Breakthrough | Freedom| Dominion.
Among all the evil spirits in the Satanic kingdom, the spirit of witchcraft is the only spirit that can influence a person to preach the gospel, prophesy, speak in tongues, sing in the choir and play a role in the leadership of a church.
There is only one major purpose of witchcraft and that is to deceive God’s people and to cause them to have unbelief and not know and obey the truth. The book of Galatians 3:1 Paul wrote:
“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you”
The word truth can be ascribed to Jesus Christ because He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). The objective of a spirit of witchcraft is to divert Christians away from the Lord and to misinterpret the truth of His Word (the Bible) by redirecting Christ’s followers into a dangerous path.
The spirit of witchcraft can take over a church by first influencing the leaders through deception, falsehood and wrong doctrine before the spirit takes over an entire congregation. The Galatian church is an example of how witchcraft can dominate a church.
Paul wrote in Galatians 1:6-7 KJV
“I am surprised that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ”.
The word ‘pervert’ means to distort, corrupt, twist, falsify, misconstrue, abuse, divert, bend or misuse.
Through the spirit of discernment, Paul knew that the Galatian church were under the spell of witchcraft because the truth of the gospel had been distorted. The congregation had been seduced to believe in a different gospel. The word gospel means “the good news”. This means that some one had been preaching or teaching the Galatian church a different gospel, a type which is not the true message of the Kingdom, using a spirit of witchcraft.
The entire congregation had now been bewitched including its leaders because the spirit had been granted access behind the pulpit to propagate a different Christ and a false message of the Kingdom.
What is the true message of the kingdom? What message did Jesus Christ, Apostle Paul and the rest of the disciples preach that was missing in the Galatian church and in our church today? The answer to this question is found in the first sermon that Jesus preached in Matthew 4:17. It says,
“From that time on Jesus began to preach, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”.
Jesus preached repentance which means to turn away from sin and live a righteous and a holy life by the help of the Holy Spirit. Today, there are many churches that are more concerned about tithe, offering, church growth by any means necessary, even outside the word of God to the point that if you preach about repentance like Jesus did, you might not be allowed or invited back to preach on that pulpit again.
The spirit of witchcraft is much interested in accumulating money than the will and desire of God. The Bible says,
“And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination (witchcraft) met us, which brought her masters much gain (money) by soothsaying” (Acts 16:16).
There is nothing wrong with accumulating wealth in the kingdom of God and church as long as the money is distributed with the wisdom of God (Acts 4:34), taking care of the church and it’s community, the poor, widow and orphan and to the less privileged around the world (1 Timothy 6:18, Acts 6:1-7).
The body of Christ is heading in a direction where the true message of the Kingdom and its purpose has been replaced with increasing fun events, coffee and tea gatherings, monetary schemes and some compete and power struggle for a title or promotion in the church. Some ministers put a strong emphasis on self-elevation instead of elevating Christ.
Many churches are full of flesh driven ideas instead of spirit led ideas. Many churches today are full of programs intended to help grow the church instead of growing a spirit filled church where God adds to the church (Read Acts 2:47 and Matthew 9:38).
There is nothing wrong with having programs in a church but when it dominates and takes over a church and replaces true praise and worship, fasting and prayer, preaching the infallible word of God, taking care of the poor, then there is something wrong. When the Holy Spirit is pushed back to take a seat in the back row of the church, then the church opens itself up for demonic spirits such as witchcraft to enter and take over the Lord’s sanctuary.
The word witchcraft can be described in this manner: ‘Witch’ meaning to cast a spell on. ‘Craft’ meaning shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception, cunning, foxiness full of guile.
There are three things that the spirit of witchcraft will do whenever it enters a church:
- Divert ministers and their congregation unto a path away from the truth (Galatian 3:1).
- Fight all who attempt to bring the true message of the Kingdom (John 7:1, Acts 4:6).
- Counterfeit the gifts of the Holy Spirit for their own gain (Acts 16:16).
Whenever the spirit of witchcraft is in operation, it hardens people’s heart, it forces them to remain in a rebellious state, ignoring the spirit of truth (the Holy Spirit). That’s why the Bible says, “rebellion is as the spirit of witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23)”.
Witchcraft hinders God’s people from receiving the true message of the kingdom and accepting a counterfeit gospel which is sight driven rather than faith driven. It is a gospel that Paul calls a different gospel which is perverted (Galatian 1:6-7). In other words, it portrays a different Jesus, a different Holy Spirit, it wrestles the scriptures (2 Peter 3:16) bringing many into a path of destruction.
In these last days, God is getting ready to separate the truth from falsehood, like in the days of Moses when God’s serpent swallowed up Pharaohs serpent which was controlled by his ministers who practiced witchcraft (Exodus 7:12).
May the Holy Spirit guide the people of God into all truth, which can only be discovered in the Bible, given to all to search and to learn the true ways of the Lord. May the Lord strengthen His church and help His people escape the deception of Satan who has disguised himself as a sheep in wolf clothing.
May the glorious light of God shine upon His church as He raises up men and women of God who without fear will preach the word of God boldly across the globe unto all generations.
Prayer
Pray that a revival will break forth in your church. Pray for all Pastors across the globe. Pray that the church will return to the ways of the Lord.
Declaration
I declare, that I will be the vessel that will ignite a true revival in my community, church and the body of Christ in Jesus name. Amen.
Author: Andrew A. Osei
