The Sin of Witchcraft
/“...does it sound crazy or far-fetched that rebellion is being practiced in C&YA?”
As a woman was weeping before my wife and I, she told us how depression gripped her, unlike anything she had ever experienced in her life. She couldn’t get out of bed, and she couldn’t take care of her children. She was paralyzed. “I tried everything,” she said as she listed off all of her attempts, before confessing that she even turned to a witch doctor. She told us how he performed a ritual cleansing using clays and herbs and was sure to clarify that this wasn’t weird; in fact, it was culturally common to turn to these witchdoctors for healing. This is the sad reality for many people all over the world who turn to witchcraft as a “reasonable” option when they are searching for healing, answers, and protection.
The interaction above took place on a trip that my wife, Lisa, and I took to Suriname a few years back. While it is sobering to consider the influence of witchcraft in the world, the question arises: what does this have to do with C&YA? Sure in a city as large as Kansas City there are groups of people practicing witchcraft in one form or another, but our ministry is made up of individuals that attend church and Bible studies. Let’s be honest, the thought of witchcraft and divination being practiced in C&YA sounds crazy. Yet as I study the life of King Saul and hear God liken rebellion to the sin of witchcraft, I have to ask myself: does it sound crazy or far-fetched that rebellion is being practiced in C&YA? To this question, I’m not so confident.
“God wants to make clear the serious repercussions of disobedience”
1 Samuel 15:22-23 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 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.
In the verses above, we see that Saul received a word from the Lord, commanding him to utterly destroy the Amalekites. More specifically, the commandment was to slay every person: man, woman, young, and old. The commandment even extended to destroying everything that they had, including their livestock and most precious belongings (1 Sam 15:2-3). With this command, Saul lied in wait against the Amalekites and smote them. He destroyed all the people with his sword, but the text says that, “Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them” (1 Sam 15:9). It is in the aftermath of his disobedience, as Saul is celebrating his victory over Amalek and proclaiming his goodness, that Samuel rebukes Saul for his wickedness and the Lord rejects him as king over Israel. This is one of the most sobering passages to read in the entire Bible, and God wants to make clear the serious repercussions of disobedience.
In CAYA through religious masks, cheap worship, and actions of disobedience we welcome the chastening of the Lord. These rebellious acts are likened to the sin of witchcraft, which is an abomination. In Exodus 22:18 the command is, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”
“...it is clear that God is not impressed with what we can give him”
Religious Masks
Just like Saul, one of the easiest masks to put on as a believer is that of the Pharisees. I call this the religious act. This performance is seen in all its glory as Samuel approaches Saul in the aftermath of his defiance. Instead of humbling before Samuel and confessing his disobedience, Saul chooses to ignore dealing with the sin in his life and preserves his reputation through “religious” rhetoric and self-exhortation. In wrestling with sin, Saul began to lean on his works for justification and repeatedly declares what he has done. Saul indeed won the battle and people were celebratory and everything looked good on the outside, but he hadn’t obeyed the Lord and inside sin was being harbored, yielding death and uncleanness like the Pharisees.
Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
In 1 Samuel 9:2, we see that Saul was “goodly” and that there was no one in all of Israel that compared to him. It says that “from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people” which tells us that Saul looked the part. Unfortunately looking the part became his preoccupation. Instead of walking in integrity, Saul proclaimed his goodness and in exalting himself he invited the Lord to humble him. Mark Trotter often says, “The only way up is down.” It is in humility as we bow ourselves prostrate before the Lord in true repentance that God’s grace can be extended.
Cheap Worship
As Saul continues in his “religious act” and is backed into a corner by Samuel’s line of questioning, Saul resorts to shifting the blame. Saul blamed the people for taking the spoil like Adam blamed Eve in the garden instead of taking personal responsibility for his actions. Finally, in a last-ditch effort to justify his actions, Saul declares that the spoil that should have been destroyed was taken to sacrifice unto the Lord. This response sounds good. There is a form of godliness in taking these things and sacrificing them before the Lord, but no power therein because this act is in direct opposition to God’s word. This is the offering of Cain, where it said that the Lord “had not respect” for it (Gen 4:5). Our God is not poor; the scriptures say that “every beast of the forest is [His], and the cattle upon a thousand hills,” so it is clear that God is not impressed with what we can give him (Psa 50:10). Viewing worship this way is cheap, and it’s not sacrificial. The prophet Jeremiah declares in the book of Lamentations, “Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens” (3:41). God is not concerned with what we can offer him; he wants our heart and obedience.
1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
“These actions are rebellious before a gracious and loving God, who likens rebellion to the sin of witchcraft”
Disobedient Actions
Ultimately, Saul was rejected from being king for one simple reason—he rejected the word of the Lord in his life. God gave clear and simple commandments, but Saul took the convenient parts and rejected the words not suitable for his lifestyle. In continually rejecting God’s word, you will eventually stop hearing it. In rejecting the counsel of God from his life, Saul is found thirteen chapters later enquiring before the witch of Endor in the cover of night. Just like the lady from Suriname, Saul was looking for healing, answers, and protection that are found alone in the word of God. We must cleave to God’s word as an authority over our lives. The temptation will be to go a way that seems right in our own eyes, but just like Saul, the end of that way is death.
1 Chronicles 10:13-14 So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it; 14 And enquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.
Here in CAYA, we would never dream of practicing divination, and I pray that rebelling against the Lord would sound just as outlandish. For this reason, we can’t afford to wear a religious mask, to offer cheap worship, and we cannot grow comfortable with a lifestyle of disobedience. These actions are rebellious before a gracious and loving God, who likens rebellion to the sin of witchcraft. Instead, we must humble ourselves before one another through confession, offer true hearts of worship to the Lord, and submit to the authority of God’s word over our lives.
Myles Cheadle is a discipler and small group leader in Midtown Baptist Temple’s College and Young Adults ministry where he also serves on the Audio Visual team. He is also apart of Kidtown and the Tuesday Night Meal Team.