Holy Witchcraft?
General James Green (2016)
THERE IS A GREAT DIFFERENCE between those who practice witchcraft and those who may unknowingly do something connected to witchcraft. The same holds for those who use articles of witchcraft in ceremonies/rituals/etc. as opposed to those who may have certain articles in their possession (a keepsake, gift, piece of art, etc.) and perhaps not even realize what these articles mean or are used for. Nevertheless, one can certainly be "cursed" ALL THE SAME!
Motives
AGAIN, THERE IS a great difference between those who seek to learn, learn and practice witchcraft (I use this word to mean all forms of occult practices and traditions) and those who engage less in some seemingly innocent rituals, etc.
As we have traveled to many countries of this world, in the Lord's service, we have run across sundry and various types of occult activities. While in Nigeria, Africa, the newspapers daily reported
occult/witchcraft activities: harm and death as a result of demonic activity are reported daily. One can even buy body parts (in the "Black" Market) so as to "curse" enemies, etc.
I don't have time to relate all the things we have seen and heard in all these lands. I want to concentrate on the Native Americans now.
There are those who have "evil motives" towards others-we all know this! We know that there are those who go into witchcraft, black magic and sorcery in order to have power over others and also to make $$$.
Over the years, as we have prayed for literally thousands of Native Americans at our prayer booth outside of Gallup, New Mexico, two thirds confess that they feel that someone has "cursed" them, put "spells" on them, or on one of their loved ones. This is EVIL, pure and simple!
Forbidden Worship
I REALIZE THAT the non-Christian is not aware of what God's Word-the Holy Bible says about such things (and they're condemned already, being in sin, not yet knowing Jesus); but Christians who participate in such things as ancestral spirit worship, certain dances/drumming, all pow- wows/ceremonies etc., ARE PUTTING THEMSELVES IN A DANGEROUS POSITION WITH GOD. GOD'S WORD FORBIDS SUCH THINGS. [Note: Not all of the above are evil, but some are!]
Exodus 20:4-5 reveal where ancestral strongholds and "spirits" (really, demons!) come from: "You shall not make yourself any graven image (to worship it), or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the INIQUITY of the fathers (elders) upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me..." (AMP Bible; see also Isa 42:8; 48:11). This worshipping of a "graven image" is called IDOLATRY-idolatry comes in many forms, in many cultures, but is FORBIDDEN nonetheless by God (the Creator). WORSHIPPING THE CREATION IS ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN, YET THE NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE IS PERMEATED WITH IDOLATRY.
Before I became a Christian (in 1971), I lived on the land, in a tee-pee, practiced certain rituals (like cutting each upper arm 3 times each, paying homage to the sun and moon, using certain drugs also). Needless to say, I brought many curses upon myself; I became extremely depressed, withdrawn from the world around me, fearful, even violent at times. I offered my blood to both the sun and moon. Years after my Christian conversion, especially when the moon was full, a dark and evil shadow would come over me; I became very anxious and depressed-it wasn't until 10 years later that I experienced Holy Ghost (Spirit) DELIVERANCE. All this darkness was a result of my witchcraft/occult involvement in IGNORANCE!
Forbidden
GOD, IN HIS Word, declares witchcraft to be a SINI, a grave SINI, a SIN of REBELLION!
The first time we run across the word "witch" is found in Exodus 22:18-"You shall not allow a woman to live who practices (witchcraft) sorcery" (AMP Bible). The KJV reads: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."
We find in Deuteronomy 18:10-11 this: "There shall not be found among you any one that...useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer." Literally all the above entails witchcraft. Verse 12 says anyone who does these things is an ABOMINATION!
I'm sure our Native friends don't want to be an abomination unto the LORD! I write this out of love for them even for those angry medicine/religious "holy" men who despise us for telling them all this. Jesus can and will set you FREE if you turn your hearts unto Him.
You see, the LORD destroyed those pagan nations for doing witchcraft... "For these nations...harkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners (etc.)" (v. 14).
SIN of Witchcraft
FIRST SAMUEL 15:23 tells us that "REBELLION is as the sin of WITCHCRAFT, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry."
