7. The Power Source Behind Sorcery And Mediums

Chapter 7 The Power Source Behind Sorcery And Mediums Satan Uses Displays Of Power To Scare People Into Submission

We’ve already seen how wise and powerful God is over Satan and how he even uses Satan at times to remove or establish kings or to punish rebellious people so they will repent. We’ve also seen how God will sometimes use Satan to correct and strengthen believers like Job. God’s power is so far above Satan that it’s hard to compare them at all. But Satan is not a willing servant—he’s still God’s enemy and he’s a very persuasive liar. So he tries very hard to deceive people into believing that he is actually the most powerful of all. He wants people to think that he and the demons are the most powerful beings around and can’t be defeated. So he likes to frighten people with displays of power or use power in numbers in order to impress people or scare them so they submit to him out of fear. But all these things are deceitful lies from Satan himself.

John 8:44 says that: “Satan…is a liar and the father of lies.”

Satan Is The Father Of Lies And The Enemy Of Truth

Satan is the “father” or inventor of every kind of lie and trick that we could think of. He became the first liar when he first lied to himself. He told himself that he was so great he could become like God. He said:

“I will ascend...I will make myself like the Most High." (Is. 14:14) And so when Satan had fallen into the sin of pride, he dragged some other angels into the same deceitful rebellion and they became liars too. So he became like a father to all those lying demons. Then he started lying to humans. After Adam and Eve had sinned, Satan’s lies also spread among their children and to all people everywhere. In this way, Satan has become the “father of lies” and he keeps trying to invent new ways to lie and deceive people. In the Old Testament we can see a number of the methods that Satan and the demons used to deceive people. They were often used among people who didn’t believe in God, but also among believers. Satan doesn’t just focus on one method of deceit. He uses many. In fact, the more methods he uses, the better the deception. He doesn’t mind if each different culture or people group has a totally different kind of belief system, as long as they are deceived. But one thing he doesn’t like is the TRUTH, because the truth brings people closer to God. Truth is like an enemy to Satan, while lies are like his best buddies. Let’s look at some of the ways he tried to deceive and draw people away from God’s truth.

Satan Uses His Power To Deceive: Magic, Sorcery, Divination And Idolatry Sorcerers And Wise Men Used Magic To Frighten Moses

During the time of Moses, when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, God wanted to rescue Israel from slavery, so he sent Moses to the King (Pharaoh). But Satan wanted to oppose God’s plan by using his power to perform magic in front of the king.

Exodus 7:8-13 says: “The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "When Pharaoh says to you, ’Do a miracle,’ and you say to Aaron, ’Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ it will become a snake." When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the LORD had commanded them — Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake. Then Pharaoh also summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the magicians of Egypt by their secret arts did the same thing. Each man threw down his staff, and the staffs became snakes. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had predicted.” (NET) When Moses and Aaron performed the miracles in front of the king as God had commanded, then the king used his own wise men, sorcerers and magicians to do the same. His magicians worked their magic and made their staffs become snakes too. Even today, Satan has power to do magic and some types of miracles if God allows it. Satan likes to use his power to trick and frighten people so they’ll think his power is the greatest. But why would God allow Satan to perform these miracles for the Egyptians? Perhaps God had several reasons, but likely he wanted to show us that even though Satan really does have power, God’s power is always stronger than Satan’s. This became obvious when Aaron’s snake ate the magicians’ snakes.

Satan’s Power Is Real, But Not Like God’s Surpassing Power The Bible doesn’t give us all the names of the sorcerers and magicians of Pharaoh, but in 2 Timothy 3:8 we see the names of two of them: Jannes and Jambres. They did lots of other miracles or magic for the king of Egypt (Exodus 7:11; Exodus 7:22; Exodus 8:7). It’s true that Satan is powerful and able to do many miraculous things, but he is nowhere near as powerful as God is, and so eventually God showed the king and his advisors that he alone was all-powerful and there was nothing that Satan or his sorcerers could do to stop him.

Exodus 8:18-19 says: “When the magicians attempted… by their secret arts,they could not.…The magicians said to Pharaoh, "It is the finger of God!” (NET) This is another lesson we need to learn. Satan and his magicians and sorcerers may all try to impress us with their miracles, magic, signs and wonders or other displays of power so that we believe their lies. But we should never be impressed or fooled by their power or his deceit. Satan is not God. He does not have supreme power or authority. Only God alone is the true source of all power. He alone should be honored, worshiped and obeyed.

