Witches in Fort Wayne?
A group in Fort Wayne has recently decided they want to use one of our public parks for a witchcraft demonstration. They are calling this coven the Witchy Women in Leo. They advertise the event as a new-age therapy session focused on “grounding, growing and gathering.” Should this be allowed in our nation’s public spaces? Is there any safe amount of witchcraft around the Halloween season? Can there be anything wrong with some innocent fall fun like this? They say they’ll be reconnecting themselves to nature and other likeminded women, but could they be connecting, instead, with something far more sinister?
Define Our Terms
What is Witchcraft? Witchcraft is the joining of society, or making a covenant with Satan and his demons in order to perform some work. There are those that explicitly (purposefully) bind themselves with Satan and his demons, and others who pretend or who don’t know that they have thus bound themselves. But in either case, Scripture is clear that Satan and his demons are joined to the practitioners of both styles. This is why so often, in the Authorized Version, these diviners or witches are associated with “familiar spirits” (Acts 16:16-18). Many of them, arguably like the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28) or Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-24) don’t know that they are consulting spirits/demons. Many of them like that witch Saul consulted may just think it’s a way to defraud and con. Were they, like her, to be confronted with the true nature of their practice, like her, they might cry out in alarm. So much for an innocent, nature-friendly non-supernatural Wicca. You can read more about implicit/unintentional leagues with Satan/devils here in the words of William Perkins: https://purelypresbyterian.com/2023/04/10/of-explicit-implicit-satanic-covenanting-and-good-bad-witches/
This alone, the definition of witchcraft, should be enough to convince you, but to be thorough, let’s set down the case that it is expressly forbidden by scripture in a way that the magistrate must also forbid it. The nation of Israel is no more as it was under Moses, David, or Solomon. Since Christ came and fulfilled the law, its civil/judicial laws have been abolished, no longer binding Christians and nations in the same way they did in Old Testament Israel. However, the moral principle which stands behind the law, or general equity, is forever binding on Christians and nations alike.
For instance, the specific laws about different types of murder/manslaughter, making restitution for the goring of someone by your beast, etc. We’re no longer bound to put the exact same laws into our nations. But we are to preserve the moral principle behind the murder, manslaughter, theft and other laws in the same way. We’re required to still have laws forbidding murder and punishing it with appropriate severity, even if we’re not using the exact same laws set out in Leviticus. The classic example is the law from Deuteronomy 22:8 regarding building a parapet (fence) around the roof of your house. We don’t have flat roofs where people congregate anymore, so it would be silly to needlessly build a parapet around the rim of the roof of a colonial house for instance. However, the moral principle behind that law was that you must set up your property in such a way that human life is protected. So, today, if you have a pool, you might put a fence around that. Or you may be required to put railings on stairs or balconies, etc. We can see that it is good and right for nations to carry over the moral principles behind the civil laws even today. You can read more about the idea of general equity as it applies to the judicial laws of Israel here: https://purelypresbyterian.com/2015/08/20/the-judicial-law-general-equity-vs-particular-equity/.
Witchcraft, though, is a different case from the parapet. There was no particular circumstance in Israel leading to the prohibition of witchcraft. Rather, it was forbidden because it is itself a violation of the moral law of God. There are several ways to prove this. For one, witchcraft is forbidden in both testaments–Old and New. In Exodus 22:18, we have the command, “suffer not a witch to live.” This tells us that witchcraft is of the most serious sins, even deserving the death penalty. Israel was to completely cleanse their land of all witches (both sexes) because it was such a spiritually and socially destructive evil. But Galatians 5:19-21 also reaffirms that this is just as serious a sin even in our New Testament kingdom under Christ: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” This is the equivalent in the New Testament as the death penalty. It is spiritual death. Therefore, witchcraft was not just a violation of the civil code in Israel, it is a violation of the moral law of God. There are many, many more verses condemning witchcraft of all varieties, here is a small sampling: Leviticus 19:31, 20:6; Deuteronomy 18:10-12, 14; 1 Samuel 15:23, 28:7-25.
What is the moral principle behind the law? The nature of witchcraft is to get something without going through God’s appointed means, whether you’re looking for your future or the will of God, or trying to charm or hex someone. In this way it is a violation of the third commandment, which requires of us that, “the name of God, his titles, attributes, ordinances, the word, sacraments, prayer, oaths, vows, lots, his works, and whatsoever else there is whereby he makes himself known, be holily and reverently used in thought, meditation, word, and writing”. The prohibitions of the command, then, include the following:
All sinful cursings, oaths, vows, and lots… murmuring and quarreling at, curious prying into, and misapplying of God’s decrees and providences; misinterpreting, misapplying, or any way perverting the Word, or any part of it, to profane jests, curious or unprofitable questions, vain janglings, or the maintaining of false doctrines; abusing it, the creatures, or any thing contained under the name of God, to charms, or sinful lusts and practices…
If you lookup the text of the catechism elsewhere, you’ll see a multitude of scripture references brought in to back this up. It would be worth your time to examine these
Statecraft and Witchcraft
Paul, in Romans 13:4, sums up the role of civil rulers as follows: “[they] are the minister of God to thee for good” and “a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” The civil rulers are, very simply, to punish evil and reward good. How are good and evil defined? Only by God’s standard which is set down in God’s word. In Proverbs 8, among many other beautiful roles of the Wisdom which comes from God (many commentators see this Wisdom as Christ himself) is this: “By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.” It is very clear from just these two passages alone, that the only standard by which rulers are to bind the consciences of men is the perfect moral standard of God.