If you insist on doing the "TRADITIONS" of the "Native Way," IN GOD'S SIGHT, YOU ARE GUILTY OF WITCHCRAFT-even if you simply go along with any of it and not personally do it. We as born again believers in Jesus Christ the Lord must BREAK from traditions that come under the term "witchcraft."
It became common among God's covenant people (the Israelites/Hebrews/Jews) to fall into the SIN of witchcraft: read 2 Chronicles 33:1-12 where King Manasseh TURNED FROM THE LIVING GOD unto idolatry, child sacrifice, astrology, enchantments, WITCHCRAFT, ANCESTRAL (SPIRIT) WORSHIP; was friends with wizards, etc...all to his affliction-thank God he later turned back to His God (vv. 13-20). He was punished, but thru this, he REPENTED and GOT BACK IN RIGHT STANDING WITH HIS GOD.
Some of you "Christians" practice peyote rituals, do all kinds of "traditional" things forbidden by God-your and my Creator. Let us not offend Him: REPENT AND BE SET FREE!
New Testament
THIS WARNING AGAINST witchcraft is carried over into the N.T. Times. In Galatians 5:20 we find "idolatry" and "witchcraft" listed together as the "works of the flesh" or works in opposition to the works of the Holy Spirit (v. 19).
For the word "witchcrafts," look up 2 Kings 9:22, Micah 5:12, and Nahum 3:4 in the Old Testament. For the words "sorcerer," "sorcerers," "sorceress," "sorceries" and "sorcery," look up Exodus 7:11; Jeremiah 27:9; Daniel 2:2; Malachi 3:5; Isaiah 57:3 and 47:9, 12; Acts (N.T.) 13:6, 8 and 8:11; Revelation 9:21 and 18:23 and 21:8 and 22:15.
You see, even today these things are forbidden by God.
I Am Obligated
HEAR ME: I am obligated to the Natives to tell the truth, even when I know it will hurt and make some very angry.
God wants to free you from all the bewitchments, curses, spells, etc. that you are under. MUCH OF YOUR SICKNESSES, DISEASES AND
AILMENTS ARE THE DIRECT RESULT OF BOTH WHAT YOUR ANCESTORS DID AND WHAT YOU HAVE DONE.
Curses can be broken thru the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of you have ancestral curses passed down for generations. This is not something to make a play at: these things can and do affect your life, as many of you already know.
Many of you "Traditionalists" who use "discretion" when performing rituals and ceremonies are ignorant of the (unseen) powers of the evil one-satan, and his demons. Seeing certain "miracles" done for yourself or someone else does not prove that you are "RIGHT with God"-NO! Satan can "heal" or perform any "miracle" in order to keep one or ones deceived. There are supernatural powers involved in the occult (and what many of you refuse to acknowledge as occult powers, you think are merely "good-powers" at work.)
Purification
BOTH AND my wife did lots of "sweat" purifications. Personally, I know a good sweat is good for one's body, but in many cultures it is still connected with "forces" outside of God.
One may even eliminate certain ailments/sicknesses/etc. by sweating, but the mind and spirit need purifying.
We took our herbal medicines and did our prayers to the "Great Spirit," yet we still felt unclean inwardly-only the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, can cleanse one from inner defilement, whereas a sweat lodge fails.
When we once camped up inside the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana, I built us a sweat lodge right next to a crystal clear lake of ice-cold water (from snow runoff). We took many sweats a day, prayed...yet still felt something missing in our soul.
We were happy, yet not satisfied in spirit...until several months later when we both knelt at the feet of Jesus the Christ and both gave our body/heart/soul/ spirit to Him. Then we felt clean inwardly.
Sure we have inner struggles (even BATTLES!), but we KNEW then that we had found the TRUE SOURCE of inner healing-no more blood ceremonies, no more drugs, no more smokes, no more empty prayers (yet these prayers
were heard by God), no more herbal medicines (we I did continue to use good herbal teas over the years, and still do, BUT WE DO NOT OFFER THEM TO OTHER GODS!!!).
Meditation / Concentration
ALTHOUGH SOME MEDITATION/ CONCENTRATION is beneficial, most is not acceptable to God; meditating/concentrating on God's Holy Word is most beneficial.
We need to have healthy bodies and healthy minds-made that way according to God's wisdom. Witchcraft confuses the mind and makes the body sick.
