We are going to continue our discussion on witchcraft. What is it? How do we deal with it? How do we know when someone is operating under the influence of witchcraft? 

Last week we answered the question: Why is rebellion considered witchcraft? Today we are going to look at a New Testament example of witchcraft. Let’s dive in!

Paul Encounters Witchcraft 

Let’s go to the New Testament and learn about a time when Paul encountered the spirit of divination.

As Paul was walking around the city of Philippi, there came a demon possessed girl who was mocking them saying, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” Acts 16:17 (ESV) What she was saying was true. Paul was a servant of the Most High God, and he was proclaiming the way of salvation. However, the way this demon possessed girl was saying this must have been obnoxious and relentless. After several days of hearing her say this over and over and over and over, Paul finally had enough and commanded the demon to leave the girl. Since Jesus gave Paul that authority, the demon was forced to obey and left. This development made her owners furious because this demon gave the girl the ability of fortune telling and divination.

What is Divination?

The Greek word for divination is Pythos. We get the word python from this word. This is a spirit that will attach itself to believers in order to choke out their ministry. It loves to flatter people and be the center of attention. We see this girl in Acts doing exactly that. She attached herself to Paul and “flattered” him with her words. Not to mention, her intentions was to distract everyone else from hearing the truth that Paul was sent to deliver. Her goal was to silence Paul, and prevent the Holy Spirit from working in the lives of these people. She “flattered” to the point that Paul could no longer ignore this spirit. He eventually got fed up and forced it to leave both him and the girl alone. 

The python spirit will distract people from worshiping the one true God. It will do this any way it can. One of its favorite ways to distract is to remind the followers of Yeshua about all the failures of their past. It squeezes out past hurts and brings them back to the surface. It will remind people of the sins they committed in the past and encourage them to feel shame over things that have already been forgiven and forgotten by our Savior. 

How do we get rid of the Python Spirit?

We rid ourselves of this evil spirit by doing exactly what this spirit is trying to prevent us from doing: prayer and worship. We take captive those false feelings and thoughts and force them to become obedient to Jesus. (2 Corinthians 10:5). 

Sometimes people need to get deliverance from this spirit. In this case the person would need to find a believer who does deliverance and request a session. Getting deliverance as a Christian is nothing to be ashamed of. It doesn’t mean you are any less of a Christian as someone who seems to not need deliverance. I think it actually makes you a stronger Christian because you recognize you need to clean out yourself from spirits who do not belong there. My husband and I actually went to a deliverance session a few years ago. It was amazing and needed. I highly recommend everyone get deliverance. We have all made decisions that give demons access to our thoughts and bodies. A mature Christian sees the need to clean out their temple and then learns how to keep it clean!

The Spirit of Fortune Telling

Acts tells us this girl who was taunting Paul was also a fortune teller. This is essentially the gift of prophecy twisted and manipulated to benefit Satan and his minions. You see Satan can’t create anything. The only thing he knows to do is to take what God has created and make a counterfeit which ends up being distorted and a delusion. Satan can’t see the future. He can only guess what might happen. He can also manipulate situations so that there is a likelihood that what he wants to happen will happen. 

We see this girl being tormented by the demons of python and as a fortune teller suddenly being freed by the power of Jesus. People should be rejoicing, but we see her owners becoming enraged by her freedom. They saw their cash cow gone. These guys got so angry they grabbed Paul and Silas and brought them to the magistrates, and accused them of disturbing the city. They also got other people from the city to join them in their complaint against Paul and Silas. As a result the magistrates ordered that Paul and Silas be beaten and thrown in jail. 

How is this Witchcraft?

In this encounter Paul had with this girl, she was employing all three of the attributes Derik Prince said were keys to indicate the presence of witchcraft. 

1. She used manipulation in the way she was attempting to use her “powers” to control the people around her. She was well known as a fortune teller, and she used that “ability” to make people do what she wanted them to do. She would likely tell people they needed to make a decision that would give her further power over them. Even in the words she chose to use, she was attempting to manipulate the hearers that there was nothing special about Paul and his message. Although she was speaking truth, she was speaking in a way that discouraged others to pursue salvation – soteria – deliverance. 
2. She used intimidation by simply saying the same thing over and over and over again. Her words were meant to turn people away from the true Jesus, and silence Paul and Silas. This just goes to show that intimidation can come from anyone, even a little girl. 
3. Lastly, she used dominance by attempting to use charm to get what she wanted. She pretended to be innocent, but was in fact controlling everyone around her. She had the power, and she knew it, even if everyone around her was oblivious to her tactics. Paul had enough of this form of witchcraft, and put an end to it by delivering her from the evil spirits who were actually in control. 

What About You?

What about you? Do you have tactics you use in order to make people do what you want them to do? Do you allow others to control you? What happens when someone tells you no? Are you able to accept that no, or do you devise ways to make that person change their mind? Do you use manipulative language to encourage (aka force) others to do what you want? Do you use phrases such as:

• “That’s not what I said.”
• “Stop overreacting.”
• “That’s not how it happened.”
• “I already said sorry.”
• “You always…”
• “You never…”

These are just a few examples of things people may say to try and manipulate someone else. If you find yourself using these types of phrases, you will definitely want to seek deliverance from a witchcraft spirit. You have been partnering with the spirit of divination, and need freedom. You need soteria.  

Did you notice intimidation and domination is also used in those manipulative phrases? You are employing intimidation and dominance when you say things like, “Stop overreacting.” or “That’s not how it happened.” Those phrases are used to not only control the conversation, but to shut it down completely. This is partnering with the python spirit. 

There is Freedom

If you find yourself being convicted by the Holy Spirit, I encourage you to humble yourself. Repent from thinking that you need to control other people. Change that thinking to thinking that you release others to make mistakes and choose to look to the true Jesus for deliverance and healing of those broken parts that partner with these demonic spirits. Choose to become humble. Remember, God can work with humble people. Humility leads to freedom. Rebellion leads to pride and may force the Lord into removing you from the leadership he desires you to have. Like Saul, you will be removed from leading if you are partnering with witchcraft. I don’t want that for you, and more importantly, the Lord doesn’t want that for you. He wants to partner with you. Make room for his Spirit to lead, and refuse to have anything to do with any spirit that says control is key. 

Part 1