My sermon today is about the lure of the occult. I believe the occult is real, and I believe there is a particular lure to the occult which makes it a special temptation to some people. I believe now is an opportune time for me to warn you against this temptation.
As you may have guessed, the reason I believe now is an opportune time for this is the current Harry Potter mania and the unprecedented popularity of the recently released Harry Potter movie. I have what I believe are some legitimate concerns. In expressing these concerns, I need to strike a careful balance. I have to acknowledge that just because a book mentions witches and warlocks doesn't mean that the book is necessarily bad. Indeed, the story about King Saul and the witch of Endor is found in the Bible. What is crucial is not whether a book mentions such things; what is crucial is the message a book communicates about such things. As you no doubt know, the Bible condemns witches and sorcery in the strongest terms.
Another popular series of books that will soon come out as a movie is the Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien. These books contain a lot of sorcery and wizardry, but I would say that the Lord of the Rings books are a polemic against the occult. These books may include wizards and wizardry as an integral part of the storyline, but the overall message of the books is anti-occult, against the power of the occult.
The story found in the Lord of the Ring books centers around a special ring which is the supreme instrument of occult power. One figure in the book, a human warrior named Boromir, argues that the occult power of the ring can be used to defeat the forces of evil. The consensus, however, among the characters aligned with good is that the power of the ring cannot be safely used for good, because the occult power of the ring corrupts and enslaves whoever uses it. The book contains an example of such an enslaved being, a pathetic creature named Golom.
The one chosen in the story to destroy the ring and its occult power is a hobbit named Frodo Baggins, a member of a species known for their diminutive stature and peaceful ways. Frodo illustrates a life of covenant obedience; he follows his destined path, regardless of what danger that path may lead him into. In the end, Frodo Baggins is able to destroy the powerful ring and thus overcome its power through the obedient fulfillment of his destined duty in life. And that is a very anti-occult message, this idea that obedience to God can overcome the power of evil. Frodo in these stories illustrates the beatitude, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Another popular series of books which contain much sorcery and wizardry is the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. The first book in the series is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a book whose very title indicates that it features a witch. Yet in this book, the witch is obviously evil, and the whole story is a Christian allegory. The allegory in this first book is about man's fall into sin and about the redeeming death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Lord of the Ring books and the Narnia books are examples of books which include sorcery and wizardry in their storylines but which also have a good message and a good purpose. These stories do not put forward the occult in a positive light.
Now the Harry Potter books are different in a few crucial aspects. Both the Narnia books and the Lord of the Rings books have stories which occur in fantasy worlds. The Harry Potter story occurs in this world, so its references to witches and wizards are not so obviously irrelevant to the real world we live in.
There is a second concern. Some witches and wizards in Harry Potter are portrayed positively instead of realistically evil. The concern is that this positive presentation, even if it is meant as fantasy, could desensitize some to the evils of the occult. In an abcNEWS.com interview, a practicing witch said,
"Sure, you are seeing witches in Harry Potter do things they don't do in real life. But it is positive. They are friendly. They are good. The book might change the way people feel about us."From this quotation, we can see there is a danger that these books and this movie might desensitize some people to the real evil of the occult.There is a third concern. Our society has grown much more superstitious and vulnerable to the occult over the last twenty years. So we should acknowledge this cultural weakness and exercise even greater caution because of it.
Those are my concerns. Whether or not your read any of these books or go to this movie, you will probably be exposed to Harry Potter to some degree, just as you can be exposed to second hand cigarette smoke even if you don't smoke. So what I want to provide this Lord's Day is a little Scriptural inoculation against any spiritual harm that this fad may threaten to do to you.
Here is my message: you need to be careful with regard to the occult because the occult is real, the occult is demonic, the occult is dangerous, and the occult is deceptive.
First, the power of the occult is real. We know this from Scripture. There are events in redemptive history which demonstrate that the occult is real. For example, in Moses' confrontation with the Pharaoh in the book of Exodus, we learn that the power of the occult is real. Moses threw down Aaron's rod before Pharaoh, and by the power of God, Aaron's rod turned into a serpent. Pharaoh then summoned his sorcerers and magicians, and they all threw down their rods, and all their rods became serpents. Here we see that occult power is real and that it can mimic the power of God. Yet we also see that the power of God is greater, because Aaron's rod which Moses threw down swallowed up all the serpent-rods of these occult magicians.