"Red Road" vs. Gold Road | Jn 14:5 IF YOU ARE a Native or a "wanna be," the best road to get on and travel on is "The Golden Road." And just for a note: Christianity is NOT the "white man's religion"; it is for ALL peoples!!
When "(Doubting) Thomas said to [Jesus], Lord, we do not know the way?", he was serious. We've all wondered about which way to go, what way to go; but let me assure you, dear readers: Jesus IS THE WAY!
In John 14:6 it says, "Jesus said to him (Thomas), I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE." This settled it for us. We took "The Golden Road"-"The Glory Road." Jesus/Christianity is more than about spirits, "vibrations," 'medicine/sacred herbs, certain drugs (like peyote, mescaline, etc.), stars, earth, culture.... Jesus/Christianity is about ETERNAL LIFE (see John 3:16). Jesus/Christianity is more than philosophies, rituals, ceremonies, occult knowledge, satanic power, "illuminating insight," visions, wealth, even health. Jesus/Christianity is about EXPERIENCE.
One can't help being born a red, brown, black, yellow or white, but we certainly CAN and MUST choose to be "BORN AGAIN" or "BORN FROM ABOVE" (see Jesus' teaching about this in the New Testament of the Bible, the book of John, chapter 3).
True/real/genuine Christianity is not about "Church" but about "relationship." If lived according to the Holy Bible, genuine Christianity is authentic and substantial...the power of God that I can personally make the claim to, and testify that it is real, without equivocation.
Exorcism (casting out devils) is very real- one can be set free from demonic bondages, whatever they may be. Healings can be yours, in and through the Mighty Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't need to pay a shaman/medicine man lots of $$$ for a prayer. Jesus offers Himself free to all.
No longer do you need to seek out and pay for the services of those who hold "secrets of the 'earth spirit,' 'sky spirit,' 'water spirit,' 'fire spirit,' etc." One can go directly to Jesus the Christ, use the power of the HOLY Spirit and communicate with the "Father of Lights," as God is called in the Holy Bible: "For every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from THE FATHER OF LIGHTS, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17).
"Father of lights" ("sky Father" in Native American language) describes God as the Creator and so Father of the sun, moon and stars. These physical lights figure-as it is said, perhaps "not too gracefully-spiritual "light" (see John 1:4-5).
We're not to worship the sun, moon or stars, but THE CREATOR.
Again, worshipping man, beast, or anything created is FORBIDDEN in Scripture-God and God alone is to be worshipped. Yet in Native American culture, the creation is worshiped (such as the sky, earth, water, fire, wind-all created elements/things, including the eagle, snake, buffalo...even sticks, stones, plants, etc.).
So, What Am I Saying?
I'M SAYING THAT in all cultures of the world, we find idolatry, witchcraft, evils of every sort that God in His Word identifies as SIN. It matters not if you, me or we disagree with the
Sacred Scriptures, God the Creator is Supreme, not man. He made the rules: we violate them, we, you, me pay.
And no, earth is NOT your "grandmother" or "mother"; it is not "sacred." THE EARTH IS CURSED: "...CURSED is the ground for thy sake"-thus says the Scriptures (The Holy Bible, the Old Testament, the book of Genesis 3:17). Because of Adam's sin of disobedience and rebellion, the ground/earth became CURSED...MAN CURSED HIMSELF!
Wichasha Wakan
WICHASHA WAKAN (SIOUX), or "holy man," is distinct from "medicine man." This type of distinction is true in most tribes...which is misunderstood among both Anglos and Indians alike.
My wife, General Deborah, whose Native name was Full Night, came from the Sioux Nation on her father's side; her mother was English.
The Lakota/Sioux term for "medicine man" or "doctor" is pejuta wichasa. Wicasa wakan is the term used for a Lakota priest of the older religion. (Medicine men/women use herbs, etc. for "healing" the wounded or sick.)
All tribes have those who practice and teach evil. The names for such people vary from tribe to tribe. These evil people are the ones I write about. (This does not exclude those who are ignorant of the extent of the evil and simply practice the "Native Way" because of ancestry or because they like it, etc. ALL who practice the "Native Way," to any extent, need to come to REPENTANCE and CAN come to REPENTANCE!-which is only found in Jesus Christ the Lord.)
