Tag: necromancers

43.m. “Wilderness” – 7.t. “You shall not permit a sorceress to live”

 

Exodus 22:18  “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

 Leviticus 19:31    “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.

 Leviticus 20:6     “If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

 Deuteronomy 18:10-11     There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer  or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead,

 Isaiah 19:3   and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers;

Galatians 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,

 2 Peter 2:1   But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

 Revelation 22:15    Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

The law shows that such communication is possible, and the penalty shows that it is dangerous.

“It is clearly against the will of God that in this life men should hold any communication with the spirit world, save that of direct fellowship with Himself, through His Son, by the Holy Spirit.” “Thus with blunt directness and complete finality, the law of God against all traffic with the world of evil spirits was put into effect.” (Morgan)

Witchcraft not only gives that honor to the devil which is due to God alone, but bids defiance to the divine providence, wages war with God’s government, puts his work into the devil’s hand, expecting him to do good and evil. (Benson)

 In every form of witchcraft there is an appeal to a power not acting in subordination to the divine law. From all such notions and tendencies true worship is designed to deliver us. The practice of witchcraft was therefore an act of rebellion against Yahweh, and, as such, was a capital crime. The passages bearing on the subject in the Prophets, as well as those in the law, carry a lesson for all ages. (Barnes)

Whatever pretensions might be made to it; however, such being deceivers of the people, and leading them into unwarrantable practices, and off of a dependence on God and his providence, and from seeking to him, and asking counsel of him, they are by this law condemned to death. (Gill)

Witchcraft was professedly a league with powers in rebellion against God. How far it was delusion, how far imposture, how far a real conspiracy with the powers of evil, cannot now be known. Let the most rationalistic view be taken, and still there was in the practice an absolute renunciation of religion, and of the authority of Jehovah. (Uknown)

Sorcery was resorted to for all kinds of purposes, to heal diseases, to ward off disasters, to bring misfortune upon a neighbour, to inspire a woman with love, &c.; it was often supposed to operate by the power obtained through incantations or other spells over spirits. (Cambridge)

I have to say I don’t really give the occult world and those that practice it much thought. I did look up books promoting various occult practices. There are 100’s of them easily obtained online. People looking for meaning in their life, communicating with the dead, how to cause harm to another, how to find peace, wanting to impress others, etc…. will not find it apart from God. There is no hope to be found in the occult spirit world. Seeking to communicate with Satan and his demon spirits will have a very dark effect on the soul of the person seeking. Inviting them into your life will destroy hope, peace, rest, love, and joy, which can only be found in and through Jesus Christ. Ouija boards are the same commitment to seeking demonic spirits.  There is even an ouija Christian board for sale online stating “the entity behind the board, recently released another video encouraging Christians to purchase the board so that they can hear messages from God”.  Do Not believe these lies.  This is of satan and his demon world..

198. Josiah turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might

2 Kings 23:21  And the king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.

Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.

Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. And the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”

2 Chronicles 35:17  And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days.  No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.

It is hard to believe that the Passover was cast aside and treated like an outdated tradition.  But that is what happened.  The memory, remembrance, and celebration of the great, awesome, majestic, powerful, and merciful miracle of God against the Egyptians for the Israelites were cast aside.  Seven miracles were performed, all in the view of the Israelites prior to the Passover miracle.  This celebration was to be passed down from generation to generation so that they would not forget the great hand of God that led them from slavery.  We can see this did not happen.  At some point, it was stopped just like the reading of God’s word.  God’s word had been put aside and with it all commitment to love Him with their whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.

The importance of what God has done in our lives should never be minimized or forgotten.  Jesus Christ took on our sin, bore the penalty of it, and did this willingly while we were yet sinners.  He did this out of love.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”  Just as in the Passover where lamb’s blood was put on the doorposts so that the angel of death would pass over those who did this, Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.  To minimize the sacrifice, to cast aside the love given, and to disregard the penalty paid by being neglectful and complacent is wrong on so many levels.  Note how Josiah got rid of everything that was a hindrance and replacement for serving God with their whole heart, mind, and soul. Let us not forget.  Let us commit anew.  Let us humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow, trust, and obey God for He alone is worthy.

190. “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them”

2 Kings 21:1  Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.” And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

Leviticus 26:3-13    “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them,  then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.  Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.  I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.  You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.  Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.  I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.  You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new.  I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.  And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Jeremiah 17:20-27     Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.

Hezekiah reigned 25 years as King and did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  He destroyed all of the idols and put God first.  He brought the people back to God.  He was a leader who led the people in worship of God by what he said and the actions he took against anything that was a substitute/replacement for God.  He did what was right in the eyes of God by humbly serving, honoring, following, trusting, relying upon, and obeying God.

However, his son did not.  He replaced everything that Hezekiah removed that was an abomination to God.  He led the people for 55 years down paths away from God and to the place where it says they were “doing more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed”  Can you imagine it?  In one generation Hezekiah brought the people back to God and in one generation his son led them astray.    

We can not assume the people too are not to blame as well.  They willingly followed.  “Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.”  We need to be mindful of how we view things in and around us and have God’s word richly dwelling deep within our heart, mind, and soul so that we can discern what is right and acceptable according to it rather than what is acceptable to the world.