Then God began afflicting the land of Egypt with the ten plagues. God through Moses turned the waters of the Nile into blood, but then the Egyptian sorcerers did something similar with their enchantments. They were able to turn water into blood. Then in the second plague, God used Moses to bring up frogs on the land of Egypt, and the sorcerers of Egypt did something similar with their enchantments. They were able to mimic the second plague. Then in the third plague, God through Moses afflicted the land of Egypt with lice. And here is where we learn that these occult sorcerers in Egypt were "lousy" magicians. I have a little play on words there: lice, louse, lousy. The Egyptian magicians were unable to mimic this third plague. Here is what we read in Exodus 8:18-19:
When Moses got to a plague the Egyptian sorcerers could not mimic, they realized they were dealing with a greater power than they had access to.
18 Now the magicians so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice on man and beast. 19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." ... These Egyptians sorcerers and magicians were not able to mimic any of the other ten plagues which God afflicted upon the land of Egypt through Moses. We see from this that occult power is real, but it is also limited and no match for the power which comes from God.
We also find examples of sorcerers in the New Testament. One of these was in our Scripture reading for today. He was Simon the sorcerer from Samaria. Let me read for you again Acts 8:9-11:
So we see from both the Old Testament and the New Testament that occult power is real.
9 But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, 10 to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is the great power of God." 11 And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. Now I recognize that a lot of people who claim to have supernatural powers are fooling people with smoke and mirrors. There are a lot of people who claim to have occult power who are charlatans. It is bad to deceive people by pretending to be something you are not, though actually having and using occult power would be even worse. I do acknowledge that a lot of people who claim to have these powers really don't. You might remember that back in the 1920s, the escape artist Harry Houdini went on a crusade exposing seance mediums as frauds. He knew enough about magic tricks to recognize when people who claimed to be mediums were in reality using tricks and illusions to deceive the public. I would guess that the overwhelming majority of people who claim to have occult powers are really frauds who use deceptive tricks. Yet, I believe the Bible teaches that there are those with real occult powers which come from the devil himself. That is why we need to avoid like the plague getting involved with things such as witchcraft and ouiji boards and psychics.
That brings me to my second point, which is that occult power is demonic. There is a good example in the New Testament which shows that occult power is real and that it comes from the devil. This example is found in Acts chapter 16, where we read that there was a servant girl in the city of Philippi who was able to tell fortunes because she had a "spirit of divination." We also read in Acts chapter 16 that the apostle Paul cast this evil spirit out of her in the name of Jesus. This girl's powers were obviously from an evil spirit. After Paul cast out the spirit, she could no longer tell fortunes, and her owners were furious. That is why Paul and Silas were cast into prison in the city of Philippi.
That is just one example, but from it we learn that the occult is real and that the occult is demonic. That brings us to our third point: the occult is real and the occult is demonic; therefore, the occult is dangerous.
Let's go back to our Scripture reading in Acts chapter eight where we read about Simon the sorcerer. What is so pathetic about Simon the sorcerer is that he was so accustomed to thinking in terms of occult power that he could not understand the power of salvation. The passage says that he believed, but I believe that is talking about his outward profession and appearances. His later actions showed that though the gospel had been planted in his heart, it had not brought forth any fruit that is evidence of genuine regeneration. In his innermost being, he was still bound by the power of the occult, and he was unable to understand the power of salvation.
Peter and John had come to Samaria to extend the coming of the age of the new covenant to Samaria. The coming of the age of the new covenant had begun on the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts chapter two, when the Holy Spirit was poured out at Jerusalem in new covenant fullness for the first time. The area to which the kingdom had come in new covenant fullness then began to expand. It expanded from Jerusalem to Samaria, then to Cornelius the Gentile, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. Acts chapter eight records the second phase of this expansion. When Peter and John were in Samaria, they laid their hands on believing Samaritans, and the Holy Spirit came down upon them in new covenant fullness.