Yeenaeldooshi
IN NAVAJO, THE above word means "with it, he goes on all fours." We hear our share of "horrid stories" told to us by those who come to our prayer booth-many people are literally scared to say anything to others about the skinwalkers on and around the rezs.
Do such creatures exist? Yes! In Navajo legend (and in reality), skinwalkers have the power-satanic power-to read human thoughts. They can transform themselves into animals, so it is believed. Be this true or false, they are evil and do cover themselves in various animal skins.
They are sometimes called a "witch," using both their bodies and thoughts to kill. This same thing can be found in numerous cultures' lores worldwide. Analogies exist in the mythology of many tribes, all relating to witchcraft.
A yeenaaldlooshii is one of several varieties of Navajo "witch" [specifically, an 'ánt'iihnii or "practitioner of the Witchery Way," as opposed to a user of cursed objects ('adayash) or a practitioner of "Frenzy Way" ('azhitee)].
We have had many Indians, especially Navajo, who have confessed that some of their relatives are involved in both the "Witchery Way" and "Frenzy Way." Some have told us that relatives have been murdered and cursed by these evil persons (things?).
Yenaldlooshi
THESE PEOPLE GAIN their place and power in witchcraft by murdering a close relative-a mother, father, brother, sister, even a small child or baby.
It is said that they also practice necrophilia and cannibalism.
I once owned a small booklet printed in the late 1800s, reprinted in the early 1900s, that exposed the skinwalkers. Grants, Gallup, and other NM towns were mentioned by name. There were even old photos showing corpses rotting where skinwalkers had taken body parts. Old hogans and cabins were shown where certain skinwalkers were believed to live, some where victims were murdered.
Poisoned!
SEVERAL YEARS AGO, Deborah was poisoned by a Native who wanted us GONE from the outdoor Indian Market where we have our prayer booth. She had left a cup of grape juice sitting on our table out front. After leaving our booth in late afternoon, on our way home to Fence Lake, she became deathly ill. She told me she was dying, that she felt poisoned..
The Spirit of God right then and there revealed to us that sure enough, her grape juice had been poisoned. This could have been done by evil powers or by the person literally putting poison into her cup. All the same, we rebuked the spirit of death...and in several minutes, she was fine. This literally happened.
I don't have the time to relate to my readers the battles we have fought (in spirit) against these evil spell/magic casters. Don't believe for one minute that these "medicine" people and so-called "holy" people are harmless. We agree that there are "harmless ones," per se, but likewise there are those who hate Christians like us who "pray without pay" for any and all who come to us.
Just as "medicine" can be used for healing, it can also be used to CURSE, even KILL. Actually, we have, in our 50 years of Christian service, seen lots of evil done in the name of "medicine power" or "witchcraft."
While we worked at an orphanage in the mountains of old Mexico (in the mid-1970s), I was assailed by evil spirits for over 6 months straight, especially at night. We worked among the Indians mostly. I hardly slept 2 hours a night because of their (the demons' in that land) "war" against us. This was before I really got some deep deliverance from my past. No one will ever convince me that demons aren't real. HA! They are too real and their intent is to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus encountered many in His earthly days.
I shall close this short article for now. I'm not trying to blow this thing up in order to make the Natives look bad-we LOVE these people, elsewise we would not be working to see them SAVED, HEALED, DELIVERED, INFORMED.
We pray for the sick, diseased, depressed, cursed; the hopeless, the drunks, the addicted; the homosexuals, the troubled youth-ALL NEED CHRIST.
We pray for the Native American Church (NAC), the peyote users, who mix Christianity with paganism-THIS MIXING IS WRONG. Since I am a believer in God, His Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Sacred Scriptures, I take my Christianity seriously.
We have been on the "other way" (the hippie way-the "Red Way"); therefore, we are not so stupid as to believe all Native traditions are good...much is CURSED, and the people reflect this too. But you can be free if you want to. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS REPENT-TURN FROM YOUR SINS, AND TURN UNTO JESUS AS SAVIOR AND LORD OF YOUR LIFE. This is the ONLY Way to be FREE.
Jesus is our "medicine man." He can heal both body and soul! Amen.