Bewitched

I picked up the local paper this week and I have to say I was shocked that there was a full-page story on a woman that identifies as a witch. When I read the article, I wasn’t exactly angry, except for the last line, but I fear for this woman’s soul and everyone in her sphere of influence.

The article paints a very innocuous and inoffensive portrait of witchcraft and magic. This is the typical modus operandi of evil. Satan never shows up with horns and a pitchfork. He shows up today, just as he did in Eden, with a subtle promise of knowledge and a taste of forbidden fruit. He sees where we are curious, perhaps somewhat inattentive or hurting, and begins to groom us. Did that give you a shiver? Good.

However, even though satan is powerful it’s important to remember that he cannot read your mind. He is observant and can play on our vulnerabilities but only God knows your thoughts.

In the article, the woman being interviewed is quoted as saying she works in love and light. Interestingly, she used the description of light. As a Catholic Christian, I believe Jesus is the Light. For a witch, the light can only mean Lucifer, the fallen archangel. The evil one has manipulated a symbol of goodness to serve his own purposes. This woman has been bewitched and does not realize how she is being used. She thinks she has power but she is actually a pawn. 

The article goes on to talk about reincarnation. The Catholic church has always denied it and the bible condemns it. In Hebrews 9:27, St. Paul writes, and just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment. The self-professed witch states she had experiences of past lives. I would say she is trying to apply some kind of meaning, however misguided and flawed, to her dramatic imagination. Francis Cardinal Arinze attributes these sorts of beliefs to “ the desire to escape the consequences of one's life choices and modern stress.”

As always, I cannot overstress the evil of Tarot cards and the Ouija board. So many people think these are fun or entertaining. They are actually doorways that demons can easily use to gain entry into your life. I even heard of a Wiccan who avoids the cards as she found them to be malevolent and controlling and claiming she had seen great evil come from the use of them.

The article concludes with a quote from its subject that she is not worried if we don’t believe her, that we are not where she is yet. And with that I smashed the newspaper shut and loudly said, Thanks be to our Almighty Powerful Living God that we are not!

*****

Seek the Lord while he may be found,

    call upon him while he is near;

 let the wicked forsake their way,

    and the unrighteous their thoughts;

let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,

    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Isaiah 55:6-7