Many people think witchcraft is about altars, rituals, and demonic meditation practices… but this is merely the face of it. The heart of witchcraft is hidden in the heart of man, their own desires. Real witchcraft is simple, they use another person’s reason to justify a lie. Why is this the case? Because the darkness in the hearts of all people requires a lie to live.
James 1:14 “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”
In this post, I will be showing you through scripture how the kingdom of darkness uses the evil desires in a person’s own heart. So where does this all start? The garden!
The Start!
In Genesis 3, Satan asks Eve a question he knew the answer to, but why did he do this to begin with? To get a legal agreement through dialogue. He asks, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” And what does Eve say in response, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” I have a few questions to ask you after reading this; why is Eve justifying herself to another covering, why is Satan seeking clarification for a commandment that only applies to people, why is Eve telling a meat eating serpent what fruit it shouldn’t eat? What was blocking Eve’s discernment to not consider any of this?
Satan’s response is the first usage of witchcraft in scripture; “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Let’s break down what Satan did. Satan used Eve’s desire to be wise as a reason to justify his lie. We know this is the case because the word describes how Eve viewed the tree, “a tree to be desired to make one wise”. But why did Eve believe this lie so quickly? Because when she justified herself to Satan, she revealed the exact reason she wouldn’t eat the fruit. “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” The bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:12 “For wisdom is a defence…” What justified Eve was a lie, and this lie fell apart the second Satan challenged it.
Eve had no idea what it meant to become a god, nor what it meant for her eyes to be opened. She must have assumed what this all meant, but let's consider what else would happen for her to have believed all this. By believing the fruit would make her wise, she had to deny the fact that she was already wise. By believing it would make her eyes open, she would have to deny the fact that her eyes were already open (as far as she knew). By desiring to become a god, she had to deny what God already created her to be, a human being! A handful of things came into mankind in this moment, a spirit of dumbness (denying wisdom), blindness (denying existing sight), and confusion (denying form).
What Satan did is called subtle witchcraft, to know the exact reason that would justify a lie by knowing the person’s heart through the spirit. Witchcraft that isn’t subtle is just regular witchcraft, using carnal reasons to justify a lie. But why would God allow something so sinister to take place in the garden, seems like a lot for Eve to have needed to know to not get deceived right? Wrong, because there are rules to witchcraft that cannot go unbroken. The whole kingdom of darkness can only lie against the truth. Let’s write out what we’ve learned so far, because these will be the foundation we use moving forward.
Satan can only lie against the truth
Assumptions justify witchcraft
Witchcraft uses another person’s reason to justify a lie
I’m going to show you this in action because, well what good is a sword if it isn’t battle tested?
Elijah and Jezebel
In 1 Kings 18 we read how God sends Elijah to put His power on display, to show all of Israel that God is the only true God. Right after God sends fire down before all the people, Elijah has an encounter with one of Jezebel’s messengers that relays Jezebel’s death threat and Elijah runs off in fear for his life. What lead up to this dramatic downfall?
Before Elijah calls for God to send the fire down, he meets the governor of Ahab’s house, Obadiah. Elijah meets with Obadaiah and tells him to get Ahab, but Obadaiah fears for his life because of what he thought Ahab would do to him. Obadiah tells Elijah, “Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?” Why is this note important? Because right before the prophets of Baal try to get Baal to respond, Elijah justifies himself before the whole crowd saying, “I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.”
And we know this was what privately justified Ejlijah because in chapter 19, Elijah confesses the secrets of his heart to God in the cave saying, “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” This is why God corrected Elijah, clarifying that there were actually over 7,000 that haven’t bowed to Baal in verse 18. God slayed the lie hindering Elijah.
And so we can see now how Elijah was lifted up in a lie! Pride comes before the fall (Proverbs 16:18) because it was lifted up in a lie, and pride is only confident in a lie!
How do we know it was pride specifically? Well this lie justified Elijah’s actions which lead up to him revialing the gods in verse, v27 “Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” Elijah, a prophet of the Lord just “mockingly” encouraged a group of devil worshippers to worship the devil… doesn’t Jesus tell us in Matthew 12:37 “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Your words matter and not only is pride’s confidence in a lie, but it's mockery is blasphemy against the truth as well!
What did Elijah just do to the crowd? Revealed what justified him, and like Ecc. 7:12 tells us, if your wisdom is a defense, that would mean he just exposed his defense to a whole crowd of devil worshippers and every unclean spirit that is also watching. Why would that point matter? Because our enemy is constantly looking to accuse us, Revelation 12:10. Elijah’s mockery directly broke Exodus 22:28, commanding “Thou shalt not revile the gods…” and Jude 1 describes how terrible a sin it is to slander the angels, both fallen and unfallen, even showing how Michael the archangel speaks to Satan, “Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”. Elijah just gave the kingdom of darkness a legal reason to attack him as he attacked them…
At this point, Elijah lied against a truth he knew, was lifted up on a lying assumption (as though he was the only prophet left), and just broke God’s commandment as he mocked the gods. So far, this is all the ingredients needed to finalize an attack of witchcraft. When Jezebel confronted Elijah with her death threat, she says, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.” Jezebel’s threat just gave the kingdom of darkness permission to kill her as Elijah killed her prophets (and worse) if she didn’t have Elijah killed by the next day. What’s funny about this death threat is that she only cursed herself because she didn’t kill Elijah by the next day! Secondly, if she had any power at all to kill Elijah, she wouldn’t have sent a messenger to relay a message. If she did have the power to kill him this messenger would have a sword! This is a hidden secret to the kingdom of darkness, they tempt what they can’t take.
