Exposing Witchcraft in the Church

by Rick Godwin

Foreword
WITCHCRAFT IN THE CHURCH? Horrors! Impossible! “How could it be?” you ask. As I read Rick Godwin’s new book, I began to see the insidious and subtle new ways that Satan uses even Spirit-filled Christians to destroy us and the church of Jesus Christ! Radical? Yes—but true! Some of those weird and far-out disturbances in our churches and in our private lives are really Satan’s covert and almost imperceptible tactics that render many churches and lives powerless, ultimately destroying them.

What does cause those infamous church splits anyway? Can the Jezebel spirit actually occupy a pew? How do we identify these spirits in time and then deal with them?
Ah, dear reader, we are at war and some precious saints are stumbling around aimlessly in shell shock instead of loading up their spiritual guns with Holy Ghost bullets and putting the enemy to flight!

This book is loaded with a whole new arsenal of spiritual and practical weapons that can change your life, your church, your home, and your marriage. The victory was won at Calvary, but the war for possession of the kingdom rages on. Satan has been legally defeated, but he remains as an illegal squatter on much of what is ours by right. This book has new marching orders for us all. Let’s load up in Jesus’ name and dispossess the evil one’s illegal entry into our God-given victory!
—Paul F. Crouch, president
TRINITY BROADCASTING NETWORK

Excerpt from Chapter One

One

1 THE ESSENCE OF WITCHCRAFT

WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ affects every person you know, including you. Chances are you have dealt with it knowingly or unknowingly. When most people see the word witchcraft, they automatically expect to see its more obvious manifestations. Witchcraft can take on the appearance of overt manifestations, but it also can take on a much more subtle, more discreet demeanor.
In this chapter we will take an overall look at the essence of witchcraft. You will discover that legalism, trusting in the flesh, manipulation, intimidation, and domination all have their roots in the
same source. To start, let’s take a look at some of witchcraft’s more overt forms.

WITCHCRAFT, DIVINATION, AND SORCERY
THERE ARE THREE MAIN ENGLISH WORDS we use for the study of witchcraft—witchcraft, divination, and sorcery. Most versions and translations of Scripture use these three words interchangeably. Basically, witchcraft is satanic power. It is Satan’s way of imposing his will on your will and imposing emotions, behaviors, or circumstances on people they would not otherwise want. Witchcraft imposes its power primarily through curses and spells.
Divination is fortune-telling. Predicting the future is a significant way by which Satan drags people into his net because there is a tremendous, insatiable desire to know the future. Divination can also be found in the church—sometimes masquerading as prophecy.
Sorcery is that which operates through objects. These objects which become a means through which the supernatural power of Satan is released. Amulets, charms, fetishes, potions, things you drink, and drugs can be counted as sorcery. At times music can also fit this category.

THE ROOT IS THE KEY TO THE FRUIT
PROBLEMS THAT AFFECT PEOPLE can be likened to a tree. On a tree’s outermost regions are its branches which are connected to the main trunk. The trunk is supported firmly beneath the soil by roots. If anything happens to the root system, the whole tree is affected. Let’s look at an example of how people’s problems are a result of “affected roots.”
Betty and Jane shared common circumstances—both were married to husbands who were unfaithful. The men spent more money than they earned, and neither of them honored their wives with dignity and respect.

The wives, in turn, searched for an outlet to deal with their rejection: Betty was a member of a church that found social drinking acceptable, and she wound up an alcoholic; Jane was a member of a church that forbids drinking, so she swapped a burger for a bottle, becoming a foodaholic. Thus both women’s overindulgence led to addiction, covering up the root problem—rejection.
Do you see the connection? Neither woman will be helped by dealing solely with the addiction. Their addiction is a branch that grew out of their rejection. The addiction is not the source of the problem; it is a problem, but it’s not the root. It’s like cutting a branch or pulling a leaf off the tree. Branches and leaves grow back. If you treat only the addiction, it will come back. The problem must be dealt with at the root. The problem goes beyond the addictions for both women—it goes all the way to the responses they give to their dysfunctional husbands. A key to their recovery will be their decision to forgive their husbands and lay down their bitterness, resentment, and judgment. Lacking forgiveness, they will never go free. They may get a temporary fix, but the addiction will come right back. Perhaps it will even be worse.

WITCHCRAFT: THE ROOT OF ALL REBELLION
WHEN YOU TREAT THE ROOT OF THE TREE, you treat the fruit. So what is the root? Rebellion. It always is. It is the root of all human problems, and its roots run deepest.
Through Samuel the prophet God instructed King Saul to attack and utterly destroy the Amalekites for opposing the children of Israel when they first arrived in the Promised Land generations before (see 1 Sam. 15). Not just the men were to be destroyed but all the women, children, babies, and cattle—everything! King Saul, as instructed, conquered the Amalekites, but he failed to follow through with God’s directives. He destroyed all the people and animals but reserved the choicest livestock for his men and himself. He also preserved the life of Agag, king of the Amalekites. When Samuel confronted Saul for failing to obey God’s commands completely, he rebuked Saul by saying, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Sam. 15:23, NKJV).
You don’t have to participate in a seance to be dabbling in witchcraft. Notice two things about that scripture: Rebellion is likened to witchcraft; and stubbornness is likened to idolatry. That’s how God views these two things. Rebellion is witchcraft. A spirit is behind rebellion, and it’s not the Holy Spirit. Rebellion says, “I will not do it. I won’t.”

STUBBORNNESS IS IDOLATRY
STUBBORNNESS IS CALLED IDOLATRY. HOW can a stubborn person be in idolatry? He makes an idol of all his opinions. His opinions become gods to him. In the church we expound our pet doctrines and pet interpretations of vague doctrines, becoming stubborn and immovable from them. Stubbornness says, “I’ll do it my way.” God calls this idolatry. We might just as well bow down and worship an idol because that is what we are doing. And the pity is, the pet teaching we are worshiping may not even be true! That’s dangerous. Such idolatry takes place in the church and in the pew every single day.

REBELLION IS WITCHCRAFT
REBELLION IS LIKENED TO THE SIN of witchcraft. Rebellion and witchcraft are as alike as identical twin sisters. In the ministry of deliverance, if you find one, you’d better look for the other one. If witchcraft is there, so is rebellion. If rebellion is there, look for witchcraft. They are seldom separated…

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