Witchcraft in the Church

There is witchcraft in the church.  Does that freak you out?  Have you seen anyone doing seances in the auditorium?  Are there Ouiji boards spread across your altar?  Are people drinking blood or cutting themselves?  Are they casting spells or putting pins in voo-doo dolls?  Are there statues of idols on pillars spread around your sanctuary?

They might as well be---if people in your church are in rebellion.  I Samuel 15:23 says, "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (household good luck images)..."

I was praying with Andy and some friends last night and God gave me this visual.  People rebelling in the church are no different than someone desecrating the house of God in those ways.

If we've rebelled or if our hearts are stubborn, we've committed spiritual adultery.  Have you ever walked with someone who's discovered their spouse has been unfaithful?  It's horrible.  They go through a grieving process because they've lost the most precious thing of their marriage--the intimacy of their oneness.  And we're commanded in Ephesians 4:30, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

As we prayed last night, I saw the spiritual adultery in the church (in my own life) in a new way.  We've broken our oneness with God...and His Spirit is grieved.  God is urging us to cast off our rebellion, our stubbornness, our hard hearts and come back to Him.  He loves us and longs for restoration of our relationship.  He wants us for Himself.  He aches for us to be His alone.  He's willing to forgive us and receive us in His arms.  He yearns for intimacy with us again.

Let's cleanse our churches of the witchcraft.