We know, he said, that there are no witches. Witches don't exist, we know they are not real. This as said by Glenn Loury, whose podcasts I enjoy. He's an intellectual, a thinker, he's good at it, I like most of what he has to say too. I suppose I might have guessed that he held this opinion, but hearing him say it provoked, oh dear, another blog post.
It's only what everybody with any claim to rationality thinks of course, so goes the conceit. I used to think it myself, before I became a Christian. What changed my mind was having actual experiences of the supernatural demonic world. This was in the couple of years leading up to my becoming a Christian, when I was dabbling in the occult and discovered its reality in some rather scary ways. The Bible mentions witches and sorcerers and describes Jesus setting people free of demons that had possessed them, so many people believe in such things on faith because they believe in the Bible. although without any personal experience. "Faith is the evidence of things unseen" says scripture, and after all, believing the gospel of salvation through Christ's death on the cross is believing in the supernatural, so believing in angels and demons naturally follows.
But sometimes I wish someone like Loury would get his arrogant certainty overtorned by the appearance of an actual demon. Would it be wrong to make that a prayer, Lord? I don't want to scare the man, I just want him to know that he's wrong. Hm, I do pray it Lord, I think the more we all know about the reality the better, especially these days when the ARapture followed by the Tribulation period seems to be about to burst upon the world any minute.
Oh yes witches exist. Witches are people who have learned something about how to manipulate supernatural power. Today's witches may be naive, think they are dealing with impersonal forces in the universe and don't know they are dealing with demons who are the source of such powers. They may think they are using such powers for good, to help humanity, and don't know that they are the tools of the demons rather than the other wayh around, and that demons are malevolent beings. There have always been witches who know what they are dealing with too, though, and some for evil rther than good, such as Alister Crowley. Also, Shamans are people who consciously work with demons.
So perhaps it comes down to the question of the reality of demons. Below is a list off the top of my head of some exmples of demonic activity that I suppose will all be denied by the self-proclaimed Rational People, but might be helpful for some others. (I'm thinking of the people who know it's all real but have nonbibiical ideas about what it's all about, such as tghe spooky late-night radio show "Coast to Coast" where all sorts of paranormal phenomena are discussed and taken seriously, including witches, but in fanciful ways the demons themselves must be teaching them.) Anyway, here's my quick list. There may be different kinds of supernatural beings but all the Bible mentions are angels and fallen angels or demons so I stick to that.
Hamlet didn't really talk to his dead father, he was talking with a demon impersonation of his father.
Ghosts are demonic impersonationsof dad people, perhaps people they had actually possessed in life.
UFO phenomena are the work of demons
The apparitions of Mary are demonic impersonations.
High ranking demons or Satah himself may impersonate jesus Christ.
"Prophets" today who have visions of Christ are being deceived by demons.
People who don't believe in demons or wtchcraft think the Harry Potter stories are harmless fiction
The demons may do as much damage through people who deny their existence as through those who believe in them because such people promote such things as the Harry Potter series that can seduce children into dabbling with the occult.
Seeking God again
7 years ago
