Whether we want to admit it or not, witchcraft has infiltrated our society, and has found its way into the church. While it may look slightly different in this atmosphere without blatant witchcraft textbooks being opened up, manipulation and control find themselves right at home in religious communities.
Prophetic voice Troy Black recently shared in a livestream the top ways to discern if witchcraft is happening in your church. For some, these signs may be eye-opening as they discover what is happening right underneath their nose.
- They will use the Old Testament more than the New Testament with a disregard for what the New Testament has to say.
“It’s okay to preach from the Old [Testament], but we must preach from the Old in the lens of the New,” Black says.
One the key elements of this point is that practices from the Old Testament are used to place pressure on someone to do things a certain way and create a righteous standard that none of us can live up to. This doesn’t draw people in toward Christ, but places a weight of guilt and shame upon the other party.
- Like covering up with a veil, they make it impossible to understand God’s glorious ways without their interpretation.
“What’s wrong is when we exalt someone to a place of ‘they are my spiritual leadership and authority, and the way I hear from God,’ when we should all be hearing from God for ourselves and we should all be communicating with God for ourselves, not through somebody else, not through another vessel. That’s why it becomes manipulation and control and witchcraft,” Black says.
While it is important to gain good understanding of Scripture or desire to study the Bible in more depth following a good, relevant teacher, idolizing the speaker and seeing their words alone as the authoritative Word of God is not biblical, and is a principle we should run from.
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- Instead of producing the fruit of the Spirit, they produce fruit of wickedness in your life.
“…things like darkness, depression, fear, anxiety, intrusive thoughts etcetera,” Black says. “The fruit of the Spirit acts like a measuring tool where we can know what’s coming in, what’s pouring in by what’s coming out of the heart.”
Instead of shaming people to act a certain way because of religious standards, it is the job of leadership to encourage people to grow in their personal relationship with Christ to know Him and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
- You often feel placed under punishment as if the ultimate punishment has not already been received by Christ.
“Anything that is trying to get people, is trying to control people out of manipulation or fear of punishment if they don’t comply is leaning in that direction,” Black says.
While all of us have and will continue to fall short of the glory of God, we must remember that Christ took the wrath of God upon Himself, that we may be made holy and righteous through Him and Him alone. It is through His mercy and grace that He poured out on the cross that has made us clean. To think anything differently is a complete lie.
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Abby Trivett is a marketing copywriter and coordinator for Charisma Media.
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