God Punished The Canaanites For Practicing Witchcraft, Sorcery And Divination

God did lead the Israelites out of Egypt and eventually they entered into the land of Canaan. The Canaanite people worshiped false gods just like the ancestors of many nations. They had followed Satan’s lies for centuries and Satan had blinded their minds. They practiced witchcraft, sorcery, divination and consulting the dead spirits of their ancestors. So when the Israelites came to Canaan, Moses warned them strongly against following the Canaanites’ ungodly customs and beliefs. God hated the Canaanites’ ways, so he planned to punish them and give their land to Israel.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 says: “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 their son or daughter in the fire, who practicesdivinationorsorcery,interpretsomens, engages in witchcraft,or castsspells,or who is amedium or spiritistor whoconsults the dead.Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord;because of these same detestable practicesthe 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.”

Israelites Gave Offerings To Idols And Worshiped The Spirits

God had warned Israel against following the evil ways of the Canaanites but eventually they too fell into those same sins. They started out by joining the festivals and parties with the Canaanites and then began giving offerings and burning incense to their false gods.

Judges 2:11-12 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD …. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them.”

God had warned Israel not to make any kind of religious images or bow down to them.

Exodus 20:3-5 says: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image… You shall not bow down to them or worship them…” But the Israelites forgot God’s instructions to them…

2 Kings 22:17 says: “…they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all the idols their hands have made, my anger will burn against this place …” In God’s eyes, making images or statues and bowing down to them, praying to them, or even giving offerings to them, is the same as worshiping demons—because demons are the ones who are deceiving the people into this kind of false worship. We’ll see other passages about this too.

Israelites Consulted Sorcerers And Mediums

God had also warned Israel about sorcery, witchcraft and using mediums or spiritists to talk with the dead. This was a serious sin, but Israel didn’t listen.

Leviticus 19:31 says: “Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 20:27 says: “A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.”

God Forbids Us To Communicate With The Spirits Of The Dead

Why doesn’t God want people to consult witchdoctors, sorcerers, mediums or the spirits of dead people? Simply because they deceive people. Satan uses mediums and those types of people to deceive people into thinking that dead people can talk to us, but they are being deceitful. God doesn’t allow the dead to come back and talk with people that are still living. (Isaiah 8:19 and Luke 16:26; Luke 16:30-31 talk about this.) But demons use many ways to try to deceive people into believing that the spirits of the dead do come back and talk with living people. But actually what people are listening to is Satan’s demons. Because of this, God has forbidden us to try to talk with the spirits of the dead. God doesn’t want us to listen to the lies of Satan and the demons. He doesn’t want us to get in touch with our ancestors or so called religious “saints” or anyone that has died. God has forbidden us to try to contact any of them or pray to them in any way, because we are supposed to pray to God alone.

Isaiah 8:19-20 says: “When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter,should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?Consult God’s instruction…” This makes it quite clear that God doesn’t want us to consult the dead or use diviners or mediums (or tarot cards, crystal balls, etc.). He has forbidden it because dead people can’t help us or give us understanding about things. Instead, we need to listen to God’s word and pray to God alone for his wisdom.

Demons Are Not True Prophets Of The Future

Some people try to consult spirits of the dead to hear prophecies about the future. But we’ve already seen that it’s not the spirits of the dead that are doing the talking. Satan’s evil angels (demons) will sometimes try to communicate with people and predict the future and give prophecies. But they are still liars. We see an example of this during the apostle Paul’s time. A demon was living inside a young servant girl and he used her mouth to make prophecies, and her bosses used this to make money for themselves. But Paul, by the power of God, commanded the evil spirit to come out of her and then she was well again (Acts 16:16-18).

Demons use all kinds of tricks like this to fool people. They aren’t true prophets and they don’t really know everything that is going to happen in the future. But since they are in many places, and have certain powers, they can tell about things they have seen, or they can sometimes control people’s thinking so they can try to make their own prophecies come true. But only God really knows the future. Satan and the spirits do not (Daniel 2:27).