When Simon the sorcerer saw this, he did not understand. He misinterpreted this in terms of his occult mind set. He thought this was merely another magic trick which he could add to his repertoire, and he offered to buy this new power from Peter. When he did that, he opened the window of his soul so that Peter could better see what was really there. Peter was then able to diagnose his true spiritual condition, and here is what Peter said:
We see another example of the danger of the occult in Acts chapter 19. Ephesus was an ancient center of the occult. We read in Acts 19 that when Paul ministered there, a number of those who practiced occult magic believed. These were genuine conversions, because we read about the fruit of their conversion in verse 19:
21 "... your heart is not right in the sight of God. 23 "For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." They could have sold these books for fifty thousand pieces of silver. Matter of fact, they could have given all this money to the church. Instead, they burned these books which were filled with instructions on the techniques of the occult. They viewed these books as too dangerous to sell to another. The only honorable course was to destroy them and absorb the financial loss.
19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. That brings us to our fourth point. The occult is dangerous not only because it is demonic but also because it is deceptive. When Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, he deceived them by his craftiness. Satan promised them life, but they reaped death. Satan promised them freedom to do what was right in their eyes, but they reaped what was really slavery to sin.
Satan also deceives people when he entices them with the forbidden powers of the occult. The lure of the occult is this promise of power, power that we can use at will without any concern for what is right or for what God would have us to do. That is the enticement, but it is deceptive, because this power hardens and destroys the souls of those who are foolish enough to take the devil's bait. If you ever read The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings series, take notice of that pathetic creature called Golom. He symbolizes those destroyed and enslaved by this evil power which comes from Satan himself.
What we need to do is to follow the example of Jesus when Satan tempted Him in the wilderness. Satan tempted Jesus to use His own divine power as a means of meeting His own personal needs. Jesus was hungry, and Satan said, Turn these stones into bread. Satan tempted Jesus to awe the crowds with spectacular miracles so they would make Him king. Satan said, Throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple, and the angels will bear you up. Satan offered Jesus an easy way to become the King of kings without going to the cross. Satan said, Worship me, and I will give you the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Of course, Jesus responded by saying, No, no no! Jesus came into this world to do the will of His Father in heaven. Jesus came to conquer the world not through raw power but through obedience to His heavenly Father. Thus we read in Mark 10:45:
Whenever Jesus used His divine power in His ministry, He did so in submission to the will of the Father. He did so not to meet His own personal needs but to minister to others. When the crowd wanted to make Him king because He miraculously fed them, Jesus withdrew from the crowd. Jesus knew that was not the way the Father had willed for Him to come into His kingdom. When He could have called down legions of angels to deliver Him from going to the cross, He was silent and would not do it.
45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Jesus went the way of obedience, not the way of power. By going the way of obedience, Jesus defeated the devil and conquered the world. We read about this in Philippians chapter two:
That is how Jesus succeeded. He humbled Himself and obeyed God, and God rewarded His obedience by exalting Him. Paul exhorts us, Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus!
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The devil offers you power to do what is right in your own eyes without any regard for God and His law. If you fall for that, you will end up like Simon the sorcerer: "poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." I assure you that the forbidden fruit which Satan tempts you to eat will not satisfy you in the depths of your soul. It will instead turn to gravel in your mouth, and you will be set upon the way which leads unto eternal death.
In contrast, Jesus offers you power to do what is right in God's eyes. Jesus has power to forgive your sins and power to deliver you from the enslavement of a sinful lifestyle. Jesus has the power to transform your life, to make you into someone zealous for good works that are meaningful, purposeful and acceptable even in the eyes of God.
Jesus also gives His people power to overcome even the devil. James 4:7 promises, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Jesus gives us power to overcome the evil one, but Jesus gives us something even greater than that. We read about this in Luke 10:17-20:
Let us pray.
17 Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." 18 And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Lord, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Free us from any desire for the forbidden powers associated with witchcraft and sorcery. We pray instead for forgiveness and deliverance through the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.