by Keith Sharp
The wildly popular Harry Potter series of books and movies has reintroduced the subject of sorcery into the mainstream of popular culture. Vine’s dictionary gives a good summation of sorcery (“witchcraft,” King James Version). The term is a translation of the Greek word “pharmakia … (Eng., ‘pharmacy,’…). It “primarily signified ‘the use of medicine, drugs, spells’; then, ‘poisoning’; then, ‘sorcery….”
“In ‘sorcery,’ the use of drugs, whether simple or potent, was generally accompanied by incantations and appeals to occult powers, with the provision of various charms, amulets, etc., professedly designed to keep the applicant or patient from the attention and power of demons, but actually to impress the applicant with the mysterious resources and powers of the sorcerer” (587).
Sorcery either includes or is related to fortune telling, seances (attempt to communicate with the spirits of the dead), casting spells, voodoo, astrology (belief that the movements of the heavenly bodies determines or influences the course of life), and Satan and demon worship.
The Native American Church, composed of 250,000 American Indians, uses the psychedelic qualities of peyote, a cactus, in their worship. This is sorcery.
The Law of Moses forbad sorcery under penalty of death (Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 20:27). Moses commanded Israel, “You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes” (Leviticus 19:26, English Standard Version). He further decreed:
“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. ‘For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD…” ( Deuteronomy 18:10-12, New American Standard Bible).
Isaiah called Judah to turn away from listening to sorcerers to hearing the Lord and denied that sorcerers had any real knowledge (Isaiah 8:19-20). The impotence of sorcerers was dramatically demonstrated when King Nebuchadnezzar’s greatest sorcerers could not tell him his dream, whereas Daniel, the young prophet of God, could (Daniel chapter two).
Evil King Manasseh, whose ungodly practices caused the destruction of Judah
“… made his son pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and used divination, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD provoking Him to anger” (2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chronicles 33:6).
The basic fallacy of all forms of sorcery is an appeal to any spiritual power other than the Lord (Isaiah 8:19-20). They are deceitful and fraudulent and have no real power (cf. Acts 13:6-11; 19:11-16).
Those who practice this sin will be lost (Galatians 5:19-21; Revelation 21:8).
Work Cited
W.E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
