Witchcraft is a work of the flesh, and God views it like He views adultery and murder. As such, it should have no place in the life of a believer.
With each passing year, witchcraft has grown more acceptable in the eyes of man, yet God has not wavered concerning His thoughts on these matters.
God knows everything, but this does not eliminate man’s responsibility to confess his sins. Failure to do so forfeits God’s practical forgiveness.
There are two categories of sin: sins against God and sins against man. By default, every sin is against God. Yet, not all sin is against man.
Conviction testifies of guilt and transgression. It testifies that God is just while man is vile. It testifies to the gap of righteousness that exists between the two. If men were righteous apart from the Lord’s help, the Lord would never need to convince men that they are transgressors of His law. When men violate or transgress the law of God, the Spirit of God uses that law to convince those guilty that they are wrong and need to make things right with the Lord. The very presence of conviction confirms man’s guilt. It cries out that I am wrong and God is right. Perhaps this explains why in these last days, fewer seem interested in experiencing the convicting work of the Spirit of God.
The Bible says that pleasure-seeking breeds poverty. The more men require amusement and seek pleasure, the more they are willing to carelessly spend to have both. Proverbs 21:17 says, “He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man.” Proverbs 29:3 speaks of the desire for evil pleasure when it says, “he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance.” The prodigal son, who left home with his inheritance, offers one of the most well-known cases. The Bible says of him that he “wasted his substance with riotous living” (Luke 15:13). All pleasure is not sinful, but all pleasure can become costly and sinful when not properly balanced with the right level of wisdom and discretion. There are other pleasures which are directly sinful and should be completely avoided.
Covetousness has often moved men to violence that they might not have otherwise been inclined to do. For instance, wicked king Ahab had a strong desire to obtain a vineyard belonging to Naboth (1 Kings 21:1-4). When Naboth refused to sell the vineyard, Ahab returned to his house to mourn. When Jezebel saw her husband’s grief, she created a plan to take the vineyard by force (1 Kings 21:5-16). This principle is not limited to Ahab and Jezebel but has unfortunately been the historical motive for many acts of violence. When men cannot fulfil the lusts of their flesh in a righteous manner, they simply resort to other means which often includes violence.
The world would have us believe that riches belong to those of greatest sophistication while poverty tends to induce violence. However, the truth testifies otherwise. In Micah 6:12, the Bible speaks of a time when the rich were “full of violence.” In like manner, Amos spoke of those who would “store up violence and robbery in their palaces” (Amos 3:10). Asaph spoke of “the prosperity of the wicked” (Psalm 73:3) and that “violence covereth them as a garment” (Psalm 73:6). Riches do not remove a man’s desire for violence. In fact, riches often promote a man’s hunger for it. Many have suggested that poverty lies at the root of much of the violence in the world; however, the scriptures teach otherwise.
The Bible has much to say concerning the dangers of improper family relationships. “There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother” (Proverbs 30:11). “The son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother” (Micah 7:6), “the eye . . . mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother” (Proverbs 30:17). Yet, the first commandment with promise was to “honour thy father and mother” (Ephesians 6:1-2). This honour can be demonstrated by hearkening to (Proverbs 23:22) and obeying one’s parents (Colossians 3:20). As parents seek the Lord’s direction, God will lead them as to how to lead their individual homes (Ezra 8:21). The child’s responsibility is directed toward submitting to and learning of the Lord by obeying the parents.
The believer’s life is loaded with benefits (Psalm 68:19), but one of the greatest of these benefits concerns the area of vengeance. According to scripture, vengeance is reserved for the Lord’s enemies (Deuteronomy 32:41; Judges 11:36), or adversaries (Deuteronomy 32:43; Jeremiah 46:10; Nahum 1:2), or the heathen (Psalm 149:7; Micah 5:15) but specifically upon “them that know not God” (2 Thessalonians 1:8). God does not deal with His people in vengeance, it is reserved for those who reject the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:8). When the children of God are disobedient, the Lord chastens, but He never takes vengeance upon His own.
