What does the Bible Say About Magic?
God expressly prohibits people from having any contact with occult practices in any form. These include, among other things, sorcery or magic, fortune telling and sign reading, necro-mancy, horoscopes, etc. The same applies to peo-ple who present themselves on television and the Internet as a “medium” and give other people access to them - usually for money offer these things, even if in most cases they are fraudsters who only deceive gullible people in order to enrich themselves financially.
Real magic is not a harmless trick, but a serious danger to people, as it is associated with de-mons (= fallen angels), whose only goal is to harm people and them keep away from God. The New Testament reports on several people who were under demonic influence and describes the effects of their possession. People who are possessed by demons or evil spirits often no longer have self-control over their bodies or their actions. They behave abnormally and do things that harm themselves and others and in some cases can even be life-threatening.
By dealing with occult things or practicing them themselves, people open themselves up to the influences of demons, who penetrate them in this way, manipulate their thoughts and be-havior and abuse them for their evil purposes. Children are also at risk of coming into con-tact with demons through films, music and sto-ries that are about witches, wizards, fairies and that are usually presented to them uncritically by their parents or teachers. Festivals such as “Halloween,” where people dress up as witches, wizards or even devils, can also open the door to these dark forces.
Today there are various “Christian denomina-tions” in which signs and wonders are per-formed that are similar to the miracles attes-ted to in the Bible. However, upon closer inspec-tion, these turn out to be either fake or - as in quite a few cases - demonic. Unnatural behavior can often be observed on the part of preachers and visitors, which can in no way be justified biblically. In addition, such events are often more like a magic or entertainment show than a serious church service.... One of the best-known events in this context is the so-called “Toronto Blessing”. Such and similar practices are particularly widespread in charismatic or Pentecostal churches. There are now countless movements worldwide that have grown out of the so-called charismatic wave, which began in Los Angeles in 1906. In many of these gatherings there are deeply degrading conditions that not only dishonor the name of God, but also give people a completely wrong understanding of the Christian faith, which in turn damages the reputation of the church as such. Although these appearances are attributed to the work of God, they actually indicate demonic activity.
The best-known representatives of this move-ment today include Benny Hinn, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Bill Johnson, Todd White, Heidi Baker, Joyce Meyer and many others, who propagate their teachings and practices dis-guised as biblical in front of a huge audience Manipulate people in subtle ways, seducing espe-cially young and inexperienced believers.... The Bible seriously warns all believers against such people. For the majority of them, faith is prima-rily a business through which they make huge sums of money to finance their luxurious and lavish lifestyle, which in turn has nothing to do with what Jesus taught and exemplified.
The New Testament describes how people who had previously practiced sorcery and then converted to God burned their occult books, which had very high material value at the time, in the fire. With this they wanted to make it clear that they wanted to separate themselves from any occult or spiritualistic ties.
Christians are called upon to consistently avoid everything that is in any way related to sorcery or spiritualism and at the same time to point out these real dangers to others in order to protect them from negative consequences for their lives, their health and, above all, their relationship with God.