King Saul Is Punished By God For Using A Medium

1 Samuel 28:6-19 tells another story about King Saul. Saul had turned his back on God and disobeyed him, so God said that Saul would die and David would take his place. King Saul was very upset about that, so when some enemies were coming to fight against him, he was afraid and wanted to hear some sort of prophecy that would encourage him and help him win the battle. But God didn’t want to support Saul anymore and he didn’t have any good news or good prophecies for Saul. So Saul broke his own law—and God’s too—and he went to a medium to call out to the spirits of the dead. Saul himself had outlawed that practice, but now he disguised himself at night and went to find a woman who was a medium and asked her to call out for the spirit of the prophet Samuel who had died. He wanted Samuel to give him some good news. Since Saul was disguised, the woman didn’t recognize that it was Saul who was asking her. She was afraid to help him because Saul had outlawed this practice in Israel, but Saul told her to go ahead anyway. In the past, she had told people that she could call for the spirits of the dead, but she was actually working with demons (evil spirits). But this time the demons didn’t come to her like before. This time was different. The woman saw Samuel’s spirit in a vision, so she was very afraid and screamed. God allowed this event to happen this one time in order to really frighten this woman and other Israelites, and to rebuke and punish Saul for his disobedience. This was a very serious sin. Soon after this, Saul died for his disobedience:

1 Chronicles 10:13-14 says: “Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David …”

Still today, some witchdoctors and mediums charge people money in order to talk with the dead. Many people do this as a business. But God has shown us that we should not allow Satan to use these people to deceive us. We should not try to contact the spirits of the dead, lest we end up talking with demons. They don’t know the future and they can’t help us. They are just lying and want to see us destroyed.

Only God Is All-Powerful And Full Of Wisdom And Defeats All These False Prophets

Isaiah 44:24-25 says: “…I am the LORD, who made all things. I alone stretched out the heavens. Who was with Me when I made the earth? I expose the false prophets as liars and make fools of fortune-tellers. I cause the wise to give bad advice, thus proving them to be fools.” (NLT) God Was Angry With Israel For Sacrificing To False Gods And Spirits

Deuteronomy 32:15-18 says that Israel: “...abandoned the God who made them and rejected the Rock their Savior. They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to false gods, which are not God—gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your ancestors did not fear. You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.”

God says it is wrong to give offerings to idols or statues, yet many religious people still do. They think this will help them or keep them safe. Some think that they can worship their statues and God at the same time. But those who do that obviously don’t understand God’s ways. Let’s look again at what God says about statues (idols).

People Make Idols And Sacred Stones

Isaiah 44:9-20 says: “All who make idols are nothing… Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit nothing? People who do that will be put to shame; such craftsmen are only human beings. ….The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm…. The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in human form, human form in all its glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow. It is used as fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me! You are my god!” They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?” Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, “Is not this thing in my right handa lie?”

Idols Aren’t Even Able To Help Themselves, But People Worship And Pray To Them

Psalms 115:2-8 says: “Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?" Our God is in heaven! He does whatever he pleases! Their idols are made of silver and gold —they are man-made. They have mouths, butcannot speak, eyes, but cannot see, ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell,hands, butcannot touch, feet, but cannot walk. They cannot even clear their throats. Those who make them will end up like them, as will everyone who trusts in them.”(NET) This says that people who worship statues or carvings become like those carvings, because “They have…eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear.” Satan has deceived their minds and stopped their eyes and ears from properly seeing and hearing truth—so they believe lies. We can’t allow Satan to deceive us that way (Psalms 135:15-17).

God Forbids Us To Worship Pictures And Carvings

Exodus 20:3-5 says: “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me…” This passage is very clear. We are forbidden to use pictures or carvings or even images of saints in our worship. We should not bow down or pray to them or idolize them in any way. God has forbidden it—it’s called idolatry. God’s word is very clear on this. But Satan has tried to twist and change God’s word and deceive people into idolatry. In many countries people use statues or carvings in their worship. Pagans and even some churches use statues or pictures to worship, or they light candles or incense, and pray and give offerings to the statues. But read God’s word again and consider how Satan has twisted this truth in order to deceive us. Has Satan deceived you too? Do you pray to statues and pictures in your home or place of worship? Has Satan mixed idolatry into your worship? Remember, Satan is a liar and deceiver and wants to destroy you. God hates idolatry.

Worshiping Images Is Actually Worshiping Demons

1 Corinthians 10:19-20 : “Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, butthe sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.”

These verses show us that idols or images don’t have power in themselves because they are just wood, metal, or stone. But Paul says that even giving offerings or sacrifices to idols is the same as worshiping the demons who are behind them. Satan and his demons are the ones responsible for instigating these lies. They use physical things to distract people so they are actually worshiping false gods (demons) without knowing it. In that way people are distracted from the truth about God.

