I knew I was deceived. I just didn’t know if I was deceived by church leaders or the enemy. But in a moment of clarity, I decided it was possible the leaders of the church I had labored in for eight years were the ones in deception—and they were deceiving many others. After getting outside counsel, it was crystal clear prophetic witchcraft was plaguing my soul.
Prophetic witchcraft is not false prophecy, but it’s the source of the false prophecy that is concerning. While prophecy speaks the mind, will and heart of God for a person, situation or nation, prophetic witchcraft can oppose the will of God—or at least lead you into a different direction or out of God’s timing. Prophetic witchcraft taps into a spirit other than the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of prophecy. Since the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus (see Rev. 19:10), prophetic witchcraft can’t be the testimony of Jesus—or what Jesus is saying.
Prophetic witchcraft confuses and deceives your soul. Your soul is your mind, will, emotions, imaginations, reasoning and intellect. When you align with prophetic witchcraft, it does plenty of damage to your soul, and it grieves the Lord. Remember, Jesus died for your soul. Your soul belongs to God (see Ezek. 18:4). With that, let’s explore six ways prophetic witchcraft damages your soul.
1) Prophetic Witchcraft Renews Your Mind to Lies
Think about it. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (see Rom. 10:17). Likewise, faith in the false comes through continually hearing the false. Our minds are renewed, in large part, by what we hear, what we say and what we meditate on. That’s why Paul chronicled these Holy Spirit-inspired words in Romans 12:1-2: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
This is a serious warning. Beseech means to urge. Mind renewal was such a strong conviction in Paul’s life that he put a demand on the Romans—and us—not to allow the spirit of the world to pollute our souls but to let God’s Word revive and renew our souls. Prophetic witchcraft conforms our minds to the ways of the world. The good news is you can reverse the curse of prophetic witchcraft on your mind. God can accelerate the renewal of your mind by deploying truth bombs to blow up every evil seed the enemy sowed in your soul.
2) Prophetic Witchcraft Builds Enemy Strongholds
Little by little, prophetic witchcraft builds strongholds in the mind. Biblically, a stronghold is like a castle in the mind—a fortress, an argument, demonic reasonings and wisdom. James speaks of a wisdom that does not descend from heaven and calls it “earthly, sensual, demonic” (James 3:15). Thankfully, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty to destroy strongholds in our minds (see 2 Cor. 10:4).
3) Prophetic Witchcraft Leads You into Carnality
Prophetic witchcraft takes your mind off Christ and sets it on the things of the flesh. It manipulates your soul and distracts your heart from the main thing (see Gal. 3:1). Prophetic witchcraft taps into your carnal nature and fleshly desires. Paul told us in Romans 8:5-6, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” The good news is you can reverse the curse and start sowing to the Spirit again.
4) Prophetic Witchcraft Makes You Dull
Prophetic witchcraft makes it more difficult to hear God’s voice. When we don’t make a habit of pressing into God’s presence for ourselves and waiting for His still small voice to speak to us directly, we are prime targets for prophetic witchcraft. When we look to people over God for direction, we are on a pathway to dependence on false voices.
The writer of Hebrews spoke of those who became “dull of hearing” (see Heb. 5:11). Think about it. Jesus spoke of those whose hearts had grown so callous they could hardly hear with their ears and their eyes were closed (see Matt. 13:15). Dull in the context of these Scriptures means slow, sluggish, indolent, languid and, yes, dull.
Prophetic witchcraft releases words that often defy the Word of God—or the timing of God—for your life. If you give your ear to it, you will be slow to hear instead of quick to listen to the truth. When your hearing is dull you may follow the voice of a stranger because you can’t tell the difference between the voice of God and the voice of the enemy. You can’t accurately cut through the clutter of voices in the spirit.
That’s why intimacy with God is so important. Jesus said His sheep follow Him because they know His voice (see John 10:4). If we don’t get to know Jesus—to regard, cherish and pay attention to His voice—we are in danger of mistaking a stranger’s voice for His voice (see John 10:5). The good news is you can draw close to God and He can re-open your eyes and ears. You can be more sensitive than ever to His heart.
5) Prophetic Witchcraft Bends Your Will
Prophetic witchcraft bends your will away from God into idolatry and immorality. God has given us a free will. Your will is used to express your desires, choices, actions, consent or disagreement. When Christ walked the earth, fully God and fully man, He had a will but He submitted it completely to God. We need to do the same, but when we submit to prophetic witchcraft we find our will bending toward sinful pursuits.
When we submit ourselves to God and resist the devil, he will flee from us (see James 4:7). When we don’t resist prophetic witchcraft—whether it’s due to ignorance, idolatry or some other illness of the soul—we are not submitted to God. When our will is not submitted to God, the enemy has a legal right to steal, kill and destroy (see John 10:10). When our will is not submitted to God, prophetic witchcraft devours (see 1 Pet. 5:8). The good news is you can realign your will to God through the gift of repentance.
6) Prophetic Witchcraft Sullies Your Imagination
Imagination, which is part of the soulish realm, is neither good nor bad. Merriam-Webster defines imagination as “the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality” and “a creation of the mind.” Your imagination is a gift from God, and the enemy wants to pervert it. Paul told the church at Corinth that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him (see 1 Cor. 2:9, ESV). God wants us to imagine ourselves healed, whole and prosperous because His Word tells us by His stripes we are healed (see 1 Pet. 2:24) and that He wants us to prosper and be in health even as our soul prospers (see 3 John 1:2).
Prophetic witchcraft skews the holy imagination with what the Bible calls vain imaginations. Paul spoke about the vain imagination in Romans 1:21 (KJV) in context of sinners: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” When our imagination becomes vain—which means showing undue or excessive pride, marked by futility, foolish, silly and having no real value—we are heading for destruction.
Shortly before God told Noah He was going to destroy the earth with a flood and commissioned him to build an ark to preserve a remnant of people and animals, this happened: “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil” (Gen. 6:5, NLT). Again, a sullied imagination leads to destruction.
Later, the people set out to make a name for themselves by building a tower called Babel. Your imagination should be yielded to God and sanctified. God doesn’t want you imagining vain, foolish, silly things that have no value. He doesn’t want you using that creative ability the wrong way. Likewise, He doesn’t want you to receive ministry from those whose hearts are devising wicked imaginations (see Prov. 6:18). When the imagination—the thought—doesn’t line up with God’s thoughts, He wants you to cast those imaginations down before they renew your mind to a false prophetic reality.
Paul put it this way: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,” (2 Cor. 10:5, KJV). This command is imperative. What you don’t cast down will take root. What takes root will renew your mind. What renews your mind will inform your words and deeds. What informs your words and deeds will shape your life. The Holy Spirit wants to use your imagination to lead you into His plans and purposes for your life—to show you what’s possible. Prophetic witchcraft uses your imagination against you to pervert your mind and heart. Don’t let it. The good news is you can consecrate your imagination again and begin to imagine His will.
Other Prophetic Witchcraft Effects
In these last days, false prophets abound, stealthily infiltrating our churches. If you find yourself in bondage, there is hope. In my new book, Deliverance from Prophetic Witchcraft, I expose false prophets and empower you to break free from deceptions and witchcraft to walk in supernatural victory.
I got delivered from prophetic witchcraft. Thanks be to God, you can too!
Reprinted with permission of Destiny Image.
Jennifer LeClaire is senior leader of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, founder of the Ignite Network, and founder of the Awakening Prayer Hubs prayer movement. Jennifer formerly served as the first-ever female editor of Charisma magazine and is a prolific author of over 50 books. You can find Jennifer online or shoot her an email at [email protected].
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