Bill Muehlenberg takes a Closer Look At Witchcraft

Yes we must be wary of witchcraft:

With all things occultish and neopagan being the rage today, it is time to examine more closely various things such as witchcraft and related practices. This can be done in different ways. Yesterday I penned a piece looking at what the Bible has to say about such things. You can see that piece here: billmuehlenberg.com/2022/01/08/the-bible-and-witchcraft/

Today I want to look at the contemporary scene a bit, and tomorrow I will provide an inspiring testimony of a former witch who is now a follower of Jesus. Her personal story will help to move all this beyond mere theory, and show us just what is really going on here.

As to what is happening in the West today, plenty can be said. And plenty of books have been penned on these matters. Many of the books I list in my bibliography on the New Age Movement would have chapters on witchcraft, sorcery, and the like: billmuehlenberg.com/2017/06/14/recommended-reading-new-age-movement/

Here I want to draw upon just one volume (although many good ones could be featured). Back in 2004 Brooks Alexander wrote Witchcraft Goes Mainstream (Harvest House). He had founded the California-based Spiritual Counterfeits Project back in 1973. This organisation is still going strong (although he stepped down from it in 1998): www.scp-inc.org/

He was once heavily involved in the occult before coming to Christ, so he knows full well whereof he speaks. This 280-page work is well documented and well written. Early on he notes four different meanings or categories of witchcraft: biblical; anthropological; historical; and modern religious. This book primarily focuses on the last category. He says this about it:

Almost 250 years after historical witchcraft ceased to exist, modern Witchcraft appeared. It was essentially the creation of one man, in England, in the 1940s [Gerald Gardner]. But as it grew, and especially when it came to the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, modern Witchcraft mushroomed into a populist magical mystery cult that has become one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing movements in America.

 

Religious Witchcraft was originally conceived as a goddess-centered nature religion (and given the name of “Wicca”), but in the decades since it came to America, the movement has not only increased in numbers and influence, it has also diversified far beyond its original concept.

As to what Witchcraft really consists of, it is quite difficult to pin down:

Witchcraft is individualistic to the point of being anarchic, with no centralized authority or even any agreed-upon definition of what a “Witch” is. In effect, a Witch is whoever says they are a Witch, and Witch beliefs and practices amount to whatever individual Witches actually believe and do. The problem with this approach is that the people who say they are Witches actually believe and do so many different things that no single description fits them all. In fact, the Witches themselves have been stymied in several attempts to come up with a definition.

He notes how the media explosion about witchcraft in the 1990s really gave the movement a massive boost:

In short order, Witchcraft was transformed into a pop-culture phenomenon, and “Wicca” became a teenage fad that didn’t fade, but turned into an enduring trend. Those developments swelled the ranks of Neopaganism far beyond its own “structure” (such as it was), which was based on the various self-proclaimed Witchcraft groups and other organizations making up the active core of the movement. Suddenly, all of that was overshadowed by happenings in the popular media. Suddenly, there were tens of thousands of (mostly young) people running around calling themselves “witches,” and taking their ideas about what that means, not from a tradition, or a teacher of tradition, but from the internet, or a movie, or a TV show. The movement had become a mass movement almost overnight, and it was quickly growing beyond anyone’s ability to control, or direct, or even to measure.

Read the full article here