Satan And The Demons Are Behind All The Various Kinds Of Lies In Each Culture Everywhere

We’ve seen that the Canaanites and Egyptians each believed in their own gods and spirits, and idols that they worshiped. They had various names for them. Other people groups have different names for their spirits and idols. But just because they have different names and beliefs doesn’t mean there are different types of spirits in each different country or village. The Bible says that all of these things are the lies of the Satan and his demons. The demons can change their ways from place to place and use different names, but they’re still the same evil spirits in every place. All the magic and witchcraft and sorcery and divination and idol worship—it’s all from Satan. Satan is the father of all these kinds of lies and he has deceived many people in many countries. He does this to keep people away from God and the truth so they will end up in hell.

Under Old Testament Law Sorcerers In Israel Were To Be Executed

Long ago, pagan nations turned their backs on God and didn’t want to acknowledge him. So God told Israel the truth and warned them to stay away from Satan’s ways. He was trying to help Israel lest they also end up in hell like the heathen. He explained everything clearly and warned Israel that if they engaged in some of these pagan practices, they would be executed. For instance, God warned them that anyone caught engaging in sorcery would be stoned to death (Leviticus 20:27; Exodus 22:18). God didn’t want them to play around with this kind of serious sin so he gave this strict law in order that they would all fear sorcery and stay away from it. He wanted to protect them from Satan’s lies and self-destruction. Those strict laws were given to Israel long ago. Today God could also apply them to sorcerers everywhere if he wanted to, but we are no longer told to stone them today. Let’s look into this a bit further.

God’s Law Condemns All People Not Just Sorcerers In those days, God didn’t only tell them to stone sorcerers. Actually many of God’s laws required thedeath penalty when broken. Here are some that might surprise (or even scare) you:

• Working on a Saturday, the Sabbath (Exodus 31:15-16).

• A stubborn or rebellious son who was a drunkard (Deuteronomy 21:18-20).

• Someone who committed adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22, Matthew 5:28).

• Taking God’s name in vain (Deuteronomy 24:16).

• False prophets and those who told false dreams (Deuteronomy 13:1-5).

• …and many other laws.

So you can see that God didn’t just condemn those involved in sorcery and witchcraft. There were actually many reasons why God demanded the death penalty. In fact, if we consider these verses carefully, we will see that we are all serious sinners in God’s eyes. Think about it carefully and ask yourself: Have I ever worked on the Sabbath? Have I ever been rebellious to my parents or used God’s name in vain? Have I ever told a lie or coveted things belonging to others? Have I ever committed adultery in my heart (Matthew 5:27)? It’s pretty obvious that we all have been rebellious and disobeyed God’s law in some way, so we are just as guilty as those who have done sorcery or divination or idolatry.

1 Samuel 15:23 says: “For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.”

James 2:10 says: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumblesat just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”

If We Commit Just One Sin, We’re As Guilty As The Sorcerer

God’s word is clear. Just one sin is enough to condemn and punish us, because God is holy and he can’t tolerate even one sin in his presence. So we cannot start accusing someone else of doing sorcery and say they deserve stoning and forget that we too are also guilty in God’s eyes. Remember this verse:

John 8:7 “...Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone...”

We are all sinners and deserve punishment. Someone who tells just one lie is a sinner and just as guilty as someone who does sorcery or murder in God’s eyes. Even if we’ve followed many of God’s laws, if we have broken just one, this is enough to make us a sinner in God’s eyes (James 2:10).

Romans 3:19-20 says: “For we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may besilencedand the whole world heldaccountableto God. Thereforeno one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” This is important for us to understand: God’s Law does not make us righteous before God. Instead, it just makes us aware of our sin and condemns us. God is totally holy, and everyone is a sinner according to God, and unable to follow God’s laws perfectly. We are all “Guilty as Charged!” So then if we are all just as guilty before God as the spirit worshipers, sorcerers, and idolaters, then it seems as if Satan has won, and everyone is doomed to hell along with him, doesn’t it? Well, if God did not show mercy and send the one who was promised to ‘crush the head of the snake,’ then we would all have been lost. But praise God—Satan did not defeat God! God has kept his promise and he sent the Promised One to ‘crush the head of the snake.’ He is the only one able to defeat Satan, because he is both God and man. In the next few chapters we’ll look at several ways this Promised One has defeated the various powers of Satan.