Exodus 22: 18 – 20 “You must not allow a sorceress to live. Whoever lies with an animal must surely be put to death. If anyone sacrifices to any god other than the LORD alone, he must be set apart for destruction.”
Witchcraft/magic, bestiality, and idolatry – Dennis Prager comments that these three practices are regarded as so destructive to moral civilization that the Torah teaches they merit the death penalty. Today there are many people who choose to believe that such things are “really not so bad.” Why is God being so narrow – minded?
Witchcraft – Control and rebellion are the two sides of the witchcraft coin. All witchcraft is focused on controlling something or somebody – people, events, the weather, one’s own future, etc. etc. In the 1960’s in America, there were two popular TV programs promoting witchcraft; one was “I Dream of Genie,”and the second was “Bewitched.” The central character in “I Dream of Genie” was a gorgeous young lady with blond hair who was a magic spirit living in a lamp, a la Aladdin’s lamp, and who had supernatural powers. All Genie had to do was to blink her eyes and all kinds of things happened. The main character in “Bewitched” was a “good witch” named Samantha who had magical powers which. of course, she only used to do GOOD things. What was downplayed in both programs was the harm done when someone uses magic to interfere in people’s lives. And of course, neither Genie nor Samantha had any relationship at all to the One True Living God. Viewers were invited to believe that there was such a thing as “white magic,” which could be used for good purposes.
Magic/witchcraft/sorcery all encourage those practicing such arts to depend on themselves and to set themselves up as their own gods. But God has already told us in the Ten Commandments that “You will have no other gods before me.” No matter how appealing witchcraft might be, it will lead us away from God.
Several years ago, we had an acquaintance who was an ordained minister in a major denomination. Our friend was also a cultural anthropologist and chose to be trained as a traditional diviner in an African religion to complete his doctoral thesis. My first conversation with this man only lasted 5 minutes before he was arguing that there were “neutral spirits” in the spirit world. But the Bible is clear that there is no such thing as spiritual neutrality; we are either serving God or serving Satan. This man’s training as a diviner had led him away from the truths of the Bible. Witchcraft and magic are nothing to play with!
Bestiality – Those who practice sex with animals “have reduced themselves to the level of an animal, blurring the distinction between humans and animals – just as sorcery blurs the distinction between humans and God.” (Dennis Prager The Rational Bible: Exodus) Prager continues, ”…blurring the distinctions between man and animal, God and man, good and evil,holy and profane, man and woman, life and death undermines the order of the universe as designed by God.”
Idolatry: “If anyone sacrifices to any god other than the LORD alone, he must be set apart for destruction.” The Israelites were used to all the gods of Egypt and while they might have been worshiping the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac, it’s quite likely that they were also worshiping some other gods on the side, hedging their spiritual bets. But God wants to form Israel into a holy nation, and that means the Israelites must worship Him exclusively. Making sacrifices is the ultimate form of worship. Prager points out that “in general, the Torah legislates behavior rather than belief or thought. One reason is the Torah is not totalitarian – it leaves the mind free. It recognizes it is bad behavior, not bad thoughts, that does the most damage in life. And it recognizes that once certain behaviors end,the thoughts leading people to engage in those behaviors will likely end as well. If people stop bringing sacrifices to other gods, they will eventually stop believing in them.”
APPLICATION: While most of us would shy away from overt witchcraft, we should ask ourselves this question: How many times have we tried to manipulate people and situations to suit our own purposes? If we pray, are we asking God for HIS WILL to be done, or for ours? And are we trying to dictate to God how He should run things?
Sex with animals sounds abhorrent; however, as Prager points out, “In an increasingly secular world, indifferent to divine prohibitions, many people find themselves easily bored and seek ever – increasing excitement and novelty….the only argument against bestiality theses days is that since we cannot know whether animals enjoy it or not, it is a violation of animal rights. The biblical prohibition, which is unequivocal, is no longer powerful enough to withstand the ‘why not?’ of secular humanist inquiry.”
In many places, animal sacrifices have gone out of fashion; but what about sacrifices of time? God has commanded us to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy, but how many children’s sporting, dance, and other competitions now take place on Sunday mornings? We sacrifice our time to those things we deem most important.
PRAYER: Father God, forgive us! We have flirted with magic thinking and with attempting to control our lives, failing to trust You. We are so worried about being politically correct that we have abandoned Your standards. And we sacrifice our time, money, and talents to things that count nothing towards eternity. Lord, open our eyes to see where we have transgressed Your commands. Clean up our hearts and help us to trust You and to worship only You. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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