Powerful

Halloween | Wicca | Witches

Oct 09, 2022

Featured image credit: Tumisu on Pixabay.com

Various essays leading up to Halloween 2022.

My Witch Story | Children’s Books about Witches | Powerful | Ouija Board, Tarot, Séances, Oh, My! | We Attended a Wicca Wedding

[1,152 words]

My husband and I got in line at our favorite thrift store, one that supports victims of domestic violence. When we shop there, we know the dollars we spend will help some of the most vulnerable in our rural community.

There she was at the cash register, a young woman in her early 20s wearing a dark gray t-shirt with one word on the front in large, white letters:

“Powerful”.

Ah, she’s a witch, I said to myself. I wonder what encouraged her to pursue Wicca?

How did I know she was a Wiccan? The word “Powerful” on her t-shirt plus she wore a few symbols: a necklace, some rings. I also listened to the way she spoke with the customer in front of us. The customer had several Wiccan symbols on her as well: on her wallet, a charm dangling from her keychain.

“I love your wallet,” the cashier said cryptically as she rang up the customer’s items.

“Thank you,” the customer replied. They exchanged knowing looks.

Oh, my gosh! I said to myself. They’re talking like us Christians!

I’ve had similar exchanges in stores when I saw an employee wearing an Ichthus, or some Christian symbol that identified them as a true believer.

As I watched the two Wiccans, I wondered what had led each of them to adopt the neopagan craft as their spiritual way of life.

During her research for her book, “Wicca’s Charm”, Catherine Edwards Sanders found diverse reasons why women adopt neopagan practices. Some love how Wicca focuses on nature and on protecting the environment. Many enjoy how it empowers women (feminism). Practitioners of the craft often come from religious Christian families, from diverse denominations. They’ve either rebelled against what they felt were strict teachings, or they incorporated their new, neopagan beliefs with aspects of Christianity they liked (for example, love your neighbor).

One thing Wiccan practitioners have in common is they cast spells to have power or influence over negative energies and to protect themselves from harm. They want to feel powerful over what could hurt them.

When I was a young teen, as I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, I explored the occult out of curiosity and boredom. The prospect of having some kind of spiritual power attracted me to reading occult materials. As a church kid, the adults in my life provided solid Biblical teaching. So, what happened?

I was half listening to them. The occult lured me with the temptation of feeling powerful, to have influence over things that my teen self felt powerless over. The transition from childhood to adulthood is a challenging journey, and none of the adults during my teen years sat me down to ask me how I was doing.

Through Wicca, teen girls learn to cast spells to discourage anything they think may harm them. Adults need to be aware of this, of what seems attractive to the young people in their lives, and combat these tendencies with God’s good news. But, adults can’t preach at young people.

We adults need to sit down with the young people in our lives, listen to them, and have honest and open discussions about the world and our historic faith. We need to have studies in our youth groups on the occult, on growing up, and on what the gospel offers to young people.

What does the gospel offer?

A whole lot of powerful.

God’s good news offers the universe to true believers in Jesus Christ. Let me clarify what I mean by “the universe” by referencing Ephesians, St. Paul’s letter to the believers in Ephesus.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 1:3, ESV).

EVERY spiritual blessing that God provides in the heavenly places.

This past year, the members of a women’s Bible study group and I have been doing a deep dive into Ephesians, especially Ephesians 6:10-20 on the full armor of God. We’re now diving deep into Psalm 23. We’ve found there’s a strong connection between the two passages. I won’t tell you what it is, as I want you to study them on your own and make the discovery. (I might write posts on this in 2023. 😁 )

Basically, these scriptures point to a whole lot of powerful. They clarify something powerful by answering some key questions:

Do you know who you are through Christ Jesus?
Do you understand who He is, how powerful He is?

I know many of you, dear readers, do know and understand. That’s awesome. I hope you’ll share the gospel’s “whole lot of powerful” to the young people in your life. If they’re believers, make sure they understand who they are in Christ.

Others among you, dear readers, may enjoy the encouragement a deep dive into these questions will give you. Search your Bible to find references to these truths.

Who Are You in Christ?

You are:

beloved (deeply loved)
saved from the enemy once for all time
a joyful song on God’s lips
known by the creator of everything
cherished by God
Jesus’s friend

Whose Are You?

You are a redeemed child of God who:

created the heavens and the earth
has all wisdom, revelation, and knowledge
raised Jesus from the dead (and makes this power available to you)
rules over all authority and power
is rich in all things, but especially rich in mercy toward you
has given you His full armor to fight back against your enemy in the spiritual war that surrounds us

Are you walking daily in these powerful truths made possible by the Son of God?

When your spiritual eyes are truly opened to the greatness of your Lord and how He sees you, you’ll walk through your life with your head held high because you’ll understand who’s powerful: Your Abba, your Father. He’ll help you fight the battles in your life (which primarily happen in your mind), and He’ll never leave you nor forsake you. Psalm 23 isn’t just a Sunday School lesson, it’s a powerful spiritual truth.

God’s “whole lot of powerful” doesn’t mean your life will be easy. He sets a generous table before you. Where? In the presence of your enemies. He said you will have hard times (tribulation) in this world. He said He’ll walk with you through times of dark shadows and death, but you do not need to fear. Why? Because the most powerful being in the universe, God Himself, walks with you.

During this season of Halloween, you can help the young people in your life know a “whole lot of powerful” by walking them through a study of Ephesians and Psalm 23. A young person’s walk with God is between that teen and the Lord. But, ask them what’s attractive to them in today’s culture. Ask them why they might be curious about the occult. Then, show them in God’s word who they are in Christ, whose they are, and who is powerful.

#Wicca #Wiccans #witches #warlocks #witchcraft #halloween

Soli Deo Gloria.

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