Therefore, if the prohibition of witchcraft is part of that general equity, the abiding, never-changing moral standard God has revealed in his word; and if it is true that it is the role of the magistrate to uphold that law—punishing those that violate it and rewarding those who keep it. Then it must be the role of the magistrate to punish all those who make a public display of their witchcraft.
The United States is a representative republic. Civil rulers are to govern according to the will of the people, by the people, for the good of the people. The government is to be held accountable to the will of the people. If the people of Fort Wayne, for instance, oppose the practice of witchcraft in their public spaces, the civil rulers must take this into account and govern accordingly, shutting down and punishing all public displays of witchcraft. If Christians don’t make their voice heard, how can the civil rulers operate according to that principle? Our rulers are to govern by the people. Civil rulers in their private capacity as Christians, must carry their convictions into their public roles. Especially given that in this case, witchcraft should be opposed at the civil level. If you are a civil ruler who is a Christian, you have the obligation to see to it that, as far as your sphere of influence extends, this practice is stopped and penalized. Be a terror to evil. The rulers in America are to rule for the good of the people. If there are eternal consequences—and temporal judgements—for tolerating gross civil sins like widespread abortion or the practice of witchcraft in public spaces, you are not protecting those within your sphere of influence by tolerating these.
Interestingly, in 1 Samuel 28 (Saul with the witch at Endor), Saul makes an oath as a civil ruler not to penalize the witch for her actions. As a ruler, it was his responsibility to root her out, to not suffer her to live, but instead of sentencing her to justice in the name of the Lord, Saul took the name of the Lord in vain as he swore by Jehovah not to punish her. Magistrates today, by using their office to create safe space and toleration for cults, devil-worship, and false religion, are similarly taking his name in vain. This goes beyond just this witch meeting in Leo, Indiana. The President of the United States just recently lit a Diwali candle. We should expect and demand more from those who rule over us in God’s name.
Application
I end with several ideas for “[bringing] forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Matthew 3:8). Go out and do something about this. We may not be able to stamp out all irreligion and the monuments of idolatry, but we can start with what’s in front of us. If you have been convicted that you’ve similarly broken the third commandment, or that you shouldn’t practice whatever form of witchcraft you have in the past, repent. You can find forgiveness for the sin of witchcraft in Christ.
Halloween comes around every year at the same time, and it is a timely season to remind the unbelieving world that God “hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained” (Acts 17:31). “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31). What could strike more horror into you than the thought of standing naked and exposed before our God who is “a consuming fire?” (Deuteronomy 4:24, Hebrews 12:29). If we join in with the world in their celebration of Halloween each year, how are we being salt and light? If we treat lightly things which God has said he detests (e.g. witchcraft, speaking to the dead/necromancy, devils, demons) how can we turn around and tell the world they should take these things seriously? If we teach our children to giggle at these things, how can we expect them to eschew the occult as they grow older, or to take seriously things God loves like holiness and faithfulness?
Instead, there is no other time when you are so freely able to spread the gospel. Odds are that there will be many families and children coming directly to your door with whom you can easily give a short gospel presentation and send them home with a tract. Redeem this time, for truly October 31st is a day filled with much evil. Talk about the evils of Antichrist seen each year as papists celebrate the idolatrous mass of All Saints’ Day by doing such things as worshipping the breast milk of Mary, saying mass for and praying for the dead, veneration of Saints etc. Tell people about Martin Luther, that brave monk who stood up to the Pope of Rome, that man of lawlessness. The Reformation which began with Martin Luther nailing up his 95 Theses on October 31st.
More directly to what kicked off this article, post on the social media page of this event. Reach out to me. I’d love to include you in any ongoing efforts to root out witchcraft and the public expression of false religion. Reach out to churches in the Leo-Cedarville area to let them know this is going on in their community. Pray against all those who would turn our public parks into a forum to practice devilry and the worship of idols, and pray that those who won’t help us end this would either repent and join our efforts, or that God in his providence would replace them.
“To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17); “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?” (Proverbs 24:10-12); “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.” (Ephesians 5:11-13).
Resources:
On witches:
https://purelypresbyterian.com/2023/04/13/lawful-unlawful-remedies-against-witchcraft/
https://purelypresbyterian.com/2023/03/23/satans-evil-wonders/
On civil rulers and the moral law:
https://purelypresbyterian.com/2021/10/25/the-importance-of-godly-rulers-francis-turretin/
https://purelypresbyterian.com/2017/05/10/calvin-on-the-death-penalty-for-heresy/
On Halloween
Rev. David Silversides on Halloween
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/1031061678
Brian Schwertley on Halloween
Pro Rege exists to confess and promote the mediatorial kingship of Jesus Christ over all of life by recovering and making accessible faithful Reformed writings that seek to bring every area of thought and practice into joyful conformity to Him.
I am a member of Providence Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with a love for the Scriptures, a commitment to the Great Commission, and a deep respect for the faithful men who have gone before us in the Reformed tradition. I hold to the original Westminster Standards.
Pro Rege is a transcription and publishing project focused on classic Reformed, Westminster Divine, Scottish Covenanter, and American Presbyterian works. Because Christ is the mediatorial King of all, these writings address a wide range of subjects—doctrine, worship, church government, civil order, piety, and Christian living. Many of these works shaped careful pastors and churchmen in previous generations, yet remain out of print or difficult to access today.
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