Witchcraft QUESTION from Jesse April 25, 1999 Dear Sir,
In an earlier response, you mentioned how Satan still believes in them (witches) and how those inducted into the inner circle are introduced to the horned god Lucifer. The horned god is not Satan. The image of such a horned god is dervied from Pan, greek god of the woodland. Christianity did not exsist before greek mythology. Judahism never depicts the image of The Devil as a horned Satan or Lucifer. I have read the Torah, and no where in it is Satan described as horned, cloven, or with the lower half of a goat. This was invented by the christians as a way of demeaning pagan religions, in particualr, that of the Greek. No Roman or Greek god depicted an ultimate evil not even Hades (Pluto), god of the underworld (or hell as you would call it) was evil. This is correct, for I have been a scholor of Greek mythology for years. Wiccans believe that to personoify evil is to give it power, and so god is niether good nor evil. The horned god image was also used by the Druids (whom vastly preceded christianity) and was depicted as a god of the wood and earth. He is, in contemporary, referred to as The Green Man. Horns are a symbol of strenght and virility, not of evil. I may or may not be correct in this next statement, but I believe that no where in the Bible is Satan a horned, cloven man. While there are those distrubed teenagers whom practice Devil Worship Satanists do not believe in the christian Satan, instead deriving their image of Satan (from Set of Egyptian mythology) from the god Set (with female counterpart Baset) a god of primal force, pleasure, and animalistic energy. While it is not good morally, it's not worshiping the chrisitian personification of evil (an argument that sex and pleasure is evil would be futile. Many christians give into such pleasure and are not evil, unless you want to use fundamentalist views against me) My question is this: Why do you associate witches with the devil? Is it because without the devil they would have to be deriving their power from God? Or is it because without occult power your studies in Demonology would end up being nothing but hypocritical crap?
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius on May 7, 1999 Dear Mr. Jesse:
Thank you for your question. From the tone of your narrative and the implicit hostility of your question, it perhaps would be safe to presume that you might consider yourself a witch or pagan?
That being the case, we cannot expect you to understand the spiritual things of God since such spiritual matters can only be discerned by the Spirit – which one does not have without God. 1 Corinthians 2:14 affirms this: The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
And the hostility shown in the question can only be expected too. Romans 8:5-8 enlightens us:
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. This being the case, the first duty we have is to pray for you, that you may find the Truth which is Jesus Christ and by that Truth come to know the freedom that Christ brings you. As thus we offer the following prayers on your behalf and on behalf of all those caught in the falsehood of paganism and witchcraft:
Heavenly Father, I bring before You and the Lord Jesus Christ one who is very dear to You and to whom we has come across our path; and also all others like him who are caught in the delusion of paganism and witchcraft. We have come to see how Satan blinds and binds these people in awful bondage. Often they are in such a condition that they cannot or will not come to You for help on their own. We stand in for them in intercessory prayer before Your throne. We draw upon the Person of the Holy Spirit that He may guide us to pray in wisdom, power, and understanding. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and all the Saints, and powerful in the holy authority of His Name, We ask you Lord to loose these people from the awful bondage the powers of darkness are putting upon them. We ask that You bind all powers of darkness set on destroying their lives and that are keeping them from a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We ask that You bind these dark powers aside in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and forbid them to work. We ask that You bind up all powers of delusion that are seeking to blind these people and keep them from knowing the Truth and the will You have for them. We specifically ask that You bind the spirits of paganism, witchcraft, and any other occultic powers. Believing that Your Holy Spirit is leading us, we claim these people for You in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we thank You for the answer to our prayer. Grant us the grace to be persistent and faithful in our intercessions for these people, that You may be glorified through this deliverance. Amen. With this act of love accomplished in concern for your soul, I will answer your question.
To begin with, my original reference to the introduction of the horned god of Lucifier to people in the upper inner circle of witchcraft was not my opinion, but a fact. This fact is reported by former witches who were there, who were taught this, and who were involved until the Holy Spirit brought them out of this delusion and idolatry. I have video tape interviews with some of these witches who recount there various experiences.
Second, there are many brands of witchcraft. Some brands seem to be based more on the ideas of witchcraft that developed in the middle ages. These are the brands most likely to use imagery of the horned god as Lucifer (except for so-called black witches perhaps, none will admit this to be Satan).
There are also brands of witches/pagans who have sought to reassert what they think are the ancient mystery cults and pagan ideologies. This brand of witch is almost always VERY flawed in their history, but nevertheless they make an attempt at resurrecting various ancient religious or pseudo-religious practices and beliefs. Among this group, the idea of Satan will usually not be found. Instead, we find references to such so-called deities as Pan, or Set, and various other mythological figures as you have described.
But it doesn’t matter.
To worship a false god – which Pan, Pluto, Set, et al are – is to worship Satan. Sure, pagans may not call these false gods Satan and may not even recognize the existence of Satan, but Satan recognizes their existence and finds great pleasure in seeing them deluded into these mythologies of falsehood.
Satan predates Christianity, paganism, and even man himself. Satan predates the creation of the Earth. Satan is the Father of Lies.
John 8:44 states: You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Thus all lies, any lie, has Satan as its father. We participate and cooperate with Satan each time any of us lies. If we cheat on our taxes, we are participating with the devil, if we lie to our spouse we participate with the devil.
At the very least, for all people, to the degree they hold on to and assert and believe in lies, to that degree they are participating with the devil.
For those who actually reject Jesus Christ in favor of other gods, we have an idolatry and a more direct worship of the devil – even if the people involved don’t see it that way.
St. Paul teaches and affirms this truth in 1 Corinthians 10:20-21: …but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons.
Truth does not depend upon the belief of the person. Truth exists in its own right. Even if witches and pagans do not believe what I have written here, even if they do not believe that their deities are actually demons, it doesn’t matter. Truth is truth. They are demons whether recognized by the pagans as that or not.
And if the pagans or witches are atheistic, that is, do not believe in a spiritual world, which some don’t, we still have a problem. Even though such a brand of pagan or witch does not believe Pan, or Pluto, or Set to be anything other than archetypes and are not actual spiritual beings, such pagans and witches are still following a form of philosophy, a form of belief, and way of life that is counter to the Truth of God. Thus they follow a lie. Thus the author of their philosophy is Satan.
St. Paul predicted that a time would come that such nonsense would raise its ugly head in a major way once again.
1 Timothy 4:1-8
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. I seek to be a good minister of Christ Jesus and thus I have pointed out these truths of the real God to you and to all who are involved in the fallacy of paganism and witchcraft.
Back to Index Page