Apologetics/Blog: No. You Cannot be a Christian and a Witch.

It’s the last day of August. We have about another month until it’s officially “spooky season” and about another two months until it’s actually Halloween. But gosh dang it, if Walmart and Costco can start putting out the Halloween stuff already, then I can start talking about witches.

Recently, my For You page on YouTube has had several recommendations for videos talking about the rise of “Christian” witches online. Why I’ve been getting so many recommendations for videos reacting to these ladies, I’m not entirely sure, but I’m not totally unfamiliar with the topic. I’ve known about “Christian” witchcraft for a while now, have even met a few people dabbling in the New Age or occult who identify as some version of Christian, and am very aware of how prevalent it is in the church even if it’s not out in the open. It’s something that annoys me to no end because of how ridiculous it all is.

The crux of the matter – no pun intended – is that calling yourself a “Christian” witch is like calling yourself a Far-Left conservative. The two labels do not mix; they are a total oxymoron.

The reason for this is because the Bible specifically prohibits occult practices, such as various forms of divination, necromancy, spellcasting, etc. In fact, not only does the Bible prohibit such things, but it describes people who do that stuff as “an abomination” in Deuteronomy 18:9-15. Other Old Testament passages echo this sentiment, with Leviticus 19:26 and 20:6 warning to stay from mediums, necromancers, diviners, etc., warning that turning would be unfaithfulness. In the prophetic books of the Old Testament, mediums, necromances, sorcerers, etc. and the groups that rely on them are consistently ridiculed.

But don’t worry. That’s the Old Testament. God was meaner then, so of course He wasn’t tolerant of that stuff then, right? Surely, Jesus was much nicer, right?

Wrong.

While Jesus does talk about who’s going to Hell in the Gospels, the most explicit condemnation of witches/sorcerers is in the book of Revelation, which is the revelation of Jesus Christ to His disciple, John. In numerous verses in Revelation (i.e. Revelation 21:8), Jesus warns that amongst those who will be going to Hell are sorcerers/sorceresses.

It’s also worth mentioning that in the apostles evangelistic efforts, witchcraft was very obviously frowned upon. In Acts 13 – which covers the history of the early church – a sorcerer named Bar-Jesus (a.k.a. Elymas) tries to stop Paul and Barnabas from giving the Gospel to the local proconsul and is cursed with blindness. Also, in Acts 19, it’s recorded that the Christians in Ephesus, after being saved, burned all of their idols and magic books. That’s not even mentioning how many times the Epistles warn that those who practice magic will be amongst the people going to Hell.

From this, it should be pretty clear to everybody that God really does not like people dabbling with the occult because it is spiritual rebellion. Thus, it should be obvious that you cannot be both a Christian and a witch at the same time. Christians, by definition, are followers of Christ, which means that as such, we shouldn’t be dabbling in sin, especially big ones like witchcraft. Even if you’re claiming that you’re not drawing from the elements, other gods, or using spells to curse people, witchcraft in all forms is still forbidden.

So, why is it so popular now to identify as a Christian witch?

I think a lot of it ultimately has to go back to two things: the lack of biblical literacy and the popularity of the New Age and occult in almost everything. From self-help books to psychology to entertainment, the New Age and occult is in everything, and when combine that with a lack of knowledge about what’s in the Bible, you get a bunch of people thinking they found a loophole in their faith that allows them to continue practicing witchcraft, not realizing (or refusing to acknowledge) that it’s an oxymoron.

But why is witchcraft such a big sin? Why can’t we play with magic?

The reason for this is because ultimately, it’s idolatry. Magic requires you to put faith in yourself and your powers over creation, or to put faith in something more obviously posing as a god. In all of its forms, whether people realize it or not, you are not putting your faith in God, the creator of everything, but in yourself and the rest of creation.

Further, magic and the occult is dangerous. If you look at how a lot of it is done with channeling, tarot, energy healing, etc. all of it opens you up to a myriad of possibilities for demonic influence. Sure, it might seem to work for a bit, but ultimately, playing with those entities will destroy you spiritually, if not mentally and physically, too. God forbidding the use of magic, the occult, or witchcraft wasn’t to limit us and keep us subservient, but to protect us from things that want to hurt us.

Until next time,

M.J.