
gift to bestow on the
church. But the Lord said, "Let your wom n keep silence in
the churches: or it is not permitted unto them to
speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also
saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them
ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to
speak in the church." - I Corinthians 14:34-35. And then in
I Timothy 2:11-15 says, "Let the woman learn in silence with
all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to
usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam
was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but
the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they
continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." I
want to point out a couple of things: 1. The Bible says
there in I Timothy 2 that the woman was deceived, not the
man. Ladies one reason that God has put us in learning and
leaning position instead of a leading and teaching
position is because we are easily deceived. If you still
want to argue that women can teach and instruct men
then I will leave you with verse 37 of I Corinthians 14 that
I quoted to you above which says, "If any man think himself
to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the
things that I write unto you are the commandments of the
Lord."
Well, I hope this has been a blessing to you and always
remember, anything that I bring forth in my devotions is
something that the Lord
either is or has worked on me and shown me from His Word and
I just want to share it with you.
Sis. Tanya |
in the
