Can Witchcraft Be Biblical? A Christian Witch Weighs in:
I have been following this discourse for the last several days and feel led to weigh in. Here are the definitions of certain terms I will be using throughout this piece:
The Law/Mosaic Law: the 613 commandments found in the Torah (the first 5 books of the Old Testament) that Jews abide by in practicing their religion
The New Covenant: the annulment of Mosaic Law for Christians through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ
Yahweh: one of the names of God; used by the Israelites in the Old Testament
Divination: the art of foretelling future events or gaining supernatural insight through the interpretation of symbols, arrangements, patterns, etc.
Witchcraft: an umbrella term that refers to rituals performed to gain insight, influence the physical & spiritual realm, or commune with deities and other supernatural beings
Abrogate: to abolish, do away with, annul
It is also important to define the scope of this discussion, which is solely concerned with ‘Christian witchcraft,’ that is people who utilize witchcraft as an expression of their faith in God. This post will rebut (dropslikerain)’s claim that a Christian faith and the practice of witchcraft are completely incompatible. I recommend reading through the original post explaining their positions before continuing.
A large portion of their argument is based on Deuteronomy 18:10 & Leviticus 20:6, which are part of the Torah (Mosaic Law). However, in doing so, they neglect to mention that:
The Law is no longer binding under the New Covenant. It was abrogated through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross.
Here, Jesus states that the Law is only binding until “all is accomplished.” What is being accomplished? Christian tradition holds that Jesus Christ fulfilled all of the Messianic prophesies in the Old Testament during his lifetime. And so, Jesus says “it is finished” before his death to mark the fulfillment, and thus, abrogates the Law.
On this topic, the Apostle Paul, stated in his letter to the Romans:
Thus, because we are discharged from the Law, verses from the Torah like Deut. 18:10 & Lev. 20:6 are not a valid basis upon which to condemn witchcraft for non-Jews.
Let’s now address the verses OP cited from the early prophetic portion of the Bible, 1 Chronicles 10:13, 1 Samuel 15:23, and 2 Kings 17:17.
The first thing to remember is that these books were written before Jesus abrogated the Law; worshipers of Yahweh were still bound to the Laws of Moses, including its prohibitions on witchcraft.
Saul, being the king of the Jewish people, was held to a particularly high standard of obedience to the Law, for he was the Jewish representative to the nations. However, he failed to uphold this standard, and naturally, the Jews attributed his death to disobedience.
Because the Jews at that time were still bound by (and subsequently disobedient to) prohibitions on divination in Mosaic Law, it is valid to say that the exile could have been linked to divination. However, I would argue that passages such as Jeremiah 14:14 refer to divination performed as a part of worshiping the Near Eastern deities Baal & Asherah who competed for popularity with Yahweh among the the Jews and their neighbors. Divination in this context would undeniably be a sin, for it also constituted idolatry. However, in Isaiah 3:1-3, the prophet Isaiah makes clear that diviners and enchanters were righteous and necessary parts of the Jewish community by putting them on par with judges, prophets, dignitaries, and warriors.
OP notably failed to address this in their response to previous users who brought it up.
Because Jesus has abrogated the Law, the standards that Saul and the Israelites were held to no longer apply.
This begs the question, however: If we aren’t bound by the Law, what moral code are supposed to live by? Are laws such as the Ten Commandments now invalid?
Of course not! If we as a community determine that parts of the Law are good and righteous, we are free to follow them. However, we are no longer bound specifically to the Mosaic code. Instead, we are called to live out the words of Jesus Christ.
Jesus sets out a simple test in Matthew 7 for us to distinguish between acts of good and evil:
The Ten commandments are generally believed to produce righteous conduct (good fruit), and thus remain a standard that Christians are encouraged to live by.
We are called not to abide specifically by Mosaic Law but simply to live in a manner which produces “good fruit” in accordance with the Will of God.
Now, what about the verses in Galatians where the Apostle Paul condemns sorcery? Or those in Revelations?
It is no coincidence that ‘idolatry’ and ‘sorcery’ are grouped together in these lists, for in this time, witchcraft was synonymous with the Greco-Roman pagan religions. The influence of pagan religions on Christian thought is evident in the word choice of authors in the New Testament. For instance, 2 Peter 2:4 describes angels being cast into Tartarus and Revelation 20:13 states that “Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them.” (NRSV) It is clear that New Testament authors had pagan culture (and thus pagan magic) on their mind when writing.
In the same way that Mosaic Law was given to Israel to promote unity and differentiate their tribe from other Near East cultures so that the Yahwist religion could take hold, Paul advises the early Christian churches against practices associated with pagan worship so that the Christian church could unify and differentiate from the pagan cultures surrounding them.
This advice served its purpose, establishing the Church as a distinct and long-lasting entity. However:
Total separation from mystic practices is no longer necessary to maintain the Christian religion.
Paul disapproved of pagan witchcraft, but numerous passages from the Old Testament indicate that God approves of, (or at the very least, tolerates) practices that fall under the umbrella of witchcraft so long as they are used for discernment and implementation of His will.
Numerous others throughout this discussion have explained the Biblical evidence for this, so I will only restate their points briefly:
Urim and Thummim - a pair of gemstones used as divinatory tools to discern the Will of God
Jacob’s folk ritual to produce more valuable livestock; it doesn’t matter whether the results were produced by the ritual itself or through solely through divine intervention, the importance of this passage is that Jacob performed what he believed to be effective folk magic and was not rebuked by God.
Joseph’s gift of oneiromancy (dream interpretation) and divination through the silver chalice
Priestly rituals utilizing curses, sympathetic magic, and divine invocation to determine guilt or innocence (Numbers 5)
(If you’re interested in learning more, I encourage you to take a look at responses to the original post.)
A close reading of Scripture shows that:
Witchcraft that 1) produces “good fruit;” 2) is used to discern and implement the Will of God; and 3) does not invoke deities other than God, is practiced in accordance with the Scriptures, and thus allows for someone to identify as both a Christian and a witch.
Here are some parting words from the Gospel of John:
We are judged not by adherence to the Law nor by our particular path, but by whether we live our lives according to the teachings of Jesus Christ (who, coincidently says nothing about witchcraft). That means producing “good fruit”
–caring for the poor, welcoming the immigrant, living a life of love, joy, and peace. None of those require adherence to a particular creed or church; it is a moral Law written on our hearts simply by virtue of having a conscience (Romans 2:15).
Finally, to the community of witches here on Tumblr, do not be disheartened by those who try to bully you, to put you down in order to raise themselves up. After all, those who spew hateful words in the name of Christ violate His commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.”
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