But what made Jezebel’s death threat so strong against Elijah to make him afraid? The strength of his justification. Justification is what moves people to do something, and this is why witchcraft uses a person’s justification against themself, it’s familiar, and costs the person/ entity doing witchcraft no strength of their own. This is the power that resisted Elijah when Jezebel threatened him, they were both justified by a lie and Elijah’s rebellion against the truth was the legal agreement to permit this verbal attack. This is why Jezebel’s attack lacked any real power outside of scaring him, the offense Elijah committed was only verbal, and God is gracious!
Witchcraft uses another person’s reason to justify a lie. Jezebel used Elijah’s lie in pride to justify her lie against his life, also in pride. If you felt like that was a bit too deep, we have another example that is much more evident.
The next couple examples move in chronological order revealing how Satan used witchcraft to deceive David and his sons.
David and Sons
In 2 Sam. 13 we read how Amnon faked being sick in order to get Tamar to come to his house and feed him a meal. It was this lie Amnon used to get his sister alone and force himself on her. It’s a tough read through the first few times, but God’s word tells us so much through this story. The first is how obvious Satan’s temptation was to begin with. This all started with Amnon’s desires for his sister, 2 Sam. 13:2 “Amnon was so vexed, that he fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do any thing to her.” Amnon’s integrity wouldn’t allow him to act on that evil because he knew it wasn’t right. Look at how Satan used Jonadab to convince Amnon to break his own integrity, “But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man. And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king's son, lean from day to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. And Jonadab said unto him, Lay thee down on thy bed, and make thyself sick: and when thy father cometh to see thee, say unto him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come, and give me meat, and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at her hand.”
Amnon denied three truths, the first being that Tamar was his sister, second was why he was sick, and the last is a result of the second, denying why he loved her. Amnon’s own mouth confessed he was lying to himself as he was willing to consider Absolom his brother, yet deny Tamar has his sister, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister”. The word testifies that Amnon’s sickness wasn’t fake, it was real, “he fell sick for his sister Tamar” and he denied this as “denied” being sick. Lastly when Jonadab inspired Amnon to come under the lie that he was sick, he equally denied the reason why he was sick, “for she was a virgin”.
Amnon’s love for his sister revolved around the fact that she was a virgin, and having her would directly end the reason motivating his love. This is the internal conflict Amnon had for Tamar. But Satan did something different through Jonadab in comparison to the witchcraft we’ve seen thus far. Satan used the consequences of Amnon’s desires to justify acting on those very same desires. Amnon’s sickness was a result of his hope in a lie, and when Jonadab told Amnon to fake his sickness as a way to Tamar, it caused Amnon to look over why he was sick to begin with. This lie made Amnon blind to the consequences of those desires, and using this reason to justify another lie made him just as blind to the consequences those desires would also bring.
What Jonadab didn’t do was tell Amnon to force himself on Tamar, he implied it. There is a hidden power behind witchcraft, called implications. When received without consideration, Implications inspire action without thought, it’s a way of getting a person’s integrity to “drive”. And if their integrity, like Amnon, is void of restrictions, they’ll be more compelled to act on it.
What follows is Amnon’s complete deafness to reason, as he ignores Tamar’s rebuke and forces himself, “Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice”. What justified Amnon’s actions was a demon and when he willingly agreed to lie against the truth he gave the “keys to his body” to a demon. This ends in Absalom killing Amnon then feeling to another land to escape judgment. Which takes us into the next example, king David’s deception.
Joab and David
In 2 Sam. 14, we read how Joab gets a woman from Tekoah to deceive king David. Joab then puts words in her mouth and gives her a lying story in an effort to get Absolom back into the kingdom. This woman tells a story about how her two sons got into an altercation which ended in one brother killing the other. She then claims her family is looking to revenge kill son, which would end the family name of her deceased husband. David, without question gives the woman his blessing and then is condemned by her for not permitting Absolom back into the kingdom.
Now why did this work to behind with? Because her story was pulling on David’s heart strings. She’s claiming to be in distress because of her son’s killing, just like how David was in distress when Absolom killed Amnon. It’s the same reason that’s being used to justify this lie, and once David blessed it he gave that woman the strength of his justification. What’s interesting to note, is that Joab knew the exact time David’s heart longed for Absolom, “Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom.”. Again, we can see how Satan uses subtle witchcraft to target the exact reason that would justify a lie.
Solution & Prevention
So what do we, as Spirit filled believers do to combat this evil? Fight it with love because it’s the only thing that can deliver someone from deception. The worst thing you can do to someone who is operating under witchcraft like this is to get them to see what they’re doing. Look at the woman Joab hired against David, the word says “Joab put the words in her mouth”. Most people who do this aren’t even aware they are doing it because the simple desire in their heart to try to hide accountability is all the kingdom of darkness needs to inspire witchcraft. Calling them out on it will only inspire that spirit to resist you harder, look at how the woman went back and fourth before king Solomon!
The most common form of witchcraft Satan uses against the body of Christ is coming against the grace of God. It's simple, Satan knows believers have faith in the word, so Satan uses bible verses out of context to imply a believer would lose a blessing or their salvation. If a believer doesn't understand the grace of Jesus Christ, they would be tempted to condemn themself or their salvation by thinking they could lose a blessing Jesus earned for them by grace alone.
Romans 11:6
"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."
There is no peace when using wisdom to combat witchcraft, the only thing that will bring change is the love of God and speaking out of it! This is our foundation all spiritual warfare must stand on! Luke 6:28 “Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” So yes, be aware of how this works because simply having your mind filled with understanding will block you from most deception.
My hope is that you can see how dangerous it is to reject accountability, and that’s the whole point. If you’re willing to lie to yourself, you have no one to blame but yourself if that lie is taken advantage of. Accountability brings change, but how can change happen if the accountant refuses the fact that he’s only been short changing himself?
Love the truth, keep the way, and He will guard your life, John 14:6.