When Witches Prophecy and Open Churches

Acts 16:16-18 16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: 17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. 18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

We can see in this scripture passage that Witches go to prayer meetings too. I remember a young lady who visited my church many years ago. She claimed to have been kicked out of many churches because she recognized the witches in the church. However, I discerned that she was actually the witch. The following Sunday, she showed up again. During the prayer time, I asked the church to pray that anyone gathered with us that is not of God, that the fire of God should torment them. She left and never came back again.

This story in Acts contains a lot of lessons:
Firstly, the one involved was not an old woman; rather she was a young lady. Many mistakenly believe that only elderly people practice witchcraft. I have encountered teenagers and even boys and girls as young as five years old running errands for the devil. I met a lady in Texas who told me that when was a child, she and some other children were recruited as witches and they were sent to churches to lay hands on other children and put a curse on them.

Secondly, the young lady was said to posses the spirit of divination. Divination is another form of witchcraft. This young lady was possessed by a spirit. It is called the spirit of the python. I have encountered him in many deliverance sessions conducted for several church people. They manifest just like snakes, pulling out their tongues, sounding like snakes and sometimes crawling all over the floor like snakes. Many of them are fascinated with clothes and shoes patterned after snake skins.

Thirdly, they sometimes possess supernatural abilities to see and know what cannot be seen and known in the natural. They possess the "gift" of prophecy, discerning of spirits and word of knowledge.

What the young lady said was true but it was not by the Spirit of the Lord. Look at verse 17: "The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

Unsuspecting church leaders today would give her an important position in the church because of her "gift." Besides, many of these witches have open us ministries and churches. Ignorant christians and non-christians join such churches in search or prophesy and power, not realizing that the pastors and prophets are using demonic gifts to see.

Paul was not deceived: "…being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour." We need such an anointing today that will discern false spirits and deal with them in the name of the Lord.

From these scriptures it is apparent that witches and wizards do not operate only outside the church, they operate inside too, either as workers or as pastors and prophets.

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